Deitch, Bloom, BIGYUKI & Miller: AS GOOD AS IT GETS
[We are indebted to Phil Ross for his photos, too!]
“This band absolutely blew us away at Dunedin Brewery last night. The show was absolutely one of the best I have ever seen there or anywhere, really. I arrived at the show with very high expectations because I knew the caliber of these musicians, but I left with all expectations completely exceeded.”
These remarks, made by music aficionado Phil Ross, reflect the sentiments expressed by dozens in attendance on Sunday, January 21, the last of a three-night run of Florida shows put together by bass-playing monster Brad Miller, who has interconnections with hundreds of musicians. For these dates, he coaxed out drummer Adam Deitch (Lettuce, Break Science) and Eric “Benny” Bloom, trumpet (Lettuce) along with a keyboard wizard new to most of us: BIGYUKI, a huge influence on the New York scene and in Japan.
Reports poured in from Crazy Uncle Mike’s in Boca Raton after Friday’s show and then again after the Terra Fermata Tiki Bar set in Stuart Saturday. All indications were that we should prepared to have our wigs flipped (or something). THEY WERE NOT WRONG.
On a chilly Sunday evening in DunBrew’s recent addition, The Moon Tower, the quartet took the stage. The first two songs were from Deitch’s excellent quartet albums, the recent Roll the Tape and one from a couple years back, Egyptian Secrets. The first tune was straight-ahead jazz. Bloom was huge on trumpet, and BIGYUKI’s piano work was superb. Miller and Deitch had the groove locked down tight. BIGYUKI’s synths washed all over the second, Bloom using some great trumpet effects.
Then it was Bloom standup time. He could do a vaudeville show (in fact, he did that last year on Jam Cruise). He can sing, tell jokes, and, oh, yes, play trumpet. He was working at getting a slide whistle to work in between making us laugh! Next up was a great tune with Miller now set firmly in space bass mode — on a flying V! Damn! Time for more Bloom! “Who cares who fucked up? (It was me!)”
The band ventured further out on a song we think was done originally by Alphonse Mouzon, with spacey synths, great piano, and theremin-like sounds. The next song, “Time Lapse,” is a BIGYUKI composition, opening with a “Day in the Life”-like piano intro before the quartet jammed it hard, Bloom on effects and wah-wah pedal. That killer tune ended the first set (75 minutes).
The first 20 minutes of set two were consumed with a stunning jam that constantly recalled Miles Davis’ “It’s About That Time.” Let’s pause here for a moment to acknowledge that this is the song most people call “In a Silent Way”; however, that pastoral tune is merely the intro and the outdo for the titanic “It’s About That Time” that is the bulk of that sandwich. It began with Bloom on synths and BIGYUKI on some gorgeous piano before they all headed deep into the jam. At one point, it swung Latin, then returned to the head. MAGNIFICENT.
It was time to let Bloom sing! They took an easy, jazzy approach to “Rock Steady,” The Whispers’ masterpiece. As the funk took hold, Bloom had them “bring the band on down behind me” (OK, Zappa said that, but it’s what Bloom meant), as he whipped out some fabulous trumpet. There was piano, then synths, and again Miller and Deitch crushed it.
More killer funk? You bet! Miller was all over this one, space bass deep. The tune had a distinct Lettuce vibe, and after Bloom soloed it was the BIGYUKI show! WOW! At some point, it was also the Deitch show!
What? “Smells Like Teen Spirit”? Done almost as a ballad? That would be correct. Bloom was simply titanic here; then it shifted to a hip hop beat, with Miller and electric piano strutting. A gorgeous ballad.
Encore? The smiles on the faces of the four musicians all night told us that there would be an encore and that they would be back! Deitch said they liked Florida and the sunshine and wanted to acknowledge that. What unfolded was a 15-minute encore that eclipsed everything that had preceded.
The encore began, as Deitch noted, with “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” the 1976 Roy Ayers smash. (There have been many worthy covers since, including the popular one by Tayuka Kuroda with José James on vocals.) After five minutes or so, the tune began to morph, and suddenly Bloom was belting out “Finally,” the brilliant soul tune by Ce Ce Peniston. The room erupted. Eventually, the jam twisted into Ronnie Laws’ 1975 classic “Always There.” Lettuce often insert this tune in the middle of their “House of Lett” jam.
And we were grateful that the quartet came down to talk to all of the people in the crowd. That was special.
This was AS GOOD AS IT GETS. Please do this again, Adam, Benny, Brad, and BIGYUKI! We’ll all get out the word.
One other great comment on the night from superb house engineer Chris Fama: “IT’S SO GREAT WORKING WITH PROFESSIONALS!”
[ONE: ad1, ad2, bbsu, ad3, ad4, Time Lapse; TWO: It’s About That Time jam, Rock Steady, lettuce-y, Smells Like Teen Spirit; E: Everybody Loves the Sunshine > Finally > Always There]
