Playing three shows in as many days, the New Orleans outfit the Stooges Brass Band was giving the Big Apple a taste of the Big Easy. The January 12th set at Brooklyn Bowl was short, funky and too the point.
Before the main act hit the stage though NOLA Bounce Legend Ricky B took over briefly. With drink in hand and hype-man by his side he gleefully ran through a few of his songs. “Shake Fa Ya Hood” was a great workout with its up beat rhythms and rhymes; unfortunately not too much shaking was going on in the crowd though. To close his brief set The Stooges joined him on stage for “Let’s Go Gitt’em!” amping up the energy as they stayed out for their turn in the spotlight.
The seven piece band has their four brass players augmented by a sit down drummer, a percussionist and an electric guitar slinger. Tackling “We Got That Fire” the group began to throw down the funky riffs and horn blasts behind a propulsive backbeat ending with a twist on the “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up” line. The perfectly titled “Roll With It” was next as the rolling brass build ups grew before the band made time to “Wind It Up”, their most recent single.
The individual players were introduced over a Latin flavored Samba beat as each took turns soloing around the groove before locking in tight for “Sir Duke”. Their Stevie Wonder cover was powerful forcing everyone to sing and letting Brooklyn feel it all over. The band then expertly played to the crowd closing with the “Treme Song” which had everyone dancing. Quick, clean, groovy and more then a bit funky the group hit on all cylinders on this night, here’s hoping they return to NYC soon for some all night engagements.
