CrossFiya featuring Talib Kweli, Rahzel, Chali 2na, Break Science, Soul Rebels & Fyre Dept

CrossFiya

The Soul Rebels 5/3/14 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
Testify [Kanye West cover] (with Eric Krasno), Thank You [Jay-Z Medley] (inc. Ain’t No Love & Hard Knock Life), My Time, I Made It, Show Me What You Got [Jay-Z cover]

Soul Rebels with Rahzel

The Soul Rebels with Razhel 5/3/14 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
Rahzel solo set > Rock The Bells [LL Cool J cover]

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Talib Kweli & Jesus Coomes

Words by Bee Getz:

Again, Fiyawerx Productions provided a break from the norm as it pertains to Jazz Fest, and this eclectic booking on the hip-hop side of the tracks provided a thrilling look at one of the best kept secrets in the game: Fyre Dept. This NYC- based production squad includes drummer Adam Deitch (clad appropriately in a NAS Illmatic t-shirt and his ubiquitous headphones), Eric Krasno on guitar, and the brothers Coomes, bassist E.D. “Jesus” and older brother (and Fyre Dept. OG) Tyler “TYCOON Beats.” Break Science keyboardist Borahm Lee rounded out the team, and they took the stage after De La SOUL REBELS and proceeded to destroy the packed house with authoritative, meditative beats, samples and classic loops. Beginning with some Ghostface Killah and J Dilla instrumentals, soon the Fyre Dept was fully ablaze. Deitch held down the head snapping breaks, and the brothers Coomes’ tasteful, minimalist approach had people marveling at how this here hip-hop sounded so alive, present, yet sacrificing absolutely no integrity in the name of dopeness.

Fyre Dept 5/3/14 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
??? > ??? > Body Movin’ [J Dilla cover], Fever, ?That’s The Way It’s Got To Be?, Flankenstein > ???, ???

Within a few songs, Rahzel grabbed a microphone and stormed the stage. After some beatboxing workouts to get warm, “The Godfather of Noize” blessed the people with a distinctive medley of Whole Darn Family’s “7 Minutes of Funk” break, interspersed with verses and portions of its two most popular children – EPMD’s “It’s My Thang” and Jay-Z/Foxy Brown’s classic “Ain’t No N*gg*.” The Fyre Dept. then flawlessly worked into NAS’ “NY State of Mind” instrumental while Rahzel delivered original lyrics, along with a version of Bob Marley’s “Jammin’” for a refrain.

Fyre Dept with Rahzel 5/3/14 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
???, Ain’t No Nigga [Jay-Z cover], NY State of Mind [Nas cover], Jammin’ [Bob Marley cover] / Voice Box

Fyre Dept with Talib Kweli

At this point in the show, things were wild on the dancefloor, yet extremely focused on the stage. The band brought out legendary Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli and the posse brought forth a medley of songs old and new. Beginning with “Cold Rain,” Kweli showed everyone just why he’s revered as a lyricist and performer. They brilliantly segued into his seminal anthem “The Blast” from the Reflection Eternal project of the Rawkus era; this slice of heat had damn-near everybody correctly pronouncing his name, with not a single thing left to question. “Hot Thing” was dedicated to all the lovers, and Kweli made sure to shout out Babyface as he dipped into this summertime park jam for the boo’d up set.

Fyre Dept with Talib Kweli 5/3/14 New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf
Cold Rain, The Blast, What’s Real, Hot Thing, State of Grace, I Try, Get By

The Fyre Dept/Kweli collaboration reached fevered pitches as the BK MC and the veritable NY/LA dream team laced up a victorious version of “I Try” before spicing up things with a samba-influenced take on Kweli’s uplifting mantra “Get By.” This conclusion of the set had an army of heads chanting the chorus “Just to Get By” at the top of their one-hundred strong lungs; Fiyawerx Productions and the Fyre Dept. could agree on one thing, there was no putting out this CrossFiya.

Eric Krasno & Talib Kweli

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Break Science 5/3/14 New Orleans @ Howlin’ Wolf
Now You Want More, ???, Owner of a Lonely Heart [Yes cover], Brain Reaction, ???

