|
|
|
Written by Glenn BurnSilver
|
|
Thursday, 11 January 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 If anyone knows a little about funk, it’s Stanton Moore.
“A good funk track is one that people want to dance to it,” drummer Stanton Moore explained by phone from some unknown town in northern California. “When you make it in the studio and listen back to it, if you can get all excited and imagine lots of pretty girls — lots of people — dancing to it. That’s probably a good track.”
The native New Orleans drummer and founder of funk-centric rockers Galactic, Moore has spent most of his lifetime laying down funky grooves that incorporate much of the city’s unique musical character built around African, Afro-Cuban, Haitian and prevailing Western influences.
Moore’s history lesson began with Mardi Gras parades and escalated to the pots and pans in his mom’s kitchen.
“My mom started bringing me to Mardi Gras parades when I was 8 months old, so the drums had a strong impact on me early on. I started hitting on pots and pans when I was five, took piano lessons around eight or nine, and got a drum kit when I was 10. I was way into the drums at an early age.”
Right now he’s on the road supporting his third solo album, “III,” which was recorded in New Orleans post-Katrina, and it features Robert Walters (Greyboy Allstars) and Wil Bernard (T.J. Kirk), and showcases Moore’s varied influences.
As someone who is “obviously way into Elvin Jones,” Moore manages to spread his sound around, meshing rhythmic jazz and New Orleans down-and-dirty funk with Memphis soul and hints of classic rock. Each song finds it’s own legs to stand on, but the one constant is Moore’s tight backbeat, whether pushing the pace or laying back to let his fellow musicians shine.
“I like being able to hit the drums in a comfortable way where I can play grooves, but also improvise,” Moore explained. “For me funk has all those elements. I love jazz too, but with jazz there is a lot more improvisation, which I love, but there are not a lot of people coming out and dancing to jazz. It seemed like funk was a good avenue to take, and have other avenues to branch off to from there.”
Three tracks on “III” are Moore’s reference to his hometown post-Katrina, “but not in a blatant or overt way,” he said. “I found three songs that I thought represented my observations of what was going on in New Orleans.”
The first is Abdullah Ibrahim’s “Water From An Ancient Well.”
“This references the levees breaking,” Moore explained. “There was a disaster years in the making.”
Next comes “When The Levee Breaks.” Best known as a hit for Led Zeppelin, the track is actually a Delta blues song about the great 1927 Mississippi River flood.
“That one is obvious,” Moore said.
Finally, “I Shall Not be Moved” closes the album.
“I’m not going anywhere, Moore adds defiantly. “I’m staying in New Orleans.”
——
TO GO TO THE SHOW
Stanton Moore
Doors 8 p.m., show 9 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 18
Aggie Theatre, 204 S. College Ave., Fort Collins
482.8300
$12. Call 482.8300 or go to www.aggietheatre.com.
——
OUT OF DISASTER COMES A LITTLE LUCK
Stanton Moore’s new album, “III,” was recorded in New Orleans shortly after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
If there was any good to come out of the storm, it was that Moore had the rare opportunity to record the album at the prestigious Preservation Jazz Hall, which usually has live music seven nights a week but was temporarily empty.
“We didn’t lose our equipment, but the building (with Galactic’s studio) was declared structurally unsound,” Moore said. “Normally they would have music in [Preservation Jazz Hall] every night. We had set the period of time aside to make the record, and I was still going to do it; we just had to find the place. So, this worked out well for us.”
——
WATCH OUT FOR THE STEAMROLLER
“Steamroller funk” is a term often used to describe Galactic and Moore’s solo works. Moore provides a definition:
“It’s very high energy music with relentless grooves, played with a lot of serious energy. We don’t really break things down and play ballads or anything like that. We get on the freight train and just ride it and see where it goes.”
Glenn BurnSilver
| Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
