The Concept
BB King’s Blues Club
New York, NY
9/26/2002

Ivan Neville - keys (Dumpstaphunk, Keith Richards’ X-Pensive Winos, The Neville Brothers)
George Porter, Jr. - bass (The Meters / Funky Meters)
Questlove - drums (The Roots)
Eric Krasno - guitar (Soulive, Lettuce)
Bill Summers - percussion (Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, War, Los Hombres Calientes)
Casey Benjamin - sax and keys (Project Logic)

Set 1
1. intro
2. Funky Miracle ->
3. Cissy Strut
4. El Barrio
5. banter - band intros
6. Bill Summers solo ->
7. Watermelon Man -> #
8. Questlove solo ->
9. George Porter solo (includes “Purple Haze” teases) ->
10. Watermelon Man (reprise) ^
11. Slippin’ Into Darkness
12. Sly
13. banter - hurricane party / milk and cookies
14. I Need More Time

Set 2
1. intro
2. Check Out Your Mind ->
3. Just Kissed My Baby ->
4. Let Me Have It All ->
5. Look Ky Py Py ->
6. Percusssion duets ->
7. Look Ka Py Py (reprise) ->
8. Jesus Children Of America ->
9. If You Want Me To Stay…
10. Coochie Snack
11. Everything Is Everything

Encore
01. encore break
02. Chameleon
03. crowd / announcements

# = there seems to be a small cut on the master recording with some undetermined amount music missing at 4:40, though it doesn’t sound like a lot
^ = there is some bass distortion coming out of the PA at the 1:07 this track for a few seconds

Original master recording: Neumann TLM-170 (cardoids, FOB center of main dance floor) -> Apogee AD1000 -> Teac DAP20 (master @ 16/48)

Taped and mastered by: Scott Bernstein

Taper notes:
Most of the time I get a good idea for putting out a BARN release based on some random memory about some random show or from a conversation with someone about a show….or am proceeding along in a very slow chronological process of getting some of my deeper archives of my favorite (and mostly underrepresented in the wilds of the internet) bands out there (God Street Wine, Soulive, Dan Bern, Percy Hill)….but every so often someone makes a request. BARN120 is coming out due to an unsolicited request from a random person I’ve never met who emailed me saying something “Based on the type of stuff you post, I wonder if you recorded this show from 9 years ago…?” well, indeed I did. And what a good suggestion!

How’s this for a night? A show called “The Concept” which was, I guess, a concept of putting like-minded musicians together from different parts of the country to JAM. First and foremost, you’ve got the incredible George Porter from the legendary Meters on bass and vocals. Then add Bill Summers, percussionist from 3 killer bands — Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, War, and Los Hombres Calientes. Then add Ivan Neville, the organist and funkmaster (and son of Aaron) who would go on to found the awesome Dumpstaphunk (but by this point had already played with many lumanaries, including Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, and even had a solo hit of his own when he was just in his teens), ?uestlove (aka Amir Thompson) when he was JUST the Roots drummer (and not a late night TV band-leader) and still living in Philly. Then add local boys Eric Krasno (Soulive) on guitar and musical jack of all trades Casey Benjamin (formerly band leader of Project Logic) on saxophone and keys.

Mix all of that talent together with a lot of interesting CLASSIC material from their individual bands (Headhunters, Meters, War) plus neutral-ground funk standards from Stevie Wonder, Sly And The Family Stone, Donnie Hathaway, and Curtis Mayfield, this one-off band grooved long and hard on these tunes. And listening back to it today still got me dancing in my chair. Nice request! I would consider this show a modern-day funk classic (even thuogh it’s already nearly 10 years old)!

I found this review of the show still around on JamBase:
JamBase - What Is The Concept?

Enjoy!

Scott

photo by Dino Perrucci