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It was an all-out All-star Jam this morning at 3:00 am at Legends Lounge, Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Jamband Society was hosting yet another all night party, made legendary by the Particle people, and this time it was the OM Trio and Netwerk: Electric who would join the LVJBS for a journey into the groove. Surprise guests of the night were members of Global Funk Council, who had played two previous gigs at Legends Lounge earlier in the week. Global Funk's tour bus had broken down Friday and they missed their Arizona show Saturday night. Their unfortunate twist of fate led to a late night Jam with members of all three bands.
 The night began with Netwerk: Electric - their debut Las Vegas appearance. This Santa Cruz-based band has recently stepped out on their first major tour, and the buzz down in Vegas has already been building. Needless to say, Las Vegans were awaiting the arrival of this heady young band they've heard so much about. Within minutes of Netwerk hitting the Legends Lounge stage, the crowd embraced their infectious grooves, led by the guitar stylings of Jason Concepcion. They launched into a ferocious version of Miles Davis' Black Satin and set the tone for a memorable show that had everyone's ear on full tilt for two hours. Their set was full of high intensity spacey jamming and the dance floor was jumping to their fusion of funk, jazz, rock and Latin rhythms. When Netwerk left the stage, the word around the room was flowing about their return next month for Las Vegas Jamband Society's Area 51 Soundtest 2.0 in Indian Springs, Nevada (April 19, 20, 21).
OM Trio was up next and, having performed in Las Vegas twice this past year, they have already developed a veteran following of fans. The contrast to the previous set with Netwerk: Electric was perfect and made for a diverse evening of jazz-based space music. This trio from San Francisco - consisting of Brian Felix (keyboards), Pete Novembre (bass) and Ilya Stemkovsky (drums)- blended rhythmic electric jazz jams that climaxed and rebuilt in a tightly woven structure, keeping everyone's feet moving. Their subtle approach is steady and focused, the purpose of the journey is the journey, and there is no rush to get to the end. OM Trio approaches jazz with an underlying traditional base that develops with overtones of rock, funk and jungle. The showmanship of these three musicians, and their tightness and ability to play off each other, is a sight to see. Their set led the room into the morning hours and both the listening and dancing fans had a full palette of sounds to groove on.
 Around 2:30 am, Master of Ceremonies George Lyons (The Lyons Den Radio Show) informed us that members of Global Funk Council were in the house and would participate in a three-way band jam. The first Jam included drummer Ilya Stemkovsky and keyboardist Brian Felix from OM Trio, and guitarist Jason Concepcion, bassist David "Sweets" Menez and keyboardist Justin Fagnani-Bell from Netwerk: Electric.  Brian Felix and Justin Fagnani-Bell sat side by side on the keys, and were having a great time improvising catchy funk rifts that Jason Concepcion would build into shredding guitar crescendos, working their way to climax into an almost metal-like rock madness before Ilya Stemkovsky and Davis "Sweets" Menez would pull the rhythms back into a funk groove... one after the other.
 Then Ilya switched out and Netwerks drummer Michael Jaramillo stepped in. It was now Netwerk: Electric and Brian Felix of OM Trio mixing it up for a while, until OM bassist Pete Novembre stepped in and continued jamming for the duration. Global Funk Council band members found their way into this Jam of Jams as drummer Eric Bolivar (formerly of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe) and guitarist Dan Lebowitz (Animal Liberation Orchestra) sat in for a couple of tunes. Everyone on stage had big grins across their faces as they worked through improvisations together.  Eric Boliva showed off his chops and went into a short and impressive drum solo, and Brian Felix teased out a few notes that led the band into Herbie Hancock's Chameleon. Dan Lebowitz on guitar layered on penetrating leads for this final jam, and all in all the boys were having a ball up there and the vibe in the room was riding high. OM Trio returned to the stage as the crowd called out for one more. Ilya Stemkovsky had everyone's hands in the air clapping in unison and they blasted into their cover of Guns 'N' Roses Paradise City. A fitting rock and roll anthem to close out an evening of music that was full of surprises and showmanship far ahead of the curve.
Eric Kabik
JamBase Las Vegas
Go see live music!
The Las Vegas Jamband Society continues to bring the nation's top jamband artists to Las Vegas and throw down a party like nobody else. Check out the upcoming Area 51 Soundtest with Netwerk: Electric, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Particle, Dark Star Orchestra, Mood Food, Motion for Alliance and others.
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