Events

[FUNK] Twenty-nine-year-old Cory Henry is best known for his role as keyboard player for the oft-Grammy-favored neo-fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy, but he’s got other irons in the fire. His second band, the Funk Apostles, continues to grow in popularity and will release a new album later this year. If Snarky Puppy is his jazz-centric project and the Apostles are rooted in classic funk and soul, Henry’s solo efforts—2014’s First Steps and this year’s The Revival—are drenched in the gospel that informed his upbringing. The Revival is a live CD and DVD combo, filmed at Brooklyn’s Greater Temple of Praise, which features Henry’s trademark chops on the Hammond B-3 organ, joined by James Williams on drums and Bishop Jeffrey White. But don’t let the churchy foundation scare you away: The best part of the project—and the shows promoting it, including Henry’s gig at Buffalo Iron Works on Friday, December 16—is the way he incorporates his gift for improv and soulful knowhow into the mix. So while there’s a traditional format at the root, Henry uses it as a jumping-off point for something innovative and very much his own. Roosevelt Collier and Electric Salmon open the show this Friday.