DEEP POCKET
At Desmond's Tavern, NYC - 10/02/99
Clayton Harding (on bass) with Grazia (on tenor sax)
TheNYC-area
funk group, Deep Pocket, got off to a late start at 10:40pm (and Iarrived late
at 10:45pm). The band started out with "The Pocket",which was
followed by "Conflagration". (I entered the tavern at thestart of
"Conflagration") The band radiated a lot of funk throughouttheir
two-hour reign at the Desmond’s Tavern.....you needed some funk insurancefor
this event, else you’d be liable for any injury caused by Deep Pocket’sgroove!!
"A Love Bizarre" featured a nice breakdown full of hot saxophoneriffs
after the choruses. "G.L.T." is a song that featured someswooping
bass effects, courtesy of Mr. Deep Pocket himself, Clayton Harding!Next was
Tower of Power’s "What is Hip?" with a red-hot horn jam(courtesy of
tenor saxophonist Grazia, trumpeter Tanya, and an altosaxophonist). The drums
were tight and kickin' bass was in effect. VocalistTanya ended the funky
performance by knocking the mic to the floor! Thetrumpeteer solo was hot on
"Jamaica Funk" and "Uncut Jam"featured a fiery solo from
guitarist Eric Perl. "Phunk-E Groove" wasthe last tune. The first set
ended at 11:25pm.
The beautiful vocalist, Tanya
Thesecond
set began at 11:45pm. The set began with 2 new tunes, "Ain’t NoThang"
and "Livin' For Love", the latter being a funky-jazz,uptempo tune
with Eric's noxious guitar riffs. "Hair" (the GrahamCentral Station
song) was the funk highlight of the show with more of Eric'snoxious guitar
riffs. The bass solo was FONKAY with a capital and bold"F"!! The
accompany freakout guitar solo didn't hurt either!!"The Deeper the Pocket,
the funkier the fill (or feel)!!" The funkyhorns ruled on "Life is an
Attitude", while "Do Not Feed"featured an introduction of
"heavy drum proportion" with monstrousbass swoops & some
spaced-out, Hendrixian guitarism! Deep Pocket performedRick James's "You
& I" with Grazia performing a lovely tenor saxsolo.
"Anotherholenyohead" was played in a slow-tempo, laid-backmanner
during the verses (with the band kickin' back into a loud, funk blast atthe end
of each line of the verses)--very nice! A tiny bit of"Housequake"
preceded "Sexy MF"--this is the only song thatneeded some work: there
wasn't much energy coming from the horn section."Greater Concept" was
the last song, and it's a jazz-funk, slow-tempotune with seductive horns &
an outstanding guitar solo. The second setended at 12:45am.
By the way, did I mention that the female
vocalistextraordinaire, Tanya, has a powerful, funkafied voice?
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