Soulive and Redman Light Up the Bottom of the Hill

Sunday night Joshua Redman and Soulive transformed Cohen Auditorium from its normal lecture hall atmosphere to the vibrant and pulsating platform on which today's jazz is standing. Background smoke and lights accompanied these performers as the jazz show pooled in aspects of an array of music that sparked great excitement through the Tufts audience.

The first performance of Joshua Redman (saxophone), Marcus Baylor (drums), and Sam Yahel (Hammond B3 organ) embodied the traditional jazz feeling experienced at Tufts Winter Jazz Shows of the past, with the simple twist of a 70's era funk. Redman played around with a setup of peddles that included a delayed sound making his sax seem like two and sometimes even three other saxophones playing at the same time. Redman's "Birthday Song" had the special effects of a boomerang peddle, which allowed him to loop the measure(s) he had just played and continue playing new sounds on top of that. This loop continued, in silence, through the song and was brought back at the end in lieu of repeating the main theme himself.

Beside his amazing peddle work, Redman kept the crowd interested with his never-say-stop playing. When he was not blowing and dancing to his own saxophone, he journeyed over to Soulive's Neil Evan's organ. His versatility on more than just the saxophone proved that he is a man of incredible musical talent.

If Joshua Redman had the audience bobbing its head, Soulive had the crowd moving full force. After the intermission, during which the 300th Simpson episode played on a large screen, Concert Board co-chairs Jordan Kolasinski and Ariel Santos told the crowd to "get up and dance."

As the concertgoers in Cohen Auditorium flooded the area between the seats and the stage, the band played two songs from its upcoming live album entitled A Live One, due out in April. This should embody the real character of Soulive. Live performances are where the band members blossom and "do [their] thing" says drummer Alan Evans. In front of the smoke machines, the sweat and soul poured off the members of the band and ignited the moving bodies in the pit of Cohen Auditorium.

Soulive came to Tufts after a tour in Japan, two runs with The Dave Matthews Band, and a whole bunch of summer hippie-oriented festivals. The band's meshing of soul, funk, R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock, and of course Jazz has opened it to varieties of audiences. Soulive's fan-base has spread and it is formed from attendees of their live performances.

As to whether they consider themselves jazz, members of Soulive are not reticent to say that their Blue Note label is just a label. It just happened that Blue Note signed them first, "maybe things would have been different had we signed with another label," drummer Alan Evans said. But as long as they are able to do what they love and people enjoy it, members of Soulive will continue taking jazz to new extremes and opening doors for new audiences.

The Jazz Concert proved that the many varieties existing in the jazz world are growing in different directions. Redman's conventional approach with his own taste of funk and rock along with Soulive's mix of contrasting styles congealed nicely in Cohen Auditorium

After the show, both Concert Board Co-Chairs were pleased with the performance. "The show could not have gone any better," Kolasinski said. "The crowd was loving both Joshua Redman and Soulive, and the dancing brought an incredible energy to Cohen."

The addition of dancing to the show seemed to bring a whole new level to the show. "I don't think Cohen has ever really gotten that crazy, and it was crazy," Santos said.