Brotherhood of Groove: New Orleans Funk with Modern Jazz Live Show at Murphy’s Friday By Jeff Eason In the crazy world of touring bands, some times it takes a musician longer to make it than it should. That’s truly the case with guitarist Brandon Tarricone. The New Orleans-based jazz fusion musician has the chops and the composition skills to be a huge success but is still on the fringes of stardom. Brotherhood of Groove guitarist Brandon Tarricone. The jazz-funk band from New Orleans will kick off Memorial Day weekend with a show at Murphy’s in Boone this Friday. One of the reasons for that is that his talented band, Brotherhood of Groove, is less a concrete set of musicians than a free-flowing tribe of guests. The revolving door of musicians has led to some inspirational music but has not lent itself to the rigid world of recording contracts. After a long absence, New Orleans’ Brotherhood of Groove will return to the High Country this weekend for a concert at Murphy’s in Boone on Friday, May 28th. The show starts at $5 and admission is $5 per person. The current lineup of Brotherhood of Groove includes Tarricone on guitar, Stuart McKinsey on eight and ten string electric bass, John Massing on drums and Geoff Vidal on saxophone and flute. The band is currently touring with at least one extra horn player. Brotherhood of Groove takes the modern jazz groups such as Medesky, Martin and Wood or the Jon Scofield Group and infuses it with some much-needed New Orleans Funk. The band blends elements of traditional horn-laden jazz with spacier fusion type jazz and throws in bits of reggae, rock and Caribbean stylings. Over the past few years Brotherhood of Groove has featured a rotating cast of musicians with guitarist Tarricone the common denominator. Like Scofield—or even jazz fusion master John McLaughlin—Tarricone has that ability to make everybody in the band fit into his vision while giving them ample opportunity to shine on their own. Brotherhood of Groove released its debut album, Pocket Full of Funk, three years ago and Tarricone and company have been working in the studio to complete a follow up this spring. Pocket Full of Funk is full of great driving jazz with songs like the heavy rhythmic “Degrees of Separation” giving way to the more mellow moods of “Kaia’s Waltz.” Like McLaughlin’s classic Mahavishnu Orchestra albums, Pocket Full of Funk features both screaming electric pieces and soothing acoustic ones. Tarricone’s instrumental “Sunrise Over Madrid” is one of the most accomplished jazz compositions by a young musician in recent years, yet comes across to the listener as a gentle ballad. It is no wonder why Tarricone is consistently voted one of the top ten guitarists in the country in the annual Jamband Readers Poll. Lovers of modern jazz—or lovers of original music—should definitely plan on seeing this band at one of its increasingly rare club shows. Somewhere down the line America will realize that Tarricone is one of the most talented new guitarists in the world. For more information, call Murphy’s in Boone at (828) 264-5117.