Music Review : Soulive

The TD Toronto Jazz Festival is one of the big events that start in the summer. As great as it is, the city can be more experimental, after all this is Toronto. We are one of the most multicultural cities in the world, so when it comes to music, we have listeners for all types of musical styles. Torontonians value cultural diversity. This city has the most mixed couples in all of Canada. Walk down the street and you will see a petite Asian girl with a tall Caucasian boy, there will also be a tall Caucasian girl with a short Asian boy. We are not constrained by arbitrary boundaries; instead we embrace all that different cultures have to offer. So when it comes to music and the TD Toronto Jazz Festival, let’s bring it on.

Soulive funked up Toronto this year at the Horseshoe Tavern. As a venue for musical talent, the Horseshoe has some pretty choice bands but as a bar, everything is sticky, everything is black for a reason and the bathrooms floors are wet. But that’s the magic of it, funky music in a funky place, a great band playing in one of the oldest bars in the city.

Photo Credit : Chad Smith

Soulive brought in a Saturday night crowd with a Monday night 9:30pm start time. All types of people showed up for the show, from Humber music students to jazz aficionados. The place was a mob of bouncing heads and waving arms. By the end of the first song there was a heat wave in the bar. By the end of the second song, everyone was soaked through in sweat and not just your own. When the air conditioning came on for the second set, it made no difference; the devil himself would have claimed it to be a touch warm and returned home.

Photo Credit : Allison Murphy

 Alan Evans is lightning fast on the drums, Eric Krasno grooves at his own pace and Neal Evans is a sorcerer on keys. Combine the three and spells are cast, people are captured, while time becomes forgotten.  Imagine what would happen if Soulive shared the stage with Karl Denson and the Tiny Universe? Throw in the Dirty Dozen Brass Band from New Orleans or the Parliament Funkedelics crew for jokes and the mystery to extraterrestrial beings will be solved as a ring of UFOs will circle the earth to catch the show. The TD Toronto Jazz Festival needs to amalgamate talent. That is what’s missing and is what will put the Toronto Jazz Festival on the map. With such a great diversity and mixture of culture in our city we need the jazz festival to reflect what Toronto is all about by having all different artists showcase their talent on the same stage with each other.

Here's an example from Youtube if Soulive collaborated with Karl Denson:

Words : Tobin Cheung