Playing tight enough to get loose, new local band Up on the Downbeat debuted their funky rhythms at the Dwight soccer pub and live music hub The Cannon Thursday night. Listening to their well-seasoned solos and smoother than smooth coordination, no one would ever guess this was their first live performance as a band.
The six-piece funk outfit is a phenomenon in the making. Each individual member in the star-studded group already earned their keep in the local music scene well before joining the band, whether it be through other bands, regular jam sessions around the city, or solo work. The bandmates’ busy schedules make finding rehearsal times somewhat of a puzzle to solve.
Perhaps that’s why it took this long for Up on the Downbeat to debut their funky sound. The band has been together for about a year, gathering monthly for a meeting of the minds. According to bassist Cliff Schloss, the addition of Avery Collins as drummer helped them feel they were ready to make their debut.
The band’s performance at The Cannon Thursday night took the Chapel/Dwight corner into a new dimension of groovy, danceable jazz.
The tunes were smooth with a spark, forming a motor that hummed the whole night long. The cascading rhythms kept the music moving, getting dirty at times in the riffs and solos. They looked at each other now and then to keep themselves together, but they spent long stretches with their eyes closed or looking into the distance to focus on the world within.
“As always, we’re going to play something for you — stay tuned,” saxophonist Jamie Berlyn said, leading the audience into the next song before the band had even decided what that song would be. It was a common theme of the night, the spontaneity nothing but a flex for a band full of pros who could roll with anything.
Most of the night’s songs were covers (such as Chaka Khan and Rufus’s “Tell Me Something Good,” in above video), with at least one original by Vigilance Brandon on trumpet. In the world of jazz, though, even covers feel like originals — they aren’t so much recreations as something new.
Up on the Downbeat closed out their official set with a romantic, heartfelt crowd favorite: “How Deep is Your Love,” a tune penned in 1977 by the Bee Gees and re-popularized for the modern scene 40 years later by PJMorton. A deep calm settled over the bar as Shanell Alyssa sang, “When they all should let us be/ We belong to you and meeeee.” Robert Cordio tinkled the piano outro, and someone from the audience shouted, “Best first gig ever!” Another bar patron asked, “Wait, what were you called?”
Well in line with the loose, improvisational feel of the night, “How Deep is Your Love” wasn’t the actual end, in the end. Claps, whistles, howls, and shouts of “encore!” prompted the band members to pick up their instruments again and give the audience a little something extra for the journey home. Shanell Alyssa enchanted the room once more with the super funky four-note descending repetition of “What you waiting for?” in Roy Hargrove’s “Crazy Race.”
