Lee Fields / Phenomenal Handclap Band / Fight the Big Bull: Presented by NPR Music

Show Description

$30 combo price (only available by phone or at box office window)

Lee Fields was born and raised in the small town of Wilson, North Carolina,one of 4 children. He spent his adolescence years singing in church and listening to R&B Artists such as James Brown, The Temptations,  Eddie Floyd, Otis Redding and the classic sound of 60's Memphis. He joined a few racial balance groups in the South and began playing college circuits that included East Carolina University, Duke University and Georgia Tech. By the late sixties,  Lee began his singing career, working with bands which would lay the foundation for funk music including Kool and the Gang, Sammy Gordon and the Hip-Huggers, and Little Royal.

Renowned throughout the global Funk community,  Lee Fields has poured his grunts and screams over a legacy of funk and soul hits from the early seventies, including such 45 rpm classics as She’s a Lovemaker, The Bullis Coming, and The Funky Screw, not to mention his well sought after Let’s Talk It Over LP. This LP draws four digit bids from collectors worldwide. His recordings with the hard funk purists at TRUTH & SOUL, Desco, and Daptone Records in recent years has solidified his place as the King of contemporary funk music as well.

When Truth & Soul started as a record label in 2004, the first mission of label owners Jeff Silverman and Leon Michels, was to record a sweet soul record that would be modeled after the near perfect formula that bands like The Moments, The Delfonics, and The Stylistics had created.  Music that was both tough as nails and sweet as honey.  Music with laced with lush strings and smooth vocal harmonies layered over hard-hitting rhythms.  Michels and Silverman called in a few trusty associates, which included singer Lee Fields, and recorded the single “Do You Love Me” b/w “Honey Dove”.  What happened in the studio was pure magic and thus, The Expressions were born.

Fast forward almost two years and The Expressions featuring Lee Fields have successfully created a unique and personal sound that can hold court with the bands they set out to emulate.  However, what was created in the process goes beyond just a carbon copy of a sweet soul music.  The music has developed into a deeply soulful mix of old and new.  The formula stayed the same but the style has been adapted for the ears of people who didn’t grow up on Al Green or Sam Cooke.  Elements of modern music have crept their way into the mix to create something entirely fresh and unique.  The Expressions have surely lived up to the name, each song they make is choked full of raw emotion that permeates deep through your ear hole straight to the soul. 

The Phenomenal Handclap Band is a tight-knit aggregation of musicians and artists from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. At the center of it is Daniel Collás and Sean Marquand who, after years of searching and contemplation, through live performance and the manipulation of recorded music, have finally succeeded in assembling the personification of their holy vision: a musical juggernaut. They have crafted a sound that is equal parts anthemic, dancefloor-oriented and orchestral, borrowing elements from progressive rock, disco, electro, and psychedelia. Live, The Phenomenal Handclap Band is distilled to an eight-member powerhouse, an eye-popping spectacle that overwhelms the senses. It pulses with a savage rhythm section that provides the ultimate foil for cascading guitars and electrified washes of organ and synthesizers. Their delirious sermonizing whips crowds into a charismatic frenzy. Needless to say, their live shows are more akin to a spiritual church revival than an actual rock show.

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In the music of Fight the Big Bull "you can hear punk, funk, downtown-style jazz and soul...as well as a strong allegiance to Charles Mingus' earthy folk forms" says TimeOut NewYork.  The nonet from Richmond, Virginia are a spirited congregation of saxophone, clarinet, trombones, trumpet, guitar, bass and two drummers. Fight the Big Bull is a display of spontaneous emotion filled with powerful significance and baptized in the traditions of jazz, blues, gospel, soul, and funk. The group spent ten days this winter holed up with close friend, mentor, and musical co-conspirator, Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob) recording their next album. Tonight they appear on two distinct, dynamic shows at Joe's Pub; first, on a double-bill with their pal Steven and Sex Mob followed by an inspired NPR Music-curated, triple-bill with hard-hitting and groovy local acts Lee Fields and the Expressions, and the Phenomenal Handclap Band.