It was bound to happen, a live album that catches a band that doesn’t play live that often in the act. J-Zone and Pablo Martin are the Du-Rites, but you already know that, and they play all the instruments. Their music is like eating a greasy chicken leg while driving a Cadillac down the West Side Highway with the top down simultaneously blasting a bootleg copy of Boobie Knight & The Universal Lady, ya dig? That’s tough to do live, so they enlisted the help of keyboardist/percussionist Bruce Martin and bassist Bill Harvey. That way Pablo can play that guitar to its fullest and J can get busy on the drums/ vocals. Since the beginning, they have taken the funk scene by storm with their brand of powerful and raw funk records. The boys run through a variety of their songs on this live set that includes a lively version of “Neckbones”, the psychedelic funk of “The Chief and I”, the drum and key heavy “Bug Juice” (not sure if they handed out any Lil’ Hugs to the audience, but it’s possible), the elusive but we’re glad it’s on √here ‘Mr. Porter” in all its god damn funky glory, as well as more funk that could rattle a trunk of a hoopty.

Their music is like eating a greasy chicken leg while driving a Cadillac down the West Side Highway with the top down simultaneously blasting a bootleg copy of Boobie Knight & The Universal Lady, ya dig?

If you’re looking for “The Man With The gold Tooth”, he made an an appearance. This track belongs on some B-movie at some point, and played live it’s elevated even more. With that nod to Curtis, they do their own version and call it “Pookie’s Dead” (the synth lines are dope as hell), as tracks like “Amsterdam Ave. Suite”, “Showdown” (detective show funk!), and “Ghetto Ferris Wheel” make the live cut. Closing out the record is “Gamma Ray Funk”, one of the early forty fives that opened some eyes to the band. Look, there are live records: Curtis Live!, Donny Hathaway Live, and the myriad of jazz records like Live At Club Mozambique or Grant Green Alive! that stick out. Soundcheck At 6 is a record that blazes trails (and many joints in the audience I’m sure) in the modern day. Carrying the tradition of Chitlin’ Circuit recordings and wall grinding during the show, The Du-Rites live show is definitely one to check out. Hell, we’d love to see a live tour, and if Blowfly were alive he’d get up on stage, start talking about something inappropriate and give the largest middle finger of approval, his version of the thumbs up. Funk is still alive and well and the Du-rites prove you can do it live as well.

Pre-Order Soundcheck At 6 here.

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