A very lucky crowd at the iconic, pint-sized "Baked Potato" jazz club in Los Angeles received a special treat this past New Year's Eve: an extraordinary, intimate holiday show from a band of funk phenoms known as Rock Candy Funk Party. The concert concluded a rare, scintillating three-night run by the band at the legendary venue. Tal Bergman, drummer extraordinaire and the founder of Rock Candy Funk Party once noted that, "This band is fueled by pure fun." He couldn't be more right, but when Rock Candy took the stage, it became immediately clear that the band is also about exceptional music. Thanks to the collaborative effort among this group of world class musicians and the particular excellence of their musicianship, the fun just naturally follows from the funk.
Rock Candy's brand of improvisational jazz-funk is deeply rooted in the tradition created in the 1970's and continued into the 1980's by such geniuses of jazz as Miles Davis on his "We Want Miles" live album and Herbie Hancock on his seminal album "Head Hunters." But the music also has a fresh, contemporary feel to it, absorbing the diverse influences of each of the band's ultra-talented members. In addition to the widely acclaimed Bergman, the band consists of funk specialist Ron DeJesus on guitar, blues titan Joe Bonamassa on guitar, the Conan house band's talented and spirited Mike Merritt on bass, versatile, sonically inspired keyboardist Fred Kron, and the rhythmically hypnotic Daniel Sadownick on percussion.
The band kicked the night off with the high-energy "Cubes Brick," an edgy, riff-heavy rocker featuring lots of power chords and some aggressive, energetic soloing from guitarist Bonamassa. To follow up, the band launched into "Lowtide,"a danceable jam filled with synth horn hits and a spacey, sliding and bending keyboard solo from Kron. The highly melodic pair of "We Want Groove" and "Steppin' In It" followed, the former with a slick, syncopated percussion solo from Sadownick and the latter featuring heavy-groove bass playing by Merritt. A particularly nice moment occurred during "Steppin'" when the band dropped, out except for the rhythm section, setting the stage for another intense, powerhouse solo from Bonamassa. The band got the crowd clapping along enthusiastically to the worldbeat influenced "Uberstation" and then rocked the house with the James Brown era funk-inflected "Dope On a Rope." During "Rope," guitarist DeJesus continued to flash his mega-chops and his deep feel for the genre while trading licks with the still-blazing Bonamassa; a duel so hot I was nervous that the Baked Potato might start to burn. "Don't Funk With Me" showed plenty of its titular attitude as the first set's closer, featuring percussion and drum solos from Sadowick and the jaw-dropping Bergman, respectively. The band definitely left the crowd in this starchy club hungry for the second set.
The James Bond inspired "Octopus-E" initiated the rollicking second half, played maybe a tick slower but no less funky than the band generally rocks it. The tempo picked right back up with "Work," which opens with an ominous, metal-sounding intro but then kicks right back into a heavy funk groove. The song was Mike Merritt's turn to shine as it featured a sweet sounding bass solo. A phenomenal rendition of "Heart Beat" contained one of Kron's more traditional-jazz oriented solos of the evening, and DeJesus followed it up with a solo turn that would be right at home at any boistrous rock or blues show. The song transformed into a whirl of guitar and drum frenzy just as the clock struck twelve, ringing in a happy and exciting New Year for all inside the Baked Potato. But the band kept rocking past midnight, after giving the crowd a chance to toast and blow their noisemakers. They settled into a steady R&B groove with the sultry "Mr. Clean" before allowing Mr. Bonamassa to cut loose and rock a feverish solo on the guitar that would have made Hendrix and Page proud. The band closed out set number 2 with a vigorous, polyrhythmic "One Phone Call" featuring more exuberant drums and percussion from Bergman and Sadownick. The night ended with a one-song encore of "New York Song," a downtempo, moving tribute to the city that never sleeps. There was simply no better way to end the night.
Rock Candy Funk Party put on a crowd-pleasing, extremely energetic and heavily improvisational show that never let up for a moment. Perhaps the best part was that the band deftly worked in exciting new material from their upcoming studio album (!!) Groove Is King while leaving plenty of time to play a plethora of old favorites as well. Seeing Rock Candy is a real treat because it's so rare to hear this kind of jazz-funk at all in this era; and to hear it with such brilliant musicians present together makes it all the more unforgettable. If you don't own Rock Candy's stellar debut studio record We Want Groove and their unbelievable follow-up live album Live at the Iridium, you will want to pick these mind-blowing albums up immediately. And don't forget to be on the look out for Groove Is King when it's released later this year. If New Year's Eve was any indication at all, Rock Candy Funk Party's newest LP is about to take jazz-funk music to the next level!
