Review & Photos | Dumpstaphunk 70s Phunksgiving | NYC
By Team JamBase Nov 28, 2014 • 9:30 am PST
Dumpstaphunk and Friends :: 11.26.14 :: BB King’s :: New York, NY
Read Chad’s recap of the festival after the gallery.
What was Phunksgiving? Well, quite the throwdown for starters: two-and-a-half hours including g a set of pure Dumpstaphunk and then a longer, guest-dappled set of ’70s funk, soul, R&B and rock covers that, as Ivan Neville described them, were the kind of inspired tunes that you could hear on the radio and say, “Wow. What was that shit?”
It was also one of the best New York shows Dumpstaphunk has ever played – saying something, considering they’re on their third drummer since 2011, and especially because as nationally known funk and jam acts go, their batting average is so high already.
To these ears, they’ve hit rarefied air: a band that could stand with any of the heritage acts its style so lovingly celebrates, a band that can crush as hard as and usually harder than any other in the genre, and a band that has layers: the pure partying aspect, the dazzling musicianship, the socially conscious songwriting, the patient jamming. They’re a force, and they’ve kept getting better: grooves became jams and jams became songs – good songs, that don’t loose their groove or their jam but aren’t just excuses to vamp, like the “tunes” fleshing out many a funk band setlist.
To say I preferred the all-Dumpstaphunk first set is to take nothing away from the second stanza, in which the band curated a set of ’70s covers ranging from obvious (“Tell Me Something Good,” “Funk #49,” “Mothership Connection”) to deeply excavated (Mandrill’s “Fencewalk” anyone?)
They honored non-funk bands with unexpected choices: an aggressive slink through Led Zeppelin’s “What Is and What Should Never Be” featuring an antsy Eric Krasno solo, for one, and a mesmerizing jam deep inside “For the Love of Money,” the Philly soul classic made famous by the O’Jays.
Each of the evening’s guest added a special something: Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, the prodigy, up way past midnight, sending scouring solos through “Fencewalker” and “Funk #49”; Krasno, the sorcerer, whose turns in the spotlight always have this calming, Yoda-like quality that enables a ferocious fusion-y solo to sneak up on you; Todd Stoops, game to the task of coloring this music and also bringing the band into his orbit when needed; Nicki Richards, the unannounced guest, providing feminine energy and fresh vocals to power “Rock Steady” and “Tell Me Something Good.” Best of all were the Steeltown Horns (Reggie Watkins, Rick Matt, JD Chaisson) – Dumpsta’s usual horn section go-to and adding just enough oomph to every song without crowding it.
But that first set – man, that first set. On paper it looks “standard” Dumpstaphunk, but these were go-for-it versions of each tune, from the “Meanwhile” that built from a place of portentous bass dueling between Tony Hall and Nick Daniels to all-out noisy anarchy rage to recent staples like “Raise the House” –P-Funk-like in that it did exactly what its title promised.
Drummer Alvin Ford Jr., late of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Big Ol Nasty Get Down, has settled in nicely behind the Dumpsta kit three months into his hire. Ian Neville, lower key in stage personality than his bandmates, keeps carving out his own guitar identity within the heavy Meters influence. And Ivan – Ivan’s ever more himself. You watch him deep in the moment and he’s giving that look like he’s going to fist-bump you or tear your head off while singing and working up the gnarly funky stuff from a stage left island of keyboards.
Together, they’re one unit: deep in a pocket, yet agile (and fierce) as a rattlesnake. Resistance is futile, now more than ever.
Setlist
Set One: I Wish You Would*, I Know You Know*, Gasman Chronicles, Meanwhile*^, Water*, Dancin to the Truth, Raise the House*, Put It in the Dumpsta*
Set Two: Bustin’ Out*, Glide*, Rock Steady*#, Tell Me Something Good*#, Fencewalk^%, Funk #49%, For the Love of Money*$, What Is and What Should Never Be*$, Dr. Funkenstein*^, Mothership Connection*, People Say*, Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)*
* w/Steeltown Horns ^ w/Todd Stoops, keys
# w/Nicki Richards, vocals
% w/Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, guitar
$ w/Eric Krasno, guitar
Audio (taped by Eric McRoberts via Archive.org)
JamBase | Phunksgiving
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