Stanton Moore with The Meters Experience
The Mint, October 9, 2009
By Steve Krugman
What is it about funk music that attracts the un-funkiest of crowds? It may be that the music itself is simply no longer culturally funky. The genre has acquired an outdated and musty funk from years of identification with absurd 70s-era George Clinton imagery and disco-fied treatments proliferated by the likes of the preemptively named Average White Band. With a handful of pop-viable exceptions—notably, early Tower of Power and The Meters—the packaged funk of the 70s, along with emerging technology, indeed managed to divert the syncopated swagger of 60s James Brown and Motown to the doorstep of the 80s, where Rick James and Cameo awaited. Luckily, Prince Rogers Nelson also took delivery. Funk as a popular aesthetic had generally lost its funkiness. Hip hop borrows shamelessly from the old funk masters, but is clearly its own thing now. R&B and even some rock music whiff of the stank every now and then, but funk—leaving the Tower of Power lyric unanswered—is not hip.
The legacy of funk, however, lives and is still body-quaking, snotty, and hip as ever if you know where to look. A good place to start is wherever Stanton Moore is hanging about. And playing drums. Along with soul jazz and instrumental groove bands like Medeski Martin and Wood, Soulive, and Greyboy Allstars, New Orleans’ Galactic with Moore on drums helped ignite the new funk renaissance. He bellows the flame with Garage A Trois, Robert Walter, and his self-named trio. Moore gets what is hippest about funk drumming: the percolation and locomotion; the relaxed urgency; the nuanced touch and nimble flow. At its hippest, funk is a Sumo/Ninja, a Mack truck on two wheels—from its grace comes its power. Even when winding-up at head level, Stanton Moore plays with subtlety and never sacrifices feel.
Moore anchored Leo Nocentelli’s Meters Experience show at L.A.’s The Mint on Friday October 9th, in typical form. Soon after opening artist, Res (remember the irresistible “They Say Vison”?) and band cleared the stage, Moore, in trademark thick, black spectacles, casually set up. There was some killing J.B. running through the P.A. and in-between adjusting heights and angles, he’d noodle along with the tracks. In-between adjusting my glass of scotch, I listened in. Was there a time delay or was he really laying that far behind the original funky drummer? Well, the room is maybe 40 feet deep, so no delay. Gotta be a New Orleans thing. Or he was just toying with it. It seemed revealing, in any case. Nocentelli meandered onto the stage and joined in the gear-check noodling. It was hard to know at what point exactly the noodling ended and show-opening guitar solo began. So it did, and after a solid 5 minutes, Leo introduced Moore and so began the drum solo. Stanton Moore is a confident player to be sure. A high-handed, swampy, and musical improv segued the band into the first tune of the night and the party was on.
New Orleans does parties, and its music is the soundtrack. Joining the Crescent City natives, were Southern California’s Albert Margolis on keys, and New York bassist Ron Jacquard. Playing a mix of Meters’ classics and Nocentelli originals, the music was pretty standard-issue Bayou funk. Margolis was especially tasty, but it was really Moore providing the roux and the heat. With glasses occasionally slipping down the bridge of his nose, he drummed with purpose, sensitivity and focused skill. His command of the style generates excitement and made him a focal point, both musically and visually. No Bootsy Collins hat required. In the context of a live band, Moore’s time placement was decidedly laid back, but never dragged or had you contemplating sync-altering room acoustics. The Meters’ identity-defining “Sissy Strut” and “Hey Pocky Way” were standouts for Moore and company. The latter had the stiff, if lubed, crowd gyrating awkwardly, but joyfully in the confined space. Tables set up for the dinner reservation clientele ultimately proved stifling. Suffering from The Mint’s dubious habit of miking bass drum and snare only, Moore’s bop-sized Gretsch kit was often regrettably lost in the mix. His detuned 18” bass and sparkling piccolo snare, though, did compliment the band’s sound just so.
Moore is currently touring with Galactic and will soon play dates with the edgy Garage A Trois. Los Angeles is sadly not on the itinerary—whaddup—but, if you haven’t yet experienced Stanton Moore’s playing live, catch one of these dates if you can. Both bands are bringing the funk in a relevant way—in a hip way—and are the best settings to hear what Stanton Moore is all about. And the crowds are undoubtedly funkier.
Go to Q&A with Stanton