Many Jazz groups tend to split their albums between live shows and in-studio recording sessions. There are many reasons to do both. Some groups like the idea of “If I mess up a solo, I can also do another take.” Others like the background noise of the fans, and the adrenaline rush they get while playing in front of their fans. Regardless, the funk/soul group Soulive recently newest album Live in San Francisco showed us that a normally studio recorded group can perform great on stage as well.
Soulive’s most successful albums, “Turn it Out,” “Next,” “Doin’ Somethin,” “Up Here,” etc. tend to be more funk orientated then soul oriented. The drummer, Alan Evans, consistently laid down a pretty standard funk beat while the other two members of the original trio, Eric Krasno on guitar and Neal Evans on organ, bass keys and clavinet kept the idea of funk very prevalent in their music. You can distinguish funk from other forms of Jazz because funk is very much about the beat more than anything. Funk music is music you can groove to, you can feel in every part of you body and you just want to get up and dance to. Funk de-emphasizes the melody/harmony that traditional Jazz emphasizes and focuses on the beat. Live in San Fransico has many funk tracks, such as “Flurries” and “For Granted.”
“Flurries,” originally off of the album Next features a duo saxophone section, with rip-roarin’ solos from both. Especially during the alto’s solo, we can hear a ton of interaction throughout the band. While the soloist goes on many consistent licks, Alan Evans will quickly catch on and mimic what the soloist is doing. This is just one part of an incredible track.
As mentioned before, Soulive tends to sound great while in a traditional funk setting. None of the tracks fully switch over a “soul” sound, but one track, “Too Much” comes close. Nigel Hall is a soul singer, and he has no trouble bringing some soul to the stage in San Fran. He beings the track like many soul singers do, talking to the crowd and getting crowd responses. “Do you feel alright, yea?” and “Say yea… Yea!” Neil’s lyrics are most about how his life is difficult. “I’m strugglin’ to pay my rent, I get the feelin’ this ain’t no accident.” The main message behind this song is that it “don’t take too much to wear you down.” His extremely soulful voice work perfectly with the beautiful saxophone voicing’s. While Alan Evans stayed pretty consistent with his funk-oriented beat, it worked perfectly with the soul infused by Neil and the horn section. This sound is a bit unusual from Soulive, but they manage to pull it off without missing a beat. Their fusion funk/soul may sound funny on the surface but worked beautifully in this track.
While so many tracks on this album are very good, my favorite track is probably “El Ron.” This piece is constructed beautifully with numerous horn voicing’s which accompany the guitar soloist. After a very exciting intro, the tune simmers down to a soft mellow sound only to then come back up with exciting power. This track encompasses much of what this album is about: a rockin’ groove and great musical talent to go along with it. Overall, I would give this album a solid B+.
Tracklist:
1. “Up Right”
2. “Backwards Jack”
3. “For Granted”
4. “Too Much”
5. “Hat Trick”
6. “PJ’s”
7. “Flurries”
8. “The Swamp”
9.“El Ron”
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Soulive Plays “Backward Jack” Live @ Fox Theater:
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