Break Science with Chali 2na 5/3/14 New Orleans @ Howlin’ Wolf
Guns Drawn, Comin’ Thru, International

Funk It’s Bear Creek Music Fest 2013 Videos

Here it is. A massive slap of funk upside your head. This highlight video will give you a glimpse into this “funky festival in the fall”. Featuring clips from 39 different performances over 3 days and 4 nights, this 27 minute collage represents the work of one man armed with 3 video cameras and 1 mic. With any event bringing together this many talented musicians and acts you can never experience all of it, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t try.

Funk It’s Bear Creek Music & Art Festival 2013 Highlight Video:

Funk It’s Bear Creek Music & Art Festival 2013 Highlight Video:
01. Bernie Worrell Orchestra – Red Hot Momma [Funkadelic cover] (with Freekbass)
02. Jennifer Hartswick Band – Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place) [Talking Heads cover]
03. Lee Fields & The Expressions – Ladies
04. Profit – Yes We Can [Allen Toussaint cover] (with Rachel Murray & Nigel Hall)
05. Robert Walter’s 20th Congress – Corry’s Snail and Slug Death
06. Galactic – Sunday Araq (with Bernie Worrell)
07. Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe – The Hen
08. Bootsy Collins & The Funk Unity Band – Bootsy? (What’s the Name of this Town)
09. Chali 2na & The House of Vibe – Comin’ Thru
10. The Roots – Fantastic [Slum Village / J Dilla cover]
11. Bear Creek Allstars – Them Changes [Buddy Miles cover] (Dumpstaphunk with George Porter Jr, Eric Krasno & Neal Evans)
12. Bear Creek Allstars – For My Friend [Bill Withers cover] (Lettuce with Nigel Hall & Alecia Chakour)
13. Bear Creek Allstars – Shake Everything You Got [Maceo Parker cover] (Ian Neville, Andrew Block, Matt Grondin, Eric Vogel, Joey Porter, Joe Tatten, and ?? on drums)
14. The Nth Power – Jazz Fest 420
15. Toubab Krewe – Keme
16. Ron Haynes’ Game Changers – A Few Good Men [Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band cover]
17. The Revivalists – Chase’s House
18. Monophonics – Sure Is Funky
19. The New Mastersounds – On The Border
20. Space Capone – A-Rod

Galactic with Bernie Worrell

21. The Motet – Gettin’ To Know You [Parliament cover] (with Nigel Hall)
22. Jennifer Hartswick Band – You Got The Love [Rufus & Chaka Khan cover]
23. Galactic – Dollar Diva (with Maggie Koerner & David Shaw)
24. Zach Deputy – Cellular Phone (with Roosevelt Collier)
25. Robert Walter’s 20th Congress – Honky Tonk [Miles Davis cover]
26. The Pimps of Joytime – Dank Janky
27. Antibalas – Beaten Metal (with Skerik)
28. Brownout – Into The Void [Black Sabbath cover] (with Skerik)
29. Kung Fu – Scrab
30. Bonobo Live Band – Sapphire

The Roots at Bear Creek Music Festival

31. George Porter Jr’s Runnin’ Pardners – Ride Your Pony [The Meters cover]
32. Mike Dillon Band – Monk Meets Fela (with Weedie Braimah)
33. Skerik’s Orchestra At Large – Improvisation (with Mike Dillon, George Porter Jr, Brian J, Ryan Zoidis, Igmar Thomas, Natalie Cressman, Cheme Gastelum, Khris Royal, Lucas Ellman, Weedie Braimah & ?? on keys)
34. The Legendary JC’s – Lifted Me (with George Porter Jr & Mike Dillon)
35. Roosevelt Collier & Nigel Hall’s Gospel Surprise – How I Got Over (Nikki Glaspie, Nick Cassarino, Nate Edgar, Weedie Braimah, James Casey, Natalie Cressman, Alecia Chakour, Jennifer Hartswick & ???)
36. Zach Deputy – Home
37. Dumpstaphunk – I Wish You Would (with Natalie Cressman, Igmar Thoms, James Casey, Skerik & ???)
38. Lettuce – Last Suppit
39. Zach Deputy, Jesus Coomes & Simon Allen – After Party Jam Session Improv

Several other videos from the festival have already been posted at http://www.youtube.com/user/thefunkitblog and many more will follow, so stay tuned.

