Lemon City Trio – More Superb Fusion, Jazz and Funk from Miami
I spend a lot of time extolling the virtues of the Florida music scene. Call me parochial; I know there are similarly great scenes in many states across the country. The Sunshine State shows off its talent every May at Orange Blossom Jamboree.
But there must be something in the water in South Florida. Seriously. For certain, South Florida is the fusion capital of Florida and maybe further than that. Consider this list:
Aaron Lebos Reality
Electric Kif
FUGU
Fusik
Guavatron
And that’s just A through G!
Make sure you add Lemon City Trio to that list. I had my first sighting at OBJ recently, where I offered:
Yet another “new” band made us sit up and listen as Lemon City Trio knocked out a great set that featured jazz, fusion, soul, and some really spacey shit as well. There was a tune called “Flying Free” from their EP, and the closing “Cliffs” was great space stuff.
So, very last minute, I saw they were playing at Dunedin Brewery Friday, June 22nd. I’d planned to go see The Reality at The Blueberry Patch, but this was a rare opportunity (first time for LC3 at Dunedin and the area) I felt I should not miss.
[Thanks to Butch Alberg for the OBJ audio!]
That would be a gross understatement. Three superb sets of music featured songs from their first EP Welcome to the Neighborhood, tunes from their new album-in-progress, and a bunch of killer covers. If you start with “Sing a Simple Song” and “Doin’ It to Death,” you know it’s going to be one fabulous night.
Brian Robertson played organ — the Nord Electro 5 — and bass (left hand). Whether he was playing the lead, often the “vocal,” or comping behind Nick Tannura’s superb guitar work, he was a delight. (He also had a MOOG Little Fatty that he used sparingly.) After the band crushed those two covers, they gave us “Don’t Vibe Me (Billy)” from the EP. And that was followed by a unique interpretation of the Isleys’ “It’s Your Thing” with a truly funky “The Beat Goes On” twisted up inside!
Drummer Aaron Glueckauf, who did all the talking, announcing, and banter, announced the next song as Charlie Hunter’s “Fine Corinthian Leather.” At which point we realized we’d never heard anybody BUT Ricardo Montalban say that! This was a tremendous cover, Tannura nailing it. The first set closed with “Lemon City” and then, per Glueckauf, “go go, disco” funk in the form of “Lemoneapolis.” Again, Tannura blasted this one. Glueckauf demonstrated, on every tune, his spectacular time on a simple drum kit.
Set two began with a great guitar feature before descending into some really deep funk (“Jawn?”). That and the next tune, “Flying Free,” were both from the EP, and “Flying Free” just smoked. The dance floor filled up during the band’s superb cover of “Come Together,” guitar “singing” the melody, Glueckauf a beast. After the next tune, the drummer told us they would slow things down a bit with, appropriately, “Slow Down.”
Some dude approached Glueckauf to make a request, apparently for a Grant Green song. Green is one of the greatest jazz guitarists you might not know (so get on that)! LC3 played a killer version of “Cantaloupe Woman” (from Green’s album Visions). Then Glueckauf said, “More Beatles?” They teased the intro before stepping fully into “Eleanor Rigby.” If “Come Together” was “superb,” this was absolutely spectacular!
Lemon City Trio settle into their final set with a great funky jazz organ tune introduced by Robertson before taking aim at the Crescent City with “Look-Ka Py Py,” the Meters’ classic. It was hot, with Glueckauf channeling Zigaboo Modeliste. Next was a lovely version of a song from John Scofield’s A Go Go with Medeski, Martin & Wood. Then the band went all bossa nova/Latin on “16 Zeek.”
They promised the third set would contain much of their new material, and funk fusion poured out first with “Ibit.” Glueckauf then said, “We’re gonna take you back to New Orleans” with the familiar strains of “Hey Pocky A-Way,” then “we’re gonna chill for a minute” with The Rev. Al Green’s “So Glad You’re Mine.”
They closed a fabulous night with two more new songs, first an “ode to Herbie” (Hancock). For this one, Robertson switched his Korg from organ to a clavinet/electric piano hybrid — killer. The soft intro to “Bladerunner 5000” yielded to a total romp, very Bill Frisell-like guitar.
Kudos, as always, to Dunedin Brewery for continuing to bring in national, regional, and local talent all deserving of wider recognition and to sound engineer Chris Fama for another flawless night (plus great set-break music from Soulive and then Electric Kif).
[SET ONE: Sing a Simple Song, Doin’ It to Death, Don’t Vibe Me (Billy), It’s Your Thing, Fine Corinthian Leather, Lemon City, Lemoneapolis; SET TWO: 1, 2, Flying Free, Come Together, 5, Slow Down, Cantaloupe Woman, Eleanor Rigby; SET THREE: organ intro, Look-Ka Py Py, scofield, 16 Zeek, Ibit, Hey Pocky A-Way, So Glad You’re Mine, herbie ode, Bladerunner 5000]
