George Porter Jr. At The Double Door Inn
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George Porter Jr. & Runnin Pardners
With Actual Proof
  
The Double Door Inn
Saturday August 14, 2010
Doors 8:30 PM / Music 10:00 PM

Tickets:  $12.00 Advance & $15.00 DOS

Tickets can be purchased in advance online at CarolinaTix and by phone at 704.372.1000

George Porter Jr.

"If I suddenly knew I could not perform tomorrow...
I know that I would still feel good about where I am today" -George Porter, Jr.
 
Few bass players in the history of modern New Orleans music are as storied as George Porter Jr. During the course of a career spanning four decades, Porter has not only made a deep impression with his work in the Meters, but he’s notched sessions with artists as diverse as Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffett, David Byrne, Patti LaBelle, Robbie Robertson and Tori Amos. Early in his career, Porter worked with seminal New Orleans artists like Allen Toussaint, Earl King, Lee Dorsey, and Johnny Adams. Back in 1965, Porter joined on with the Meters, considered by many to be the ultimate fusion of rock, funk and R&B, and gained recognition as one of the scene’s elite bass players.
 
Porter’s rhythmic work in the Meters in lockstep with drummer Zigaboo Modeliste was epic. Those pockets, the long notes and fat holes, provided the cushion for Leo Nocentelli or Art Neville to play or sing over and created some of R&B history’s most memorable grooves.
 
Today, Porter features that epic bottom end in his latest collection of Porter Batiste Stoltz tunes. “It’s the ultimate jam band,” Porter says, “one that actually is more musical than just playing everything you know in every song. This band slaps people in the face until they see how good the stuff is!”

 

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Actual Proof, a quartet based in Charlotte, North Carolina, consists of vibraphonist Eric Mullis, keyboardist Silas Aldridge, electric bassist Phillip W. Berkley III. and drummer-percussionist Scott Brower. Paradigm Shift is their first full-length CD and it is a very impressive effort.

On Paradigm Shift, Actual Proof revitalizes jazz fusion. Their music is always funky (with powerful bass playing by Berkley), and utilizes the sound of rock, particularly on numbers where guitarist Clint Presley is a guest. But the jazz quotient is also quite high for the band constantly improvises, tugging at and stretching the boundaries of funky fusion, bringing in the best qualities of electric jazz and rock.
 
The ten group originals set specific moods but are also often episodic with surprises heard along the way, especially the switch to double-time on “Mongo.” Among the other memorable aspects of this well-rounded program are the melody (in 7/4 time) of “The Ion,” the early 1970s groove of “Level It Out,” the way that “Island” develops from a two-chord vamp into a sophisticated song, the otherworldly ensemble sounds on “Future Time,” the infectious funk groove of “Taboo,” and the bluesy ballad “It's Not Goodbye.”
 
While each of the musicians in Actual Proof are excellent soloists, it is the distinctive ensemble sound that really sticks in one's mind. The prominence of vibraphonist Eric Mullis helps to give the group its own musical personality. With excellent guest appearances from guitarist Clint Presley and altoist Adrian Crutchfield (who sometimes recalls Grover Washington Jr.), Paradigm Shift contains more than its share of variety, danceable grooves and bright moments, showing that there is still plenty of life to be found in creative fusion.

Actual Proof

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