Photos by Rob Chapman, Words by Alex Borsody
The Stanton Moore Trio joined by Anders Osborn brought a packed house to Brooklyn Bowl last Thursday night. The band started promptly around 9:30 and kicked things off with just The Stanton Moore Trio. Sitting in for Robert Walter on Hammond B3 was San Francisco’s first call session musician Wil Blades. The night was divided into two sets, the first with just the trio, playing funky, New Orleans inspired organ jazz, and the second a swampy blues set led by Anders Osborn.
“Pot Licker” was a tune off Stanton Moore’s new album Groove Alchemy, and is a contemporary sounding, funky, organ jazz tune similar to Soulive or MMW. Wil Blades played both the bass notes and melody in an impressive display of Hammond B3 mastery.
Will Bernard played a soulful slide intro that was reminiscent of Santo And Johnnys classic “Sleepwalker,” the tune transitioned into a complex jazz number with chord changes in the same vein as new Orleans jazz classics, “Sweet Georgia Brown” or “Sunny Side of the Street,” this was one of the few songs they played that wasn’t off the band’s new album (unfortunately I didn’t catch the name of the tune).
After the set break Anders Osborn Joined the band and stole the show, it was now his concert and the Trio was his band. Both Stanton Moore and Robert Walter back Osborne on his new album American Patchwork (Alligator Records) which is produced by Moore. Osborne prefaced his song “Call on Me” by explaining that it was about being homesick while on the road (a common theme among touring musicians). The song was slow and soulful and provided authentic blues slide guitar. Osborne isn’t the best guitar player but he has a unique and commanding stage presence, with a very authentic, old school blues presence. Aside from the standard blues tunes, the band jammed on an upbeat melodic song for about ten minutes trading solo’s with Blades on Keys. The show ended promptly around 11:45 and the crowd hung around as ?uestlove stepped into the DJ booth.
A few days later Osborne headed up to Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble in upstate New York, joined Stanton Moore, and performed with bluegrass legend Sam Bush.
