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Patrick is taking a short break - Check back next month. Enjoy this re-print from Issue 3
Merl Saunders and his Funky Friends Saturday,
February 23, 2002 Some musicians are quirky. Often they are eccentric and not exactly showman types. It's a toss up, you never know what to expect with musicians. The high energy that we, the audience, bring into the venue expecting a great show is not always reciprocated by the artists on stage. This is to be expected. Playing night after night and traveling from show to show will wear on anyone's energy level, except Merl Saunders'. In fact, as I arrived at Joe's Sports Bar on an unseasonably warm Chicago Saturday in February, I feared I may not be allowed to enter. You see, my energy level wasn't exactly what it should have been to attend a Merl show, due to my own "performance" the night before. Doing my best to put my lethargic personal ambiance aside, I slowly recovered to Saturday night energy levels as I gained interest in the music on stage. A local band, Cryin' Souls, opened for Merl and his friends, and quite effectively I might add. Comprised of a woman singer in the vain of Donna Jean Godchaux (albeit much better), a male guitarist/singer, a bassist, keyboarder, and drummer, Cryin' Souls opened the show with a fast paced and often excellent set. Minor imperfections in their set included a closing medley of songs from the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers. I have always been against medleys in general, but especially when a band tries to meld together songs that should stand alone. The brevity of their versions of "St. Stephen" and "Blue Sky" (just a couple from the medley) felt awkwardly hurried, a little like they were going for the feeling of the finale of a fireworks show. The fireworks had yet to arrive, however, and so the stage crew began their preparations for Merl and his Funky Friends, as did I. True funk is a nighttime thing, so Merl and his Funky Friends came out to play late, around 11:00pm. The funk began immediately, during an introduction of the band and its players. I caught no names, but Merl's friends consisted of a drummer, guitarist, bassist, trombonist, and tenor and alto saxists. Occasionally a wily stagehand with a potentially decapitating mohawk-ponytail also joined in on harp, and a mean harp at that. Those are the players who made up the actual band, but when Merl says "and his Funky Friends", he means everyone in the house. A fairly rocking and riotously funky set ensued, as expected. There is nothing like a tight and competent horn section to add to an already funky set of tunes, and these were most certainly funky. They waded through a variety of songs young and old, and many covers. Merl's two sets included a stunning array of tunes with many surprises, and funky results. From his traditionally rearranged take on the Jerry Garcia classic "Sugaree", to a stupefyingly funkified version of The Beatles' "Dear Prudence", Merl never disappointed and always kept me guessing. Happy as can be, as always, Merl seemed especially pleased to be paying a Beatles tribute. As he orbited his keyboard playing from all angles, he cheerfully sang the words to the classic Beatles song, with a Merl-ized funky twist. Other songs that really boogied were the Dead classic "Fire on the Mountain", and the oft-covered "Strugglin' Man". Additionally, a cut from Merl's "Blues From the Rainforest" album, "Sunrise Over Haleakala", was also a pleasantly danceable surprise. Then, towards the end of the show, Merl decided to get angrily funky for those who had stayed; as by around 2:00 a.m. many people had cleared out, most likely drunk with funk. Merl and his friends blindsided me with a hardwood funk-bat to the head as they launched into one of the myriad of funk standards, Bill Withers' "Use Me Up". Merl's version weaved in and out of some truly exploratory musical tangents that kept me guessing, while always returning to the frame of the song. As they trounced through the quagmire of funkiness that is "Use Me Up", they traded solos, laughed, and danced around long into the night. At this point the remainder of the crowd actually seemed somewhat dazed and bewildered, as if Merl had come to Chicago that night with the higher energy level and we, the audience, had failed to reciprocate! Not surprisingly Merl didn't seem the least bit concerned about that though, as I'm sure he's used to a room full of glassy-eyed and whipped patrons stumbling around at the end of his shows. After all, what better reason to go to a concert than to get a funky workout? (Not to mention the hangover-healing qualities of Merl's soothing voice and the beautiful dancing vixens that always come out of the woodwork for a Merl show) The exact end of the show is a blur to me, for many reasons, but it was a wonderful cab ride home as the echoes of a tight horn section and Merl's many warbling keyboard sounds reverberated through my head. Funk on, Merl & Friends. |
