SLUGish Ensemble - Live at Sam First

SLUGish Ensemble
Live at Sam First

Release date: 11/11/2022

Slow & Steady Records announces the release of SLUGish Ensemble’s second recording Live at Sam First. Riding on the acclaim of the band’s 2018 debut studio album An Eight Out of Nine, which featured a stellar lineup anchored by drummer Allison Miller, pianist Carmen Staaf and bassist Todd Sickafoose, SLUGish bandleader and multi-reedist Steven Lugerner assembled a Bay Area-based lineup of the Ensemble that could perform regularly, or as Lugerner puts it, “a crew of good friends who could commit to being ‘in a band’, to form a true musical comraderie, a cohesive sound.”

 Picking up the mantle of the original SLUGish rhythm section is keyboardist Javier Santiago, bassist Giulio Xavier Cetto and drummer Michael Mitchell, who together have become one of the most sought-after piano trio units on the west coast. Guitarist Justin Rock, the sole member who recorded on the debut album, also joined the mix. In an attempt to forge a new path, Lugerner decided to steer away from the original horn-heavy frontline, to lean more heavily into the sonic world of minimalist composer Steve Reich (“one of my biggest inspirations,” says Lugerner). Enter Steven Blum, whose unmistakable touch on keyboards and synthesizers brings a whole new dimension to SLUGish, tripling on rhythm, texture, and melody.

 With Lugerner now at the helm as the sole horn player, the revamped SLUGish Ensemble booked a string of gigs up and down the West Coast in 2019, kicking things off at a then brand-new club in Los Angeles, Sam First. Dave Robaire, a former classmate of Lugerner’s at The New School, was not only booking the upstart venue, but also setting the space up as a recording studio. “Dave’s always been very genuine in his efforts to re-energize the Los Angeles jazz scene, and larger scene across the West Coast,” notes Lugerner. Live at Sam First is not only the debut of a new SLUGish lineup, but among the first live sessions ever recorded at the now established LA club.

 While Live at Sam First is certainly an extension of SLUGish’s 2018 debut– downtempo, ranging from crafty instrumental arrangements of headbangers from folk/pop/rock bands, to Lugerner’s own intricate compositions that entrance the listener with spiralling ostinato rhythms and basslines – the live recording proves what’s possible when you take a polished studio project, assemble a live band with the right chemistry, add a couple new ingredients, and patiently allow magic to unfold. Even as the SLUGish lineup continues to evolve in the years since these 2019 sessions, Lugerner still reminds the band before each hit: “Let’s remember to embody the slug.”

Steven Lugerner / woodwinds
Javier Santiago / piano
Steve Blum / synthesizer
Justin Rock / guitar
Giulio Xavier Cetto / bass
Michael Mitchell / drums

We Are Bound (9:36) • written by The Velvet Teen
An Eight Out of Nine (8:48) • written by Steven Lugerner
Miraloma (8:25) • written by Steven Lugerner
The Tower (8:01) • written by Andy Stack & Jenn Wasner / Wye Oak
Cinder and Smoke (7:19) • written by Sam Beam / Iron and Wine
Prisoners (7:27) • written by Robert Lee / Gym Dear

Recorded live at Sam First, Los Angeles • CA
September 12th and 13th, 2019
Mixed by Robert Kirby
Mastered by Jessica Thompson