19 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s

The Nth Power - Time To Get It Together - Marvin Gaye Tribute

The Nth Power presents: Time To Get It Together – A Tribute To Marvin Gaye
Saturday, April 27, 2019
New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s (actually the morning of 4/28/19)

Part 1 of 5: Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky) > What’s Going On, Distant Lover, Come Live With Me Angel > I Wanna Be Where You Are

Part 2 of 5: I Wanna Be Where You Are / Band Intros } I Want You, Got to Give It Up, Falling in Love Again

Part 3 of 5: Falling in Love Again } Anger, When Did You Stop Loving Me When Did I Stop Loving You, You’re All I Need to Get By

Part 4 of 5: You’re All I Need to Get By > Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing > Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Sexual Healing, Encore: Nigel speaks, Dedication to Kofi Burbridge

Part 5 of 5: Encore: I Heard It Through The Grapevine > JazzFest 4:20 > I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Heavy Love Affair

The Nth Power presents: Time To Get It Together – A Tribute To Marvin Gaye
Saturday, April 27, 2019
New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s (actually the morning of 4/28/19)

Sony EMC-MS908C stereo mic > Canon XA20 video camera > 16/48 WAV > CD Wave Editor > FLAC
Recorded by Funk It Blog

01. // Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky) >
02. What’s Going On
03. Distant Lover
04. Come Live With Me Angel >
05. I Wanna Be Where You Are / Band Intros >
06. I Want You
07. Got to Give It Up
08. Falling in Love Again >
09. Anger
10. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You
11. You’re All I Need to Get By >
12. Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing >
13. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
14. banter
15. Sexual Healing
Encore:
16. Nigel speaks
17. Dedication to Kofi Burbridge
18. I Heard It Through The Grapevine >
19. JazzFest 4:20 >
20. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
21. Heavy Love Affair (with Eric “Benny” Bloom and everyone else)

The Nth Power:
Nikki Glaspie – drums & vocals
Nate Edgar – bass & vocals
Nick Cassarino – guitar & vocals
Weedie Braimah – djembe & vocals
Nigel Hall – keyboards & vocals

Guests:
Rob Marscher – keyboards
Paul Robertson – trombone
Steve Lands – trumpet
Bryan McNamara – alto saxophone
Chrishira Perrier – vocals
Kayla Jasmine – vocals
Erin Boyd (aka Phantom Vanity) – vocals
Eric “Benny” Bloom – cowell, then trumpet (only on Heavy Love Affair)

Notes:
The first 5 to 15 minutes are missing. They likely played Inner City Blues & Mercy Mercy Me before I arrived. Those are the tunes they opened with when they reprised this Marvin Gaye Tribute at High Sierra Music Festival on July 5th, 2019. I Heard It Through The Grapevine was played by just the core 5, without any guests. This was the first time Nigel has played with The Nth Power in over 4 years.

Words by Bee Getz, as quoted in his NOLA Jazz Fest After-Dark 2019 review at Upful Life / Live For Live Music:

Nikki Glaspie was a force of nature (once again) in this year’s annual The Nth Power tribute at One Eyed Jacks, an awe-inspiring homage to Marvin Gaye titled “Time to Get it Together.” This show was possibly the most emotionally-driven musical experience in a fortnight chock-full of them. Bringing together a collective of musicians to dig deep into Marvin’s canon, the squad featured Weedie Braimah, Nigel Hall, Phantom Vanity’s Erin Boyd, trombonist Paul Robeson (Soul Rebels), trumpet player Steve Lands, saxophonist Bryan McNamara, Star Kitchen keyboardist (and longtime Nth co-conspirator) Rob Marscher, vocalists Chrishira Perrier and Kayla Jazmine, and the core trio of Glaspie, bassist Nate Edgar and guitarist/frontman Nicholas Cassarino, with a special appearance from Lettuce trumpet-maestro Eric “Benny” Bloom. Nothing could prepare any of us for the tear-jerking, whiskey-swilling journey into the annals of Jazz Fest voodoo magic that we witnessed at One Eyed Jacks long into the night. The swollen massive careened through Marvin’s funkier deep cuts and transitioned into the bigger hits as the evening wore on. Merely twenty minutes in, Hall and Cassarino removed their sportcoats in unison, a clear indicator that shit was about to get real. Nigel, seated at a Rhodes at the front of the stage next to Cassarino, continued to turn around and face Glaspie at her drum seat each time she stunned the audience with soprano tones. “That’s My BABY!” Hall repeatedly exclaimed, and trust that he meant it.

The vibrant ensemble continued to scale the clouds, making lovers of us all, one luscious track after the next. “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, complete with multi-layered harmonies and vocal workouts taking us to church and back again. They came with the haymakers and nearly leveled One Eyed Jacks to its foundation by the time they returned, imbibed and inspired, for the undeniable triple encore. The air was thick and the vibes even thicker as the five original members of The Nth Power dropped into a positively orgasmic “Sexual Healing” that froze the entire room in its tracks, while dozens of panties hit the floor at one time. Presiding over this mouth-watering glory was none other than darling Nikki, ever the Evangelist, holding it down and hitting all the high notes like only this Empress can. “The Good Reverend Doctor” Nigel Hall and the “Master Prophet” Nicky Cake took turns talking some things out onstage, while the whole band (somewhat aggressively) passed a bottle around the horn. Then, somehow, they managed to dig even deeper. During a filthy “Grapevine” finale that made its way through Nth’s classic “Jazz Fest 420”, they exploded into “Heavy Love Affair”, manifested in the form of a salacious D.C. Go-Go joint. This final transmission saw Benny Bloom pop into the mix to get busy on trumpet, and the rest of the big band followed suit as they passed the solo around one mo’ time, with feeling, bringing back that District swagger time and time again. In a city and festival overwrought with tribute shows, The Nth Power delivers second to none, each and every year down at the Jazz Fest. Ring the alarm, we’ve got another instant classic on our hands. Astonishing how many times they can return to the well, yet always be finding forever.

The Nth Power - Time To Get It Together - Marvin Gaye Tribute

I must save space to mention The Nth Power’s 6th Annual Last Hurrah, which takes place the Monday after Jazz Fest at the Blue Nile. Always a wonderful way to close out your Fest adventure, this year had added intrigue as the original squadron, no longer fresh from the waterworks and whiskey-town of the previous weekend’s Marvin magic, arrived at the Nile a weathered yet wiser assembly of souls. The band had mined so much out of the earlier performance that much of the emotional weight of this show was relieved before it even started. The core trio began by performing an hour of sparkly material from new full length LP, To Be Free. For the second set, Weedie and Nigel would join Nikki, Nick, and Nate for a terrific trip down memory lane. Alas, it was thrilling and heart-filling to hear the shelved Nigel-era classics revived in all their N’awlinz glory. “Jazzfest 420”, “Only Love”, “Holy Rain”, “Walk on Water”—shit, even the Doobies’ “What a Fool Believes” was busted out in all it’s shimmering Michael McDonald baritone bliss. These goose-bump melodies I thought I’d never hear sung in these same Nigel/Nicky Cake heavenly harmonies again, anchored by the dub-wise rugged-style of sturdy bassist Nate Edgar and the intoxicating riddims of Glaspie and Braimah’s gumbo elixir. So grateful that these musicians, this FAMILY, found their way back to one another, and the Last Hurrah was a gloriously graceful way to wind down the cosmic carnival that was this year’s NOLA expedition for Jazz Fest 50.

“There is no more beautiful music… that you will hear in your life… than music made among friends… and music that’s made with your family.” – Nigel Hall

Oteil Burbridge & Friends – May 3rd, 2019 – New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre

Oteil Burbridge & Friends - New Orleans 2019

Oteil Burbridge & Friends
May 3, 2019
New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre

Oteil Burbridge – bass, vocals
Melvin Seals – keyboards, vocals
Alfreda Gerald – vocals
Adam Deitch – drums
Eric Krasno – guitar, vocals
John Kadlecik – guitar, vocals
Weedie Braimah – djembe, congas
Jennifer Hartswick – trumpet, vocals
Natalie Cressman – trombone, vocals

AUDIO: Soundboard + Schoeps CCM5’s > Tascam DR-70D
-mics placed onstage center in cardioid/ortf
FOH, Recording, Mixing, & Mastering: Phil Harris – PH Balanced Recordings

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Oteil Burbridge & Friends
May 3, 2019 – New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre
Part 1 of 3: Set One: Water In The Desert, Dear Prudence [The Beatles], The Harder They Come [Jimmy Cliff], Piece Of My Heart [Erma Franklin / Janis Joplin]

Oteil Burbridge & Friends
May 3, 2019 – New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre
Part 2 of 3: Set Two: Cats Down Under The Stars [Garcia/Hunter], The Weight [The Band], How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) [Marvin Gaye], High Time [Grateful Dead], Tangled Up In Blue [Bob Dylan], Sugaree / I’ll Take You There [Grateful Dead / The Staples Sisters], Tough Mama [Bob Dylan] (with John Morgan Kimock), Reubin & Cerise [Garcia/Hunter] (with John Morgan Kimock)

Oteil Burbridge & Friends
May 3, 2019 – New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre
Part 3 of 3: Encore: Weedie Braimah djembe solo > Unconditional Love

Jam Cruise 2016 VIDEOS: Lettuce in the Theater, Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff in the Jam Room and Eric Bloom in the Jazz Lounge

Lettuce Jam Cruise Pantheon Theater

Lettuce 1/8/16 Jam Cruise – Part 1 of 2:
“Neal Untitled”, Let Bobby, Ghost of Jupiter, Squadlive > Lettsanity > Body Heat [James Brown cover] (with Nigel Hall) > Lettsanity

Bee Getz as quoted in his Jam Cruise 14 overview review at Live For Live Music:

I am not sure I have vernacular to adequately describe what went down in that room. Lettuce is already leading the charge toward the new frontier; evolving, growing and exploding into a genre all their own. In the Pantheon Theater, twas a mixture of the hour, the elements, and environs. Riding the high of their film screening, this was a focused band on a mission. The willingness to dive headfirst into pure, free-form Type II jamming, as an eight or nine piece ensemble, was astonishing. That they are delivering these excursions to the netherworlds is enough; yet the physicality of their sound is a historical discovery, a breakthrough on the search for new land. Infinitely more bass gymnastics from the crooked cross became an assiduous assault. This was sonic ammunition for a frenzied dance-rage deep into the ocean waters, never mind thousands of leagues beneath.

From bombastic trap-thunderclaps, with humongous bottom end from the man they call Jesus, the question wasn’t bass, it was how low could they go. The sounds emanating from Neal Evans were grandiose; downright imperial in their psychedelia. The same can be said for the synth-rig Ryan Zoidis pumped through his alto, drenched in the dankest in dub arkology. Furious percussion grooves from Deitch, augmented by Tyler Coomes, created opulent hip-hop temples of boom, This new soundwave enabled their wide-open improvisations to be created with colors native to Tipper, or Thriftworks, yet the textures are in the late 70’s Bootsy Collins zip code, Benny Bloom was the G-code personified, blowing his bitch’s brew atop the wave. There is simply no other music being made like this. Period. On this night, Lettuce would drop no less than THREE of these magnum opuses, snowflake adventures bursting at the themes. The first two were Neal Evans‘ creations; dude is a mad freaking scientist, imagining post-apocalyptic galaxies and manifesting them in song. This was the spirit of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure,’ set to psychedelic crunk. Throw in a Nigel Hall and Shmeeans-led D’angelo tease (“Chicken Grease”) in the middle of “Do It Like You Do” and Lettuce officially shut down Jam Cruise. We have glimpsed the future. Get some shades, yo.

Lettuce 1/8/16 Jam Cruise – Part 2 of 2:
Blast Off > Trillogy > Making My Way Back Home (inc. Bustin Loose [Chuck Brown cover]) (with Nigel Hall) > Do It Like You Do (inc. Chicken Grease [D’Angelo cover]) (with Nigel Hall & ???)

Lettuce question & answer session 1/8/16 Jam Cruise:
Earlier in the afternoon, after they premiered the “Let Us Play” documentary there was a Q&A session with everyone from Lettuce plus Kunj Shah of Live 4 Live Music (producer of the film) and Jay Sansone of Human Being (director of the film)

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Shmeeans Jam Room Jam Cruise

The night before, Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff held down the Jam Room for no less than 3 hours. It started around 2:30am with Alvin Ford Jr. holding down the main drum chair for approximately 2.5 hours with only a short break for Trombone Shorty’s rhythm section to jump in.

Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff’s Jam Room 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 1 of 4:
A loose Jam with Deitch on the 2nd drum kit and Ivan Neville, Borahm Lee & Nigel Hall flourishing on the keyboards.

Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff’s Jam Room 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 2 of 4:
An hour later I stepped back in to find Trombone Shorty‘s rhythm section (Mike Ballard & Joey Peebles) laying it down and pumping and slinking through several improvisational grooves along with Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe guitarist DJ Williams and Jans Ingber (formerly of the The Motet).

Meanwhile, stuff like this happened:

Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff’s Jam Room 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 3 of 4:
Then Nigel Hall and Jesus Coomes joined Ryan Zoidis, Eric McFadden and a dual drum assault of Isaac Teel from Tauk and Alvin Ford Jr. for a run through Nigel’s own tune “Don’t Change For Me” with a slight bridge to pay tribute to the godfathers The Meters on “A Message From The Meters”. Shit was hot.

Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff’s Jam Room 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 4 of 4:
The jams just continued and continued with Charly Lowry (recent vocalist for The New Mastersounds) and many other players. Jesus gives up the bass to Oteil Burbridge and Deitch tries to battle it out with Alvin Ford Jr., but Ford the cyborg holds it down like a machine and prevails with Deitch throwing in the towel around 5am. Shortly after this video ended, the very talented ~~unknown female guitarist~~ Emily Musolino ~~seen here~~ took over on bass duties and kept it rocking for 30+ more minutes. ~~Does anyone know who she is?~~

Bee Getz as quoted in his Jam Cruise 14 overview review at Live For Live Music:

The concept of the Jam Room is in its essence what makes this boat sail. Lettuce guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff had hosting duties on night two, and it was a gluttonous, rowdy affair; the funk and grooves were massive, and the sound was gargantuan. Ably assisted by members of Lettuce, Dumpstaphunk, Jans Ingber, Todd Stoops, Eric McFadden, Tyler and Jesus Coomes, Oteil Burbridge, among others, the first two hours of this Jam Room was maybe the best of the week. Alvin Ford Jr, drummer of Dumpstaphunk, showed everybody why he is a fucking cyborg. Word on the street is that Ford was created in a lab, fed only the highest grade supplements, and trained twenty hours a day for twenty years. He is now a veritable Terminator. built to destroy any drum kit or drummer, at any given moment in time. The ‘Boy Wonder’ Adam Deitch, and the new kid on the block Isaac Teel (Tauk) both sat down to double drum with Ford, and for a while they each pushed along and rode the train as best they could. In the end, Ford took them both down, as Deitch playfully gave up and threw his sticks in the air, signifying “defeat”, while Teel took it in stride, as he definitely had the most God-given steez of any player on the Divina. Daps go to Shmeeans for leading this ensemble through some of the heaviest funk on Jam Cruise. Key tunes- an uplifting, bouncing “Don’t Change for Me” (Nigel Hall), a raging “Hang Up Your Hang Ups” (Herbie Hancock), and “Thank You for Lettin Me Be Mice Elf, Again” (Sly Stone).

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Eric Benny Bloom Jam Cruise Jazz Lounge

Eric “Benny” Bloom’s Jazz Lounge 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 1 of 4:
The end of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy [Joe Zawinul cover] with Johnny Vidacovich, David Torkanowsky (both of Astral Project), Michael League (of Snarky Puppy), Will Bernard & Congo Sanchez

Eric “Benny” Bloom’s Jazz Lounge 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 2 of 4:
Night Train [Jimmy Forrest cover] with Stanton Moore swapping out with Johnny Vidacovich and Mike Maher (of Snarky Puppy) joining on trumpet

Eric “Benny” Bloom’s Jazz Lounge 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 3 of 4:
Passion Dance [McCoy Tyner cover] with Stanton Moore, David Torkanowky, James Singleton, Will Bernard, Skerik & Weedie Braimah

Eric “Benny” Bloom’s Jazz Lounge 1/7/16 Jam Cruise – Part 4 of 4:
How Blue Can You Get [Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers cover] with Alvin Ford Jr., David Torkanowsky, James Singleton, Eric McFadden & Skerik

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