This year was epic for my live music journey having seen well over 200 sets of music and recorded over 80 live performances. The first half of the year had an incredible run of live shows starting with the recording sessions for Snarky Puppy’s album with the Metropole Orkest, “Somni” in Utrecht, Netherlands. That one was recorded professionally by a dozen or so cameras and the videos are being released one by one.
After that, I had an mammoth string of music starting with the GroundUP Music Festival in Miami Beach, rolling right into my first Jam Cruise and then right into Whippersnap Festival. Quickly following that was Amp Jam in Live Oak where I videoed all but two sets of the entire festival. In June I was off to the first ever GroundUP Music Festival in Italy and shortly after that was the Newport Jazz Festival. In late August I hit the John Coltrane Jazz Festival. In November, I hit three dates of the New Mastersounds Ta Ta For Now tour and I’ll be seeing their sendoff in Denver for New Years Eve. And last, but not least, I got to take in 6 sessions of House of Lett, a live recording feast with Lettuce at Colorado Sound. On top of that there were many one-off concerts and jam sessions, many of which will be highlighted here.
So, this is my 2nd annual video recap of 50 live sets that I recorded this year. This is a sampling of the more than 80 videos I posted on YouTube this year, which is a subset of the videos that I recorded (some are not public), which is yet a further subset of the sets that I’ve actually seen or heard this year (since I don’t record every set).
The videos are notable in one way or another, perhaps based on the quality of the recording, the circumstances of the recording or the uniqueness of the set. I’ll give a short rationale for the inclusion of each video. The vids are not in any particular order so have funk clicking through and please subscribe to this blog and my YouTube channel if you haven’t already Each video will pop in the viewer by clicking on the thumbnail in the grid. Happy New Year and I hope to see you at a show in 2026!
Video Collection and Gallery
Mark Lettieri, Variety Playhouse
This is just a one-song video, shot at Kevin Scott’s All Star Holiday Revue. Mark Lettieri is of course one of the guitarists for Snarky Puppy, his own Mark Lettieri band, and The Fearless Flyers project with members of Vulfpeck. He’s also a huge Van Halen fan so when his turn came up to play Panama, I was ready with my iPhone 17 Pro Max. I didn’t have any extra equipment (lenses, mics, monopod) so it was shot handheld. It’s notably because it got 30,000 IG views in its first week
Gov't Mule, Amp Jam
Gov’t Mule was the headliner at Amp Jam and played two sets on each of two nights and all four were captured. The vids are notable for the excellent jams from the core band, of course with Warren Haynes and my bud, Kevin Scott on bass, but also for the numerous sit-ins over the course of the festival. These included a session with John Scofield and an Adam Deitch (Lettuce) sit-in on Tower of Power’s “What Is Hip?” with the Lettuce horns.
Snarky Puppy, Multiple
I got to see a personal record 17 Snarky Puppy sets in 2025 and they were all fantastic in their own way. It started in Utrecht with the six Somni recoding sessions and included Family Dinner style sets at GroundUP Music Festival Miami Beach. Of course they were on Jam Cruise and held their initial GroundUP Festival Alberobello Italy. I was able to capture several of these sets or clips from them and have included a few of them on this ist.
Eric Gales, City Winery
Eric Gales is considered by many to be one of he world’s premier guitarists. He plays a right handed guitar upside down in left-handed style. He was a featured Family Dinner performer at GUMF Miami Beach and then I caught his full set a few weeks later at City Winery Atlanta.
David Murphy - For My Peeps, Terminal West
David Murphy, a founding member and former bassist of STS9, has started a new a new band “For My Peeps.” This recording was the first ever show performed by the band and I captured it with 4 cameras. The audio mix was provided directly from the band.
Moon Hooch, Variety Playhouse
Moon Hooch is one of my favorite bands to see live and shoot video. First, their compositions and performance are virtuousic and high energy. Second, they play to the camera always amping up the energy to make for the best video watching. This is likely to be my last video of theirs for a while as they’ve announced a hiatus starting in 2026
Too Many Zooz, Variety Playhouse
Too Many Zooz headlined the Variety Playhouse with Moon Hooch. They’re another video sensation and Leo P is nonstop energy. This set featured Moon Zooz a combined ensemble of both bands.
Eddie Roberts & The Lucky Strokes, Amp Jam
Eddie Roberts of the New Mastersounds combined with The Lucky Strokes is a new favorite of mine. Their bluesy jams featuring Shelby Kemp and the Galbraith sisters for the rhythm section are one of the most fun live acts around today.
Lettuce, Multiple
Lettuce was another band that I saw multiple times in 2025 starting on Jam Cruise and then moving on to a couple of sets at Amp Jam, more in the Carolinas and then culminating with the fabulous House of Lett sets in December out in Colorado. I’ll be recapping those in a seperate post but in the meantime, enjoy the videos here.
Lotus, Resonate Suwannee
Lotus is one of my all time favorite bands and this set at Resonate was top shelf. It was the first set that I’d seen live since the Chuck Morris memorial sets in Denver following his passing. That means that it was my first time seeing the dynamic Tim Palmieri front and center and I really enjoyed this performance.
The New Mastersounds, Multiple
The New Mastersounds are another all time favorite and a band I’ve seen multiple times this year, fortunately and not coincidentally because they too are calling it quits after this year. They put forth two stellar headlining sets at Whippersnap Fest in the spring and embarked on the Ta Ta For Now farewell tour in the fall on which I attended and filmed three sets that will be released in 2026. I’m looking forward to the last hurrah with the two year end sets at Cervantes in Denver on December 30 and 31.
