Dennis Coffey performed at the Bell House on 6/4!
June 6th, 2011 by Mr. C
The planet chocko martians had the privilege to stroll into the Bell House in brooklyn looking like Fred & Lamont Sanford from the show, Sanford & Son to witness guitarist, DENNIS COFFEY bring the funk just like he did in the 1970’s! He was one of the original members of the Funk Brothers studio band who recorded endless hits for Motown records! Dennis Coffey’s signature sound, his wah-wah guitar wail was distinctive as a mutherfrakker’! You would swear that Coffey’s guitar was talking back ‘atcha in some kind of funky soul brother language! And not for nothing, but his guitar was talking something dirty! This 70 year old american legend from Detroit still makes playing look so easy as he goes up & down the frets like nobodies business holding down some funk’ed up chords that made my fingers cramp up by just looking at it! Like Mr. Han Man said to Bruce Lee in ‘Enter the Dragon’, “Your/his skills are extraordinary!”. Speaking of Enter the Dragon, Coffey did a real funk’tified rendition of the theme song to that movie that was eons better than the original! The Temptations, The Isley Brothers, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, & George Clinton are just a few appetizing names that he has recorded with. Dennis Coffey’s old school guitar tunes have been sampled time and time again by many a hip hop artist! His “Scorpio” guitar riffs for example has surfaced in numerous hip hop tracks like The Score(Fugees), Jinglin’ Baby(LL Cool J), Renegades of Funk(Rage Against the machine), & Night of the Living Baseheads(Public Enemy) to just name a few.
The Stepkids from Stones Throw Records opened up the night at the Bell House with their experimental, soul-funk sound! The Stepkids consisted of 3 white dudes dressed in all white wear with matching white shoes(vans) to match! They had white cloths draped over all the speakers, amplifiers, & bass drum as they projected psychedelic images on their clothing & background while they played. At first glance, I was thinking who are these ‘Jamiroquai’ looking (not sounding) clones attempting the funk rhythm, but as the thumping sound waves of the 70’s like soul melodies erupted in my ear, I was like, dyno-mite!
Dennis Coffey with his bad ass magician self, equipped with a guitar as his wand and backed by the Dirtbombs from Detroit took the baton from the Stepkids and proceeded to lay down some super-fly funky instrumentals like he was still at that Soul Train performance from January 1972! The addition of the conga drums to the performance that night provided a nice rhythmic contrast to the heavy “Hell up in Harlem” baselines! Coffey was dressed like a blues brother from another mother and proceeded to drop down the hammer of funk!
Kendra Morris lent a helping hand to the set by providing some of her soulful vocals to a few songs on Coffey’s latest self entitled album which included ‘Don’t Knock my love’, ‘I bet you’, & ‘All your Goodies are gone’! She definitely added another raspy dimension to an already great cast that night! My favorite Dennis Coffey guitar shredding wah-wah tunes from his set included black belt jones, easin it, iceberg’s thang, it’s your thing, & Scorpio, of course! If you like funk, soul, blues, jazz, & hip hop, you should most definitely check out Dennis Coffey live! After listening to Coffey, you’ll begin to realize that funk was the inspiration to all those boombastic’ hip hop & b-boy break beats! I’m still trying to stop myself with that ‘J.J. Evans from Good Times’ inspired walk & swagger that I developed after leaving the Bell House that night from a Dennis Coffey high because it was all too, DYNO-MITE! We want the funk! Give up the funk! We need the funk! We gotta’ have that funk!
Set List
Miss Millie
Iceberg’s Thang
Ride Sally Ride
Don’t Knock my Love
I Bet You
All your Goodies are gone
Black Belt Jones theme
Getting it on
It’s your thing
Easin it (Edwin Starr) – “Hell up in Harlem”
the Sagittarian
Scorpio
Tags: bell house, black belt jones, dennis coffey, dirtbombs, funk, kendra morris, ride sally ride, scorpio, stepkids
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