The New York Times gave
a heartily positive review to a triple bill at
Southpaw in Brooklyn featuring Memphis soul-funk bands the
Bo-Keys and
The City Champs opening up for Brooklyn girl group the
The Sweet Divines. The reviewer says the Bo-Keys (pictured) -- featuring Scott Bomar on bass along with original Stax players Skip Pitts on guitar and Ben Cauley on trumpet and vocals -- were the evening's high point:
The band's set was a marvel of discipline and dirt, keeping its dance
grooves close to the ground, never overplaying or letting solos spiral
beyond their tight spaces. In addition to Memphis soul standards like
"Soul Finger" the band played "Theme From Shaft," for which Mr. Pitts
originated the guitar part. (Maybe you can hear it in your head:
wicka-wicka.) If you remember that sound as something good but limited,
watching him play it was something else. Carefully using harmonics,
changing up the rhythm of his strumming, violently sliding his hand up
the guitar neck, he created a whole percussive and melodic universe out
of wicka-wicka. It was the sound of origin and ownership.
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