For Immediate Release
15 October 2018
Contact: Jodi Joseph
Director of Communications
413.664.4481 x8113
jjoseph@massmoca.org
Shareef Keyes & The Groove
Funk dance party, up in the Club
NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS —Brooklyn-bred artist Shareef Keyes draws equal inspiration from James Brown and Wu-Tang. Together with his band The Groove, he is earning a reputation for high-energy live performances that transport audiences to the golden era of funk. Simply irresistible. It’ll be nothing but fun when the whole crew is here on Saturday, October 20, at 8pm.
Interested in the history of funk just as much as the sound itself, Shareef Keyes immersed himself in the genre from a young age — studying its origins, development, and endurance in the twenty-first century musical landscape. Tirelessly mining the philosophies of funk stalwarts George Clinton, James Brown, and Parliament Funkadelic, as well as contemporary torchbearers like Janelle Monáe, Keyes soon began honing his own sound by combining the flare and precision of funk with the poetic edginess of hip-hop. Now backed by a horn-heavy twelve-piece band comprised of talent-saturated musicians hailing from Juilliard, The New School, and Berklee College of Music, Keyes has been making a name for himself around New York City as a magnetic front man with blistering, crowd captivating live performances.
Four years in the making, Shareef Keyes & The Groove’s debut album, Cooking Something, dropped earlier this year. The 11-track LP — led by the single “Spaghetti Fettuccine” featuring Ghostface Killah — organically blends R&B and hip-hop, with hints of jazz and whole lot of funk to create something that is both new and nostalgic. From the Motown-influenced “Cupcake”, to the neo soul vibes of “Honey”, to the trip hop “Cornbread”, the songs take the listener on a genre-hopping tour de force. Keyes set out to “[create] what wasn’t on the radio or on Spotify…a new generation of funk,” and he’s well on the way (okayplayer).
Shareef Keyes & The Groove has played memorable performances for crowds at the Harlem Arts Festival, Pianos, Bowery Electric, Public Factory, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Webster Hall. Most notably the group opened for jazz-funk pioneer and musical legend Roy Ayers in front of a sold-out crowd at Brooklyn’s BRIC House last year.
Shareef Keyes & The Groove cook up some delicious funk on Saturday, October 20, at 8pm. Dinner is available from Lickety Split before and during the show. A full bar serves up Bright Ideas Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Concert tickets are $16 in advance and for students and $26 day of. All preferred ticket holders receive free museum admission on the day of or day after the show. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 x1 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org. All events are held rain or shine.
Sponsorship:
Sponsored by the Hans and Kate Morris Fund for New Music
Images
High-resolution images of MASS MoCA’s fall 2018 events are available through this link: goo.gl/FZ6ih1.
About MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making, displaying, and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video. MASS MoCA’s 250,000 sq. ft. of gallery space includes partnerships with Laurie Anderson, the Louise Bourgeois Trust, Jenny Holzer, Anselm Kiefer with the Hall Art Foundation, Sol LeWitt, and James Turrell.
Gallery admission is $20 for adults, $18 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is seasonal and currently open for the summer. For additional information: 413.662.2111 x1 or visit massmoca.org.
Hours
MASS MoCA s open from 11am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays, through late June. From late June through Labor Day 2019, MASS MoCA’s galleries will be open seven days a week — from 10am to 6pm Sundays through Wednesdays and from 10am to 7pm Thursdays through Saturdays.
About ArtCountry
ArtCountry is nestled in the Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts and at the foot of the Green Mountains of southern Vermont, with art and music all year round from four incredible museums — MASS MoCA, The Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art, and Bennington Museum — and the unparalleled Williamstown Theatre Festival, all less than three hours from New York and Boston.