Album Notes

The first live album from New Orleans’ own Rainbow Coalition of Funk shows why six years down the road, Papa Grows Funk is among the most in-demand headliners on the international concert circuit. Hometown fans get to see the group most Monday nights at the Maple Leaf, which is where these tracks were cut on three nights last April. The energy level was on deep fry for these gigs, which showcase the individual strengths of the quintet’s members in a closely-knit group context.
A collective sound this airtight that still swings like mad is what distinguishes a great funk band from the dime-a-dozen jam band noodlers. Here, the individuals lay down a circular rhythm that creates its own centrifugal force. June Yamagishi, the Japanese guitarist who also gigs with the Wild Magnolias, is a case in point. Where his role in the Magnolias is to provide Jimi Hendrix-style pyrotechnics, Yamagishi is constantly challenged in this lineup, holding down the lion’s share of the soloing, then winding the beat tighter with his Curtis Mayfield-like rhythm guitar work and brilliantly configured licks and accents. Yamagishi also wrote one of the more serious burners on the record, “Slinky Snake.” Saxophonist Jason Mingledorff, a long time removed from his days with Galactic, is far more than just another a funk sax player, mixing his Maceo in with Coltrane and Jacquet, and adding the memorable composition “Yakiniku.” That track rolls into the wild arrangement of “Dolemite Returns,” with its Funkadelic theme and Frank Zappa bridge.
It has been fascinating to watch John Gros evolve in his role from this band’s ombudsman to its leader. He was a versatile keyboardist and vocalist before organizing PGF as a kind of leaderless collective jam experiment, but as time has gone on, the group has relied more on his songwriting and singing, while his piano and organ work is an integral but never overstated part of its sound. Gros has a strong melodic sense and a garage full of performance-tested hooks, from the instrumental call to arms of “Pass It!” to the Fender Rhodes funk of “I Got the Blues Over You,” which segues here to Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Sea Cruise," the nasty slapdown of “Rat a Tang Tang” and the band’s big production number, “Junker Man.” With bassist Marc Pero firmly in place (and writing the set closing stomper “Fish-Eyed Fool”) and drummer Jeffrey “Jellybean” Alexander, the band has never sounded better.


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