. I got the Greyhound’s CD Liberty several months ago for the station and got introduced to their brand of funk. When I walked into the bobbing club last night to finally see the Greyhounds live, I was a little confused at first. All I could see from across the room was one white guy with a guitar--no offense to white people, I am one myself--but the Greyhounds have a sound that is steeped in something more African based. That’s when the questions started.....
Where were the other musicians? The sound was full, the room was packed, and the groove was on. I got closer to the stage. I was very surprised to see only 3 musicians, none of them African by descent. The musical stereotype in my head got bent, and and I think its the musical DNA that counts after all! Their music is self-described as a combination of funk and blues, but some press sources have referred to them as a blend of both jazz and soul. To me, this was funk, with blues and soul woven in- most notably blues on the guitar and soul from some of the vocals—the singer role switched from song to song. And speaking of soulful vocals, I became quite confused—where was this lady who was belting out the notes? That was my next question. Maybe she was singing in the crowd somewhere—sometimes performers do that. I moved closer to the stage. Turns out it was the man playing the drums singing, walloping us with striking falsetto. So the lineup was a man sitting with two keyboards on the left, a drummer center, and standing guitarist right. They rolled out one funky number after another, switching up vocals and improvising on occasion, and that just led me to my last question—where was the bass player? I heard the bass, but.. It was hard to see, so I was asking others. The bass player was the keyboard player—playing bass on the keys with his left hand while jamming and jazzing it up Hammond-style on his right, at times also singing. That’s just musical genius. If you want some music to loosen you up on a Friday night, these guys will do the trick no problem. They warmed us right up for the next treat:..
T-Bird and the Breaks have a remarkably retro sound for a bunch of seemingly young fellas and gals. The band is much the assemblage of front man Tim Crane, and they have clearly studied, listened to, and are now paying tribute to the historical makers of R & B soul music. These kids have enough soul and talent to already be cats, only about 2 or 3 years in the making as a band. Before they finish entering the stage, some of the band members’ fashion speaks for them all: dark pants with white shoes, some vests, fedoras, sunglasses. Musically, they live up to the fashion statement rather quickly. T-Bird and the Breaks are a 10-piece soul band, driven by horns (baritone sax, trombone, more sax..), tight rhythm, clean guitar riffs, harmonizing ladies, and the bottom-of-your-stomach-shout-like-you-mean-it vocal grit of front man Tim Crane (T-Bird). Most songs are feel-good and funk-powered, with the set list peppered by an occasional ballad-- successfully reeling the crowd in after dancing and swiveling the sweat out. The band, especially the horns, have the ability to wind it up or down in a way that directly nods to James Brown ‘s JB’s, and the band as a whole sometimes improvises in a way reminiscent of the Greyboy All-Stars. It’s not summer in Austin, but it dang sure felt like it when T-Bird and the Breaks were done having their way!
No comments:
Post a Comment