Duuh, hey, I was at that show, too! Which one were you? :D
> With some new members present, they started slowly but
I don't know what the deal is with the lineup. The only original members
there were bassist Jez Colin, flautist/saxophonist Derrick Davis and
vocalist Mark Tunkara. They also had the same guitarist and percussionist
they've been gigging with for the past couple of years.
> soon got everyone moving. IMHO, it wasn't until the last
> song of the first set that they truly started to jam. The
> first set was too short, and had two slow reggae jams in
> a row. Not a good way to get people dancing. I love reggae,
(In my sports commentator voice) "I'm with you there, Mike." In addition to
the usual jazzfunk, the Solsonics are a little heavy on the latin and the
reggae; when they first started out many compared them to another
L.A.-based band, War.
> next to each other! The new drummer is damn solid,
> and picks very tasty fills.
He was cool, though I miss Willie McNeil, the original drummer, who's
quite a character himself. Both are real precise groove monsters, but
Willie's one of those drummers who make those funky facial expressions
and body motions when he plays. He's also a semi-heavy-set guy. I heard
the drummer there on Wednesday night is some guy from Sweden.
> In terms of musicality, I was impressed with the general
> ability of everyone in the band to play the changes, not
> just play a blues scale or stick to Dorian/myxolidian modes.
"That keyboard player has good posture..."
> Special Kudos goes to the Trumpet Player, who evoked
> the spirit of Miles Davis more than once in the evening.
Very tasty playing, though he's got one of the weirdest playing looks of any
trumpet player I've seen. Pardon my bluntness, but he looks like a high
school geek, but yes, man, can he play that horn.
> The Flute player needs to play the sax more...he can, so
> why doesn't he? It leads me to think that the flute is a
> stylistic choice...myself, I'd like to hear more T.O.P. style
I noticed that night that his tone is VERY mellow. Which is cool. Or maybe
I'm used to Tommy's playing (for the uninitiated, he's the sax/flute
player in our band, which you folks should check out soon, but we'll
discuss that in another topic... :))
The Solsonics, at least when I last saw them (late '94) had a tenor sax
player (Jim Akimoto) in place of the trumpet player you saw. The
tenor/flue and tenor/alto combination was rather nice.
> All in all, a very good gig though. Those of you in
Southern > California would do well to check them out...this wednesday
> scene is to be a regular occurence I gather...mail me if
> any of you would like more info.
...And I second that. 14 Below on Wednesday nights is Soulsides night
with the Solsonics and a DJ who plays before, after and between sets.
For those of you in the L.A. area, it's right on the corner of 14th
Street and Santa Monica Blvd in Santa Monica. (Take the 10 west, exit
Lincoln Blvd, make a right until 14th street). Showtime's at 9, but they
don't start playing until 11 p.m.
-30-
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Elson Trinidad, Los Angeles, CA
elson@westworld.com
http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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