Album Notes

GRAND WAZOO – Kings of Soul : 'Live @ The Rainbow'

"SOUL MONSTER: LIVE"

’GRAND WAZOO-Kings of Soul’ is a 14 piece Australian Soul band, formed in 1981 by arranger-musician John Montesante, who remains leader today. It was formerly subtitled ‘Band of 1000 Dances’, a tribute to Wilson Pickett’s tune Land of 1000 Dances, and latterly ‘ Kings of Soul’, a tag earnt when the band reached a quarter century of non-stop entertainment.

Featuring 4 vocalists, 6 permanent horns and 4 rhythm players, and a repertoire exceeding 300 Black Soul and Rhythm‘n Blues tunes, the outfit has performed thousands of live gigs since its inception.

When GRAND WAZOO celebrated an amazing 10 years of weekly Soul Sessions at Melbourne’s celebrated Rainbow Hotel, the band recorded the gig LIVE before an audience, with only ONE take of each tune - not an easy feat with a 14 piece line-up, in non-studio conditions. Jeff Duff (a former 'Kush' band colleague of John Montesante) was invited to join the line-up that day, and perform 2 songs on the album: "Easy Street" and "God Bless The Child"

Running for 60 mins 38 secs, with a selection of 16 Black Soul and iconic R n B tunes, 'SOUL MONSTER - LIVE' truly captures this monster of a band, GRAND WAZOO-Kings of Soul, "live in the moment"- and replicates the experience of a typical one hour set.

GRAND WAZOO-Kings of Soul has been described as a living ' Black Soul Music Jukebox' - kicking off from Ray Charles onwards - certainly a unique Band in Australia.