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Event
Welcome to Funkastan! Rhythm Express record release concert (with special guests Heavyweights Brass Band)
Welcome to Funkastan!
A double bill featuring The Heavyweights Brass Band and The Rhythm Express in celebration of Kingston Blues, the sophomore release from The Rhythm Express.
This is a great opportunity for both bands to throw a party on each others behalf - a New Orleans funk meets Kingston JA rhythm shakedown.
Sunday September 25, 2016
Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas Street West, Toronto)
Doors: 6:30
Show: 7:30
$15 advance, $20 at door
The Rhythm Express
With four core members (Bill King, Jesse Dubmatix King, Everton Pablo Paul and Shane Shaky J Forrest), The Rhythm Express was formed in 2015 after some inspired sessions with legendary guitarist Ernest Ranglin. Each month since January 2015, the Express quietly dropped a single on YouTube and CBC Radio, with notable guest artists playing on every selection: Ranglin played guitar on the first singles with the band, I Cant Stand the Rain, featuring Selena Evangeline on lead vocals and guitar, and Midnight Confessions, featuring popular Canadian multi-Juno Award-nominated reggae artist, Ammoye.
The band is heard almost daily across the country and has appeared twice on q - CBCs finest interview/music show - live at TD Toronto Jazz Festival, five times at the Beaches International Jazz Festival, Markham Jazz Festival, Trius Jazz Festival and more. The players share a mutual admiration for those great studio rhythm sections dating back to the sixties and seventies: Federal Records (Kingston, Jamaica), Muscle Shoals (Sheffield, Alabama), Stax (Memphis, Tennessee), Motown (Detroit, Michigan), The Wrecking Crew (Los Angeles, California).
Pauls home basement studio (Side Door Records) is the perfect set-up. All of the equipment is there Shane Forrest is one hell of a recording engineer and guitar/bass man. The room is good vibes - resplendent in a vibrant island color scheme - and the commitment to the feel of old school funk and the growing number of first-rate musicians engaged in the recording process is remarkable. 2010 Juno award recipient and five-time nominee, reggae artist Jesse Dubmatix King settles in on electric bass, and recording engineer Forrest plays rhythm guitar. Paul, an inaugural inductee into Torontos Reggae Hall of Fame, holds down the drums, and King, a widely-celebrated fixture in Torontos jazz scene, plays keys. The guest voices are some of the most celebrated in Canada Maiko Watson, Michael Dunston of Soul Stew, and reggae queen, Ammoye Evans and recently guest appearing, singer/guitarist Julian Taylor.
Says band leader Bill King, We feel privileged and fortunate to have this rich/vast catalog of soul/funk/ska/reggae history from which to borrow. Jazz has taken some of the finest songs of Gershwin, Porter, Arlen, and Bacharach - you name them - and revisited the melodies with contemporary sensibilities in mind. Pablo, Michael and I were there when the soul explosion began playing five hours a night, six nights a week. Otis, Sam & Dave, Carla, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, Booker T. & the MGs the list goes on. These artists and their grand inventory of supremely crafted songs really shaped our musical sensibilities. To find ourselves in the present day with like-minded musicians in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and share common ground studio and stage time is what being a musician is all about. Its the journey the power and practice the sounds and those rare; those special people moments. The first side, Soul Explosion garnered world-wide airplay and raves from international music press.
Heavyweights Brass Band
Whether receiving props from The Roots on Twitter, jamming with puppets on CBC Kids' Mamma Yamma, recording with the legendary Giovanni Hidalgo or being championed by influential DJ and tastemaker Gilles Peterson, The Heavyweights Brass Band pack a one-two punch of crossover appeal and respect from music's elite.
Inspired by the New Orleans brass band tradition, the Heavyweights' original stance keeps one foot firmly rooted in the rich legacy of jazz, while one foot steps forward into the future. Like the music's originators, the Heavyweights are unafraid to incorporate influences from disparate areas of the musical spectrum, from pop hits of the day to original compositions, from R&B and funk throwbacks to the infectious rhythms of Latin America, all woven together with the thread of adventuresome sophistication.
The uppercut ascent of the Heavyweights' arc has been the result of relentless dedication. Touring across Canada and sharing the stage with such influential groups as The Roots, Trombone Shorty, Galactic and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble has helped build the group a loyal following. Now with their sophomore release Brasstronomical, the Heavyweights are offering a unique sound with emphasis on their original compositions. They delve deeper and more eclectically into each musical direction implied on their first album. Brasstronomical reveals the band's music is stronger, bolder, funkier and more mature than ever before.
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LocationLula Lounge (View)
1585 Dundas St West
Toronto, ON M6K 1T6
Canada
Categories
| Minimum Age: 19 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
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