03/19/08 Scotty Hard Benefit @ Highline Ballroom, New York, NY

The early months of 2008 turned out to be quite fertile in terms of epic concert events. Just a couple months after a "best show ever" contender, came this viable canidate.

This was a benefit for a prolific producer who happened to have worked with nearly all of my favorite local musicians, so the night featured the creme de la creme of New York City's venerable jazz and jam scene.

The night was a bit of a blur, with the stand outs being Bill Laswells dirty dub bass bombs and Antibalas' high energy late night set to a nearly empty venue.

Various ensembles throughout the evening featured permutations of NYC luminaries like MMW, Soulive, Sex Mob and the Benevento/Russo Duo.

Jazz licks by John Scofield and Vijay Iyer punctuated the jams.

There was even a bit of indie thrown in the mix.

All in all, it was a stirring testament to the cameraderie, vitality, and abundant talent of NYC's always stellar music scene.

05/05/07 Antibalas @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

Nowadays, Antibalas can be found providing the live accompaniment for the Broadway hit Fela!, but once upon a time, they were merely the best afrobeat orchestra in the land, carrying the torch of Fela Kuti's considerable musical legacy.

06/24/05 Soulive/Antibalas @ Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn, NY

This was my second free show at Proscpect park in the span of a week.

Antibalas carries the Afrobeat torch of Fela Kuti; they're even the house band for the current musical about Fela. Their brass-laden afrobeat jams, like Fela's, have a decidedly political slant, which fit in well with the disillusionment a lot of the country was beginning to feel towards the ineptitude of the Bush administration. The highlight was "Indictment" which called out every guilty politician for crimes against humanity followed by a burst of brass and the rallying cry, "INDICTMENT!"

Soulive delivered the best performance I've seen them play. I was raging up front solo. A middle-aged gentleman passed me a joint. Kras melted my face with Hendrix licks. Neil laid down some nasty organ and Alan held down the groove. They closed with a scorching rendition of the Jimi Hendrix classic "Crosstown Traffic."