It might take a scorecard to keep up with trumpeter Eric Benny Bloom. The Rhode Island native and New Orleans resident since April 2014 boasts many musical ventures. Most important at the moment: On Halloween night, he’ll be closing out the Flambeau Stage at Voodoo Fest as a member of the funkified group Lettuce.
It appears that Halloween is an auspicious date for the Bloom/Lettuce connection. The trumpeter says that he had never seen Lettuce or [“brother band”] Soulive—both Northeast bands with whom he plays—because he was always working on Saturday nights. “So when Lettuce had a Sunday Halloween gig that’s when I could do the show in Vermont. They heard me and I got the gig.”
In 2011 Bloom joined the well-established Boston band, which was formed in 1992. He replaced trumpeter Rashawn Ross, who moved on to play with the Dave Mathews Band. That same year, he also hooked up with funk/jazz group Soulive.
Halloween at Voodoo Fest features arguably the strongest lineup of the three-day event, particularly for fans of local artists. Bloom is hoping that he can talk fellow trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who is performing with his E-Collective band earlier in the day, to sit in with Lettuce. “He likes to play,” Bloom says.
Before he became a New Orleans resident, Bloom had been coming to the city on-and-off for years. The first time he hit this city’s streets was as a member of a show band playing onboard a Carnival Cruise ship. “I walked around the city and saw how amazing it is,” he recalls. Bloom also made trips here with Lettuce and when he was just visiting, he’d make a point to sit in with bands around town. “Every time you leave it just sucks,” Bloom says. “So it’s like ‘I’m just going to stay.’”
The trumpeter also heads his own group, Sonic Bloom, and has recorded with a number of local artists, including pianist/vocalist Jon Cleary, vocalist Aaron Neville, recent arrival vocalist Rickie Lee Jones, Earphunk, Naughty Professor and Smoke N Bones.
Bloom, 34, will for the first time be heard on a Lettuce album with the upcoming Crush, which drops on November 6, 2015. So folks at Voodoo Fest will be sure to get a sampling of the band’s new material and big sound.
You’ve played Voodoo Fest before. How did you like it compared to other festivals?
Yes, I played there last year with Pretty Lights, a DJ—producer rather. He started a live band and it’s me and [Lettuce drummer] Adam Deitch and others.
It’s a pretty big deal in that EDM/DJ world and that’s really what helped propel Lettuce into the position of being pretty big. That’s where a lot of kids are nowadays, listening to that stuff. Now, because they trust us, they’ve heard about Lettuce and that helped crowd-wise.
It’s [the festival] in City Park so it’s beautiful. Most festivals aren’t in city parks. It has those trees and the history of the park. Plus it’s right near my house.
You’ve only been with Lettuce for four years in its long history. Has your jazz background come into play with the group?
I have changed the group in certain ways. I do have an influence which I never thought I really would because they’re a band of heavy funkers. Just by being in it and my jazz influence had made it a different thing, plus I use a lot of pedals. Lettuce has changed from like a Tower of Power, straight-funk, James Brown, P-Funk [influenced band]. Now they’re adding a lot more hip-hop and modern vibes and a lot more effects. You know, that kind of jammy sound.
This mixing it up with Lettuce and Soulive and all these musical connections—is this a trend?
It’s like people forming a krewe and then breaking off into multiple units. The Soulive and Lettuce thing is because we all met at college. There weren’t many musicians that felt they were like-minded so they formed a krewe.
Let’s get into your jazz side. The first time I heard you was when you were sitting in with the Stanton Moore Trio at Snug Harbor. You’re known primarily for working in the funk/jam world. How did you get into jazz?
I started jazz first. I think most improvisers—a least horn players—start with jazz. I began listening to jazz when I was 14 or 15 years old in high school. In order to play funk or anything else you have to play jazz. I was a jazz dude for years and went to many colleges and then I got a gig. Then you start playing funk, or well you play less notes and become funky. They go hand-in-hand and people kind of forget that these days.
It was noticeable when you played with the trio—drummer Stanton Moore, pianist David Torkanowsky and bassist James Singleton—that you didn’t just come to blow; rather you played appropriately and with respect.
It’s dangerous ground when you come into any outfit that has been together a long time or any quiet situation where there aren’t many factors so you’re really affecting the vibe. The music is so hard and pretty that one mistake can really change it and those dudes really don’t mess up. Everything has to count.
Torkanowsky is one of the baddest pianists I’ve ever heard from many angles—from classical harmony to this just angry, crazy, 1980s McCoy Tyner vibe.
Have you sat in with other artists around town?
I try to go around. I work with the Preservation Hall Band very randomly—so I go over to the Hall. They do so many festivals and I’m also doing festivals with Lettuce so I see them a lot. I sit in with my good friend [trumpeter] Ashlin Parker wherever he is. He just does everything—he plays at Irvin’s and the Spotted Cat and we sit in with [pianist] Jesse McBride at the Prime Example. There are so many places to play in New Orleans and so many places to get “learned.” It’s so much fun.
You also lead your own band, Sonic Bloom. How many gigs have you played here? Do you perform out of town?
The first thing we did was a residency at the Maple Leaf for about a month and then someone from Chickie Wah Wah came and asked us to come there. I’m getting ready to do my first gig [with Sonic Bloom] on the road. We’re doing a four-day stint in Florida—a couple of gigs.
So who is in Sonic Bloom? Is it a flexible lineup? What kind of material are you doing?
It’s keyboardist Nigel Hall, drummer Alvin Ford Jr., guitarist Andrew Block and bassist Eric Vogel. We’re starting to do some originals. It’s only been happening for a year and I’ve been on the road. We do R&B, funk and soul from the likes of Bobby Womack and Maze.
You and Nigel, who moved here in 2013, seem to run in the same circles—playing with Lettuce and Soulive as well as performing on pianist/vocalist Jon Cleary’s latest album, GoGo Juice.
We all like to hold each other up because we always think we’re the right ones for the job. Nigel recommended me for that gig—the power of recommendation. We met at my first Soulive gig.
He came into town a year or two before me and … he quickly introduced me to a lot of musicians. That’s how it is here. If you know the right people and if you’re good and you’re polite and try to learn about the city, you might have a shot at being alright. He was instrumental in getting me started.
Will we see some more of you more on the local jazz scene?
I’m just so busy with Lettuce and Sonic Bloom, it’s kind of hard to get a jazz thing going. Of course I want to play more jazz-oriented gigs. That’s where I came from essentially so this is the place to do it. In New York there’s no connection anymore, the people—at least most of them—that live there don’t have any connection to the music. It’s not like here.
