If it’s the groove that makes you move, then nothing will make you as glad as Gadd. Drummer Steve Gadd, who’s ridden the reigns for everyone from Steely Dan to Eric Clapton, brought his own swinging team of Michael Landau/g, Larry Goldings/B3-key, Walt Fowler/tp and Jimmy Johnson/b to Catalina’s for the weekend and mixed blues, jazz and everything in between into a delightful 75 minute banquet of sounds and rhythms.
With Fowler’s kind of blue horn in the fore, Gadd was able to make the rest of the team form deep rivulets that went from a playful and bouncy “The Wind Up” with Landau supplying clips on the strings, to a deep blues on “The Long Way Home” that included Johnson’s irresistible cadence. Throughout the whole set, Gadd was able to toy around with the underlying feel, adding a nifty and skipping pulse as the band shifted like the sands on the beach on a bluesy to bop to funk “Green Foam” or a hi hat heaven with Johnson’s thumping pulse as he soloed without soloing with the band on “Sly Boots.”
The band got CTI soulful on the delectable “Way Back Home” where Gadd toyed with the groove like a cat and mouse, while “Duke’s Anthem” was a gospel themed tribute to George Duke that swayed like a church meeting. Goldings was wonderfully pensive on this piece, but as with all things B3, he made the Leslie speakers do what God created them for as he filled the room with smoke on “Blues For …” which also caused Landau to bend his strings like a chiropractic patient. Even through the most basic of blues themes Gadd was able to create colors, tones, climaxes and enticements using sticks and brushes like Gauguin. This was sonic art of the highest order!
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s include Spencer Day 12/08, Mike Stern 12/11-13, Gordon Goodwin 12/14, Sasha’s Bloc 12/20, Kenny Burrell 12/21 and Rachelle Ferrell 12/29-31