Thursday, February 08, 2007

TOMORROW...I GET MY MAD MAD FUNK ON!

WHAT: Wilson, Purdie and Green @ Mojito
WHEN: Friday & Saturday February 9-10 | Doors 6pm | Show 9pm
WHERE: Mojito | 1337 Grant Ave, @ Vallejo, North Beach, San Francisco | 415-398-1120
GENERAL INFO: www.sunsetpromotions.net
TICKETS: Very limited capacity – advance purchase recommended
$15 advance available at www.sunsettickets.com

In the ongoing quest to bring jazz back to North Beach, Sunset Promotions and North Beach Jazz Fest present an exclusive 2-night run with three masters of acid jazz. B3 legend Reuben Wilson, the world’s most recorded drummer Bernard Purdie and guitar wizard Grant Green Jr will play two sets/night at Sunset’s intimate North Beach venue, Mojito.


Reuben Wilson, one of the great B3 Hammond organ players of all time, has been playing with Bernard Purdie and Grant Green Jr, almost exclusively for more than 5 years. Having faded from the funk and jazz scene, Wilson regained notoriety in the early 90s when producers snagged his organ vamps for classic hip-hop tracks by Nas and A Tribe Called Quest. With a rollicking, freewheeling sound, Wilson's style is often compared to Jimmy Smith. But because he recorded with such legendary funkmeisters as Melvin Sparks and Earl Turbinton, he is among a select few 70's jazz artists who worked just as easily on the dance club as in the jazz club. He is best known for seminal Blue note acid jazz pieces “Bus Ride” and “Hot Rod”


Bernard Purdie has appeared on over 200 albums in his lengthy 40-year career; making him the most recorded drummer of all-time. A who’s-who of funk, jazz and pop stars, including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Teddy Pendergrass, Hank Crawford, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Gil Scott Heron, Steely Dan, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Lou Donaldson, Roy Ayers, Gato Barbieri and Mongo Santamaria and Grant Green Jr have called on Purdie’s unique talent to beautify their cuts. It has also been widely reported, including by Purdie himself, that he was hired to overdub drums on more than 17 early Beatles cuts, making him perhaps the legendary “5th Beatle” as well.


Grant Green Jr., the son of the legendary Blue Note jazz guitarist, channels his father's extraordinary legacy into a redefinition of jazz guitar. While influenced by the classic jazz funk guitarists, like his father and Melvin Sparks, Green Jr. tends to get a bit harder and dirtier than both of them. Working with Wilson on on a variety of recent records, the two are after a complete redefinition and modernization of that classic jazz-funk feel.

Info: SF STATION

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