Brothers Groove

A good time at the bar with friends, drinking thick flavored porters and stouts and dancing with strangers. These are the images construed from the music of The Brothers Groove. However, these three guys have a musical dexterity that transcends an eternity of bar band status. They're known for switching instruments mid-set at their popular Thursday gig at the Music Menu. And there's definitely a brain inside the funk soul groove they bring to a boil at every show, with hints of inspiration from contemporaries such as Jamiriquoi, Medeski, Martin & Wood and G. Love. Reaching further back, you hear straight up Parliament funk and even a bluesy vocal style, which might stem from vocalist-keyboardist Chris Codish's work with the legendary Johnnie Bassett and the Blues Insurgents. The band mixes organ wails and tempo changes with funk bass and jazzy MMW-style drums, but what makes the sound distinctive is the prominence of vocals and humor in the jams. One example: during "Pressure Cooker," Codish rhymes boil with girl (pron. goyal). Overall, it's an uplifting melting pot of sound ... the kind that puts one of those goofy smiles on your face that just won't go away.