James Brown Stories

Not Necessarily Jazz Underground

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the Februrary 14th show.The Valentine's Day show wasn't exactly about love, in fact it wasn't necessarily about anything.NFTJU host Paul Abella interviewed Shawn Maxwell about his new band -- a 10 piece band with two bassists, two french horns, two saxophones...

The Covers Of Karl Denson

Read closely for a chance to win tickets!Karl Denson's Tiny Universe hits Park West this Saturday (4/5), touring in Chicago for the second time behind his latest release New Ammo. The album features some hot new Denson compositions, but also finds a lot of it's life in a handful of covers, both obscure and beloved....

Recap / Photos: Maceo Parker @ SPACE 3/1/14

Photos by Heidi Peters, additional reporting by Des PetersMaceo Parker has been on the front lines of funk from the days of James Brown through the P-Funk revolution and remains something of a hero to today's modern day funk crusaders.His set on Saturday night at Evanston's SPACE touched on all these spaces and more,...

Notes From The Jazz Underground Gets Horny

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist from Friday, September 20th. Paul's theme for the evening was (in your best Austin Powers accent) "Do I Make You Horny, Baby?"What does that mean? All brass bands, big bands and multiple horn led ensembles. This is definitely a playlist that gets an "...

The Funk Stella Blue: The Motet's Grateful Halloween Weekend (Stream, Download, Video)

What happens when you take 12 musicians, with only 2 Deadheads in the bunch, and challenge them to funkify select cuts from the catalog of the Grateful Dead? That was the question, when Dave Watts and Colorado's Motet set out to prepare for their 4 night 2011 Halloween run through the Front Range.If rehearsal time is proportional to...