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Staten Island’s soul

The Budos Band puts a distinct new twist on afrobeat
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Bearded Budos The Budos Band uses everything from electric organ to drums to create their distinct, afrobeat-inspired sound.

Who: The Budos Band

When: Sunday, April 12, 9 p.m.

Where: GLC

Cost: $25 in advance

There's a lot of music that sounds better on CD, after it's been perfected in a studio under the watchful eye of producers. But some music, like afrobeat - a fusion of American jazz, funk and Nigerian beat - takes on an entirely new dimension when it's played live.

Jared Tankel is the baritone saxophone player for the 11-piece afrobeat group, The Budos Band, which includes drums, bass, guitar, electric organ, two trumpets, baritone saxophone, and a percussion section employing bongos, congas, tambourine, guiro, clave, shekere and cowbell.

Born out of a pure love for music, members of the core rhythm section grew up together, playing music at an after-school jazz ensemble at the Richmond Ave. Community Center in New York. The guys would travel to a club in Manhattan called No Moore to hear the utterly unique sounds of Antibalas, The Sugarman Three, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. It wasn't long before they had all developed a deep-seated passion and appreciation for the return to real funk, R&B and afrobeat sounds of the '60s that were resurging on the New York jazz scene.

"It was more or less a totally different type of music than they had heard before. They had been hip hop and funk heads, and afrobeat, while sharing similarities to those genres, is definitely in a class unto its own," Tankel said.

They were inspired by the soulful music they discovered in the club, going on to form a band to explore that new sound.

"In some sense, it was like a staged rebellion against the jazz program to try to expand the kind of music they were playing, and then they just kind of took off and started experimenting with a lot of different genres and playing in different configurations here and there before arriving at what is The Budos," he explained.

That new group was called Los Barbudos - also the name of Fidel Castro's revolutionary group in Cuba.

"The fact that we all had beards was helpful," he said with a laugh.

But after the band was questioned one too many times about their political motives and ties, they shortened the title to The Budos Band.

"We're really not a political group. Antibalas has a very strong political message in a lot of their songs, and for us, although a lot of us probably are like-minded with Antibalas and some of their politics, we're decidedly an apolitical band."

But the turn towards afrobeat was essential to creating the distinct sound that is theirs - and theirs alone - today.

Tankel, a self-described "out-of-towner" joined the group after they had formed, and shortly after he moved to New York. He has played the sax for almost 20 years now, and was similarly inspired by the distinct sound of afrobeat when he was introduced to the music of Fela.

"When I was learning (saxophone) initially, it was within classical and then jazz, and though I loved playing jazz music and stuff like that, hearing Fela and the way he plays the saxophone and the style of music totally changed the way that I approached playing the instrument," he said. "It was sort of a liberating experience for me, personally. I was never the most theoretically or technically-savvy person when it came to jazz, and something about afrobeat just worked."

Today, the group members are split between Staten Island and Brooklyn, meeting up every Monday night to rehearse and make new music. Now, they're just preparing to head out on the road for a solid eight days of touring and performing.

Since their initial introduction to afrobeat, the group has managed to maintain core elements of the sound, while creating their own distinct sound in the process.

"We kind of have a heavy influence from Ethiopian jazz now, which is similar in some ways, but also the feel and style of the music is a little darker and heavier," he said.

"We don't played long format afrobeat sounds, we kind of keep our songs shorter."

They've maintained some of the same percussion, rhythms and melodies. They've opened up a collaborative process within their group, each adding new elements to an older afrobeat sound.

Over the years surprisingly, the band's massive lineup has remained fairly stable. During the first year, there were some changes, but since then, they've only really mixed things up by introducing guest horn players from groups like the Dap Kings and Antibalas.

"The bulk of the rhythm section, in particular, grew up together and have been playing music together forever, so its kind of like there's no way that it would be the Budos without all of us in it," he said.

The group connected with the Daptone family to release their self-titled debut album in 2005, giving them a new sense of focus and purpose to push their music forward.

On the second album, there is definite evidence of that new Ethiopian jazz influence.

"Maybe as a result of collectively discovering this music together, and then inspired by the writing together, the songs are stronger, as a result."

Now, with two live, full-length albums under their belts (each recorded during lunar eclipses), the Budos boys are set to return to the studio soon.

"We're supposed to record a third album over the coming months, so hopefully we'll time it well," Tankel said. "I have no idea what the lunar eclipse schedule is looking like."

Though the recorded music of The Budos Band is pretty close to the real deal, the live experience offers a non-stop, energetic afrobeat experience.