Fun and Funky
If you like beer and good music, the annual Brews, Jazz and Funk Fest at Squaw is a sure bet. Festival goers can listen to continuous live jazz and funk music on two stages while sampling more than 40 brews. It just doesn’t get much better than that. The all ages event also welcomes well-behaved dogs on leashes (all proceeds benefit the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe) and the non-imbibing younger set can enjoy additional activities including the new outdoor climbing wall, free croquet, bean bag toss and slacklines, as well as an 18-hole miniature golf course and mountaintop activities.
But, it’s really about the music. Day one features opener Mojo Green, a collective of individuals whose musical mission is to get folks moving with their horn-driven, funkajazzadelic dance grooves. Mark Sexton follows with hard-hitting rhythms, melodic grooves and soulful vocals. All three members bring different musical styles, creating their own true raw sound, a unique blend of acoustic rock, reggae, funk, pop, jazz and a hint of world beat.
Nigel Hall Band gets the audience primed for the main event. Hall is an honest, humble guardian of soul music. Soaked in the sounds of go-go, funk and soul, his musical influences run the gamut from James Brown to Donny Hathaway.
Headlining for the evening is Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue. Shorty is one of those New Orleans musicians who can seemingly play any kind of music: bebop, quasi-classical counterpoint, hard rock, smooth jazz, brass-band songs, Afro-Cuban rhythms and, of course, New Orleans funk. Like the best musicians in New Orleans, he moves easily among jazz, R&B and rock.
Day two heats up with opening act Jelly Bread, a tour de force of full frontal funk, thoroughly steeped in a rock-Americana style with a rollicking indie alt-rock radio appeal. Their mix of in-the-pocket drum and bass grooves, swampy lap steel guitar, dirt under the fingernails guitar licks and take-’em-to-church organ is downright appetizing. Terraplane follows with fast and funky dance beats, mellow hip-hip infused grooves and jazzy instrumentals with a little Latin flavor. Terraplane brings all these styles together in a musical infusion of revamped, refunked classic grooves and tasty, home-brewed originals.
The heat increases as the day continues with Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, master drummer, rhythm innovator, percussionist and New Orleans legend. Modeliste’s creativity has been a wellspring of funk influence for three decades. He is a master of creating funk grooves and new concepts for funk drumming.
Finishing the event, largely because they are simply hard to top is MarchFourth Marching Band. Aside from their marching band-themed costumes, as well as the five-piece percussion corps and sever-part brass section, M4 is far from a marching band. Anchored by funky electric bass they have been evolving into a more guitar- and vocal-driven musical experience. The show will take you on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the gypsy camps of eastern Europe to the African jungle by way of Brazil, echoing the deepest grooves of American funk, rock and jazz then boiling it all together in cinematic fashion with high-stepping stilt-acrobatics and dazzling dancers.
Although there will be plenty to go around, you won’t need the brews. The music could easily do it all.
Musical lineup
Saturday, Aug. 10
2 p.m. | Mojo Green
3:30 & 5:50 p.m. (Second Stage) | The Mark Sexton Band
4 p.m. | Nigel Hall Band
6 p.m. | Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Sunday, Aug. 11
2 p.m. | Jelly Bread
3:30 & 5:50 p.m. (Second Stage) | Terraplane
4 p.m. | Zigaboo Modeliste & New Aahkesstra
6 p.m. | MarchFourth Marching Band
Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 10 & 11 | 2 p.m. | $5 | All ages | Village at Squaw Valley |
Olympic Valley, Calif.
