If you're looking to get your groove on this Winter Carnival weekend, then forget fraternity dance parties. Saturday night marks Winter term's Hopkins Center performance by the Barbary Coast, Dartmouth's jazz band. The show, Big Band Funk, which features members of the renowned fusion band Defunkt, guarantees to provide hardcore, "blow the house down" entertainment.
Composer, trombonist and Defunkt founder Joseph Bowie will join the Barbary Coast Saturday, along with his brother, arranger and conductor Byron Bowie. Willard Dyson and Dartmouth alumnus Adam Klipple '92 will play drums and keyboard, respectively.
Tuesday evening, I attended the end of the band's workshop with special guests and vocalists. As much as I was trying not to be the weird writer jamming it out in my seat at practice, I couldn't control my foot from tapping and my head from bopping. It was awesome stuff.
The ensemble produced a very new and great sound, combining the coolness and chill of funk with the power of a big band. There's something in it for everyone, from the in-your-face brass section to the smooth synthesizer and the sultry vocals -- funk at its finest.
I arrived about five-and-a-half hours into the band's six-hour long workshop. I was amazed that the players were still able to hold their instruments, but Byron Bowie, who was directing them, was not about to settle for anything less than perfection. He was looking to get strength out of every note; for the first rehearsal with the band, he appeared pleased.
"The band was much better this time than the first time we were here -- they are better rehearsed," Joseph Bowie said. "Now it's like we're just expanding the projects with them."
This is not the Bowie brothers' first appearance on the Dartmouth campus. They first came to Hanover in November 1997, 19 years after Joseph Bowie founded Defunkt.
During the 1990s, Joseph asked his brother, Byron, to arrange some of Defunkt's songs for big band, and the genre of big band funk was born. The last time they were here playing with the Barbary Coast, many people claimed it was the best show the Dartmouth group had ever performed.
Don Glasgo, the Coast's director, shared an anecdote from the last time the Bowies were up on campus. "We had a good student drummer at the time who was even playing professionally in a highly-regarded regional rock band. I was glad this student was mature, because during that November residency with Joseph and Byron Bowie, the pressure on him was relentless!"
But it's this pressure and dedication that makes the music as punchy as it is. And despite the hard practice, the members of the Coast admit it's really fun stuff to play. Everyone agrees the style of music is really new and unique, which is part of the reason why it is so enjoyable.
"The most fun I've ever had on stage was playing with the Defunkt Big Band in New York," Glasgo said. "The feeling of playing hard-core funk with an 18-piece band is incredible! The stuff these guys are doing is really unique. No one does big band funk."
"This is really unique to big band style," Joseph Bowie said. "It's funk, groove, rock and roll and rap. Byron Bowie's arrangements are a new idea in big band. The incorporation of rap and rock -- newer styles of music -- is a recent development."
"We're taking our trials and tribulations over the years and passing them on to younger generations. Those who have gone before have not always shared these idioms with those after," Byron Bowie added.
As for how the band members feel about the upcoming show, Philip Taber '04 on trumpet said he liked the energy.
Glenn Jacobsen '03 on keyboards added, "It's cool to play with the guys doing improvisational funk. It's the type of music I like to play outside of the Coast. It's not just straight up jazz. The intensity [Tuesday] was hot. I hope it stays consistent throughout the week."
As far as Klipple's thoughts on being back at Dartmouth, he noted that "it's great to be back here and eating the greasy food. It's also nice to be paid by the College this time instead of paying the College."
Saturday's performance will highlight some of the world's greatest musicians, composers, and arrangers, as well as a well-rehearsed and very pumped Barbary Coast.
"Judging from previous shows, I'd say this one could very well be a sell-out," Taber said.
