More than three decades later, the skilled jammers, three of whom are now Mile High City residents, are as enthusiastic as ever about making music and taking an improvisational approach to their sound. The funk-and- jazz-rooted ensemble's 2020 album, Elevate, was nominated for a Grammy in 2020; its latest album, Lettuce With the Colorado Symphony, will premiere this week. That album, along with a one-hour-and-47-minute companion film, chronicle the band's ground-breaking debut performance with the Colorado Symphony back in November 2018 at Boettcher Concert Hall.
Westword caught up with some of the members of Lettuce to talk about the new film and album, as well as upcoming projects, including a new, band-branded natural wine.
Westword: How did you guys connect with the Colorado Symphony?
Ryan Zoidis (saxophone): We had a creative idea that we'd like to perform with a symphony. It was kind of a pipe dream. We mentioned it to Scott Morrill, who works with AEG and who also [co-founded] Cervantes' [Masterpiece Ballroom], and who is a good friend of ours. He helped us coordinate the whole thing and pulled it together for us.
What was it about a symphony that interested you?
Zoidis: Some of our music is well suited to it. It's orchestral and it works with the different layers and textures that you would hear in a symphony. We had this vision to hear our music being played with a symphony accompanying us. It was just kind of a crazy idea that we had one day on the back of the bus, and Scott made our dream come true.
And your first performance with the Colorado Symphony enabled you to do it with other symphonies around the country?
Zoidis: Yeah, they had to create the charts for the music. That gave us the ability to present it to other symphonies. We've done about ten symphony shows in total now, including San Francisco, Chicago and Nashville. Colorado was our first. That debut performance with the Colorado Symphony is what is featured in our new film.
Eric "Benny" Bloom (trumpet): We worked with Chris Dragon, the conductor for the Colorado Symphony, and their artistic director, Tony Pierce, who helped us arrange all the music. Tom Hagerman, who is also a member of the band DeVotchKa, helped to orchestrate the parts and write some supplemental charts for our music. Tom is a classical player at heart. He has also worked with other bands who have played with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra over the years.
Adam "Schmeeans" Smirnoff (guitar): One of the things that makes our music a little different than, say, an old-school funk band or a traditional jam band is that we're so influenced by hip-hop and jazz. I've always viewed us as a post-hip-hop funk band. And I think some of that helps the orchestration work out well, with the strings and brass and all of that playing a lot of those parts.
Were you happy with how your horns were incorporated?
Bloom: I think in terms of orchestration,Tom did a really good job of doubling things and making our horn parts sound a lot bigger without making them too heavy or too frequent and all over the place. He does a good job of having them come in and then lay out, which lets the band do its thing. He did a great job of keeping things out of the way and giving us our moments to shine. We have special horn parts that we do only when playing with the orchestras. It's why you want to come see this show, see the movie and get the record.
Is it all original material or are there a few covers in there?
Bloom: We play two covers: Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" and Tears for Fears's "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." But it's mostly just original music.
Do all the band members have theoretical training?
Bloom: Yeah, we all went to school for that for a while. Not all of us graduated, but we can all read music. We're always learning, though, that's for sure.
Have you had a lot of musicians sit in with you guys over the years?
Bloom: We've had so many amazing musicians join us. We've played with Derek Trucks, Chaka Kahn, John Scofield, Bernie Worrell, some of the original James Brown horns, Dr. John and all the Meters. We are lucky to be in that period over the past fifteen to twenty years, where some musicians in their sunset years have taken the time to play with us and share their knowledge.
Do you consider yourselves to be a jam band?
Bloom: Yeah, we improvise a lot and that's one of the things that keeps the music fresh and fun for us.
Smirnoff: the jam-band thing for me represents a type of audience. That audience has embraced us and is really accepting. We might be playing funk or rock and roll or whatever, and they appreciate it. I feel that we're lucky to be put into that jam-band category because it lets us have an audience that is open to wherever we want to go, and it allows us to explore musically.
Are you excited about the release of the film?
Bloom: It's incredibly cool to have this come out. It was so huge for us when we did this for the first time in 2018. I'd played in an orchestra before, so I was super excited. It was a major experience for me. It sounds so good, and it's mixed so beautifully. The film came out really well, and people who buy a ticket to our show at the Mission Ballroom can get into the film premiere for free.
Zoidis: We're so stoked to have this come out. It's a great collaboration. The Colorado Symphony is fabulous and Tony and Chris Dragon do a wonderful job of bringing in all these bands to work with them. The symphony album sounds fantastic, too. We mixed it at a really great studio called Colorado Sound with Jesse O'Brien, who is our engineer and who has been there a long time. Our last few records were recorded there as well as this symphony record. It includes a new kind of spatial audio called Dolby Atmos that sounds incredible.
Is there anything else cool going on with you and the band?
Zoidis: Benny and I have a wine company, Benny & Zoid Selections, in Colorado. We distribute to all the Michelin star and James Beard restaurants. We focus on natural wine and we bring in stuff from all over the world. Lettuce is coming out with its first wine by a natural-wine maker in Paonia. It will be called Lettuce Crush. Our first batch is due out in two months.
Bloom: Yeah, we all went to school for that for a while. Not all of us graduated, but we can all read music. We're always learning, though, that's for sure.
Have you had a lot of musicians sit in with you guys over the years?
Bloom: We've had so many amazing musicians join us. We've played with Derek Trucks, Chaka Kahn, John Scofield, Bernie Worrell, some of the original James Brown horns, Dr. John and all the Meters. We are lucky to be in that period over the past fifteen to twenty years, where some musicians in their sunset years have taken the time to play with us and share their knowledge.
Do you consider yourselves to be a jam band?
Bloom: Yeah, we improvise a lot and that's one of the things that keeps the music fresh and fun for us.
Smirnoff: the jam-band thing for me represents a type of audience. That audience has embraced us and is really accepting. We might be playing funk or rock and roll or whatever, and they appreciate it. I feel that we're lucky to be put into that jam-band category because it lets us have an audience that is open to wherever we want to go, and it allows us to explore musically.
Are you excited about the release of the film?
Bloom: It's incredibly cool to have this come out. It was so huge for us when we did this for the first time in 2018. I'd played in an orchestra before, so I was super excited. It was a major experience for me. It sounds so good, and it's mixed so beautifully. The film came out really well, and people who buy a ticket to our show at the Mission Ballroom can get into the film premiere for free.
Zoidis: We're so stoked to have this come out. It's a great collaboration. The Colorado Symphony is fabulous and Tony and Chris Dragon do a wonderful job of bringing in all these bands to work with them. The symphony album sounds fantastic, too. We mixed it at a really great studio called Colorado Sound with Jesse O'Brien, who is our engineer and who has been there a long time. Our last few records were recorded there as well as this symphony record. It includes a new kind of spatial audio called Dolby Atmos that sounds incredible.
Is there anything else cool going on with you and the band?
Zoidis: Benny and I have a wine company, Benny & Zoid Selections, in Colorado. We distribute to all the Michelin star and James Beard restaurants. We focus on natural wine and we bring in stuff from all over the world. Lettuce is coming out with its first wine by a natural-wine maker in Paonia. It will be called Lettuce Crush. Our first batch is due out in two months.
Lettuce With the Colorado Symphony movie premiere Saturday, March 1, at the SieFilmCenter, East Colfax. Lettuce With the Colorado Symphony concert 7 p.m. Sunday, March 2, Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street. RSVP invitations to the free film premiere will only be sent to those who have purchased a ticket to the Mission show; tickets are available via AXS.com.
