Art & Cultural Events List

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
Record Release Party
Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
"I Want That Sound!"

with opening act
Soggy Po' Boys at 9 pm,
followed by special
guest vocalist Charles Coe,
plus other surprise guests,
sitting in with RSE
from 10:15 pm on

ONCE Ballroom, Somerville

Friday, November 4, 9:00 pm
[doors open at 8:00 pm]

"Fiery yet booty shaking music,
-- it's a stone cold kill diller"
[OffBeat Magazine: New Orleans]



Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: "I Want That Sound!" record release party. With opening act Soggy Po' Boys followed by special guest Charles Coe, plus others, sitting in with RSE. Friday, November 4, 9:00 pm (doors open at 8:00 pm). Tickets: $15 at door, $10 in advance. ONCE Ballroom, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville 02143. For tickets and information: www.ONCEsomerville.com, 617-285-0167.

Jazz has been declared "dead" innumerable times since saxophonist Ken Field formed the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble (RSE) in 1990. The band obviously didn’t get the memo! In fact, it’s ironic that over the years rather than playing a "Second Line" dirge for jazz’s funeral, the horn-heavy sextet – inspired by the New Orleans brass band tradition – has been developing and cultivating a distinct sound critics and audiences alike hail for invigorating an illustrious musical heritage with fresh ideas, wit, and spunk while in the process attracting new and younger audiences to the music. In fact, RSE has been at the forefront of the jazz renaissance The Guardian (UK) newspaper recently touted as a "new golden age."

Over more than a quarter century of touring and performing in settings ranging from clubs and concert halls to festival and parades, RSE has been evolving and refining a unique sound that incorporates post-bop and avant jazz influences without ever losing its allegiance to the groove and the party spirit of NOLA.

I Want That Sound!, RSE’s fourth album (street release date Oct. 28, 2016), celebrates the band’s collective experience by providing a snapshot of where and what it is today – a tight, funky, fun, and heady unit that’s transgenerational in its appeal and whose music resonates with listeners on melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic levels. I Want That Sound! is also the first in the band’s discography to feature all original material, with the opening track "Slippery When Wet" composed by New Orleans drummer Chris Lacinak, who has joined RSE on several occasions during the band's NOLA excursions. The other compositions on the album are all penned by Field: "Discoveries", "Higgins Hollow," "Nature", "I Want That Sound!," "Just Walk Closer," "Roohane", and "John’s Jailhouse Blues."

The personnel heard on the album is Field’s current working band and the RSE line-up that has played continuously together the longest. RSE includes Field on alto sax, along with Tom Hall on tenor sax (Club d’Elf, Your Neighborhood Sax Quartet), Dave Harris on trombone (Debo Band, David Byrne, JCA Orchestra), Jerry Sabatini on trumpet (Sonic Explorers, Makanda Project, Eric Hofbauer Quintet), Blake Newman on bass (David Murray, Duke Robillard, Butch Morris), and Phil Neighbors on drums (The Coots, Funky White Honkies). Further information on Ken Field and RSE can be found at www.KenField.org, www.RevolutionarySnakeEnsemble.org, and www.facebook.com/RevolutionarySnakeEnsemble.

The evening's party time will kick off with a set by the fabulous New Hampshire-based New Orleans-inspired Soggy Po' Boys, guaranteeing to "bring the heat!" (Saucebox Music News). Formed in 2012 during Mardi Gras time New Hampshire style, the band is made up of Eric Klaxton (sax), Zach Lange (trumpet), Nick Mainella (sax). Mike Effenberger (piano), Stu Dias (guitar, vocals), Brett Gallo (drums), and Nicholas Phaneuf (bass). Visit www.SoggyPoBoys.com for more background info.

Highly acclaimed Cambridge poet and jazz vocalist Charles Coe, as well as a few other special guests, will join RSE during their set. Coe’s poetry and prose has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, and his poems have been set to music by composers Julia Carey, Beth Denisch and Robert Moran. Coe, in addition to his work as a writer, has an extensive background as a jazz vocalist and has performed and recorded with numerous musicians throughout New England.