Squeaky Feet, Aisle 5
Squeaky Feet has become one of my favorite jamtronica bands over the last 18 months. Last year, I caught them at the smaller room of Smith’s Olde Bar and this year they moved up to Aisle 5, one of my favorite venues for filming. The band walks the line between Lotus and metal, sort of like dark electronic funk. They’re versatile with both Jimmy and Colin taking lead vocals. This video came out great and includes a soundboard mix from the band.
TAUK, Terminal West
TAUK is a power funk band playing heavy jams with intricate melodies. This was a Halloween set where they cam out as Sesame Street characters and the contradiction with the opening Star Wars theme was sensational. We were able to incorporate four cameras and soundboard audio on this one as well.
Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country, Buckhead Theater
Don’t let the name of this band deceive you — they can flat out jam. At this show there were a number of fans up front that had been traveling with them on tour — they’re that popular. For my taste, I enjoyed the “Cosmic” portion of the playing more than the “Country” although they’re so well mixed that it all was a party.
Psycodelics, Variety Playhouse
On Jam Cruise this year, Psycodelics were the most anticipated and talked about “new” band. Their sets are non-stop potent funk and soul and they’re on my “Do Not Miss” list. They came through as openers for “Durand Jones and the Indications” and I was there to capture their musical fire.
Polyrhthymics, Multiple
Polyrhythmics are one of my favorite bands emerging over the last 10 years, having first caught and filmed them at Hulaween 2019. This year, I was fortunate to catch four sets of theirs, two on Jam Cruise, one at Whippersnap, and one most recently at Aisle 5 in Atlanta, for which they were kind enough to provide a soundboard matrix. I mixed that with four cameras we had, and it yielded a great result.
Söndörgő, GroundUP Music Festival
Söndörgő brought a taste of Hungarian music to GUMF Alberobello. Söndörgő’s signature instrument, the Hungaro-Serbian tambura, is similar to a mandolin. The band is made up of three brothers, Áron, Benjamin and Salamon Eredics, plus cousin Dávid Eredics and Ábel Dénes, the only non-family member, on bass. Among the five of them, I think they played around 10-15 different instruments to make a most interesting set. Their latest album, “Gyezz,” features Chris Potter, another GUMF alumnus, on sax!
Tony Hall's James Brown Tribute, NOLA Funk Fest
Tony Hall, from Dumpstaphunk, led an all star band tribute to James Brown, featuring world famous trombone player and original JB, Fred Wesley. This was part of the third NOLA Funk Fest, and the first that I’ve attended. The weather was beautiful – the horn section was amped including Jennifer Hartswick (trumpet) and Jason Mingledorff and Brad Walker on tenor sax.
New Orleans Suspects, NOLA Funk Fest
I’ve been a fan of the Suspects for around 15 years and when I saw Jennifer Hartswick was gonna team with them for this set it just amped up the excitement. It was another beautiful day at the NOLA Funk Fest which I now have earmarked to attend every year that I can.
Datrian and the Family Tree, Terminal West
Datrian Johnson and the Family Tree is a new band, featuring Datrian of course but a strong southern soul team as well. DJFT opened for The New Mastersounds at Terminal West and we had eight cameras plus soundboard rolling for this one. I believe this is the first multicam set for the band.
Flow Tribe, Aisle 5
Flow Tribe is a NOLA funk staple and I’ve been following them for many years. Again, Aisle 5 provides a great backdrop for a range of artists and this set was high energy and tons of fun. Everyone was dancing at this show.
Future Joy, Aisle 5
Future Joy put on a super fun set in the “Road to Hulaween” series. They’re another uber talented duo and play right to the camera a la Moon Hooch, who they’ve actually toured with. The music is great, the energy is high and I’m gonna try to catch them whenever they come back through.
Kinga Głyk, GroundUP Music Festival
Kinga Głyk, a bass player from Poland was one of the artists I most wanted to see at GroundUP Music 2024 but she had to cancel for personal reasons. So when she popped up on the GUMF Alberobello 2025 program, I knew I had to be there. And man, she delivered above and beyond my already high expectations. Backed by members of Snarky Puppy +1, this set was a highlight of the whole year. Now in January 2026, I’m going to see her again with Michael League at the Blue Note NYC! Indeed a happy start to the new year!
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, FTE Brewing
Karl “Diesel” Denson is an all-time great saxophonist, flutist, and all around performer. When I heard he was bringing KDTU to our local favorite brewery for an outdoor show, I hooked up our side camera and enjoyed a beautiful boogaloo filled evening.
Diggin' Dirt, Amp Jam
Diggin’ Dirt was the newcomer to Suwannee for Amp Jam last year and I was stoked. I had been listening to their latest album and it was everything I expected but better live. I’ll get another shot at them in Atlanta in February.
Electric Kif, Amp Jam
Electric Kif are friends and leaders in today’s jazz fusion scene. There was some heavy rain prior to this set at Amp Jam so I was a bit delayed in setting up but they killed it anyway
Sofi Tukker - Newport Jazz
This was my first time seeing this act rising in prominence and it was great. While there were some that bemoaned that it wasn’t ‘jazz’, the crowd ate it up and was standing for the entire set, quite a bit different than the more sedate traditional acts. I think they’re destined for greatness so I was grateful to catch them in this more intimate setting.