FIVE THINGS You SHould KNOW ABOUT
Lettuce
March 19, 2019 | by Rusty Aceves
Lettuce
This week, John Scofield joins funk superband Lettuce for a week of deep grooves and masterful interplay. Here are five things you should know about the band JamBase calls "the modern day rulers of old school funk."
- The band was formed in 1992 during a summer program at Boston’s Berklee College of Music by a group of teenage musicians inspired by Earth, Wind and Fire, Tower of Power, and Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters.
- Since their inception, the band has been a proving ground for great musicians. Founding guitarist Eric Krasno and keyboardist Neal Evans formed Soulive, former keyboardist Jeff Bhasker won the 2016 GRAMMY for Producer of the Year in recognition of his work with Mark Ronson, former trumpeter Rashawn Ross is now working with the Dave Matthews Band, bassist Erick Coomes has recorded with The Game and Britney Spears, and guitarist Adam Smirnoff has toured with Lady Gaga and Robert Randolph.
- Lettuce’s collaborative history with John Scofield goes back to his appearance on the band’s 2002 debut album Outta Here, and Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch has recorded and toured with the guitarist, appearing on his albums Überjam and Up All Night.
- They’ve recorded two EPs and six full-length albums including their latest, 2017’s Witches Stew, a tribute to trumpet icon Miles Davis focusing primarily on Davis’ exploratory fusion landmarks of the early 70s.
- The group name came from the oft-repeated phrase members would utter early in their lives as budding professionals, looking for opportunities to perform. In an interview with Pop-Break, Smirnoff relates: “We were young kids at Berklee and we do not have gigs. So we would go to other people’s gig and we’d be like, ‘Damn, we really wanna play.’ And then maybe we’d ask them, ‘Hey, would you let us play your instruments?” It was, ‘Would you let us play your stuff, would you let us sit in on your gig?’”