Also, check out Bee Getz’ masterful written review over at JamBase.

Bootsy Collins at Bear Creek Music Festival

Live Hip Hop at Bear Creek Music Fest 2011: Chali 2na & The House of Vibe All Stars + Boots Riley & The Coup with Silk-E

Bear Creek Music Festival was undoubtedly a funk fest, but there was a sprinkling of hip hop; and it was all live band hip hip, my favorite type.

Early Friday evening as dusk rolled in, Chali 2na and his band, The House of Vibe, locked shit down to a steadily growing crowd. Smiles were everywhere as the crowd anticipated a mind-blowing weekend. I shot a good 17 minutes of footage with my monopod held high.

This video is mainly tunes from Chali’s one and only solo album, 2009’s excellent and long awaited Fish Outta Water. Later in the set, Corey Glover, vocalist for Living Colour and more recently Galactic, joined for an old Jurassic 5 tune, Freedom. Unfortunately I only captured the 2nd half of this one. I guess I was too busy getting my party on and getting amped for the rest of the lineup that night at the Purple Hat stage, which included Garage A Trois, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Galactic.

Chali 2na & The House of Vibe Band 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
Get Focused > International, Comin’ Thru > Don’t Stop, Guns Up, Freedom (w/ Corey Glover):

(Download the full audio of Chali 2na’s set here.)

Later that night, as the temperatures began to drop into the 30’s, we headed to the heated indoor SOS Music Hall. The Coup was set up and ready to play, albeit to a very sparse crowd. After a heavy rock instrumental intro, Boots Riley busted out, spinning around in a leather tasseled overcoat. Pimp hand strong. Next, they busted out some classics before bringing out their secret weapon, Silk-E. If you don’t know, just press play.

The Coup 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
5 Millions Ways To Kill A CEO:

The Coup 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
Bullets & Love > Everythang > We Are The Ones:

I totally wanted to enjoy The Coup’s set longer, but I had to run back to the Purple Hat Stage so as not to miss the beginning of Medeski, Martin & Wood (videos coming soon).

After MMW’s set, I caught some of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe covering The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers album (quite a let down and not very funky, IMO). I also caught a bit of KRAZ’s DJ set (that’s Eric Krasno of Soulive, Lettuce, and Chapter 2) in the silent disco. He was spinning Funkify Your Life by The Meters and tastefully tweaking some effects on top before getting into a mix of current hip hop.

At the same time, now well on the other side of midnight, Galactic was rocking the Purple Hat stage. As the temperature continued to drop into the low 30’s and everyone could see their own breath, dancing was the only way to stay warm. At this point, Galactic brought out Chali 2na and Boots Riley to perform From The Corner To The Block. Unfortunately, Boots stumbled a few times with his verse as his voice got raspy and started to go out, likely due to having just finished a 75 minute set with his own band. Chali, however, kept things on point with a live version of his collab with Galactic, Think Back. There are many more things I could say about the Galactic set as it was truly one of the most enjoyable sets of the weekend, but I digress. (Peep the full audio download of Galactic’s set here.)

Also, keep in mind that when Galactic finished at 1:30am, the night wasn’t over, we still had Dr. Klaw from 2 to 3:30am and I shot that entire set (videos coming soon of course). And Dr. Klaw was followed by Mike Dillon’s Hairy Apes BMX from 3:30 to 5am. (I only caught one song before calling it a night and crashing in my rugged and freezing tent.)

The following videos where not shot by me. (I didn’t get any videos of Galactic for some stupid reason. I think maybe my hands were too cold!). But these videos do showcase Chali’s appearance with Galactic, as well as the end portion of Chali 2na and his band’s set, featuring solos from each band member.

Galactic with Chali 2na 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
Think Back:

Galactic with Chali 2na & Boots Riley 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
From The Corner To The Block:

Chali 2na 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
Freedom (w/ Corey Glover), Quality Control, One More Chance:

Chali 2na 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
What’s Golden:

Chali 2na 11/11/11 Bear Creek Music Festival
Lock Shit Down, Rock Lobster, & band solos: