Khris Royal & Dark Matter w/ Doug Wimbish (Part 1 of 6)
unknown song:
Khris Royal & Dark Matter w/ Doug Wimbish (Part 2 of 6):
unknown song:
Khris Royal & Dark Matter w/ Doug Wimbish & Corey Clover (Part 3 of 6)
Sex Machine [James Brown cover]:
Khris Royal & Dark Matter w/ Doug Wimbish & Corey Clover (Part 4 of 6)
Superstition [Stevie Wonder cover]:
Khris Royal & Dark Matter w/ Doug Wimbish & Corey Clover (Part 5 of 6)
Superstition [Stevie Wonder cover] (continued):
Khris Royal & Dark Matter w/ Living Colour (Part 6 of 6)
Love Rears Its Ugly Head:
Meanwhile…. downstairs…
Royal Potato Family Allstars (Skerik, Mike Dillon, John Speice, Reed Matthis, Marco Benevento, Robert Walter, Carly Myers)
5/4/13 New Orleans, LA @ Blue Nile:
What can I say? Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? I went harder than ever this year. I believe I saw 29 bands in 5 nights (not counting one day at the Fairgrounds at the actual festival). So many amazing musical moments happened that its hard to recount them all. Instead I put together a video of highlights with clips from nearly every band I saw, in chronological order. Consider it a teaser until all 300 gigs of videos are edited and uploaded here.
Funk It’s New Orleans Jazz Fest 2013 Video:
Wednesday May 1st:
01. Dumpstaphunk – Take Time @ Louisiana Music Factory
02. Big Chief Monk Boudreaux – They Don’t Know @ Blue Nile Balcony Room
03. The Nth Power – Spirits @ Blue Nile
04. Dr. Klaw with Nikki Glaspie – Leave Me Alone @ One Eyed Jack’s
05. Bear Creek Allstars – Go To The Mardi Gras @ One Eyed Jack’s
Thursday May 2nd:
06. The Bayou Gypsies – Foxy Lady @ Tipitina’s – Tribute To Jimi Hendrix
07. Earphunk with Juno What?! – So Ruff So Tuff @ House of Blues Parish – Tribute To Zapp & Roger Troutman
08. Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe with Zach Deputy & Jon Cleary – Unchain My Heart @ House of Blues – Tribute To Ray Charles
09. Robert Walter’s 20th Congress – ??? @ One Eyed Jack’s
10. Fiya Powa! – Standing On Shaky Ground @ One Eyed Jack’s
Friday May 3rd:
11. The Revivalists with Big Sam – Sexy Motherfucker @ Fiya Fest
12. The New Orleans Suspects with The Bonerama Horns – All The Money @ Fiya Fest
13. Funky But Better – Doug Wimbish bass solo @ Fiya Fest
14. Dragon Smoke with Nick Daniels – Padlock @ Fiya Fest
15. Dragon Smoke & The Roots of Music Marching Band – Karate @ Fiya Fest
16. G.A.B.E (George Porter Jr, Anders Osborne, Billy Iuso & Eric Bolivar) – Mr. Charlie @ Fiya Fest
17. Dr. Klaw with Skerik – Beef @ Fiya Fest
18. Karl Denson & The Dirty Dozen Horns – Who Let The Happiness Out @ Fiya Fest
19. Orgone – Crazy Queen @ Republic
20. Everyone Orchestra – Improv @ Republic
21. Fantastic Four with Nigel Hall & The Shady Horns – Ain’t It Funky Now @ House of Blues Parish
22. The Motet – Stella Blue @ Howlin’ Wolf
Saturday May 4th:
23. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band – Blackbird Special @ d.b.a.
24. unknown Frenchman Street band
25. Khris Royal & Dark Matter with Doug Wimbish & Corey Glover – Superstition @ Blue Nile Balcony Room
26. Royal Potato Family Allstars with Carly Meyers – Improv @ Blue Nile
27. WIMBISH! (Living Colour) with Khris Royal – Love Rears Its Ugly Head @ Blue Nile Balcony Room
28. Johnny Vidacovich, Stanton Moore, Marco Benevento & Mike Dillon – Improv @ Maple Leaf
Sunday May 5th:
29. The Pimps of Joytime – Janxta Funk @ Tipitina’s
30. Dumpstaphunk – Nikki raps, Encore Jam @ Tipitina’s
One of the absolute best parts of the trip was partying with my boys Chris Rogers and Ryan Shapiro at Fiya Fest (and the late night Fiya Powa! show). These guys really know how to put on a party (see 2011 and 2012) and this one was bigger and better than ever. The production went off without a hitch and there was nothing but good food, good music and good people as far as the eye could see.
What made it even better is that all services were donated and all proceeds went to The Roots of Music organization.
I was glad to be a part of it and host a live video stream so the rest of the world could tune in and see how it’s done in New Orleans! I think we had over 2,500 views on the live stream (although I don’t think those were all unique viewers). It really was an unforgettable day!
Other highlights of the weekend included witnessing The Dirty Dozen Brass Band do their thing on their home turf at d.b.a., catching up with the Bear Creek family while Dr. Klaw and the Bear Creek Allstars rocked One Eyed Jack’s until the wee hours of the morning, finally seeing Vernon Reid and Living Colour, seeing Orgone with original vocalist Fanny Franklin back in the fold, dancing at the Maple Leaf until the sun rose while Marco Benevento, Johnny Vidacovich & Stanton Moore pounded out James Booker‘s “Gonzo”, and catching up with Dumpstaphunk as their new album is finally released to the world.
One more thing I have to mention is that Nikki Glaspie was far and away the MVP of the weekend. I heard she played 26 gigs during Jazz Fest! I’m not sure if that beats any records set by Stanton Moore, Ivan Neville or George Porter Jr, but it certainly is impressive. In fact, Nikki is on 8 of the 30 clips in my highlight video. She’s a monster.
I’d also encourage you to check out photographer Marc Millman’s youtube page for more Jazz Fest 2013 videos. Check out this great shot he got of “Funky But Better” at Fiya Fest and consider buying some prints from his website.
Funky But Better – Doug Wimbash – Photo by Marc Millman
Another youtube page to keep your eyes on is that of Funky Nunu.
What better 30th birthday present than two great funk bands playing down the street from my house in Louisville, Kentucky? On top of that, Galactic’s management gave me permission to videotape, guaranteeing quality for the viewers.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS.
NOTE: I recommend watching youtube videos in HD when possible, it makes a huge difference! Just click the “360p” in the bottom right hand corner and change it to “720p”.
Orgone is a funk band from LA that has been on the road non-stop the last few years. They toured with Galactic back in February and March, and, luckily for us, their tours just happened to criss-cross in the midwest for a few shows this summer.
I urged all of my friends to arrive early, and I was happy to see a semi-full house when Orgone hit the stage. Orgone headlined this same venue on a Saturday night back in November and there were barely 60 people in attendance. But that’s how you do it: start by converting a room of 60 people, who end up telling their friends about you, then come back through again.
Orgone opened with an instrumental cover of “Melting Pot” by Booker T & The MG’s. It was a great warm up choice that worked to get the crowd grooving. Of course, lead guitarist Sergio Rios always gets the crowd into it with this body gyrations and bouncing afro….
Portions of Orgone’s set featured their new vocalist Niki J. Crawford. It’s definitely sad to see their old singer, Fanny Franklin, leave to focus on her solo album, as her voice just had a grit to it that can’t be matched. When Franny would join the band, they always jelled like one organism on the same groove. Although Niki J. held her own, she seemed a little timid and it will be interesting to see if she continues with the band after this long summer tour is over…
Galactic was the band everyone came to see and the room was expectedly packed with people. I was lucky enough to have my buddy Brent in attendance, and he brought his audio recording equipment. We used my new clamp to mount his video camera to his mic stand, allowing us to have two HD video cameras running for the entire performance. On top of that, I shot a few videos near the front with my iphone4.
Three cameras + Galactic’s light show = !!!
In recent years, Galactic has been bringing vocalists and MC’s out on the road with them, and that’s actually what really got me into the band. As much as I love the funk, I never really got into Galactic when they were purely instrumental (& I was a little late to experience the Houseman era).
This tour featured Corey Glover from Living Colour on vocals. Featured here is a double dose of Allen Toussaint covers. First up is “What Is Success?” I love the colored lights on this video, and the performance is over the top with Corey pretty much going off at the end.
Next up, another Allen Toussaint / Lee Dorsey cover, “Night People.” Galactic & Corey Glover played this song during Jazz Fest when they did a mini-set with The Funky Meters with all members of both bands playing together. Lucky for us, that wasn’t a one time performance and they’ve continued to work this tune into their setlists.
Only Galactic can turn a traditional Mardi Gras Indian chant into a hip-hop influenced funk workout like this next tune, “Hoo Nah Nay.” Corey Smith, trombonist for Rebirth Brass Band, takes center stage on this one (he has pretty much become a full time member of Galactic the last few years). This video also includes a Stanton Moore drum solo. Fortuitously, I started shooting video up front with my iphone right before the drum solo started, so there are plenty of close ups.
If you’ve made it this far, you will be rewarded by this last video. To close out the encore, a super intense cover of Led Zeppelin’s “How Many More Times.”
Special thanks to Galactic’s management for permission to run video. Also special thanks to Brent Stober for the audio, the wide video angle, and the first photo.
Three cameras + Galactic’s light show = !!!