Russell Batiste Band & Snarky Puppy at Bear Creek Music Festival 2011

I’m gonna start my Bear Creek Music Festival flood with some of the videos that I can upload raw without audio upgrades (since I’m pretty sure no one was taping these shows and my audio already sounds fine). First up is the Russell Batiste Band‘s set from early Friday afternoon at the Campground Stage (this stage was nestled back in the woods near the lake where you can bring you own drinks from your camp, since you’re not officially in the festival grounds).

Russell Batiste Jr. is the drummer from The Funky Meters and PBS (Porter Batiste Stoltz) and Vida Blue. His band has been gigging for a few years and I’ve been interested to see how they sound (although I could already imagine that it was a heavy dose of NOLA funk with some warped Russell Batiste vocal shouts and maybe a request for the audience to do the hokey pokey or skip around [Russell’s weird like that]).

I left the Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio set early and jumped a ridge on a golf cart with Harry Zegers and the Fan Club HQ crew down to the Campground Stage to find George Porter Jr. and his wife standing by as the Russell Batiste Band was soundchecking. I was less than 2 hours into the festival and already primed to witness some sit-ins!

I watched the first few songs and still no George Porter sit-in, so I decided to make my way back to the music park to catch some of Anders Osborne and then the Chali 2na Band. As I was about to leave ear-shot of the Campground Stage, I heard Russell invite George up, so I headed back. George joined for a version of The Meters tune, Ease Back and then they did the classic Cissy Strut (actually Russell’s rearrangement “Cissy Got The Blues”), which you can watch below. This is one of the very few times you will see George actually plucking the bass. Yeah you’re right.

Russell Batiste Band with George Porter Jr – Cissy Got The Blues 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Fest:

Russell Batiste Band – first song 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Fest:

This next video is from Sunday afternoon. I was only able to catch Snarky Puppy‘s last song and I was sold immediately. These guys have a huge jazz fusion sound that is also very organic. I’m definitely going to be keeping my eyes on these guys….

Snarky Puppy – Phoebus 11/13/11 Bear Creek Music Festival (with Louis Cato on percussion):

Stay tuned, cause the flood of videos is about to continue…with the secret tree house after party jam session with WRD (Robert Walter, Eddie Roberts & Adam Deitch).

Funk It’s Bear Creek Music Festival 2011 teaser video

As you can image, Bear Creek Music Festival was magical! The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park was amazing, the artists were amazing, and the people were amazing (and my close friends know that I don’t use that word often).

The music park is perfect, all of the stages are very close together yet there is very little audio bleed through. The vibe is loose and open and everyone is there to party and have a great time. I met a ton of people and I have never seen soo many audio and video tapers in one place. I was very surprised by the amount of people shooting video on either video cameras or SLR cams with external mics. From what I hear, this is one of the only festivals that is a complete free for all as far as shooting video is concerned.

Needless to say, I was a wild man and I ended up shooting 14 hours of video over the course of 3 days. I could have done much more, but I ran out of space and had to borrow a memory card on the last night (thanks Bob!).

Over the next few months I will be featuring many of these videos here. For now, check out this teaser video to whet your appetite.

Funk It’s Bear Creek Music Festival 2011 teaser video:

Funk It’s Bear Creek Music Festival 2011 teaser video:
01. The Funky Meters – Cissy Strut
02. Marco Benevento Trio with Johnny Vidacovich – Junco Partner
03. The Trio: George Porter Jr, Johnny Vidacovich & Jennifer Hartswick with Freekbass – Don’t Be Squeezin’ My Heart
04. Jon Cleary’s Piano, Bass & Drums – Tipitina
05. Eric Krasno’s Chapter 2 – Nautilus
06. John Scofield’s Piety Street Band – unknown
07. Freekbass & Skerik – Improv in the Silent Disco
08. Dr. Klaw with Jamie McLean & Sam Kinninger – Higher Ground
09. Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio – unknown
10. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey with Jonathan Lloyd, Chris Noonan, Mark Southerland & Skerik – The Burning
11. Orgone – Break In The Road
12. Medeski, Martin & Wood with Pee Wee Ellis – Where’s The Music?
13. The Lee Boys with Matt Grondin, Khris Royal, ?Shamarr Allen? & unknown trombonist – Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
14. The New Mastersounds – Carrot Juice
15. Russell Batiste Band with George Porter Jr – Cissy Strut
16. The Coup – 5 Million Ways To Kill A CEO
17. Chali 2na Band – Get Focused
18. Snarky Puppy with Louis Cato – unknown
19. Garage A Trois – Rescue Spreaders
20. Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood – A Go Go
21. Anders Osborne, Eric Bolivar, Jamie McLean & George Porter Jr – Ya-Ya
22. Breakestra – unknown
23. Dumpstajam with Nigel Hall, Louis Cato, Eric Krasno, Freekbass & The Shady Horns – What Is Hip?
24. Lettuce – Sam Huff’s Flying Ragin’ Machine
25. Dumpstaphunk – Put It In The Dumpsta
26. Robert Walter, Eddie Roberts, Jamie McLean, Louis Cato & Ivan Neville – Standin’ On Shaky Ground

Dr. Klaw on the Creole Queen Riverboat, NOLA Jazz Fest 2011

IS IT BEAR CREEK YET?

Before I hit the road to my first Bear Creek Music Festival, I have to unleash my videos of Dr. Klaw on the Creole Queen Riverboat during New Orleans Jazz Fest 2011. The full video is on youtube in six parts, listed below. I recommend watching in HD in 1080p or 720p. Also, if you are so inclined, the DVD is available to download at The Trader’s Den.

I’ve posted about Dr. Klaw before. For those that don’t know, Dr. Klaw is a supergroup featuring Nick Daniels III and Ian Neville (both of Dumpstaphunk), along with Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno & Nigel Hall (of Lettuce, Soulive, Chapter Two, etc.). Basically, Dr. Klaw is a special conglomeration that only plays shows at Jazz Fest and Bear Creek (and sometimes Jam Cruise). Word is that they’ve been in the studio and will be releasing their new album at Bear Creek next week.

This video documents their only performance this year (until Bear Creek next weekend), and features several original tunes, as well as two Parliament covers that feature The Shady Horns (Ryan Zoidis, Sam Kinninger, & Rashawn Ross). The video was shot from right up front (because there really was no other way to see the band considering that the stage was only a few inches tall) with a Canon Vixia HF21 video camera and a Sony ECM-MS908C stereo mic. The audio is raw, dominated by Deitch’s cymbals and rim shots, but is still very listenable compared to the quality of most of the stuff you find on youtube. Enjoy, spread the word, and I’ll see you after what is sure to be an incredible Bear Creek Music Festival weekend!

Dr. Klaw – Part 1 of 6 – Beef, I Believe It: