Boulder
Improvisational Ensemble
Proves that Funk is Not Dead
The Vail Daily,
February 19, 1999
Of all the musical forms to be successfully celebrated in the Vail Valley, the hard-working DJ seems to have drawn the short straw when it comes to landing work at local clubs.
Hard to say why that is, exactly, given the popularity of hip-hop, funk and disco nights at other locales from sea to shining sea, even in out-of-the-way spots like Telluride.
But there's plenty of time to learn to love the full spectrum of music that can be given an extra boost by disk spinners, especially in a unique show tonight at Garton's.
The United Dope Front, a multi-headed acid jazz and funk collective with members based in Boulder and Denver, hits town to show that funk is definitely not dead - and that DJs have a more important role than playing old Peter Frampton records at your cousin's bar mitzvah.
The group, which features live bass, drums, sax and piano, in addition to the talented turntable work of DJ Timbuck, takes the improvisational musical stylings seen locally at Garfinkel's Wednesday night Burnt Lounge and goes way deeper into left field.
Better yet, the players represent some of the most talented musicians at work in the Colorado music scene, including veterans of work with Zuba, the Samples, Nina Storey and like-minded funkers including the Greyboy All-Stars.
Sax player Ben Senterfit said the United Dope Front stems from a regular series of jam-styled appearances in Boulder which eventually produced an album ("Sexual Chocolate Experiment") and has now led to live appearances outside of the Front Range.
"There used to be a pretty good acid jazz scene at one of the bars in Boulder, and that's where I had been playing with (guitarist) Javier Gonzalez as kind of a side thing," Senterfit said. "We all got together for those shows and we decided, what the hell, why don't we do an album?"
Senterfit, who worked with Gonzalez as a part of the band Chitlin, spent the past year playing sax, guitar and piano as a member of Zuba.
Lending a hand was drummer Kenny James, a veteran of work with George Clinton, Lord of Word and the Disciples of Bass, as well as being a former member of the Samples.
Pianist Andrew Diamond also joined in on the project, taking time out from his own ensemble, Three Count Jazz.
Last March, Senterfit and his acid jazz jam-session pals spent a couple of days recording their CD at Sleeping Brotherhood studios, with the help of producers William Yale (who did Cabaret Diosa's "Hi-Fi Latin Exotica") and Kyle Jones, who also plays as a member of Judge Roughneck.
Yale now counts himself as the United Dope Front's bassist, his own musical history going back to his childhood roots in New York City, where his father was a jazz trumpeter in the '50s.
Senterfit said the resulting conglomeration of sound was finally released in August, although prior commitments meant the various musicians didn't have much time to push their product.
"At the time, I was still in Zuba and Kenny was in the Samples, but now we're pretty much free to do what we want to do," he said. "We've never been much of a rehearsing band, but all of the players are really good and very solidly based in soul, not rock. We've definitely got a good, hard-hitting, really aggressive approach to music."
Senterfit said his own post-Zuba plans have seen the creation of his own small record label, which he hopes to use to create a Stax Records-styled family approach to CD making, teaming different solo artists with a regular back-up band.
As for the United Dope Front, the collective is taking the show on the road to Vail, Breckenridge and Telluride this week, but in May they hope to head out to the West Coast.
"We've got to keep it somewhat urban, but it seems that
even Vail is a lot more urban than some of the places we play."
-Andy Stonehouse
© 1999 Ariel Publicity and United Dope Front