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The Return of the Lightning Fingered Master Groover
Acid-Jazz Originator! The Essential Guitar Player! King of Barbeque Funk!
"It wasn’t called acid jazz when I was recording this music. We were basically trying to play jazz on top of a funky beat.” ~ Melvin Sparks
After absolutely killin’ it at his band’s San Francisco debut, selling out two at the Boom Boom Room in March and then selling out the place again two nights in a row in July, NYC’s own Melvin Sparks returns to the Boom Boom Room this Friday and Saturday, November 29th and 30th, to re-ignite San Francisco with his first rate, boiling hot poly-rhythmic groove machine: the Melvin Sparks Band.
Melvin Sparks is geared to funk San Francisco up, showing us all what he does better than anyone else: groove hard and in the pocket!
While sharing the stage with funky masters such as Curtis Mayfield and James Brown, Melvin blended his Texas blues influences and formal jazz education with the funk and soul styling of Motown melodies. The end result was the roots of acid jazz.
For more than thirty years he has played with some of jazz’s greatest musicians: David "Fathead" Newman, Lou Donaldson, Hank Crawford, Reuben Wilson and John Patton, to name a few. During the 1970s, Sparks backed up Lou Donaldson on the funk-jazz classics Everything I Play Is Funky and Hot Dog. Sparks recorded seven albums of his own and played on more than 100 other albums. As a session man for Blue Note and Prestige Records, Sparks laid his signature guitar work on many other musicians’ albums without ever being in spotlight.
Melvin, who recently released a highly acclaimed CD entitled What You Hear Is What You Get, is finding himself these days called upon to play to sold-out crowds across the country. This year in New Orleans’ during the Jazz & Heritage festival Melvin played night after night to the groovin’ delight of numerous fans (many new), headlining a sold-out gig with Idris Muhammad, Will Bernard, Charlie Hunter and Donald Harrison, and sitting in with OM Trio, Galactic, Robert Walters, Soulive, Will Bernard and Wild Magnolias.
Bouncing boogaloo attacks are standard in his guitar play, and his arrangements will have your head spinning. It's truly amazing: that feeling when you’re aware that you’re catching your breath 'cause the boogie hits so strong and moves so hard. You’re smiling because your once singular vision is now doubled… your head just keeps boppin’. His groove is the thing!
Instantly his band drops in, initiating rhythm so tight and intricate in meter that you might find yourself asking, “What planet are we on?”
Don’t miss Melvin Sparks in what will certainly be (once again) an awesome weekend of non-stop dance floor revelry at the Boom Boom Room!
Melvin Sparks Band
Friday & Saturday | Nov. 29 & 30
Boom Boom Room, San Francisco
boomboomblues.com
Openers:
Friday: OGD (Organ-Guitar-Drums)
Saturday: ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra)
Dj Romanowski (spinning rare groove and funk between sets)
Doors 8:00pm | Show 9:30pm
Both shows will go late – ‘til 3:00am!
Tickets $12 | boomboomtickets.com
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