About the Music...

Musical Influences

The founders of the band were inspired by the amazing soul-jazz and funk/grooves of players like Ivan "Boogaloo Joe" Jones, Grant Green, Melvin Sparks, Herbie Hancock, and the Funky Meters, as well as the amazing straight jazz and swing of players like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Duke Ellington, and Wes Montgomery.

The idea was to put together a band to play this great music, as well as jazz that listeners enjoy hearing!!! We are music lovers ourselves so we're more than happy to play the standards - Take Five, Autumn Leaves, In a Mellow Tone, All Blues, etc. No high level intellectual jazz here, just some deep soul-jazz, some grooving versions of the standards, and a touch of the blues thrown in to keep it real!! We have one original tune as well, and hope to do more as long as audience response is positive!

One neat thing about the type of music we're playing and the tunes we've chosen is that we can play them "straight" for quieter, formal, background occasions (like private parties or casuals), or we can open up and get rowdy and super funky in the clubs.

As listeners, we love to hear this music, and as players, we enjoy improvising on the basic framework of the tunes, so hopefully, they never come out the same twice. This keeps things fresh for both the audience and the band. Also, when we play live, especially at clubs where we can open up, we really like bringing up some hot players to join us for a few tunes; it takes the music and the band in a new and often unexpected directions.

We currently have a set list of about 40 tunes. Soon, we'll keep all the tunes we know listed here, so feel free to shout out a request at a show if we haven't played one of your favorites! :-)

Set List

Here's the set list from our December 14th gig at Skip's. We take requests.

1. Watermelon Man (J/P)
2. So What (solos are 32 bars, i.e., one chorus)
3. Cantaloupe Island (drum snap intro on 4) (J/P)
4. 54-46 (P) (bouncy)
5. I'll Be There
6. Jingle Bell Rock
7. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (solos to end with double statement of melody)
8. Cissy Strut
9. Tequila

10. One Mint Julep
11. If Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing
12. Summertime
13. On Broadway (J) (vocal in B,C, guit solo in C#, D.  Tail in D)
14. (Mustang Sally )
15. Feeling Alright
16. In a Mellow Tone
17. Greensleeves
18. My Favorite Things (R) [3/4 time]

19. Beard's Blues
20. Solar (P)
21. Low Rider
22. Autumn Leaves
23. Flinstones (P head, Rob all solos and tail)
24. Blue Bossa (M cymbal intro, R vamp, P/J head/tail)
25. O Christmas Tree
26. Save it for Later

27. Sunny (J)
28. Song for my Father (J/P) [AAB] (get funky in middle)
29. Chameleon (J, then J/P) (keyboard vamp/solo before head)
30. Take Five (P) [5/4 time] heavy rock unison riff to end)
31. All the Things You Are (delicate)
32. Take the A Train
33. Chitlins Con Carne (J, then J/P)
34. Iron City (J)
35. Thank You Falettin Me Be Mice Elf

EXTRAS

36. Fly Me to the Moon
37. Boogaloo Joe (quick drum roll intro on "3-4") (J, then J/P)
38. D Natural Blues (J)
39. All Blues (P) [6/8 time]
40. Dream on Little Dreamer (J)
41. Big John [head, tail: AABA, solos: AAB]
42. No Woman No Cry (R intro, P head, J solo [dbl dagger] reggae)
43. Straighten Up and Fly Right
44. Look at That Girl (J/P)
45. Work Song (P)
46. Red House (4 bar a capella guitar intro)
47. Freddie Freeloader (P)
48. Sweetback
49. Killing Floor
50. What's Going On (P)
51. Girl from Ipanema (J/M 4 bar intro, all 4 bar outro)
52. Mr. PC
53. Black Feeling (J/P) (extreme funk on the comping)
54. Reeling In the Years

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