DEEP POCKET

At Desmond's Tavern, NYC - 10/02/99

 


 



Clayton Harding (on bass) with Grazia (on tenor sax)

 

TheNYC-area funk group, Deep Pocket, got off to a late start at 10:40pm (and Iarrived late at 10:45pm). The band started out with "The Pocket",which was followed by "Conflagration". (I entered the tavern at thestart of "Conflagration") The band radiated a lot of funk throughouttheir two-hour reign at the Desmond’s Tavern.....you needed some funk insurancefor this event, else you’d be liable for any injury caused by Deep Pocket’sgroove!! "A Love Bizarre" featured a nice breakdown full of hot saxophoneriffs after the choruses. "G.L.T." is a song that featured someswooping bass effects, courtesy of Mr. Deep Pocket himself, Clayton Harding!Next was Tower of Power’s "What is Hip?" with a red-hot horn jam(courtesy of tenor saxophonist Grazia, trumpeter Tanya, and an altosaxophonist). The drums were tight and kickin' bass was in effect. VocalistTanya ended the funky performance by knocking the mic to the floor! Thetrumpeteer solo was hot on "Jamaica Funk" and "Uncut Jam"featured a fiery solo from guitarist Eric Perl. "Phunk-E Groove" wasthe last tune. The first set ended at 11:25pm.





The beautiful vocalist, Tanya

 

Thesecond set began at 11:45pm. The set began with 2 new tunes, "Ain’t NoThang" and "Livin' For Love", the latter being a funky-jazz,uptempo tune with Eric's noxious guitar riffs. "Hair" (the GrahamCentral Station song) was the funk highlight of the show with more of Eric'snoxious guitar riffs. The bass solo was FONKAY with a capital and bold"F"!! The accompany freakout guitar solo didn't hurt either!!"The Deeper the Pocket, the funkier the fill (or feel)!!" The funkyhorns ruled on "Life is an Attitude", while "Do Not Feed"featured an introduction of "heavy drum proportion" with monstrousbass swoops & some spaced-out, Hendrixian guitarism! Deep Pocket performedRick James's "You & I" with Grazia performing a lovely tenor saxsolo. "Anotherholenyohead" was played in a slow-tempo, laid-backmanner during the verses (with the band kickin' back into a loud, funk blast atthe end of each line of the verses)--very nice! A tiny bit of"Housequake" preceded "Sexy MF"--this is the only song thatneeded some work: there wasn't much energy coming from the horn section."Greater Concept" was the last song, and it's a jazz-funk, slow-tempotune with seductive horns & an outstanding guitar solo. The second setended at 12:45am.



By the way, did I mention that the female vocalistextraordinaire, Tanya, has a powerful, funkafied voice?


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