NYC HIT SQUAD/The Cutting Room/Feb. 23
by Mike Greenblatt NEWYORK, NY—Ohmigod, I died last night and went to rock-n-roll heaven. Maybe it was a dream. Members of Deep Purple, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas, Ian Hunter, Billy Joel and the “Saturday Night Live” house band were onstage and rockin’ out—hard!—to bluesy soulful tunes I’ve known and loved and sang for years. The songs sounded better last night in that cool room—owned by actor Chris Noth—than they do in my memory. Maybe that’s because these songs—the DNA of rock-n-roll itself—need to be performed on a hot sweaty stage with a horn section pumpin’ away staccato-like to punctuate these soulful sentences. I’m talkin’
“Route 66,” “I Can’t Stand The Rain,” “Slow Down,” “Hold On I’m Comin’,” “Soothe Me,” “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” “Can’t Get Next To You,” “634-5789,” “It’s All Over Now,” “Little Queenie,” “The Girl Can’t Help It” and more, songs that my musical heroes like Sam & Dave, Etta James, Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Chuck Berry and Joe Tex did when I was a kid that made an impression on me that I’ll take to the grave.
The truth of the matter is that anybody can play these songs and do. But, to hear them played by these particular people is to almost experience them first-hand, like taking a time machine back to the Apollo when James Brown recorded the greatest live album in history.
The band is the brainchild of Ricky Byrd (ex- Blackheart, ex-Roger Daltrey, current Juke) who brought along some of those Juke horns, not to mention his devilish sense of humor. (He’s the prefect host, like a rock-n-roll Seinfeld hosting a rock-n-roll Rat Pack.) His partner-in-crime is Billy Joel’s longtime drummer Liberty DeVitto. Since these are all working musicians who do this for their love of the music, a rotating cast of characters invades this party depending upon the night and who’s in town. On this night, Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple/Rainbow) played guitar. Asbury Juke Muddy Shews played bass. Andy Burton (from Ian Hunter’s band) was on keyboards. The Juke horns were Joey Stann and Chris Anderson. The biggest surprise was vocally. Who knew Ricky Byrd could sing like Otis fuckin’ Redding? And Christine Ohlman (“Saturday Night Live”) is a one-woman storm of emotion. On any given night, Simon Kirke (Bad Company) could replace DeVitto. Other friends who get paid big bucks to play with superstar
employers but who live for this kinda shit include Andy York (Mellencamp), Hugh McDonald (Bon Jovi), Gerardo Velez (Jimi Hendrix/Steve Winwood), Will Lee (Letterman, The Fab Faux), and/or Richie Cannata (Beach Boys).
NYC Hit Squad shows are so special that my +1, a percussionist from Manhattan Samba (another late night must-see), commented before the set, “this crowd is excited.” She was right. There was a palpable tension in the air to the SRO crowd just prior to the show. They knew exactly what they were gonna get and they were primed and ready to throw inhibitions to the wind. This is music that gets down deep within your internal organs to produce a spasmodic reaction almost akin to orgasm. There’s just no other way to describe it.
Make it your damn business to hear the most sublime music on the face of the planet as played by the best musicians in the world.