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The Bear Creek Music & Art Festival

Lettuce, photo by Alex Borsody

Bear Creek Music & Art Festival
Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park
Live Oak, Florida
November 12-14

Here’s what boomed from stages nestled among the moss-draped oaks of north Florida, at just about the same time of year that jackets and caps were suddenly required to ward off serious evening chill: Funk. Fusion. Jamband. Improv. New Orleans music. Strains of DJ, electronica, hip-hop and, in the case of The Dead Kenny G’s, an eccentric mash-up of avant jazz and full-on ironic thrash. Or something.

The fourth annual Bear Creek Music & Art Festival had about 70 bands on a half-dozen indoor and outdoor venues offering a mélange of sticky rhythms and audacious instrumental excursions — music that’s too often absent from Sunshine State venues. Likeminded fans, many drawn from college towns Gainesville and Tallahassee, returned for the best fest of its kind in the Southeast, a well-organized affair that leaves musical appetites sated.

Bear Creek was so appealing, yet again, because the musical highlights were frequent and plentiful, starting with a knock-out blast on Thursday’s pre-fest lineup. The Crescent City was represented by the Rebirth Brass Band, mixing Saints anthem “Who Dat” with the likes of the Stones’ “It’s All Over Now” and Professor Longhair’s “Go to the Mardi Gras,” and Billy Iuso and the Restless Natives, who closed their bluesy set with a spirited take on the Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain.” Opening night also meant rambunctious, groove-deep, horns-tinted reggae, dub and dancehall from John Brown’s Body, furious displays of fusion virtuosity and high-intensity jams from Garaj Mahal, and an entrancing Umphrey’s McGee performance topped with a stunning version of Pink Floyd’s “Shine On, You Crazy Diamond.”

There was plenty of other music to be savored throughout the weekend in the deep woods, including a round of stretched-out Beatles music from Soulive; a Maceo Parker set with the alto saxophonist briefly joined, separately, by old J.B.’s colleagues, trombonist Fred Wesley and tenor saxophonist Pee Wee Elllis; and Moe, with sit-ins by alto saxophonist Sam Kininger and Mike Dillon on vibraphone. More: the all-star improv outfit Everyone Orchestra; New Orleans acts including Papa Grows Funk and bands led by keyboardist Ivan Neville and Meters bassist George Porter, Jr.; and fast-rising Rubblebucket, an eight-piece band from New York/New England sporting an entrancing mix of Afro-beat, reggae, prog rock, funk, and wandering pop in the Bjork mold. On tap for 2011: MMW, John Scofield, the Funky Meters, Karl Denson, Jon Cleary, and several returning artists.