Touring in support of their late 2015 album, Boston-based funk super-group Lettuce aims to Crush a city near you.
On February 9th, 2016, celebrated by many as Mardi Gras, the band rolled into Santa Cruz, CA’s Catalyst Club with supporting Chicago native, artist ProbCause.
A true artist in every sense of the word, ProbCause is renowned for his genre-defying brand of storytelling that inspires deep thought and grooves equally as deep. An artisan of words as well as the pen, he creates all of his album artwork by hand and offers unique, one of a kind drawings and paintings for sale at his shows.
ProbCause warmed the crowd up proper in a fast paced 45 minute set that included hip hop beats, classical piano riffs and drum and bass with notes of extra wobble throughout. With three more days on the West Coast in support of Lettuce, ProbCause is hoping to extend his fast growing reach.
After ProbCause’s set, the lights dimmed and A Tribe Called Quest’s anthem “Scenario” took over the speakers as keyboardist Neal Evans, guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff, bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes, drummer Adam Deitch, and The Shady Horns, saxophonist Ryan Zoidis and trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom, all walked out on stage.
Opening with “Dr. Digglesworf,” chops were on display early as Bloom took the crowd up and around on a soft trumpet solo half way through the 10 minute track.
Evans and Smirnoff traded funky lines often on the Crush song, “Chief,” while Coomes could be seen shaking his hands in between songs from all of the hot lines. The loose, balls to the wall approach early on inspired similarly spaced funk crescendos between Bloom and Zoidis on “Pocket Change.”
“Dilla,” one of Lettuce’s several tribute tracks to the late, influential hip hop producer Jay Dee “J Dilla” Yancey appeared just hours before the 10th anniversary of Dilla’s death, followed an eerie organ intro layered by Evans and featuring a killer break beat throughout by Deitch.
The 10 minute “Dilla” jam was followed by “The Force”, another new track featured on Crush. “The Force” opens with a strong horn ensemble reminiscent of the main theme from the Kill Bill movies, “Battle Without Honor Or Humility”. Featuring several standout saxophone runs by Zoidis, it was a slow jam in the middle section that took the song to new heights.
Evans channeled the delicate keyboard wizardry that surrounds the likes of The New Deal’s Jamie Shields, while Deitch accentuated the shrill melodies of Smirnoff’s lead work before Coomes brought it all back together for the song’s final measures.
Maintaining the lead, Coomes moved onto the opening notes of a “Harmonic Jam”. An all out free form expression piece that borrows from influential space-funk pioneers Earth Wind & Fire and George Clinton, the restraint displayed by each member catapulted the crowded Catalyst into it’s own little world.
Bloom stepped up to the microphone to introduce the soulful vocal styling of Nigel Hall to the stage for the Ann Peebles cover “I Can’t Stand The Rain,” featuring a call and response chorus section with the audience before segueing into a shortened ending version of the new Lettuce original “Sounds Like A Party To Me.”
“Deitch Bobby”, the next track on the set list, featured a funk-jazz chord theme throughout before worming its way along and extending “By Any Shmeeans Necessary.” Both songs featured elevated, funky guitar riffs, uplifted by the Shady Horns section and blanketed in atmospheric keyboard sounds.
A huge “Trilogy > Madison Square” segment followed with lots of improvised groove. Each instrument helped build on each other part around it. With the energy climbing, once the right groove is found the band continues to refine it and attack the crowd. Recoil. Develop. Attack. It becomes a recurring pattern until the groove breaks down into a triumphant return to the main theme.
With a hard curfew fast approaching, Lettuce opted to scrap the final two songs off of the prearranged set list for “Making My Way Back To You” from 2008’s Rage! and moved the song planned for the encore, “Do It Like You Do,” to the end of the set. In doing this, Lettuce opted to play up until the curfew rather than sacrifice jams by stopping for an encore break.
Nigel Hall returned to the stage for the final two numbers, letting his voice ring out. One thing that cannot be said about Lettuce is that they drown each other out – in fact nothing could be further. The listening and real-time adjustment made throughout the course of any given show is one reason this funky group is so infectious.
Lettuce continues down California toward Los Angeles and Tuscon, AZ to close out the Gem and Jam Festival this coming Valentine’s Day. Beginning in March, they will be bouncing up and down the East Coast and Midwest as they continue adding more festivals to their list.
Of course, if you want to catch Lettuce lay down some funk and collaborate with GRiZ for the first time ever, along with Vulfpeck, Chris Robinson’s Soul Revue, Nth Power, and Goldfish, then be sure to head down to St. Augustine, FL from April 1-2 for Fool’s Paradise! The brand new festival promises one of a kind music, just minutes away from the beach. What better way to funk out could there be?! Tickets and more information can be found here.
Check out the Santa Cruz setlist below:
Setlist: Lettuce at The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA – 2/9/16
One Set: Dr. Digglesworth%, Chief, Pocket Change, Dilla, The Force > Harmonic Jam, I Can’t Stand The Rain&, Sounds Like A Part*, Deitch Bobby, By Any Shmeeans, Trilogy, Madison Square, Making My Way Back Home^, Do It Like You Do^
% – walked out to “Scenario” by A Tribe Called Quest
& – cover, Ann Peebles, featuring Nigel Hall
* – shortened ending, featuring Nigel Hall
^ – featuring Nigel Hall
A full gallery of Josh Huver’s images can be seen below:
