Mark Lettieri Breaks Down Debut Live Album ‘Out By Midnight’ Track-By-Track

Guitarist Mark Lettieri’s debut live album Out By Midnight is available now.

Recorded on March 1 and 2, 2023 at the legendary Iridium in New York City, Lettieri’s touring band of drummer Jason “JT” Thomas, bassist Wes Stephenson and keyboardist Daniel Porter back him on the 14-track record. Named after a warning on the parking garage near the venue that warned patrons to be “out by midnight,” Lettieri’s unique blend of genres combined with a hefty dose of baritone funk guitar is on full display throughout the release.

JamBase contributor Ryan Storm sat down with the guitarist and went through each of the songs to hear his thoughts.

The album begins with “Extraspecial,” from 2013’s Futurefun. “It’s just a cool tune to open a gig with,” Lettieri said. “It’s groovy, it gets people’s heads bobbing – it’s a fairly mellow tune, but not entirely a ballad and morphs into some straight funk at the end.” During the live performance, Lettieri felt inspired to switch to baritone guitar mid-song, further deepening the groove of the ending. “Extraspecial is also one of the more Dallas-sounding songs that I have – so maybe it was kind of an homage to that.”

“Big Duck,” from 2011’s Knows, is what Lettieri considers to be one of his most compositionally difficult songs. “I don’t know why I wrote this because it’s a pain in the ass to play on guitar – but it’s really cool when it’s done right.” A song that was included in the performance because of the guitarist’s desire to produce a good live recording of it, its angular sound has fallen out of rotation as of late and acted as a reference to his early solo career days.

“It sounds like the Foo Fighters if they wrote music for Sega,” he said of “Futurefun,” from the album of the same name. “Sometimes we close with it, but it felt like a good song for the number-three slot to keep the energy going.”

“Lotus,” from Knows, acts as the album’s first breather song. “I love the way that the four of us play that song live – it’s a little looser and slinkier than the recorded version.” Porter showcases his piano chops here on a song that isn’t-quite-fusion.

Picked as the lead single, “Catboy” picks the energy right up with some big rock riffs. “It’s a quintessential Lettieri tune,” he said, “And JT just plays the piss out of the drums.” Lettieri likened the song to a rollercoaster at times, and mentioned how he and Stephenson feel like they’re holding on for dear life, anchored steadily by the powerful and to-the-point drumming.

“Summer Salt,” from Spark and Echo, comes next and is a “mid-tempo, country-esque, Texas-sorta song,” in Lettieri’s words. Much like asking him to put a genre to his music in general, you can’t quite put your finger on where this excellent song lands. Another track picked for Out By Midnight due to the lack of circulating live recordings, its lengthier runtime gets into some grimy blues stomping toward the end.

“Point Iz,” a Things of That Nature ballad written about the guitarist’s daughter, slows things down again and showcases Porter’s chops on another outstanding solo. “He’s probably tired of playing on it by now because I always make it his solo feature – but he just plays it so great every night.” A change from the studio cut’s guitar solo adds a great dynamic shift to this cooldown track. “It’s a good mood piece,” Lettieri said of his affinity for drenching his guitar in delays and reverbs on this song.

In comes “Little Minx,” from Spark and Echo. Due to its different tuning, it’s rarely a part of the group’s live repertoire but Lettieri was sure to have a second guitar on standby at the Iridium. “It’s like prog metal meets soul” – two genres that you’d never expect to find common ground in a single song. Lettieri grinned as he talks about this one — it’s a special tune to have captured.

Named after a funky pair of pajama pants, “Seuss Pants” is an ode to Jeff Beck — heavy use of tremolo and bluesy motifs. “It’s a blues tune – kinda,” he laughed, still reminding us that a Lettieri song does not belong to any single genre. “The solo’s got some questionable note choices…but I left them in.”

“Voyager One,” from the Grammy-nominated Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 2, “has become a real burner in the live set.” Lettieri noted its relative simplicity and how the hypnotic groove just grows in size and intensity as the song goes on. He’s especially happy about Stephenson’s “fat, octave bass tone” on this one as well as Porter’s teases of classical music during quick fills.

More baritone funk gets delivered in the form of “Gigantactis,” off of Deep: The Baritone Sessions. It’s named after a “pretty badass looking fish,” and the song stays true to its namesake — an aggro-disco-baritone-house mishmash that just works.

The only song with a guest musician on the album is “Supernova” from Baritone Sessions Vol. 2, featuring Lettieri’s Snarky Puppy bandmate Zach Brock on violin. “That’s another one of those tunes that just sort of sits in a hypnotic groove and builds – and Zach’s playing is just so good,” Lettieri explained. On the guest spot: “I basically gave Zach a blank canvas – told him to jump in on some melodies and just kind of do whatever throughout, and I absolutely love how it came out.”

The penultimate track is “Spark and Echo” — “If I had a hit, this would be the closest thing to one,” Lettieri laughed. “It’s very popular among young guitar players performing for their college exams.” It’s the “flying unicorn dragon song” of his catalogue, transporting us into a magical and soaring realm while the blazing guitar solo carries us to the end of the set. The tune is a popular closer in Lettieri Group shows.

“Naptime” from Things of That Nature closes the album, a common encore song for Lettieri. “For the end I just wanted to go straight funk – you know, jam it out,” he said. “So that’s what we did, which was fun because the crowd loves that kind of stuff.” We end on a high note just as we begun, the 14th track perfectly placed for our guitar music enjoyment.

Out By Midnight is the perfect album for those familiar or unfamiliar with Mark Lettieri’s solo work. His lightning-fast band and engaging music will have you enthralled from the first minute to the last. While there are no Lettieri Group tour dates on the horizon, you can catch some shred in action with Snarky Puppy and The Fearless Flyers this fall — but the quartet is sure to get back out on the road in 2024.

In Lettieri’s immortal words: “If you like guitar music, come see us.”