Music
Press
It was admittedly a poorly conducted interview with the Caleb Riley Funk Orchestra, consisting mostly of bumming cigarettes and listening to records after their practice. But it went from "loose" to disintegrated about the time that guest keyboardist Adam Bodine started tapping out the melody of jazz standard "Mercy,Mercy, Mercy."
"So...what do you guys think about the uh, local..."
Then Dave Nezat started drumming and Caleb Riley plugged his bass bank in and started firing hand signals around the room.
"Ba,da,da,da,da,a.
Baaaahh!"
The horn sections scrambled to uncase their instruments and caleb started calling out chords. within a minute or so, the whole band was playing what sounded like a polished, practiced version, soloing around the room on a song they had never played before.
Goddamn! These guys are good.
Even so, how does a band that's existed for only five months and is fronted by a 23-year-old who only recently picked up the bass headline the Aggie Theatre and Hodi's Half Note and get to Play the Festival International de Louisiane in Louisiana?
Actually, the Caleb Riley Funk Orchestra sort of happened by accident.
"I was doing solo shows and we kept bringing in more and more members,"said front man Riley.
"Not in the audience," Nezat clarified. "In the band."
"We just kept adding more members and having more fun," Riley said.
"And his band wast created by default," Nezat added.
Caleb's band went through many lineups and several names. First, they were Caleb and Friends, then Caleb and the Crunchy Groove, Caleb and the Funky Niblets, the Caleb Riley Orchestra, and finally the Caleb Riley Funk Orchestra.
CRFO's current lineup is Caleb Riley on bass and vocals, Craig Lodis on guitar, Dave Nezat on Drums, Jake "Tito" Van Vanderen on percussion, and the horn section: trumpet player Greta Cornett, trombone player Chris Nicloas, and tenor saxophone player Dave Clapsaddle. CRFO played their first show on December 15th. Since then they've booked their first tour, recorded their album Fat Lip, and packed Hodi's Half Note for their album release party.
There are alot of reasons why CRFO has blown up so fast: the town, the members and the talent. But the music, a concoction of equal parts Blaxploitation, Mardi Gras, Soul Jazz, and Merengue, seems to be what fans are coming back for.
CRFO cites influences as far afield as Herbie Hancock, Prince, Primus, the Weather Report, and Bela Fleck.
"Anything that has ever made me dance," Riley says.
"I call it hot, delicious funk," says Cornett.
"It's sort of 70's porno meets Primus, conducted by Count Basie,"
Nezat says.
Having "played bass seriously"
for two years but guitar for many
more, Caleb is the tenderfoot of the band. The rest of the musicians in CRFO are all seasoned veterans. Nezat has been playing the drums for decades. Greta Cornett and Bave Clapsaddle together are in practically every band in town. And quest deyboard played, Adam Bodine, was presumabley raised by a pack of key-tars animated by the hand of Little Richard. And they will whip you up a funk tune in no time.
"It just seems natural," Riley said of the band's process. "One or two of us get together and come up with a kind of sketch or outline of the song, usually me and another member. Then we bring that idea to the band. I think that the orchestration is what really makes this band so enjoyable for us. All of us have a voice in this process. With a group this size there are so many different ways to arrange tunes."
But even with a constantly shifting lineup, CRFO manages to churn out the botty-shaking jams.
"Surprisingly, (working with new members) has always been an easy thing for us to do," said Riley.
"We have alot of parts written down. We've been really lucky in that most of the people we've brought into the group are at a level where they pick up on the songs quickly. I love playing with great musicians."
And the people of Fort Collins love to hear them. CRFO's album release party came just short of filling Hodi's 300 person capacity on April 20th. It was a night of crunchy 4:20debauchery during which CRFO played for two-and -a-half hours straight, pummeling the crowd with dance into a dazed, barley-upright state. Members of the crowd passed out on couches, the cops showed up shining flashlights, a girl puked over the railing of the patio, and still CRFO played. And when the tired, sweaty mass was released onto College Avenue, they all had a copy of Fat Lip, CRFO's new album which was recorded in three days by the Piggies guitarist Jason Larson.
CRFO heads to Louisiana on their first tour this month, playing several shows including a gig at the Festival International de Louisiane.
"I'm so pumped," Riley said.
"This'll be the first time I've taken my own band on the road. And to get to do that in the cradle of so many musical styles is pretty incedible."
You'll be hearing a lot about CRFO this summe - The Scene Magazine: Cover Story
Discography
Fat Lip
Photos
Bio
The Caleb Riley Funk Orchestra
Fort Collins, CO—The eclectic mix of musical education behind the Caleb Riley Funk Orchestra is simply astounding. The band’s six members have spent lifetimes learning and perfecting their crafts—all the while dedicated to the goal of creating a unique and powerful sound.
“We apply jazz form and theory to every style of music imaginable,” says Caleb Riley, “from funk to Latin to rock to metal.” Riley, the classically trained front man and bassist for CRFO, started building on his understanding of music theory at a young age, hopping from viola to guitar to bass—the instrument that would capture his heart and catapult his career. But to satisfy Riley’s love for jazz, funk, Latin and soul, he needed more musicians to play the songs he was composing around his heavy, groove-oriented bass lines.
The first step in assembling Riley’s concerto was the addition of Craig Lodis on guitar, a classical musician trained under Fareed Haque of Garaj Mahal. Next came the horn section, with Greta Cornett on trumpet, Dave Clapsaddle on saxophone and Chris Nichlos on slide trombone, all members of local superstar band 12 Cents for Marvin who have shared stages with the likes of The Skatalites, Ozomatli, Buckethead and Fishbone. The last piece of the puzzle was Eunice, Louisiana drummer Dave Nezat, whose Cajun-inspired beats became the heartbeat of the unstoppable dance machine that is CRFO.
This gumbo of experience and influence informs the musical arrangements written by Riley, whose ambitious energy seeps into his composing, playing and singing. “We want to cross genres, but also redefine them,” he says, revealing the heart of a musician always challenging himself to break new, uncharted ground. The success of this recipe is evident on the band’s first album, Fat Lip, which could make a dead man dance with its outrageous energy and soul.
Amongst all this genre jumping and cross-pollinating, one thing remains constant in the Caleb Riley Funk Orchestra—the unmistakable, dance-friendly groove. From the mouth of the composer himself—“In this band, the groove drops HARD.”
For more information contact Dave Nezat
(970) 231-9412
davenezat@comcast.net
Check out the Funk Orchestra at www.myspace.com/calebriley
Links
