WEBVTT 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:23.899 Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm your 00:00:23.899 --> 00:00:26.539 host Shecky, and I want to start out today's 00:00:26.539 --> 00:00:29.660 episode asking you a question. A very important 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:32.840 question. Have you ever wanted something so badly 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:36.259 that you just showed up uninvited and asked for 00:00:36.259 --> 00:00:40.259 a chance? No appointment, no connection, no guarantee. 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:43.640 Just you and your instrument and the audacity 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:46.539 to walk through the door and say, hey, would 00:00:46.539 --> 00:00:49.990 you let us play? Because that is exactly how 00:00:49.990 --> 00:00:53.310 today's band got their name, and honestly, it 00:00:53.310 --> 00:00:55.549 tells you everything you need to know about them. 00:00:55.890 --> 00:00:58.590 Today we're talking about Lettuce, the greatest 00:00:58.590 --> 00:01:01.570 funk band working right now, one of the most 00:01:01.570 --> 00:01:04.969 gifted collections of musicians ever assembled 00:01:04.969 --> 00:01:08.730 under one name, and a group whose story starts 00:01:08.730 --> 00:01:12.849 in probably but perfectly in the basement dorms 00:01:12.849 --> 00:01:15.069 of one of the most prestigious music schools 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:19.180 in the world. The year 1992, The place is Boston, 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:22.620 Massachusetts, and specifically the campus of 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:25.659 Berklee College of Music, where a group of 16 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:28.680 -year -olds have arrived for a five -week summer 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:31.739 performance program. These aren't casual hobbyist 00:01:31.739 --> 00:01:35.439 teenagers. These are kids who already eat, sleep, 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:38.040 and breathe music. They've come from different 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:41.120 cities, different backgrounds, but the moment 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.599 they start jamming together in those dorm rooms, 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:49.620 something clicks. Immediately, undeniably. Drummer 00:01:49.620 --> 00:01:53.420 Adam Deutsch, guitarist Adam Smirnoff, who everyone 00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:59.459 calls Schminz, bassist Eric Coombs, and saxophonist 00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:03.980 Ryan Zoides are among the first cohort. They 00:02:03.980 --> 00:02:07.340 bond over the same records, James Brown, Earth, 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:11.539 Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, The Meters. These 00:02:11.539 --> 00:02:14.659 are their people. This is their language saxophonist 00:02:14.659 --> 00:02:18.060 Ryan Zoides has described. what happened in those 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:22.219 first jam sessions as an unexplainable, undeniable 00:02:22.219 --> 00:02:25.539 connection, a feeling so strong that every one 00:02:25.539 --> 00:02:28.580 of them spent the next two years staying in touch, 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:30.800 waiting for the moment they can do it again. 00:02:31.699 --> 00:02:34.819 That moment came in the fall of 1994 when the 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:39.300 group reconvened at Berkeley as full -time undergrads. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.900 Now they had a campus time and a mission, as 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:45.879 Deitch put it, They entered freshman year like 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:49.159 a gang with a mission to funk. But here's where 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:53.500 the story gets truly great. See, they were Berklee 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:57.479 misfits in the best possible way. Not jazzy enough 00:02:57.479 --> 00:03:00.479 for the straight ahead jazz crowd at Berklee. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:04.680 Not heavy enough for metal kids. They existed 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:07.879 in this glorious funk middle space that didn't 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:11.300 have a home on campus. So they went looking for 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:14.400 one off campus. They found it around the corner 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:17.960 from Berkeley on the south end of Boston at a 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:22.000 place called Wally's Cafe. Wally's is a legendary 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:26.599 jazz club founded in 1947 by a guy named Joseph 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:29.979 Wally Walcott. In a tiny room where the jazz 00:03:29.979 --> 00:03:33.060 is serious, the musicians are exceptional, and 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:35.879 every Tuesday night the best players in the city 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:39.919 show up to cut their teeth. Guitarist Schminz 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:43.780 has called it the school of Wally's Jazz Cafe, 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:48.159 and said they all are, in a very real sense, 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.139 Wally's stepchildren. Now here's the moment they 00:03:51.139 --> 00:03:54.199 gave birth to everything. These young Berklee 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:57.419 kids kept showing up at Wally's, at other people's 00:03:57.419 --> 00:04:00.759 gigs, with their instruments. And they would 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.419 approach the musicians on the stage and say, 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:06.699 hey, would you let us play your stuff? Would 00:04:06.699 --> 00:04:10.009 you let us sit in on your gig? Night after night, 00:04:10.229 --> 00:04:14.389 Let Us Play, Let Us Play, Let Us Play. And gradually, 00:04:14.949 --> 00:04:17.470 the musicians around Boston started calling them 00:04:17.470 --> 00:04:21.949 the Let Us Band, which became Let Us. Schminz 00:04:21.949 --> 00:04:24.470 has said they never thought the name would stick, 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:27.569 but here's the thing. Once enough people know 00:04:27.569 --> 00:04:31.009 you by name, it stops being a name and starts 00:04:31.009 --> 00:04:34.529 being your identity. And Let Us became an identity. 