More than a dozen compelling West Coast bands known for their improvisational instrumentation, including Karl Denson’s Greyboy Allstars, ALO, New Monsoon, Moonalice, and the Monophonics, highlighted the festivities at the 17th annual Petaluma Music Festival, presented once again at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds on July 27. There was a perceptible geniality to the day’s merry proceedings and, while many bands had their own enthusiastic, devoted fan bases (i.e., ALO and Moonalice), all groups of devotees comingled and grooved together harmoniously within the day’s musical village.
The festival mantra, “Keeping Music in the Schools,” is more than just a moniker as collectively the fest is closing in on a half-million dollars raised and “distributed among Petaluma’s public elementary and secondary schools to provide funding for their music programs,” according to the fest’s website.
The 10-hour program, which took place on a refreshingly cool day, also featured fine performances by some other fine acts, including Rising Tide, The Eagle Rock Gospel Singer, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, El Radio Fantastique, Spike Sikes & His Awesome Hotcakes, and more.
The fairgrounds once again offered a colorful collection of clothing artisans, food/beverage booths, kids activities that included snakes and other small reptiles from the Petaluma Wildlife Museum, and several fine perches from which the sun-splashed crowd could soak up the delightful vibes and the collective audio montages being offered on three stages.
Headlining the event were The Greyboy Allstars on the main “Festival Stage.” Their infectious, horn-heavy sound was led front and center by scintillating funk ‘n’ jazz saxophone master Karl Denson, who had just finished up saxophone duties on The Rolling Stones tour. Now at it for 30 years since the band started out as the supporting combo for DJ Greyboy, the Greyboy Allstars, in addition to Denson, consisted of original members Robert Walter (keyboards), Mike Andrews, aka Elgin Park (guitar), Chris Stillwell (bass), and Zak Najor (drums). The cohesive unit supplied a big set of soul-cleansing jams.
The Greyboy Allstars started off with two deftly played instrumentals – “What Happened to TV,” followed by “Right On,” a furious-paced cover of Boogaloo Joe Jones’s 1970 instrumental. The set also featured a frenetic “Still Waiting,” a tale of a lost lover: “I'm so broke down / searching for a way / and I'm still waiting for my baby to come back home.” Also contained were the band’s 1994 single, “Jungle Strut,” Breakin’ Blood, “V Neck Sweater,” and “Miss Riverside.” The band also offered jazz organist Dr. Lonnie Smith’s “Play It Back” and Ann Alford’s early ‘70’s funk classic, “Got to Get Me a Job.”
The loveable, quirky music escapades of ALO were the penultimate Festival Stage act. Led by the band’s two unusually dynamic, multitalented, and charismatic front men, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (guitars and co-lead vocals) and Zach Gill (keyboards, melodica, and co-lead vocals), ALO was further strengthened by the low-end profundities of Steve Adams (bass and vocals) and beat-keeper Ezra Lipp (drums and vocals). Three of the four bandmates started their musical journey together way back in junior high school; Lipp remains the “new” guy, though he’s now been with the band for six years or so. Displaying the fascinating originality and touch of class that has brought them an impassioned following, ALO combined well-crafted, accessible songs that each blossomed into exploratory, highly danceable jams.
Lebo’s guitar work on his trusty electro-acoustic Takamine (and his lap-steel) guitar was dazzling, with his twisting and turning body helping to emit an endless array of musical enunciations. And the work of Gill, also a long-time core member of Jack Johnson’s band, whose charismatic onstage presence combined enchanting keyboard work with singing and winsome witticisms with the audience.
Popular ALO standards included fine renderings of the opener, “Maria,” as well as “Hot Damn,” closing number “Storms and Hurricanes,” and “Blew Out the Walls” (the latter with Jason Crosby guest-jamming Gill’s keyboards as Gill instrumentally harmonizing behind him by pushing the keys on his melodica). The set also featured Greyboy Allstars bass player Chris Stillwell, trading bass utterings with Adams on “Sparrow,” a sweet and rare rendering of Steve Miller Band’s lovely “Wild Mountain Honey” (with Adams on vocals), and a version of “Time is Of the Essence” that included within a portion of Steely Dan’s old hit, “Reelin’ in the Years.”
