The finest in funk

There’s a brotherly love that has nothing to do with Philadelphia embedded in most music scenes, and there isn’t a scene around that embodies that more than the grooves that are flowing out of New Orleans right now. This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about Galactic in these pages, but when they showed up at the Paradise Friday night with up and comer Trombone Shorty in tow, it was always going to be a collaborative affair.

Shorty has exploded onto the map over the past year, with the 24-year-old garnering a series of awards from New Orleans’ Offbeat Magazine, being featured on the HBO series Treme and releasing a critically acclaimed album Backatown (Verve) that hit #1 immediately on the Contemporary Jazz charts and hasn’t given up much ground since. An equally adept trumpet player in addition to his namesake trombone, Shorty has branded his music “supafunkrock” and puts on one of the most fan-friendly shows in the business. He and backing group Orleans Avenue have gotten so big that they didn’t come to Boston to open for Galactic, but more to co-headline, and the two groups split the evening more or less evenly down the middle.

He opened his performance Friday with “On Your Way Down” and “Hurricane Season” off Backatown, yelling “You like funk, Boston?” before tearing into an extended trumpet solo. With a horn section and a band highlighted by Pete “Freaky Pete” Murano on guitar, Shorty led with aplomb, handling vocal duties on every song. Make no mistake, his voice is good, but when he picks up his horn and the band slips into instrumental mode they take things to a whole new level.

This was in evidence in full force on Louis Armstrong’s whimsical “Sunny Side Of The Street” which was given extended treatment. Shorty crooned the lyrics before letting the band breathe at the forefront, each member of the seven-piece given a solo with Shorty bringing it all back together at the end for a manic run through “Let’s Get It Started” by the Black Eyed Peas. Last song “Something Beautiful,” which was the first single off Backatown and included Lenny Kravitz on the studio version, saw Murano break a string before soldiering on and sizzling through the end of the show.

And what better band to top off an evening than Galactic? Ben Ellman effortlessly gives off the vibe that he’s the coolest kid in town and we’re all just lucky to be hanging with him, and he proved it by leading the funk contingent through a blazing set. With Corey Henry from Rebirth Brass Band lending his trombone (if anyone could blow better than Shorty, it’d be Henry) and rapping skills to the group and funk legend Cyril Neville of The Neville Brothers fame on percussion and vocals, it was a throwdown to rival anything they’d come with previously.

“You Don’t Know” with Neville on vocals was choppier than the album version that appeared on last year’s Ya-Ka-May (ANTI) and “Heart Of Steel” missed Irma Thomas’ soul verve, but neither detracted much from the dance party in the crowd. The family feel of the whole thing was reinforced when Lucas Ellman, Ben’s nephew, hit the stage as he did last year and the band brought out Shorty and his entire horn section for “Bounce Baby” and “Tuff Love” from 2008’s From The Corner To The Block (ANTI). Another vintage performance from a band that always brings the party.

But Boston’s funk freaks couldn’t be satisfied by just one night of getting down, and were treated to a feast of wet grooves Tuesday night at Brighton Music Hall when Sophistafunk and Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk pulled in to town. Syracuse soul/hip-hoppers Sophistafunk opened the evening with songs off their self-titled EP released last year such as “Colors” and “Livin’ To Rock,” with Jack Brown spitting his rhymes over Emmanuel Washington’s constantly varied drum rhythms and Adam Gold covering every other sonic base, splashing funk and soul grooves from any of his four keyboards over the proceedings.

The band flashed some of their influences when covering Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean” which included a verse from Atmosphere’s “Scapegoat” and nodding toward some of the emcees and groups that helped influence their sound. The show came to a head with set-closer “Same Mistakes” during which Gold drove the song forward with thick, powerful bass riffs and Brown spilled his lyrics of past transgressions over it all.

And then came the Dumpstaphunk. With one Neville in town already this week it almost seemed like too much to ask for Ivan, son of original Neville Brothers singer Aaron and nephew to Cyril, to top it, but the second generation funkateer certainly did his best. With the band’s double bass attack, the grooves were impossible to ignore, almost picking you up and forcing you to move. With a set list that included Sly’s “You Can Make It If You Try” and old Meters track “Fire On The Bayou” the band almost certainly couldn’t go wrong, as guitarist/bassist Tony Hall and Neville’s keyboards soaked the room in their New Orleans style.

One thing was definitely gleaned from this show – the Nevilles take care of their fans. During Dumpstaphunk’s performance, Hall and other guitarist Ian Neville pointed out an element of the crowd that was way too drunk, and directed security toward him, gleaning cheers from the crowd. It barely made a dent in the party, however; the same two musicians were helping girls onto the stage to dance with them by the end of the set, feeding off the crowd’s energy.

It’s been a good month for funk in Boston – we’re just a week removed from being blessed with George Clinton’s presence after all – and here’s hoping the gods will continue sending these bands our way. Even the gods need to shake their booties sometimes.