00:04:35.529 --> 00:04:38.870 The group graduated from Berkeley in 1998, and 00:04:38.870 --> 00:04:42.550 nearly every current member is a 1998 graduate. 00:04:43.009 --> 00:04:45.689 They moved to New York City, which was and is 00:04:45.689 --> 00:04:49.149 the center of everything in this world, and that's 00:04:49.149 --> 00:04:54.350 where the real story begins. January 2001, Lettuce 00:04:54.350 --> 00:04:56.550 has just landed a four -week Wednesday night 00:04:56.550 --> 00:04:59.829 residency at Wetlands Preserve in New York City. 00:05:00.350 --> 00:05:02.810 Now, if you don't know about Wetlands, and if 00:05:02.810 --> 00:05:05.629 you're a fan of this podcast, you really should. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:09.639 Wetlands was the venue in New York for the jams 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:13.939 and funk scene in the 1990s and early 2000s. 00:05:14.019 --> 00:05:17.480 Fish played there, blues travelers played there, 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.439 the disco biscuits, government mule. It was a 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:25.000 sacred room, intimate, sweaty, loud, and exactly 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.800 the kind of place where great music was made. 00:05:28.540 --> 00:05:32.079 Lettuce gets four Wednesdays and they are not 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:35.199 treating those like regular gigs. Each week, 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.279 They're bringing a different special guest. The 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:41.860 format is lettuce plays, a funk or jazz legend 00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:46.019 walks in, and then the whole thing gets unhinged 00:05:46.019 --> 00:05:49.899 in the best possible way. The first week, turntablist 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:53.439 DJ Logic sits in. Week two, another extraordinary 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:56.860 guest, but it's week three that changes everything. 00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:02.519 January 17th, 2001, Fred Wesley walks in. Fred 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:04.699 Wesley, if that name doesn't make your hair on 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:07.660 your arms stand up, let me put it in context. 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:12.759 Fred Wesley was James Brown's trombonist. The 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:16.000 James Brown, the godfather of soul, the hardest 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.839 working man in the show business. Fred Wesley 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:22.060 played on some of the most important funk recordings 00:06:22.060 --> 00:06:25.000 in history. Get up, get into it, get involved, 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:29.000 make it funky, doing it till death. Fred Wesley 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:33.560 is the trombone sound. of classic funk. He is 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:36.500 living history. And on a Wednesday night in New 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:39.079 York City, he walks into the wetlands and plays 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:41.519 with a bunch of 20 -something kids from Berkeley. 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:46.040 He's on trombone and vocals. He tears the room 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:48.639 apart. Fans who have listened to the archive 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.379 recording of that night, which is available on 00:06:51.379 --> 00:06:53.819 Internet Archive, describe it as one of the most 00:06:53.819 --> 00:06:56.660 extraordinary live funk documents of that era. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:06:59.139 But here's the part of the story that becomes 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:02.750 a complete circle. Another guest that January 00:07:02.750 --> 00:07:06.810 residency is jazz guitar icon John Scofield. 00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:10.649 Sco comes in, sits with the band, and watches 00:07:10.649 --> 00:07:14.310 Adam Deitch play drums. And something happens 00:07:14.310 --> 00:07:18.370 in Scofield's head that he later described as 00:07:18.370 --> 00:07:21.970 in an interview. He said, I heard Adam and I 00:07:21.970 --> 00:07:24.670 said, that is it. This guy's got what I'm looking 00:07:24.670 --> 00:07:27.069 for. Scofield had been searching for a drummer 00:07:27.069 --> 00:07:30.779 for a new project. He found one at Lettuce Wednesday 00:07:30.779 --> 00:07:34.220 night at Wetlands. Deech went on to tour and 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:37.500 record with Schofield for years, appearing on 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:41.879 the legendary Uber Jam album in 2002 and Up All 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:45.920 Night in 2003. And Schofield appeared on Lettuce's 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:49.160 debut album, Outta Here, released the same year. 00:07:49.339 --> 00:07:52.420 Two careers permanently intertwined, all because 00:07:52.420 --> 00:07:55.139 Lettuce showed up at the Wetlands every Wednesday 00:07:55.139 --> 00:07:57.680 night and played their hearts out. That is the 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:00.889 Lettuce story. Show up, play your absolute best, 00:08:01.290 --> 00:08:04.589 let the music do the rest. For this episode, 00:08:04.629 --> 00:08:07.370 I'm picking one song and I'm going with Phyllis 00:08:07.370 --> 00:08:11.949 from the 2015 album Crush. Crush went number 00:08:11.949 --> 00:08:15.389 one in the US Jazz Albums chart. Phyllis is a 00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:18.250 song on that album that fans describe as the 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:22.089 