19th
Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme
Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme just released their long awaited debut album Saturday night, selling out the Tractor Tavern. Going into the show, I had only heard a couple cuts from their myspace page, so much of the material they played was new to me, and I was blown away by how far they’ve evolved since the days when I briefly played with these cats. Their show was highly polished and extremely entertaining. Things got started with the core band and Donnie Dollarstack calling up the horns, the Lady Gravy and Ms. Bean, and finally the star of the show, Eldridge himself. It was a party start to finish and included a variety of emotion to drive your soul in different directions as things progressed. In addition to playing all the songs from the album, they sprinkled in covers ranging from Funkadelic to local funk off the Wheedle’s Groove compilation. Lady Gravy took center stage for the classic “Rock Steady” and brought down the house. Never a hint of loftiness, Eldridge wants nothing more than for you to shake your ass and get down.
Since the show, I haven’t been able to stop listening to the album, “Us Is What Time It Is”. In the sea of recent Deep Funk revival, it’s refreshing to hear a band bring more of the P-Funk & Sly Stone dance funk vibe back. It could be the rich background vocals on “Can’t Help It” and “Get It Got It Good”, maybe it’s Daddy Diddio’s liquid layer of keys on “Do What You Do”, or the full-on funkadelic freak outs by Wilson & The Crime on “Smells Like Danger” and “Pick You Up”, all with Ol’ Pollina keeping it tight on the skins. No matter how you slice it, the Court Supreme have risen up to reign as Seattle’s premier funk outfit. And that’s all before you consider the soul and power of Eldridge, both on stage and in the studio. He shows his deep down bluesy soul on “Pick You Up” to James Brown explosiveness on “Fire Escape”, the one live track included to prove that they can and will take it to the stage.
Do yourself a favor, go see these guys live, and pick up a CD in the meantime. You won’t regret it.
