There’s a certain kind of elation that only hits you when a brass band is playing — especially one from New Orleans. One of that city’s hardest-grooving acts is The Soul Rebels, once described as “the missing link between Louis Armstrong and Public Enemy.” They’re coming back to the Valley to play the Iron Horse in Northampton on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
The eight-piece ensemble (two percussionists, two trombonists, two trumpets, sax and sousaphone) kicks up bold, bright and funky covers of ’80’s classics (Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”), rap smashes (Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky,” JAY-Z’s “Show Me What You Got”), and pop hits both recent (Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”) and classic (Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”).
They write and play original tunes, too, like “504,” named for their New Orleans area code, with a chorus that could be their credo: “Everybody get up on the floor, enjoy yourself.”
The Soul Rebels’ goal has always been to take the pop music all around them and infuse it with the New Orleans brass tradition with which they grew up — and which they continue to be a big part of the themselves: when they’re not on tour, they do a weekly show back home at Le Bon Temps Roulé on Magazine Street.
The group has been around for two decades and they’re in more demand than ever, collaborating with folks like Metallica, The Roots, Nas, Maceo Parker, Marilyn Manson, Gov’t Mule and many others.
The powerful and upbeat brass band is sure to raise the roof at the intimate Iron Horse. Go hear those horns!
Dweezil Zappa has dedicated a good part of his life to studying, inhabiting and playing his father Frank’s unique and complex music, sharing it with audiences around the world and keeping it alive. His lovingly put-together concert, “50 Years of Frank,” showcases a crack live band playing everything from early masterpieces like “Who Are the Brain Police” to later gems like “Teen-Age Wind.” The show takes place tonight, Friday, at the Academy of Music in Northampton at 8 p.m.
Singer/songwriters Caroline Cotter (pictured) and Michael Howard play sets at the cozy Mocha Maya’s in Shelburne Falls on Saturday at 8 p.m.
The Joe Belmont Experience features guitarist Belmont (known for his work with Viva Quetzal and Duo Fusion) at the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
The Drunk Stuntmen, friends, fans and family celebrate the life of bassist, trumpeter, poet, chef, and expert music fan J. Scott “Bow Bow” Brandon at the Iron Horse on Sunday at 7 p.m. All proceeds will go to a fund for working touring musicians, to be created by the Northampton Arts Council. Participating performers include F. Alex Johnson, Lesa Bezo, Henning Ohlenbusch, Scott Lawson Pomeroy, Rob Skelton, Dave Hayes, Terry Flood, Soft Rock Scott Hall, Dave Durst, Kay McKinstry and Stuntman Steve Sanderson.
NYC composer/flutist Jamie Baum makes her sixth appearance with the Green Street Trio house band at the Northampton Jazz Workshop at the City Sports Grille at Spare Time Northampton on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The weekly open jazz jam follows from 8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
The Nth Power are a funky soul band that calls New Orleans its “spiritual home” (the band formed during an impromptu late-night jam at the city’s Jazz Fest in 2012), and they share a bill with Fat Bradley, one of Northampton’s own funky acts, at Greenfield’s Hawks & Reed Performance Center on Thursday at 9:30 p.m.