Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles, and Sol Roots perform at Pearl Street Warehouse in Washington D.C. on Friday Oct 26. These two world class groups join forces for an incredible night of funk, jazz, soul, and more.
“The human voice is so powerful,” says Cory Henry. “When I’m singing, it’s like this extra way of connecting and communicating with people beyond what I can do just playing the organ. I’m able to convey these messages that are really important and meaningful to me through my words. Being front and center like this every night, it’s a challenge, but I’m up for it.”
On his latest debut album with The Funk Apostles, ‘Art of Love,’ organ virtuoso Cory Henry demonstrates that he’s more than up for the challenge, moving from sideman to frontman with seemingly effortless grace and cool. Praised by AllMusic as “one of the finest Hammond B-3 organ players of his generation,” Henry also proves himself to be a remarkable singer and songwriter here, one of extraordinary depth and vision. He and the band whip up an intoxicating blend of blues, soul, R&B, Afrobeat, gospel, and jazz on the record, blurring genres and upending expectations at every turn. Simultaneously futuristic and retro, experimental and classic, it’s the sound of one of modern music’s most inventive minds coming fully into his own as a bandleader and storyteller.
A Brooklyn native, Henry may be best known for his role in Snarky Puppy, the instrumental jazz-pop orchestra hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the more versatile groups on the planet right now.” He’s won a pair of GRAMMY Awards for his work with the band since 2012, but Henry’s deft keyboard skills have been blowing minds around the world for more than two decades now. At six, he made his debut at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater, and at nineteen, he joined the touring band of jazz icon Kenny Garrett. Since then, he’s toured or recorded with everyone from Bruce Springsteen and The Roots to P. Diddy and Yolanda Adams in addition to cracking the Top 10 on Billboard’s Jazz charts with a pair of solo albums. NPR Music called him “a master” and said his “musical charisma is a match for a nearly 400 pound organ,” while Keyboard Magazine dubbed his playing “soulful, church-y, playful, restrained, and virtuosic,” and The Boston Globe raved that “if anyone’s going to preach the gospel of the Hammond organ, it should be Cory Henry.”
The gospel, in fact, is where it all began for Henry. He grew up performing and singing in church (a recent documentary titled ‘Gotcha Now’ features incredible footage of him tearing up the organ there at the age of four), but he refrained from sharing his voice with the world outside those holy halls for many years.
“I just didn’t think my voice was good enough,” he confesses. “I didn’t think anyone else would want to hear it. But now that I’ve overcome my fear of singing, I’ve gotten comfortable with my voice, and it’s become just like another instrument for me.”
Henry’s vocals on the album are smooth and breathy, with an intimate delivery that’s alternately understated and ecstatic. While his keyboard playing often draws comparisons to Oscar Peterson and Herbie Hancock, Henry’s singing reveals a whole different side of his musical personality, one that synthesizes everything from Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye to Stevie Wonder and Prince.
“Every influence that I could think of growing up is in this record,” reflects Henry. “I’m trying to break the barriers. The word funk is in our name, but I want people to know that this band is bigger musically than any one genre.”
Henry pieced together The Funk Apostles’ lineup out of players he met on the road over the years, and each member of the band is an all-star in their own right. Guitarist Adam Agati, who co-wrote the album’s lyrics with Henry, has worked with everyone from Booker T. Jones to Ludacris, while bassist Sharay Reed has performed with Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Chakha Khan, and more. Henry met drummer TaRon Lockett while he was playing with Snarky Puppy, but he’s performed with some of the biggest names in R&B including Erykah Badu and Montell Jordan, and keyboardist Nick Semrad’s credits include Miss Lauryn Hill, Bilal, and Gabriel Garzon-Montano.
“I want to make music that really means something,” he explains. “I think of the 60’s and 70’s as this golden era of music, and if you look at some of the top artists then like Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder, they were singing about what was happening around them in this creative way that made people want to act. They used music as a tool to reach the world and bring about change to help make it a better place. I want to do that, too.”
Sol Roots:
“Sol is a fierce guitarist and soulful singer” – JamBase.
“He’s toured the world with some of the biggest names in funk and blues…He’s the fiery guitarist known as Sol, and his influences span the country, and the globe”- On Tap Magazine.
Sol Roots is a talented multi-instrumentalist and soulful singer who has toured the world with many musical legends. Sol and the band create a unique blend of New Orleans funk, energetic rock, deep blues, southern soul, and hypnotic reggae. Sol Roots has toured across the U.S. at many premier festivals and venues and have been on bills with Dumpstaphunk, Soulive, The Wood Brothers, Robert Randolph, Jackie Greene, Booker T Jones, Shemekia Copeland, Eric Lindell, and more.
Sol Roots is an official Home Grown Music Network artist. Sol is also a Music Maker Relief Foundation “Next Generation” artist.
Photo credits: Josh Brick Graphics
