Soul Roots
Revival Band
Soul Roots
Revival Band
Featuring two of Australia’s finest vocalists Carmel Mesiti and Glenn Cunningham.
Jason Bruer brings together an all star, hand picked 8 piece band paying homage to the great Soul and Roots Artists of our time.
Our next gigs
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 09/06/24 | Marrickville, NSW | Lazybones |
| Time: 6:00pm. Address: 294 Marrickville Rd. Venue phone: 0450 008 563. | ||
About the band
What music gets crowds of all ages up off their asses and onto the dance floor? Soul, Funk, Blues, & Roots that’s what.
Hard–blowin’ horn man Jason Bruer has played with some of the genres’ masters & giants from BBking & Eric Clapton, to Sting & Madness, to Dr John & Jeff Beck, to Martha & The Vandellas & Stevie Winwood.
He’s learned the secrets of their grooves from the inside and has transferred the lessons to create the Soul Roots Revival Band, a funky-as-dirt, testifying unit on a mission to get crowds dancing, singing, drinking, partying & pumping.
Jason’s all star, hand picked 8 piece band featuring two of Australia’s finest vocalists Carmel Mesiti and Glenn Cunningham celebrates the immortal straight-to-the-heart genius of Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Kahn, Earth Wind & Fire, Dr John, Taj Mahal, Gladys Knight, Tower of Power and others. Some of the songs will be classics whose deep lyrics are instantly remembered and treasured; others, obscure killer-tracks that you’ll hear once, wish you’d heard before and never forget again.
With exciting new arrangements by Jason Bruer and powerhouse horn section lines driven by Adam Ventouras’s gut-palpitating bass, Sam Boyd’s testifying organ and piano, Andy Byrnes deep drum groove & Ramsay McInnes skanking guitar, the unit integrates totally-loved familiarity with a freshness, heart and passion that takes your breath away. As joyous as new love, as powerful as heartbreak, as propulsive as a mighty engine, The Soul-Roots experience is a total happening – the perfect pathway to direct, personal, first-hand participation in the funkiest music of our era. BYO dancing shoes strongly recommended.
Listen to us
The Band
Glenn Cunningham (vocals), Carmel Mesiti (vocals), Greg Carger (trumpet), Sam Boyd (keys), Adam Ventoura (bass), Andy Byrnes (drums), Ramsay McInnes (guitar) and Jason Bruer (tenor sax).
Saxophonist Jason Bruer’s handpicked eight-piece band pays homage to the best and brightest soul and roots artists of the past several decades. The stellar lineup of local talent features rising star vocalists Michael David and Lana Rita, Ramsay McInnes (guitar), Sam Boyd (keys), Andy Byrnes (drums), Josh Munn (bass), Nick Garbett (trumpet) and Jason Bruer (saxophone).
Soul Roots Revival Band kicked off the Sunday evening on the second floor of Marrickville’s cosy jazz haven – Lazybones Lounge, with an original track from Ramsay McInnes titled ‘Grandmaster Groove’ and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Did I Hear You Say You Love Me’ with the goose bump-inducing Michael David (X-Factor, The Voice, Ian Moss, Uncle Jed) and the high-spirited, larger-than-life soul songstress Lana Rita (Ricki Lee, Jess Mouboy, Christine Anu). The eight-piece band showed strength, character and cohesion through each track selection of the night, with David’s voice piercing the hearts of many throughout the crowd during Leon Russell’s 1970 ‘Song For You’.
“Alright this is when I get my sass out… Let’s get sassy!” burst from the vivacious Rita before the band dived straight into Jill Scott’s ‘You Don’t Know’. They ended the first half of their set with a bang – BB King’s legendary blues number ‘Let The Good Times Roll’, propelling the fewer remaining languid audience members onto the dance floor, complete with their own uniquely distinctive moves. The second half of the band’s set began with the crowd collectively singing vocalist Michael David Happy Birthday, breezing through a couple more Stevie Wonder gems (‘Until You Come Back To Me’, ‘Do I Do’), before wrapping up with Taj Mahal’s ‘Oh Lord Things Are Getting Crazy Up Here’ for the band’s final encore.
Staying true to the nature of the band’s epithet, Soul Roots Revival Band brings the quintessential soul and roots classics back to life.