Show Report: Bruce James Soultet at The Continental Gallery-Mon. 1-25-2010

In January 2010 Mondays at the Continental Club Gallery were the home of The Bruce James Soultet. It's always cool for a band to have a residency, it builds fans plus the band gets a chance to stretch and perhaps try new material. This show was the last Monday (January 25) of their residency. A really cool thing about a residency on a non-weekend night with a great band is that brings out the cats to jam and to hang. I love that about a being musician, I love hanging with cats. All of my life I always wanted to be one, a musician respected by my peers. I was hanging with my man Sam a good young keyboard cat.

The lineup of the band:

Bruce James -- Keys and Vocals
Tim Spivey -- Bass
Chris Trafton -- Drums
David Jimenez -- Guitar
Fumi Sugawara -- Guitar
Dave Carrol - Percussion

During the break, I chatted up Chris, found out he saw me play with STM and liked my playing. I introduced him to Sam (Sam was rapping with Bruce about keys and Bruce invited him to come hang and learn with him at one of his solo piano gigs.) I mentioned my jazz/funk project and he was really interested in being a part of it. Very cool...

The band was hot, heavy in the pocket and drenched in soul. I love the 2 guitar line-up of the group. It's a testament to me that a group with 3 chordal instruments never get in each others way. David Jimenez is such a sick soloist. He tells a story all the time, he bends , prods and quotes in his solos (he quoted Blue Monk in one his solo.) Plus Chris and Dave had good rhythmic chemistry. Tim has that great finger-funk style of playing, dancing with the beat and chords. Fumi's guitar tone is nice deep sound texture. Overall this band just kicks ass.

After the show, Sam and I talked with the whole band and 2 other drummers about the biz, music and feel. Everyone changed information and had a good time. The show prompted me to buy one of Bruce's CDs. Some pictures of the show: