By Lookout Staff

August 12, 2010 – Funk/jazz trio Soulive will bring their catchy upbeat songs to the Santa Monica pier for this week’s free Twilight Dance Series concert Thursday night.

Anchored by the Hammond B3 organ of Neal Evens, the band -- rounded out by brother Alan Evans on drums and Eric Krasno on guitar – is known for its solos and soulful grooves that incorporate jazz, blues, hip-hop, rock, soul, funk and R & B.

Their versatility has been recognized by major artists who’ve played with them in the recording studio, including Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and John Scofield. The band also has opened for The Rolling Stones and has Stevie Wonder sit in with them on stage.

Soulive signed with legendary jazz label Blue Note Records in 2000 and became the first band signed to the new Stax Records six years later. They have since launched Royal Family Records, which just released an album of Beatles covers called “Rubber Soulive!”

Sharing the stage will be The Breakestra, a Los Angeles based ensemble rooted in deep funk, soul and jazz that takes its cue from the slices of funk song looped together by South Bronx DJs in the 1970s that paved the way for hip-hop.

“A Breakestra show is about dancing and swinging, musicians on stage getting loose and playing serious grooves,” says their promo. “Breakestra has a way of invigorating breakbeats, paving the way for the funkily naïve to embrace the rhythmic revolution that James Brown kicked off more than thirty years ago.”