Another veteran jamming band with a passionate fanbase, New Monsoon was the final act on the Lagunitas Brewing Stage, taking the stage as ALO’s set ended on the main stage. The accomplished band, led as they have been since the late 90’s by dual guitar slinging vocalists, Bo Carper on acoustic and Jeff Miller on electric, also featured long-time keyboard player Phil Ferlino, Murph Murphy (bass), and Dale Fanning (drums). The band’s feverishly paced musical articulations were contagious as they drew a considerable and enthusiastic crowd.
The jam-happy ensemble presented a set containing the clever and funky “Next Best Thing,” infectious “Greenhouse,” an intense prog-rock/bluegrassy “Daddy Long Legs,” and final number, an epic “Alaska.” Splendid covers included a fine take on Talking Heads’ “Slippery People,” a rollicking version of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Hotlanta,” and a rocked-out version of The Who’s “Eminence Front.”
The only band to play two sets on this day, electric and acoustic on two different stages, powerful, jamalicious Moonalice entertained their ardent fans and certainly drew in new admirers. The multifaceted ensemble these days includes several distinct subsets. In addition to the main protagonist, band co-founder Roger McNamee on rhythm guitar and vocals, there are a) band co-founders Pete Sears (bass) and Barry Sless (lead guitar, pedal steel guitar) dishing out massive, through-the-roof psychedelic-twinged jams; b) legendary, 84-year-old Lester Chambers (of Chambers Brothers fame, on vocals and harmonica) along with his son Dylan Chambers (vocals and hand percussion); and c) the T Sisters (Erika, Rachel, and Chloe Tietjen), who supplied lush vocal harmonies (the sisters are also fine guitar, bass, and drum players, which they exhibit during ongoing performances as a T Sisters trio. Moonalice also features in-demand stage and studio stalwarts Jason Crosby (keyboards) and John Molo (drumkit). Indeed, the band of 10 can tackle a wide variety of genres and has a much wider latitude than when they were, years ago, a band of five (McNamee, Sears, Sless, Molo, and Ann McNamee on backing vocals).
Moonalice showed off its versatility right off as the day’s first main-stage band, on opener “Yes We Can Can,” the Allen Toussaint song the Pointer Sisters made famous, with the songbird-like, clear-voiced T Sisters and raspy, soulful singing voice of Lester Chambers trading off on vocals. Next up was the T Sisters “Woo Woo,” to which Moonalice has nicely added a supplementary arrangement that makes effective use of the entire 10-piece. The Chambers Brothers’ classic “Love, Peace and Happiness,” now 55 years-old followed, which seamlessly segued into Jerry Garcia’s “Bird Song,” with Sless who has the power to almost single-handedly elevate a song, a set, or a show with his guitar licks, wailing and noodling on lead guitar. The set also featured The Chambers Brothers, “Let’s Get Funky,” as well as a Moonalice original, “Old and Proud,” which is an autobiographical Lester Chambers tale: “I was born the year 1940 / Oh, that seems so long ago / State fair and river bank fishing was our favorite place to go.” Their set ended with a dual throwback to the ‘60s, with Grace Slick’s “White Rabbit” and Bobby Bland’s “Turn on Your Lovelight,” which the Grateful Dead adapted into their songbook.
Later in the day at the tertiary Petaluma Stage, Moonalice performed again, this time with McNamee and Sless on acoustic guitars. The set, which had a calmer, yet no less skillful essence, featured a whole fistful of Moonalice originals: “American Dream Rag,” “Born to be Ready,” “More and More,” and “Nick of Time.” Such tunes were supplemented by crowd-pleasing covers: Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions’ gospel-influenced “People Get Ready,” which was recorded by the Chambers Brothers in 1968; the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil”; and two Crosby, Still, Nash & Young classics, “Teach Your Children” and closing piece, “Carry On.”
