This past Saturday night acted as a bit of a jam scene blast from the past, with Boston’s Addison Groove Project making a stop in New York for the first time since 2007, playing at Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Bowl. With the death of bassist John Hall in 2004, AGP never quite found their full groove again, and decided to call it quits in 2007. Last year, the band decided to get back together and played a few reunion shows last year – including their first full gig at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club.

Since reuniting, the band has enlisted bassist Aaron Bellamy (who has played most of the shows with AGP), and played some incredibly fun live sets, bringing back that jazz/funk/jam sound that they were always known for. The band decided to make a go at it once again this past weekend, with the Brooklyn Bowl show, followed by a party in Boston at Paradise. AGP enlisted both Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman of the Trey Anastasio Band for some horn duty (Hartswick has a long history with the band, dating back to their early days).

The group tore through a solid set of classics, covers, and even introduced a new song, “Meteorite,” by saxaphonist Dave Adams. Hartswick delivered a powerful vocal performance on a cover of Heart‘s “Magic Man,” while coves of “Tears” by Giorgio Moroder, and a set-closing “I Want Your Love” by Chic had everybody moving to the groove. Classics like “Neo-Geo,” “My Apartment,” “Beantown,” and “Crullers and Nyquil” were welcome addition to old-school fans.

I remember seeing Addison Groove Project in the early years at Bonnaroo and places like Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, NY, among other places. They were one of the first groups I gravitated towards in the jam scene; it was really sad to hear of the death of Hall, and to eventually see the band hang up the gloves and call it quits. When the Brooklyn Bowl show was announced, I couldn’t have been happier. My brother and I looked at each other at one point (as AGP was one of the first shows I took my brother to see), smiled, had that “Remember when….” moment, and just shook our heads at the thought of how life really does come full circle. It was one of those moments that you put in the books. Here is to the hope that Addison Groove Project makes another go-round at it, because they were certainly one of those bands that had “it,” and still do, in my opinion.

-Chris Meyer

[cover photo credit to Jeremy Gordon]