By: David Schultz

For anyone with the desire to seek it out, this past weekend in New York City yielded a bounty of exceptional live music. Saturday night's option was easy to locate: the scalding hot Tea Leaf Green made their return to New York City for a show at Irving Plaza, their largest Manhattan venue to date. On Friday night, the intrepid and the mobile had plenty of time to catch the funky Afroskull ensemble at the Lower East Side's Parkside Lounge before Licorice's late-night set at The Knitting Factory.

A Band On Fire:

On the same weekend that Patti Smith, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein played CBGB's last notes, Tea Leaf Green made a triumphant return to Manhattan for the first time since headlining the beloved punk club during last April's Green Apple Music & Arts Festival. Without question, Tea Leaf Green is simply a band on fire right now. Portended by the increasing size of each ensuing venue, Tea Leaf is attracting a great number of new listeners to go along with their growing legions of converts. While newcomers may be daunted by Tea Leaf's sizable repertoire of concert staples, they can bring themselves up to speed with their new CD/DVD release, Rock 'N' Roll Band, which will be released on October 31st.

Ridiculously punctual, Tea Leaf took the Irving Plaza stage promptly at 10:00 p.m., opening with a rollicking "Jezebel" before segueing into a harmonica laced "Incandescent Devil." Their short first set featured a good dose of their laid-back jamming centered on Trevor Garrod's flowing pseudo-folksy keyboard riffs and featured spirited versions of "The Garden, Part II" and "Panspermic De-evolution;" the latter anchored by Ben Chambers' nifty bass work. A heavier second set really showed off Tea Leaf's burgeoning confidence, especially during the uber-cool "Franz Hanzerbeak." Fresh off of sharing the stage with Trey Anastasio in Charlottesville, VA, Josh Clark ripped through a number of crisp solos, closing the set with "Death Cake," one of their heaviest songs. Given the charismatic personalities playing in front of him, it's easy to overlook the drumming of Scott Rager, but his versatility gives Garrod, Clark and Chambers the freedom to explore musical possibilities without wandering far astray. Moving beyond the music, Tea Leaf's stage show received a boost from their lighting director, Alan Sezak. In step with the band the entire evening, Sezak used Irving Plaza's lighting system to a degree rarely seen at the venue, accentuating the music and adding an arena-like dimension to intimate venue.

Right about now, Tea Leaf Green are a high precision machine splendidly working on all cylinders. If for some reason you've missed this band: by any means necessary find one of their CDs, check out their MySpace page or even better, go see them when they come to your town. If for some reason you don't get it upon your first listen: play it again, because you did something wrong the first time.

1:00 a.m. Is The New 10:00 p.m.

With a California based band dominating Saturday night, New York based bands prodigiously plied their craft on Friday. Licorice, closers of our 2006 Summer Jam battled some scheduling uncertainties to pull of a wonderful late-night set at the Knitting Factory's Tap Room befitting of their status as a former New Groove of the Month. In an ode to Friday the 13th, Licorice took the stage with hockey masks that might have led the unaware to think they were seeing a Slipknot homage. Their set consisted of a nice mix of familiar staples, like the melodious "Freeze" and the lively avant-garde-ish "What's Your Status In London," with a couple relatively new tunes and some nicely selected covers.

Despite the late hour, Licorice kept the crowd energized. Even after seeing Licorice on many occasions, their ability to keep a loose jazzy feel while retaining their tightness as a band remains striking. Though impressive, it's not surprising: all four are such talented musicians. Bassist Matt Epstein and drummer Josh Bloom provide fertile soil for guitarist Dave Lott and keyboardist Chad Dinzes to improvise over. If anything, Epstein needs to face the audience more so they can get a better idea of his skillful bass playing. Before closing with their slick adaptation of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita," Licorice ran through a couple of their latest songs. The bouncy "All Kings Fall," which rides on a funky bass line, features some jazzy drumming by Bloom; "A Million Grains Of Sand" begins as a pleasing pop song before sharply shifting gears into a closing jam a la Yes' "Starship Trooper." Lott dove heartily into a cover of Eric Clapton's "Got To Get Better In A Little While" and though Dinzes may not have nailed Thom Yorke's relatively inimitable vocals, he masterfully got Radiohead's "National Anthem" across on his keyboards.

Afroskull's Funky Friday

With their roots in New Orleans, the now New York based Afroskull played an early evening show at the Parkside Lounge, one of their frequent haunts on the lower east side. Led by guitarist Joe Scatassa, Afroskull follows in the footsteps of the bands of the seventies that amassed a troupe of musicians to form their funky sound. Since transplanting from the Crescent City, Afroskull has kicked around New York for a couple years while their current lineup gels acquiring a fine little horn section along the way. Friday night's show appears to be their last for a couple months as they are about to retreat to the studio to record a new album.

With space at a premium, percussionist Seth Moutal and the horn section were relegated to playing on the floor as the stage barely held Scatassa, bassist Dan Asher, keyboardist Matt Iselin and drummer Dan Asher. Perhaps owing to the configuration, there were moments when the musicians seemed to playing over each other, struggling to find their space within the groove. On other occasions, their interaction worked perfectly, mimicking their blend of sweaty seventies soul and New Orleans funk. There were relatively few solos as the band went from one funky jam into another.

Besides the seventies era funk, Afroskull's show bears noting for one of the more astounding individual performances I've ever seen. Before closing with Santana's "Soul Sacrifice," Scatassa invited a couple friends on stage, an especially tall bassist and a slight statured drummer, whose names I unfortunately missed. Iselin remained on keys, Asher dropped to the floor to play bongos and the horns took a break. The scaled down band skillfully ran through a couple bluesy numbers but it the drummer's unique style that drew my attention. It wasn't until the drummer stood up to leave the stage that it became noticeable that the drummer didn't have any hands and had secured the drumsticks to his arms with a relatively inconspicuous contraption. Quite a revelation: but at its core it's all just part of your typical New York concert weekend.

Labels: Afroskull, Licorice, Tea Leaf Green