By Brooks Geiken

Lettuce is pushing funk forward, drawing on what has come before (Tower Of Power) and making some distinctive changes.

Last year in April, my friend John and I went to see a performance at the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco by the band Lettuce, with guest guitarist John Scofield. I was not impressed with their sound — for me, Scofield was the star of the show. Fast forward to now: Lettuce has released a new album, titled Cook, and I am gratified to write that it really does just that. This is a cookin’ record. So I have happily revised my judgment of Lettuce. The band can funk with the best of them.

The founding members of Lettuce met at Berklee College of Music in the early ’90s. When they wanted to play at jam sessions in town, they would anxiously ask, “Could you LET US play?”, and the name stuck. And they are paying it forward: the band has set up a “Lettuce Scholarship” —  a full ride to Berklee — for a deserving young student from an underserved community.

The personnel on Cook includes Adam Deitch on drums and percussion, Adam “Smeaans” Smirnoff on electric guitar, Erick “Maverick” Coomes on electric bass, Ryan “Zoid” Zoidis on alto, baritone, and tenor saxophone, Eric “Benny” Bloom on trumpet and horns, and Nigel Hall on vocals, Hammond B-3 organ, Rhodes, clavinet, and keyboards. These six gentlemen have created a mostly righteous funky disc. However, be forewarned, Cook contains some filler tracks. They went to a Colorado studio and emerged with some fine tunes — and two lame numbers.

The album’s tracks are broken up by four intros called “Shessins”, each one quite short and serve as a kind of introduction to the tune to come. For example, the Middle Eastern vibe in “Shessins 1” pairs well with “7 Tribes”. That said, “Shessins 2” has a spacey vibe that has nothing to do with the next tune, “Gold Tooth”. The Egyptian groove of “Shessins 3” provides an efficient intro to the title cut, “Cook”.  “Shessins 4” leads into the final funk blaster, “The Mac”.

Cook begins with two ear-catching songs, “Grewt Up” and “Clav It Your Way”. “Grewt Up” zestfully plays with the funk tradition. Naturally, the clavinet plays a central role on “Clav It Your Way”, but there is nothing nostalgic about how the instrument is used  — it sounds contemporary in the capable hands of Hall. The one tune that featured Hall as vocalist was a high point of the concert in San Francisco; the same thing happens on the album, with the song “Rising To The Top”. Check out the video on YouTube—it may make you to dance around the room. It is a very cool cover of a tune made popular by Keni Burke.

During the SF concert, I turned to John and remarked that Lettuce had learned lessons from Tower Of Power. Well, the composition “Keep On” was co-written by Emilio Castillo, who was co-leader, with Steve “Doc” Kupka, of Tower Of Power. The fierce baritone saxophone of “Zoid” Zoidis, along with the synchronicity of drums and horns, will no doubt elevate “Keep On” into a Lettuce classic. Hall handles the vocals on this tune in his own inimitable fashion, singing with abandon and joy.

Most of Cook maintains a very high standard, but there are a few clinkers. “Gold Tooth” and “Storm Coming” are songs that hammer a single idea into the ground and then some. The horns drop out on “Gold Tooth”, leaving the guitar to pick up the slack, and “Smeaans” Smirnoff does not provide sufficient excitement. “Storm Coming” clicks into a repetitive groove that goes on far too long.

On the other hand, highlights include “Breathe” and “The Matador”. Beginning with the sound of birds, “Breathe” moves slowly; it contains a hint of reggae, pretty laid-back but involving nonetheless. Percussion by Deitch and keyboards by Hall elevate the locked solid groove of “The Matador”.

The group is pushing funk forward, drawing on what has come before (Tower Of Power) and making some distinctive changes. Aside from some missteps, Cook represents a big step forward for Lettuce.

Brooks Geiken is a retired Spanish teacher with a lifelong interest in music, specifically Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and Black American music. His wife thinks he should write a book titled The White Dude’s Guide to Afro-Cuban and Jazz Music. Brooks lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.