This past weekend the Purple Hatter’s Ball took place at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida. One of the performances we most had our eyes on was a Sunday set dubbed “Roosevelt Collier & Nigel Hall’s Gospel Surprise.” Our friend and Collier’s publicist, Margaret Willard, was so moved by the set she penned a review and we’re honored to run it along with photos.

Roosevelt Collier & Nigel Hall’s Gospel Surprise @ Purple Hatter’s Ball – May 12

Words: Margaret Willard
Photos: Timothy Borland and Jeffrey Dupuis

Mother’s Day took special meaning this past weekend at the Purple Hatter’s Ball, when a fellowship of musicians uplifted the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park with an emotional Sunday gospel set dubbed “Roosevelt Collier & Nigel Hall’s Gospel Surprise.”

[Photo by Tim Borland]

PHB founder Paul Levine introduced the ensemble shortly after 1pm, with a prelude dedicating the afternoon to Rachel Morningstar Hoffman, whose life is remembered each year at PHB, and to all others who had lost loved ones recently — most notably Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff of Lettuce, who hadn’t performed for a live audience since he lost his mother Rita April 29. The sun shone brightly as the amphitheater stage transformed into a place of kinship and worship, with Smirnoff and the afternoon’s other special guests Lenesha Randolph (Robert Randolph & The Family Band), Pete Shand (The New Mastersounds), Jermal Watson (Dirty Dozen Brass Band), Jonathan Lloyd (Dubconscious) and The Shady Horns - Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom and James Casey(Soulive, Lettuce) all joining Nigel Hall (Warren Haynes Band, Lettuce) and Roosevelt Collier (the Lee Boys) for an inspired series of classic covers and old gospel tunes.

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Nigel Hall Band / Toots / Galactic @ Terminal 5 – April 13

Photos: Dino Perrucci

This past Saturday night Galactic returned to New York City’s Terminal 5 for a show that also included performances from the Nigel Hall Band and Toots & The Maytals. The Nigel Hall Band took the stage first for a set that featured takes on Layaway and Back In Stride, while Toots treated the crowd to classics like Pressure Drop, 54-46, Take Me Home Country Roads, Louie Louie and Sweet & Dandy. Galactic was joined by The Revivalists’ front man David Shaw for portions of their set including versions of Hey Na Na, Ain’t No Love, I Am The Walrus, Heart of Steel and I Got Your Money.

[All Photos by Dino Perrucci]

 For the evening’s finale, Galactic and Shaw teamed up to cover When The Levee Breaks…

[Video by Marc Millman]

Check out a full gallery of excellent photos from Dino Perrucci of Saturday’s action…

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We once lauded the all-inclusive Equifunk Festival as “a model of how a festival should be run.” The event’s promoters will once again bring Equifunk back to the cozy confines of summer camps Equinunk and Blue Ridge in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains on August 16 – 18. Today, the initial lineup has been revealed and features a number of Equifunk favorites and a few newcomers.

While the main headliner will be announced in the coming months, we do know that The New Mastersounds will play two sets, The Motet will play a tribute to P-Funk set and a set focusing on original material while other Equifunk ’13 acts include Anders Osborne, Boombox, Marco Benevento, The Nigel Hall Band, The Main Squeeze and I’ll Be John Brown.

Tickets are currently available through the event’s website.

One of the cooler additions to a festival that took place last year was when the Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival turned over its Purple Hat Stage to jam-centric indie labels Daptone Records and Royal Family last November. As part of Royal Family’s showcase, dubbed “A Royal Family Affair,” two of the most talented singers in our scene – Nigel Hall and Alecia Chakour – teamed up with an outstanding rhythm section and Lettuce guitarist Adam “Schmeans” Smirnoff to deliver a noteworthy set that we’re featuring as this week’s Full Show Friday selection.

In a set captured expertly on video by Randy of Funk It Blog, Chakour and Hall gave attendees their all for a soul-laden set that included covers of songs from artists such as Paul Simon, Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder. Every tune they touched was gold, but if you’ll push us for highlights we’ll point you towards their versions of A Little Help From My Friends, Takes Two To Tango and Sign, Sealed, Delivered. Did we mention Nikki Glaspie of Dumpstaphunk and Chapter 2′s Chris Loftlin make up the incredibly badass rhythm section for this set? You don’t want to miss this…

Nigel Hall & Alecia Chakour @ Bear Creek 2012

Set: My Baby Specializes [William Bell cover] > Mighty Mighty [Earth Wind & Fire cover], For My Friend [Bill Withers cover], Signed, Sealed, Delivered [Stevie Wonder cover], Takes Two To Tango [Pearl Bailey / Louis Armstrong cover], Baby I Do Love You [Greg Phillinganes cover], God Bless The Absentee [Paul Simon cover], You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ [The Righteous Brothers cover], With a Little Help from My Friends [The Beatles / Joe Cocker cover]

[Video Provided by Funk It Blog]

The String Cheese Incident made their first full-band appearance at one of Warren Haynes’ annual Christmas Jams this past Saturday night in Asheville. SCI’s set marked their first live performance since their summer tour ended in July. In keeping with Christmas Jam tradition, the Colorado-based band welcomed plenty of guests throughout their performance. For the finale, a cover of Bob Dylan’s Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn), Cheese brought out host Warren Haynes, keyboardist Nigel Hall, guitarist Mike Barnes, sax wiz Karl Denson and percussionist Count M’butu.

