The Essentials

Gigmasters #1 rated dance band on the West Coast! The Essentials, a large and loud soul band with fresh ideas and deep roots, is a west coast collaboration of nine highly talented and experienced musicians. The group's members, each with a music degree, have won and appeared at the top of national playing and song-writing competitions and recorded on multi-platinum albums. Covers of such artists as Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, and Chicago join originals written by the group to make up the band's sound, a mixture of tight rhythm, heavy brass and soulful vocals. The band has headlined dozens of nightclubs and festivals on the west coast from San Francisco to Seattle, frequented weddings and private parties, appeared at numerous college events, and performed with national acts such as Leon Russel and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. In the last four years the group has released three albums with solid reviews, landing #1 on the soul and funk charts of CDBaby, the national leader in independent music distribution. Every year the band adds new originals and classic soul covers to its repertoire. "Downright perspiring" - Shotgun Reviews "Make you weak-in-the-knees" - The Register Guard "Soulful, timeless" - Oregon Daily Emerald "Musical masterminds" - Eugene Weekly