Keyboardist Marco Benevento is no stranger to New Orleans. He collaborates with New Orleans artists and his shows in the city always attract the musical cognoscenti. Saturday night he returns to the Blue Nile to celebrate the recent release of his seventh studio album, Let It Slide.
Dubbed “one of the most talented keys players of our time” by CBS Radio, Benevento’s released critically acclaimed solo albums over the last decade and performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival to Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.
Let It Slide continues in the direction Benevento started with his last record, Woodstock Sessions, by featuring vocals. Earlier in his career he was bunched in with the jam band genre, but as of late he has been focusing on more pop-oriented songwriting.
Though known as a virtuoso keyboardist, he focuses on the groove on Let It Slide allowing sparse drums and minimalist bass lines to create a blend of modern indie rock and elements of old school R&B. To these ears, the music on this album and particularly the cut “Say It’s All the Same” with the great line, ‘You’ll feel better, I’ll just say / When you finally let it go,” is reminiscent of some of Beck’s more lo-fi work.
Showtime is 9 PM.
