Photo by Blaine Schultz
Shake & Holla - South Milwaukee PAC
North Mississippi Allstars, Cedric Burnside and Rebirth Brass Band at South Milwaukee PAC
It is not as far from North Mississippi to South Milwaukee as you might think. On paper, Friday evening’s Shake & Holla concert at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center was billed at three acts. Onstage, the performers-—Cedric Burnside, Rebirth Brass Band and North Mississippi Allstars—joined in various combinations before all coming together as a single eleven-headed blues funk monster.
Burnside opened the evening with a set of rolling, fingerpicked songs recalling the sound his grandfather R.L. Burnside perfected. The hypnotic grooves were punctuated by his hearty bursts of laughter. The Grammy-nominated Burnside was the first performer (but not the last) of the evening to express his gratitude to the audience for being back on the road playing live performances.
Photo by Blaine Schultz
Rebirth Brass Band at South Milwaukee PAC
Rebirth Brass Band at South Milwaukee PAC
With 35 years as performing group, Grammy-award winning Rebirth Brass Band ratcheted up the energy level. It is tempting to label Rebirth’s sound as vintage, but in New Orleans time seemingly moves forward and backward at the same speed. Performing as a sextet (two trombones, saxophone, trumpet, tuba and parade drum), they opened with Fats Domino’s “I’m Walking,” with the frontline horns delivering a wild ensemble blast. Hank William’s “Jambalaya” stretched into territory that recalled polka brass bands from these parts and their take on “Grazing In the Grass” sounded as fresh as it did when Hugh Masekela recorded it in 1968. Rebirth closed with “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up,” which doubled as the evening’s mission statement.
De facto headliners, North Mississippi Allstars took the stage after intermission. Guitarist Luther Dickinson and his brother Cody (on drums) formed the band in the late ‘90s. Luther had toured in R.L. Burnside’s band and he and Cody grew up with music in the air. Their father, the late Jim Dickinson played piano on “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones, sessions with Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan and collaborated with Alex Chilton. A teenage Luther was even recruited to play on a Replacements album his dad was producing. The elder Dickinson’s mantra “World Boogie is Coming” seems to have served his offspring well.
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Photo by Blaine Schultz
North Mississippi Allstars and Cedric Burnside at South MIlwaukee PAC
North Mississippi Allstars and Cedric Burnside at South MIlwaukee PAC
With Jesse Williams on bass and Lamar Williams, Jr. on vocals, NMAS took the stage with “Sitting On Top of the World” and immediately established their blues credentials but the freewheeling group also had no problem flying their freak flag with “Up and Rolling,” singing, “Grew up a Mississippi hippie tripping LSD, smoking stems ‘n seeds and drinking mushroom tea.” The laidback sunshine-dappled tune gave Luther plenty of room to step out on Allman-esque slide guitar melody lines.
Cedric joined the band onstage as his and Lamar’s call and response vocals segued into Cody and Luther’s brotherly musical telepathy.
The groove supreme of Furry Lewis’ “Shake ‘Em On Down” had dancers moving in front of the stage and “I’d Love to Be a Hippy” found the band downshifting the intensity into modal blues territory that recalled John Coltrane and the Butterfield Blues Band.
Welcoming Rebirth back to the stage the entire crew offered up R.L. Burnside’s “Goin’ Down South.” With a blast of horns, the stomping one-chord orchestra finished the night with sounds that could have come out of Sun Ra’s imagination.
The only thing this revival was missing was a tent.
