While researching the music of the amazing nominees in this category, I found myself in such a great mood. Jam and Funk always manage to amaze me with the sheer background required to do it right. Take some jazz, some rock, soul and blues, toss in a Southern Athens twang and it’s pure vamp heaven. Several big names going up in this specific category this year and a lot of friends of the blog/station. It’s going to be hard to vote for the Best Jam/Funk band on the Flagpole Athens Music Awards ballot, but it must be done. Voting ends May 29!
THE HEAP
They call themselves alternative on the site but this is just pure music groove. With two (!) bass players, the “indie soul” music of the HEAP will make you wonder why in the world these guys aren’t world famous yet. Dare you to not move an inch during the songs. It’s impossible.
JAZZCHRONIC
Wait. They’re called JAZZchronic? Well, yeah Mr. Judge a Book by its Cover. You can definitely hear some jazz leanings in the band’s recordings, tons of great horn work in there. If you want great listening, here’s your band. They play Nowhere Bar on May 14th if you want to see them yourself.
NAUTILUS
These guys rely a bit more on keyboards and synths than the rest of the nominees in this category but that’s fine by me. It actually sounds more towards the experimental or electronic to me. But there’s definitely a groove here that you can’t help but feel. It’s an interesting combination of old and new.
RANDALL BRAMBLETT
Hey, it’s our good buddy Randall! He’s been mentioned here on the ol’ blog a few times… When he’s not out kicking tail as a solo acoustic performer, Randall and his bandmates can be found out jamming the competition. This man bleeds soul and handles a sax solo like a dream. Favorite track: “Used to Rule the World.”
WIDESPREAD PANIC
Oh come on. I mean, it’s WidespreadFREAKINGPanic, heirs to the Grateful Dead throne! But I’ll leave a blurb anyway. Widespread has more slow jams then a lot of these other guys. They lean towards straight out Southern rock at some points but these guys are pure jam up and down. Seriously though, if “Light Fuse, Get Away” is not in your collection, that is very sad and I weep for you.
Make sure to come back tomorrow when we look at the nominees for the Experimental category.
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