By: David Schultz

David Fricke once described the obligations responsible listeners owe to music as the following: “Respect the elders; embrace the new; encourage the impractical and improbable without bias.” For almost a decade, jambands.com has embraced the new and encouraged those doing something unique with their New Groove of the Month; an award it bestows on up-and-coming bands worthy of increased exposure. This past Friday night, Licorice, BuzzUniverse and Bugg Juice converged on New York City’s Ace of Clubs for a triple bill full featuring three past recipients of the New Groove honor. The varying styles of the three different bands demonstrated the variety and breadth of music that falls into the jamband umbrella. Bugg Juice’s set focused on funk and Grateful Dead style guitar-based jams, BuzzUniverse offered an eclectic mix of Latin and world rhythm tinged tunes and Licorice closed the night with a mighty set that showcased the wonderful musicianship that is the band’s signature.

The night’s de facto headliner, Licorice, played a tight set heavy on material from their upcoming EP, A Million Grains Of Sand.” The set list may not look drastically different from their recent shows. However, set lists, like sad songs, can only say so much. Songs that have been staples in their set for quite some time have evolved from free-ranging jams into tightly packed, expertly worked tunes. Getting an assist from Stefanie Seskin and Brian Ciufo, BuzzUniverse’s remarkable horn section, “What’s Your Status In London” and “Freeze” gained depth and breadth. “All Kings Fall” gets a jolt from Matt Epstein’s complex bass riffs and Josh Bloom’s jazzy drumming while the finale of “A Million Grains Of Sand” ranks up there with “Free Bird” as lengthy codas that you wouldn’t mind going on longer. The finesse spreads to newer songs like “Stranger In A Familiar Land” and “Bunnies,” the latter featuring Chad Dinzes reaching Chris Martin levels of layered keyboards. In addition to interpreting The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, they also reinvented “La Isla Bonita.” With Bloom pounding the drums with his bare hands and guitarist Dave Lott sliding in his customary Santana solo, Licorice freed the inner rocker the Madonna pop classic. On a night of new grooves, they closed the night with a relatively basic one. “Say It (You’re Mom’s A Vegetarian)” may build off a Blink 182 riff, but in Licorice’s hands it becomes a timeless rock anthem.

BuzzUniverse, the most recent of the three New Grooves, showed the many permutations that can arise when you take the basic formula of a power trio with horns and work in elements of funk, country and Latin rhythms. They rolled through the raucous country hootenanny of “Up The Mountain” and rocked a hip swaying version of “Caballo Viejo,” with bilingual lead singer/guitarist Alex Garay’s lyrics giving the song a dose of authenticity. Drummer Dave Migliore and percussionist Bob Ramos, who won the silliest hat of the night award without contest, allowed BuzzU to create their many and varied moods, kicking out blues based bursts with the same frequency as worldbeat rhythms. The spirit of cooperation endemic in the jamband scene manifested itself at the close of their set with Marc Pincus from Bugg Juice and folk-rapper Ross Sandler joining in on a superextended version of “In The Sun,” a marvelous song that goes in many directions, working off Greg McLoughlin’s wickedly funky bass line.

Bugg Juice opened the night with an extended opening set centered round guitarist Marc Pincus, who once spent time in Head Monkey with U-Melt’s Zac Lasher and George Miller. A band of the people, Bugg Juice earned their New Groove status by winning it during one of the months opened to fan voting. A lot of their songs have a bright bouncy feel to them and echo the timeless grooves of the Grateful Dead. Dave Cohen is able to get the same type of bluesy funk out of his keyboards that marked some of the Dead’s more danceable songs. They also worked the double percussion, with Katie Pearlman joining Chaim Tolwin on the drums.

Licorice, BuzzUniverse and Bugg Juice have more in common besides joining bands like Tea Leaf Green, The Slip, Robert Randolph & The Family Band and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals in the pantheon of New Grooves of the Month. For all the differences between the three bands, one thing remained constant, with these New Grooves, things move quick and they never get old.

Labels: Bugg Juice, BuzzUniverse, Licorice