The Monophonics, a six-piece kaleidoscopic soul outfit led by Kelly Finnigan on organ (Hammond B3 and otherwise) and lead vocals, delivered a fine, mid-afternoon Festival Stage set. Offering a timeless sound that blended heavy soul and jazz jams, not so unlike the Greyboy Allstars, the innovative six-piece also included trumpet and sax players (Ryan Scott and Jason Cressey) as well as guitarist Aquiles Magaña, bassist Max Ramey, and drummer Austin Bolman, the only founding member still with the band. Formed in 2005, The Monophonics were a mostly instrumental group before Finnigan joined the fray.
Monster drum beats and provocative bass lines set the band’s bottom end; a funkified trumpet and saxophone added a stirring, Tower of Power vibe; and Magaña’s soulful guitar leads and Finnigan’s dynamic keyboard and vocals completed the picture.
The up-and-coming Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, winner of the 2023 International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Band of the Year award, performed a set of traditional/contemporary bluegrass tunes on the Lagunitas Brewing Stage prior to New Monsoon. The highly skilled quartet, the eldest of which is 22, consisted of brothers Miles (fiddle) and Teo (mandolin) Quale, Ian Ly (guitar), and Andrew Osborn (stand-up bass).
Also performing on the Lagunitas Stage, Rising Tide presented a unique and pleasing fusion of roots reggae, soul, jazz, and electronic dub. Performing as a sextet, with vocalist Kim Pommel as the centerpiece, the band featured Cameron Peterson (guitar), Marcus Urani (keyboards), Ryan Newman (bass), as well as a drummer and a percussionist. Their set included opener “Is It Right,” as well as “Medicine Man” and “Let it Out.”
With a spiritual, gospel-influenced pop/rock sound, The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers also performed an afternoon set on the main stage – with Jeremy Horton (keyboards), David Maus (guitar), Lash Blast (vocals), Katie Ludden (vocals), Chloe Anhne Babbes (bass), and William Wadsworth (drums).
Performing on guitar, keyboards, and lead vocals, Spike Sikes and His Awesome Hotcakes performed early in the day on the Lagunitas Brewery Stage. The seven-piece band, which featured a three-piece horn section lived up to their motto: “Brass and soul and a whole lot mo’.”
Eclectic and enigmatic, El Radio Fantastique kicked out the most unconventional performance of the day. Led by Giovanni DiMorente (guitar, keyboards, flute, tambourine, and theremin), the seven-piece collective offered an artsy, theatrical, punk-rock approach that included such selections as “Hollywood Girl” and “You Don’t Know.”
Greyboy Allstars: What Happened to TV, Right On, Still Waiting, Jungle Strut, Lady Day and John Coltrane, Play It Back, Slip the Grip, Breakin’ Blood, Cramp Your Style, Miss Riverside, V Neck Sweater, I’ve Got Reasons, Gotta Get Me a Job (from the band’s printed set list)
ALO: Maria, Push, Not Old Yet, Keep on Giving Jane, Blew Out the Walls, Divine Fall, Hot Damn, Sparrow, Wild Mountain Honey, Time Is Of The Essence -> Reelin’ in the Years->Time is of the Essence, Storms and Hurricanes
New Monsoon: Sweet Brandywine, Next Best Thing (clever and Funky), Romp, Raven’s Eye, Slippery People, Hotlanta, Greenhouse, Eminence Front, Daddy Long Legs, Alaska
Moonalice (Electric): Yes We Can Can, Woo Woo, Love Peace and Happiness, Bird Song, Let’s Get Funky, Old and Proud, All I Need, White Rabbit, Turn on Your Lovelight
Moonalice (Acoustic): American Dream, Born to Be Ready, Teach Your Children, More and More, People Get Ready, Friend of the Devil, Nick of Time, Carry On
