Fred Thomas of The JB's
Bar LunÀtico486 Halsey Street, New York 11233
Fred Thomas leads a six-piece band in two sets, singing and playing bass with Gabriel Caplan and Dominic James on guitar, Andy Bauer on drums, Kaori Kiki Nakajima on sax, and Tyrone Cox on trumpet. The group plays blues and soul classics alongside J.B.'s material Thomas recorded with James Brown.
Brooklyn-based Thomas was James Brown’s principal bassist from 1971 and a member of the J.B.'s during a prolific stretch of Brown’s career. His playing appears on “Hot Pants,” “Papa Don’t Take No Mess,” “Make it Funky,” “Get on the Good Foot,” “Doing It to Death,” “Pass the Peas,” and “Gimme Some More,” among others, as well as Live at the Apollo Vol. 3 Revolution of the Mind. He also appears in the 2008 documentary Soul Power, covering Brown’s 1974 concert in Zaire.
A basement club in Bedford-Stuyvesant, LunÀtico is a musician-owned space where live music starts at 9pm nightly, following dinner service. The stage is modest, with a single chair for the band, and the audience sits on wooden booths or the floor, close enough to feel the energy. The room is lit by dim bulbs, with walls lined with vintage posters and a few well-worn speakers. There's a bar with original cocktails, craft beer, and wine, and a dinner menu available from 6pm to 11pm. Shows are donation-based, with a $10 recommendation in cash. It's a place where people listen to music and talk afterward, in a familiar, unpolished setting.