Here’s a look at the guest-filled Quinn The Eskimo from Saturday night…

String Cheese Incident w/ Guests – Quinn The Eskimo

Head HERE for more videos from this year’s Warren Haynes Christmas Jam.

The first weekend show of Soulive’s Bowlive III residency at Brooklyn Bowl saw special guests Jennifer Hartswick, Karl Denson, James Casey and Tash Neal of opening act The London Souls and run regular Nigel Hall shuffle on and of stage with the trio in front of a capacity crowd.

[All Photos by Phrazz]

Following London Souls’ brief opening set, the trio opened up with a pair of classics – El Ron and Dig – before the cavalcade of guests began on Spark (featuring Karl Denson) and Provo (featuring Denson and Hartswick), two tunes from Soulive’s Melvin Sparks tribute EP, Sparks. Jennifer and Karl stuck around for a cover of Yusef Lateef’s Nubian Lady. Shady Horns member James Casey got in on the act for a Hartswick-sung take on Rock Steady by Aretha Franklin. The covers and the guests continued into the end of the set as Nigel Hall made his fourth straight Bowlive III appearance to sing Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule The World, complete with a tease of Open Your Eyes by Bobby Caldwell.

Soulive came out by themselves to start set two with One in Seven and then brought out Tash Neal for a cover of Ohio, which featured Denson on tambourine. From there, the trio offered their take on the instrumental Lenny by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Denson came out once again for Turn It Out and then all of the evening’s guests lent a hand on For Granted. Hall sang Stevie Wonder’s Jesus Children of America to put a stamp on the show. HT contributor Wyllys spun post-show making for a power-packed evening at the Bowl.

Soulive w/ Karl Denson and Jennifer Hartswick – Nubian Lady [by MKDevo]

• Bowlive III: Night One Photos and Videos, Night Two Photos, Night Three Photos,
• More MKDevo Videos:  Soulive w/ Casey, Hartswick and Denson – Rock Steady

Karen Dugan has a full recap of Night Four over at Royal Family Records’ blog. IClips.net webcast last night’s show and will webcast all 10 Bowlive III performances. Marco Benevento and Jennifer Hartswick are the guests scheduled to sit-in tonight at Brooklyn Bowl.

Here’s a full gallery of snaps from Night Four thanks to Nick “Phrazz” Fitanides…

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HT faves Soulive kicked off their third annual residency at Brooklyn Bowl, a 10-show run dubbed Bowlive III, last night in New York City, where they welcomed guest guitarists John Scofield and Luther Dickinson (NMAS, Black Crowes) as well as Royal Family Records labelmate Nigel Hall.

[All photos by Phrazz]

Photographer Nick “Phrazz” Fitanides and videographer MKDevo were on hand at yesterday’s performance and their work gives a taste of Night One as well as what we can expect moving forward.

Soulive w/ Luther Dickinson – Hip Hug Her

IClips.net webcast last night’s show and will webcast all 10 Bowlive III performances.

Here’s more photos from Phrazz and videos from MKDevo…

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Nigel Hall Band @ Rockwood Music Hall, February 17

Nigel Hall moved down from Maine a year ago, and he has been very active in the New York music scene since coming to the Big Apple. As a member of the Royal Family Records musical collective that Eric Krasno spearheads, I like to think of him as Robin to Krasno’s Batman. Then again, Hall is no mere sidekick. This guy is a star on his own. And as of this week, he is now the new keyboard player in the Warren Haynes Band [version 2.0].

[All photos by Marc Millman]

So maybe it would be better to think of this growing posse of super freaks as the X-Men: Krasno as Cyclops (silent but deadly), Adam Deitch as Wolverine (crazy deadly assassin), Chris Loftlin as The Beast (a big monster with a bigger smile and heart), Nikki Glaspie as Storm (a woman to be reckoned with). And when you throw in the rest of the Lettuce/Soulive/Chapter 2 posse you have enough characters for summer blockbuster sequels to carry us into the next decade.

Since the first day of this year, I have seen Nigel sing and/or play keyboards with: George Porter, Bill Kreutzmann & Steve Kimock, Chapter 2, Lettuce with Maceo Parker and the Funky Meters. And that’s just gigs off the top of my head. But for the month of February, he has taken up a weekly residency at Rockwood Music Hall to showcase the Nigel Hall Band [actually Chapter 2 in a slight variation including two female backing vocalists]. His one-hour sets at 8PM are attracting rabid fans of classic funk and soul. But it is the soul side that is really being shown off in this intimate setting.

• Marc’s Nigel Hall @ Rockwood Videos: Baby, I Do Love You, Too Sweet Going Down, Leave Me Alone, Everybody Wants to Rule The World, Never Gonna Let You Go, I (Who Have Nothing)

Sitting at the club’s grand piano, Hall leads the band, whose lineup does vary slightly week to week, through some classic soul covers, one or two originals composed by or with co-conspirators like Eric Krasno [he either plays bass in this band or guitar depending on who else shows up] and some great re-interpretations of classic rock/pop. This week’s version of the band included Chris Loftlin (bass), Adam Deitch (drums) & Krasno (guitar & backing vocals) with Mel Flannery & Tania Jones (backing vocals).

READ ON for more of Marc’s Musings on Nigel Hall…