Lettuce's 2018 Winter Tour hadn't come to an end yet before they announced a handful of Spring time shows. Back in December, the funkadelic jam-band from Boston revealed they'd headline shows through out March in L.A., Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Colorado. Known for blurring the line between funk and jazz, their 4 night residency in San Francisco was at SFJAZZ Center with famous jazz guitarist, John Scofield March 21st - 24th.
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| Lettuce @ SFJAZZ 3/24/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
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| Lettuce @ SFJAZZ 3/24/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
Their set was held in The Miner Auditorium on the first floor of SFJAZZ Center: a good size room, open and accommodating with standing room on the dance floor and tiers of amphitheater seating.
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| Lettuce @ SFJAZZ 3/24/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
The lobby was bustling with people shuffling around either getting drinks at the bar, a bite to eat at B-Side restaurant, picking up tickets from will-call, checking out merch or finding their way to the show they were going to.
The demographic of the diverse crowd there to see the special Lettuce show was to be expected given the fan bases of the artists sharing the stage and the venue itself. Thirty something year old burners, some "dirty" hippies, OG Dead Heads and grown Summer of Love hippies filled the space on the floor or took their seats for the 7:00 show. Being my first time seeing a show at SFJAZZ Center and not particularly a jazz show goer, I'm not accustom to such an early start time but it was kind of nice. Early start, early finish.
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| Lettuce with John Scofield @ SFJAZZ 3/24/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
Guitarist Adam Deitch, bassist Erick "Jesus" Coomes, keyboardist/vocalist Nigel Hall, saxophonist Ryan Zoidis and trumpet player Eric Bloom of Lettuce quietly came out and started the show with three instrumental songs. Their sound was crisp and clear as they jammed with precision in a room that takes pride in making each musician sound their very best. The songs had a distinct ending so you could tell when one song ended and the next song began which isn't typical with jam bands or funk bands for that matter.
The crowd stayed relatively quite too but that didn't stop them from dancing out on the dance floor. After the first three songs, John Scofield came out and joined Lettuce. Stationed stage left, his addition was seamless as he humbly lent more jazz guitar to the set.
Not only did they play alongside each other but Scofield and Erick "Jesus" Coomes played off of each other. Feeding off of each other they created groovy vibes from their respective guitar and bass felt throughout the room. All you had to do was look around to know that everyone there was digging it.
I'm not sure if their forth and final show together that Sunday night was sold out like their previous three shows at SFJAZZ were. If it wasn't, it was pretty close and for good reason. Even if jazz and funk aren't your scene, it was pretty cool to see artists who do what they do so well on stage together at a venue that doesn't typically hold shows like these.
Lettuce's last 2019 Spring show is tomorrow night at The Roseland Theater in Portland Oregon.
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| Lettuce with John Scofield @ SFJAZZ 3/24/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
The crowd stayed relatively quite too but that didn't stop them from dancing out on the dance floor. After the first three songs, John Scofield came out and joined Lettuce. Stationed stage left, his addition was seamless as he humbly lent more jazz guitar to the set.
Not only did they play alongside each other but Scofield and Erick "Jesus" Coomes played off of each other. Feeding off of each other they created groovy vibes from their respective guitar and bass felt throughout the room. All you had to do was look around to know that everyone there was digging it.
I'm not sure if their forth and final show together that Sunday night was sold out like their previous three shows at SFJAZZ were. If it wasn't, it was pretty close and for good reason. Even if jazz and funk aren't your scene, it was pretty cool to see artists who do what they do so well on stage together at a venue that doesn't typically hold shows like these.
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| Lettuce with John Scofield @ SFJAZZ 3/24/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
Lettuce's last 2019 Spring show is tomorrow night at The Roseland Theater in Portland Oregon.
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| Lettuce with John Scofield @ SFJAZZ 3/24/2019 photo by Marc Fong |
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