most transportive song I've ever heard. That 00:08:22.089 --> 00:08:25.569 is a serious claim, but I believe it. Drummer 00:08:25.569 --> 00:08:29.629 Adam Deutsch describe Phyllis as capturing a 00:08:29.629 --> 00:08:33.409 chill hop vibe that's flip side of all the powerful 00:08:33.409 --> 00:08:36.710 up -tempo funk people might expect from us. That 00:08:36.710 --> 00:08:40.250 contrast is key. Lettuce at full funk velocity 00:08:40.250 --> 00:08:44.389 is already something to behold. But Lettuce slowing 00:08:44.389 --> 00:08:48.330 it down, getting atmospheric and hypnotic, that's 00:08:48.330 --> 00:08:51.529 a very different power entirely. Phyllis is your 00:08:51.529 --> 00:08:55.029 entry point. Find the studio version first, then 00:08:55.029 --> 00:08:58.179 find the live version. Anyone will do. And pay 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:00.799 attention to that moment when the whole band 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:03.820 lifts off together. That moment is what Lettuce 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:06.200 is all about. A couple of quick hits before we 00:09:06.200 --> 00:09:09.139 close. Things about Lettuce that you might genuinely 00:09:09.139 --> 00:09:11.940 surprise you. Their former keyboardist wrote 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:16.279 Uptown Funk. Jeff Besker played keyboards with 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:20.039 Lettuce in those early wetland years before departing 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:24.250 to pursue production. He went on to win the Grammy 00:09:24.250 --> 00:09:27.789 for the Producer of the Year in 2016 for his 00:09:27.789 --> 00:09:31.389 work with Mark Ronson, including co -writing 00:09:31.389 --> 00:09:35.429 Uptown Funk with Bruno Mars. He has production 00:09:35.429 --> 00:09:39.649 credits across records by Jay -Z, Beyonce, Taylor 00:09:39.649 --> 00:09:44.029 Swift, Eminem, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Katy 00:09:44.029 --> 00:09:47.129 Perry, and Rihanna. The man will play keyboards 00:09:47.129 --> 00:09:50.590 with lettuce at Wally's Cafe, became one of the 00:09:50.590 --> 00:09:53.990 most successful music producers of the 21st century. 00:09:54.289 --> 00:09:57.570 They launched a Berklee Scholarship in 2025. 00:09:57.850 --> 00:10:01.210 Lettuce partnered with non -profit Music is a 00:10:01.210 --> 00:10:04.509 Language to fund a full tuition scholarship for 00:10:04.509 --> 00:10:06.750 a student to attend Berklee College of Music. 00:10:07.509 --> 00:10:11.090 The very school where the band was born, they 00:10:11.090 --> 00:10:13.450 committed one dollar for every ticket sold to 00:10:13.450 --> 00:10:17.350 fund it. Bassist Eric Coombs said it best. When 00:10:17.350 --> 00:10:20.470 we each as high school students decided to enroll, 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:24.330 our lives were unknowingly course corrected into 00:10:24.330 --> 00:10:27.970 an ensemble of true music championship. They 00:10:27.970 --> 00:10:30.590 went back and made sure someone else gets the 00:10:30.590 --> 00:10:33.649 same chance. Here's what strikes me most about 00:10:33.649 --> 00:10:36.629 Lettuce after all the years of listening to them. 00:10:37.070 --> 00:10:39.889 They started with nothing but a question. Would 00:10:39.889 --> 00:10:43.490 you let us play? That was it. No label, no booking 00:10:43.490 --> 00:10:47.620 agent, no social media. just instruments, nerve, 00:10:47.820 --> 00:10:50.480 and the belief that if they played well enough, 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:53.500 long enough, and with enough heart, people would 00:10:53.500 --> 00:10:57.460 notice. And they were right. Fred Wesley noticed, 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:00.759 John Schofield noticed, the jazz community noticed, 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:04.960 funk fans noticed, hip hop heads noticed, symphony 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:09.100 audiences noticed. Over 30 years, the circle 00:11:09.100 --> 00:11:11.399 of people who have noticed keeps getting wider. 00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:14.440 And through it all, lettuce has never chased 00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:17.519 a trend. never tried to be something they weren't, 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.659 just pure, deep, honest funk, built note by note, 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:25.740 gig by gig, since 16 years old. They were cramming 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:28.440 into a dorm room at Berkeley and asking each 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.960 other, man, can you feel that? Do you feel that 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.120 just now? They still feel it, and if you let 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:38.600 them, they'll make you feel it too. That's Lettuce, 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:41.320 and that's Shecky's Jam Bands for this episode. 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:44.559 Thank you for being here. Go listen to Phyllis. 00:11:44.700 --> 00:11:48.700 Go find the Wetlands recording. And if there's 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:51.899 a lettuce show anywhere near you, go. Don't think 00:11:51.899 --> 00:11:54.620 about it. Just go. Thanks again for signing in 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:58.320 to Shecky's Jam Bands. And if you like us, please 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:03.139 rate the show and also leave a review. And if 00:12:03.139 --> 00:12:07.320 you'd like, email me at sheckysjambands at gmail 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:12.980 .com. That's s -c -h -e -c -k -y -s -j -a -m 00:12:12.980 --> 00:12:16.840 -b -a -n -d at gmail .com with any suggestions 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:18.759 on jam bands that you'd like to hear. I have 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:21.259 a whole list for the rest of this year each week 00:12:21.259 --> 00:12:24.879 but I'm happy to interject and change and be 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:28.519 flexible to add your suggestions. Thank you very 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:30.139 much and we'll see you soon.