Tuesday night, the Seventh Ward hotspot best known for many epic brass band and trad jams back in the day, will be getting considerably more electric when this new band welcomes special guest Greg Thomas, the saxophonist for Parliament/ Funkadelic, to the bandstand. Sidney’s Saloon is located at 1200 St. Bernard Avenue and it’s very close to where N. Rampart Street splits and turns into St. Claude Avenue.
Full Orangutan came into being this past summer after a casual conversation between bassist Bru Bruser, best known around town for his work with Gov’t Majik, his Fela-inspired Afrobeat orchestra, and now with trombonist Corey Henry’s Tremé Funktet, and Raja Kassis, the guitarist for Antibalas and recent New Orleans transplant. Kassis also plays in Pirate’s Choice for those keeping track.
Thomas, the longtime sax man for George Clinton, is sticking around town after the P-Funk show at the House of Blues this past Saturday night. He will have his hands full as the band will also feature Rex Gregory on sax. Gregory wears numerous musical hats around town and plays with who’s who of young musicians as well as impressing the veterans with his versatility and impeccable tone.
The band also features two musicians who are very comfortable with each other. The Brazilian keyboardist Eduardo Tozzatto, who recently started his own project, BrasiNOLA, which also features Kassis, and percussionist Luke Quaranta of Toubab Krewe, who plays in Pirate’s Choice and BrasiNOLA. Got that? The wild card is drummer Walt Lundy. This young musician sets the bandstand on fire with Glen David Andrews.
Bruser has always been on the cutting edge of the musical scene in town pushing the music forward into the future. The band only has a few originals at this point, but with all this talent on board, their mix of psychedelic Afrobeat, dub reggae, and space funk may be just what the doctor ordered for anyone weary of the same old funk.
