'Groove' crowds Blind Pig tonight

By John Leffel

For the Daily

New York City's Groove Collective is a band that defies musical classification by fusing funk, jazz, trip hop, Afro-Cuban and electronic music in a rotating, collective ensemble of musicians and guest musicians that all perform with one objective in mind: To create flowing, funky grooves that will get the crowd dancin'.

Formed in the early '90s New York club scene, Groove Collective was structured around a core group of musicians including flute player Richard Worth, MC and percussionist Gordon "Nappy G" Clay, keyboardist Itaal Shur, drummer Genji Siraisi and bassist Jonathan Maron. The group added vibraphonist and composer Bill Ware, saxophonist Jay Rodriguez, trombonist Josh Roseman, trumpet player Fabio Morgera and additional percussionist Chris Theberge later in 1990, forming a ten-member nucleus of musicians with a home base in a small Soho basement called Sybarite. The club closed in 1993, prompting the group to begin recording.

The band's first album, a collection of live recordings, immediately proved that Groove Collective had much to offer. The self-titled album illustrated the musicians' uncanny ability to blend numerous groove lines, creating a dazzling, contagiously boppable musical output.

With the 1996 studio album "We the People," Groove Collective again confirmed their ability to seriously jam out, produce quality dance remixes, or just as easily relax into extended, jazzy grooves that embody the band's dedication to traditional swing and bebop.

The inventiveness and depth of the groups' sound that characterized "We the People" is reflected also in the range and diversity of its gigs: Appearances at Switzerland's Montreaux Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Japan with B.B. King, a week long stint at Tokyo's Blue Note, a tour with the Dave Mathews Band, an opening for James Brown and plentiful live performances featuring such guest musicians as Erykah Badu, The Roots and Tito Puente.

This versatility also characterizes the band's most recent release, 1999's "Declassified," an album that, in its very title, reinforces the group's refusal to conform to the arbitrary categorizations imposed on bands by the music industry. One of the most interesting and impressive tracks off "Declassified" is a soulful, psychedically-infused electronic cover of The Beatles' "Martha My Dear," a strange choice but one that's beautifully executed and unique in sound and approach.

Simply put, Groove Collective will blow your mind and get you dancing, whatever the occasion; as M. Doughty aptly summarizes in his liner notes to the bands's first album, "The Groove Collective is music for basement/ stoop/ jeep/ living room/ or dance floor ..."

Local fans also have something special to look forward to: Groove Collective will soon start releasing a series of live recordings, beginning with last year's Ann Arbor show.

Courtesy of Simon Gerzina

The Groove Collective plays the Bling Piggly-Wiggly tonight. Clean up on Aisle 4!