Musical Musings of a Tiny Rager

Bowlive II: Night Three – Soulive w/ Alecia Chakour and Bernie Worrell @ The Brooklyn Bowl

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

The Royal Family just keeps raising the bar as the third night of Bowlive 2 was spectacular!!! Any night where the new musical generation of a genre gets to play with an old school member something magical happens on stage.

Last night, fifteen musicians rotated on and off The Brooklyn Bowl‘s stage as Soulive hosted keyboardist/Moog extraordinaire Bernie Worrell of George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic for a Parliament Funkadelic tribute that brought people to their knees.

Alecia Chakour & The Osrah

Alecia Chakour – Vocals
James Casey – Saxaphone
Makaya McCraven– Drums
Jaron Olevsky – Guitar
Igmar Thomas – Trumpet
Darby Wolf – Keyboardist

Special Guests:
Nigel Hall – Keys, Vocals
Ryan Zoidis – Alto Saxophone
Cheme Gastelum – Saxophone
Alan Evans – Guitar

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

The vampy Alecia Chakour engaged the audience with her soulful vocals to open the evening.  Chakour’s emotive voice was a nice change from the Nigel Hall and WAX sets that opened the previous nights. She is a phenomenal power behind the microphone similar to the likes of Joss Stone but better.  Chakour spoke of family and a theme that would define the evening was unleashed.

The addition of Alecia Chakour to The Royal Family has been a pleasant surprise this year. The combination of Nigel Hall and Alecia Chakour’s voice is seamless.  His vibrant, smooth voice melds wonderfully with Alecia’s calm, sexy vocals. Their tonality and harmony on top of one another is flawless.  Their chemistry, amazing as he dances around her and she locks eyes with him.  So long as they continue to perform together, they will become a force to be reckoned with, without a doubt.

Bowlive 2010 alums James Casey and Igmar Thomas made up Chakour’s horn section while keyboardist Darby Wolf, guitarist Jaron Olevsky and drummer Makaya Marcus McCraven made their Bowlive debuts.  The smoothness flowed as Nigel Hall, Cheme Gastelum, Ryan Zoidis and Alan Evans (on guitar!) all joined the stage for a slow and subtle jamming “Hard Times,” joining two musical families together and closing out a great set!

Special Guests: Bernie Worrell, James Hurt and ??  (Photo by Allison Murphy)

Soulive

Eric Krasno – Guitar
Neal Evans – Keys, bass
Alan Evans – Drums

Special Guests:
Alecia Chakour – Vocals
Nigel Hall – Keys, Vocals
Ryan Zoidis – Alto Saxophone
Cheme Gastelum – Saxophone

The ever hilarious MC Mike Gibney introduced Soulive speaking of his new haircut and how sharp he looks for this awesome band! Soulive started their set with tracks such as “Something” from their latest album Rubber Soulive.  The Shady Horns, consisting of Ryan Zoidis and Cheme Gastelum, stepping in for Sam Kininger, were brought out to compliment the jazzy/funk trio on a KILLER “Hat Trick,” where Gastelum was given room to release a spectacular solo. Nigel Hall came out to lend his vocals to “Do the 2” and “Too Much” with help from Alecia Chakour.

Set List: Beatles medley, Something, Upright, For Granted, Hat Trick, Doin’ The 2, Too Much

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

Soulive w/Bernie Worell

Bernie Worrell – Keys/Moog/Organ

Eric Krasno – Guitar
Neal Evans – Keys, bass-keys
Alan Evans– Guitar

Special Guests:

Chris Loftlin – Bass
James Hurt – Keys
Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff – Guitar
Nikki Glaspie – Percussion, drums, vocals
?uestlove – Drums
Ryan Zoidis – Saxophone
James Casey – Saxaphone
Cheme Gastelum – Saxophone
Igmar Thomas – Trumpet
Nigel Hall – Keys, Vocals
Lenesha Randolph – Backup vocals
Tanya Jones – Backup vocals
Mel Flannery – Backup vocals

When Parliament Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell hit the stage, funk hit the fan.  It begged me to ask the question: Where would Soulive be without Parliament Funkadelic?  Where would the funk genre be without Parliament Funkadelic?

Parliament Funkadelic Group Promo Shot

A group that helped define a genre, Parliament Funkadelic was the bearer of multiple musicians that helped developed what FUNK sounds like and stands for!!  Band leader George Clinton lead the Mothership of musical freaks to the promise land through his vocals, songwriting and outrageous character.  Bassist Williams “Bootsy” Collins is considered highly influential in his funk bass styling.  Then, you have Bernie Worrell,  an amazing keyboardist who brought the synthesizer to the forefront of funk.

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

Almost as if Bernie Worrell was calling out to his youthful counterparts through his Moog, one by one every musician that was wondering around the venue ended up on stage.  Over the course of a phenomenal danceable set, 15 musicians including three guitarists (Alan Evans, Adam Smirnoff, Eric Krasno), five vocalists (Nigel Hall, Tanya Jones, Mel Flannery, Lenesha Randolph, Nikki Glaspie), four keyboardists (Neal Evans, Nigel Hall, James Hurt and Bernie Worrell), three horns (Ryan Zoidis, Cheme Gastelum, Igmar Thomas and James Casey), bassist Chris Loftlin and drummers Nikki Glaspie and Questlove,  tore the stage apart.

With a scarf on his head, Nigel Hall led the masses through a medley of P-Funk tunes.  Where some might say the “Dr. Frankenstein” was the highlight others will argue that “Flashlight” blew the cobwebs out our minds!  During “Mothership,” Bernie Worrell played the keys as Neal Evans perfectly projected a sound that emulated a spaceship landing.  It was amazing and uplifting to say the least.

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

During “Dr. Frankenstein”, my personal favorite RIPPING JAM of the night, hilarious bassist, Chris Loftlin, comes to the front of the stage, takes the microphone and proceeds to sing the children’s tune “Little Mrs. Muffit,” throwing us his ROCK HORNS and amping up the audience more then ever. He is so unbelievably fun, hilarious, vibrant and awesome!  I adore Chris Loftlin. Check it out:

Set List: Up For the Downstroke, Mothership, Dr, Frankenstein, Flashlight, Do That Stuff

Are you ready for more?  Tonight Krasno and the Evans Brothers welcome pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph (Robert Randolph and the Family Band, The Word) to engage Brooklyn Bowl’s audience in yet another night of soulful music..