The Motet at the Redstone Room -- November 24.
Sunday, November 24, 8 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Audience favorites due in part to headlining slots at Red Rocks and sets at festivals such as Bonnaroo, Bottlerock, Electric Forest, Bumbershoot, Summer Camp, and High Sierra, the six-piece funk, soul, jazz, and rock outfit The Motet headlines a November 24 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room, the band's latest album All Day hailed by Bass Musician Magazine as "an assortment of tracks that equally represent the LP’s ornate songwriting style and luminescent sonic palette."
As stated at AllMusic.com, "Formed by drummer and bandleader Dave Watts in 1998, the Motet originally began as a collective with rotating members. Watts self-produced and self-released the band's debut album, Breathe, in 1999, after which they recorded for a pair of indie labels: 2001's Play came out on aNOnym reCOrds, and 2004's Music for Life arrived on Harmonized. By this point, the Motet had built up a significant grassroots fan base and a core lineup with Watts joined by mainstays like Garrett Sayers (bass), Ryan Jalbert (guitar), and Joey Porter (keyboards). Beginning with 2006's fiery Instrumental Dissent, they handled all of their releases themselves and could found at major festivals like Electric Forest, Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot, and more. They also maintained a strong local presence in their home state, including playing an annual Halloween show during which they would cover a different artist's repertoire (Prince, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind, and Fire, etc.) each year. They have also headlined the famous Red Rock Amphitheatre several times.
In 2009, they released Dig Deep, an instrumental album that found them incorporating electronics into the mix and covering a handful of songs by Fela Kuti. The band's seventh studio album, 2014's eponymously titled The Motet, featured a more collaborative approach with all bandmembers composing together. In addition to regular tours, the band remained productive in the studio, first with 2016's Totem, featuring production from Soulive's Eric Krasno, followed in 2019 by Death or Devotion. While the Motet has featured regular vocalists (Jans Ingber, Lyle Divinsky), they also make the occasional all-instrumental album, like 2023's dense and funky All Day." In addition to Watts, Jalbert, Porter, and Sayers, the current Monet lineup also features saxophonist Drew Sayers, who joined the group in 2016, and singer Sarah Clarke, who came aboard last year.
The Motet performs their Redstone Room engagement on November 24 with an opening set by Ethno, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $27-30, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 and visiting CommonChordQC.org.
