King Cake Baby

キングケーキ・ベビー
Moon Stomp, Koenji
March 30, 2019

Samm Bennett サム・ ベネット—drums/vocal
Matt Gillan マット・ギラン—piano
Hisayuki Nakase 仲瀬久幸—bass
Shingo Sato 佐藤信吾—trumpet

Tokyo is a city that has almost everything, but the robust, party-down music of New Orleans is in tragically short supply. Fortunately, King Cake Baby has descended on the city with the pleasure and passion of old school New Orleans music for all to hear. King Cake Baby (named after the symbolic cake consumed by the thousands in New Orleans during Mardi Gras season with a baby hidden inside) are a focused, intense group that brings together second line rhythm, Professor Longhair piano, fat blues bass and a big, bad blast of trumpeting together into a rollicking good time.

They are so steeped into the music of the Meters, Dr. John, Huey Piano Smith, James Booker, and the troupes like the Wild Magnolias that they sound at first like an archive of classic New Orleans music. But “archive” is far from the feeling. They make the music burst with good-time, get-down energy. Music makes a party, and that’s what King Cake Baby does best.

Kicking off the great set list with “Junko Partner,” the band did rhythms right. And if you think that rhythm comes from drums, listen to their version of “Crocodile Stomp” and a funkified version of “When I Saw Her Standing There.” The rhythm flows from all the musicians. In New Orleans music, even the trumpet delivers as much to the rhythmic feel as the drums.

Covers of “Tipitina” and “Blow, Wind, Blow” and “Don’t You Just Know” let everyone in the band stretch out and play. Gillan’s piano solos and Sato’s trumpet solos added the spice to every tune, and Nakase and Bennett took their turns digging into the rhythms on their own. But the real intensity of the group comes from all four blasting away at the same time.“

Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing” (and “who-nay-neh,” as the chorus goes) really soared in the third set, followed by a particularly grisly version of the story-telling classic “Stagger Lee” followed by a super-sad take on “St. James Infirmary.” There was nothing left to do but get some moving finales in with a very funky version of “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More” and “C’mon Baby Let the Good Times Roll.”

King Cake Baby Homepage
http://www.polarityrecords.com/king-cake-baby.html 
CD Review of Samm Bennett
http://www.jazzinjapan.com/homepage/samm-bennett-roomful-of-ghosts/