Big Sam's Funky Nation
A New Orleans Funk Brass Band. In New Orleans, a city indisputably overflowing with funk, the high honor for Best Funk Group of 2008 was awarded to Big Sam’s Funky Nation at the 2009 Big Easy Music Awards. For the past few years, Big Sam’s Funky Nation has been a driving force of urban funk. The band is led by trombone powerhouse, Big Sam Williams, formerly the trombonist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who the San Francisco Chronicle calls “the top man on the slide trombone in the birthplace of jazz.” Presiding over his Funky Nation is Big Sam, a big man with an impeccable urban fashion sense, who blows the funk out of his trombone and refuses to let the audience sit still. Between solos and trombone riffs, Big Sam second-lines (a uniquely New Orleans style of street-dance) and gets the crowd going both in movement and in replies to his call-and-response MC-style. An extremely talented group of musicians makes up the Funky Nation, bringing with them a rock sensibility, the improv-style associated with jazz and the horn-heavy front section that’s the hallmark of big band funk. The energy level is high voltage when this band takes the stage, as Eric Podolsky of Jambase notes, “Big Sam’s Funky Nation… pulls no punches when it comes to bringing a straight raw party.” Big Sam’s Funky Nation has undeniable personality, as well as masterful chops. Also, the band was recently featured on VH-1’s Soul Cities, on Live with Regis & Kelly and on the Travel Channel’s America the Wright Way.
Big Sam is New Orleans – born and raised. He was schooled in the fertile musical streets of the Big Easy and in the classroom at the renowned New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). He started out with the Soul Rebels Brass Band and later joined the Dirty Dozen Brass Band as a teenager. He has been working tirelessly spreading his brand of funky brass ever since. He has played with such acts as Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe among others. His distinct sound and style captivated the crowd as he played lead trombone for the Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint’s international tour and was featured their Grammy nominated CD, The River in Reverse.
Big Sam’s Funky Nation currently has three albums to their credit: Take Me Back, Birth of A Nation, and Peace, Love & Understanding. Their latest CD, Peace, Love & Understanding, showcases the evolution and depth of the band. Peace, Love & Understanding dredges up the massive funk grooves that have become the trademark of BSFN. “One thing that is immediately noticeable after just one listen is this CD is all about a party. Big Sam’s live performances have become legendary funk fests with a deep NOLA groove, and BSFN delivers a studio rendition just as inspirational” – Monsters & Critics.
Since 2001, BSFN has been searing its distinctly funky mark onto the New Orleans music scene. The band has toured across the country and internationally, spreading its high energy musical manifesto – and always bringing the party along the way. From the Big Easy to the Big Apple, San Francisco to Miami, UK, Paris (and countless points in between) BSFN has ignited the crowd with music and moves that make it too hot to sit still. Big Sam’s Funky Nation has been hailed as the best at such major festivals as Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, SXSW, Telluride Blues and Brews Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Essence Music Festival, the Voodoo Music Experience, and countless others. BSFN is also a favorite at clubs like the Maple Leaf, Tipitina’s and Blue Nile (NOLA), the Continental Club (Austin/Houston), the Boom Boom Room (San Francisco), Sullivan Hall (NYC), as well as many other venues across the country. As Jambase Online proclaims, “As long as groups like Big Sam’s Funky Nation helm communal happenings like this one, the funky fever is bound to spread.”
