Robert Walter's 20th Congress with Joe Marcinek Band and Chief Nasty

Cover: 
$15 Pre-Sale $ 20 Day of Show
Door Time: 
9PM

A founding member of the seminal groove band The Greyboy Allstars, organ, keyboard and synth sharp-shooter  Robert  Walter  splits  his  time  between  his  own  20th  Congress,  Greyboy,  and a robust  film soundtrack career in Los Angeles. Initially  formed  as  the  backing  band  for  rare  groove  luminary  DJ  Greyboy,  The  Greyboy  Allstars  quickly became a longterm project for Walter  with a string of critically  acclaimed albums, world tours. The band quickly became home to some of the most revered players on the modern music scene. The  Greyboy  Allstars'  success  also  served  as  a  platform  for  the  band's  individual  members  to  launch highly successful and substantially diverse solo careers. To flex his desire to compose in a way that was just  outside of  Greyboy's  wheelhouse,  Walter  formed  20th  Congress  and  recorded  and  toured  heavily through the late '90s and '00s.  The  band  featured  a  rotating  cast  of  players  over  the  years  including  Stanton  Moore,  Joe  Russo,  Will Bernard, and Cochemea Gastelum. The current iteration of 20th Congress includes a new crew of brilliant improvisers and genre-bending virtuosos. Drummer Simon Lott (Kool Keith, Charlie Hunter) is a longtime collaborator  who  brings  a  refreshing  unpredictability  anchored  in  deep-rooted  New  Orleans  rhythms. Bassist Victor Little (Billy Preston, Charlie Musselwhite) started sitting in with the band on a series of West Coast  gigs  and  gradually  became  essential  to  the  evolving  sound.  Guitarist  Chris  Alford  (Cassandra Wilson, Mike Dillon) has worked extensively with Lott in New Orleans, bringing a baked-in chemistry that has mutated into the infectious sound of this incarnation of the 20th Congress. He has been a fan of Science Fiction since he was a child and several of his fantastic notions have found their  way  on  the  latest  release  from  Robert  Walter’s  20th  Congress  entitled  Spacesuit  (available September 21); a collection of futuristic sounds, danceable songs, and inspirational musicianship.  Whereas  previous  20th  Congress  albums  found  Walter delving  deep  into  the  wellspring  of  his  most  formative  influences:  hip-shaking  vintage  soul,  window-rattling  '60s-'70s  funk,  and  the  sounds  of  classic organ jazz, Walter switched his source of inspiration for this latest effort from digging through the crates to gazing  speculatively  skyward,  imagining  new  worlds  rather  than  emulating  classic  records.  The  results lose  none  of  the  explosive  funk  and  soul  grooves  that Walter  has  become known  for,  but  it  takes  those sounds into outer space, blending inspiration from science fiction movies, comic books and art with wide-ranging influences encompassing everything from Dub Reggae to Krautrock to early jazz-rock fusion. A brilliant improviser with a gift for riveting hooks and unstoppable grooves, Walter set out to create songs that blur the line between the composed and the spontaneous; an album with a narrative arc that isn’t tethered  to  concrete  ideas.  He  uses  a  full  arsenal  of  keyboards,  synths  and  electronics  and  draws together the varied aspects of his career, from his film soundtrack work with Michael Andrews to his free-ranging improvisational excursions with the likes of genre jugglers like Marco Benevento, Skerik and Mike Gordon.

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