Where Do I Start? A Beginner’s Guide To LETTUCE [B.Getz on L4LM]
originally published via Live For Live Music
Future-funk outfit Lettuce is a genre-blurring leviathan. These Boston-born, Brooklyn-refined, Denver- and NOLA-dipped maestros have been boldly adventuring through galaxies of groove for over three decades, mining the sounds of pioneers and reimagining their foundational elements.
In melting down James Brown’s raw precision, Earth, Wind and Fire’s cosmic expansion, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters’ swagger, Tower of Power’s buoyant thump, and J Dilla’s shapeshifting boom-bap, Lettuce concocts a potion rich in ferocious workouts and intrepid “type II” excursions.
At the LETT core, world-renowned drummer Adam Deitch pilots the spacecraft while also contributing songwriting and arrangement. In lockstep is Erick “Maverick” Coomes, formerly known as Jesus, unleashing subterranean basslines. Guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff is a wizard of tone and articulation. Keyboardist/vocalist Nigel Hall injects Rhodes piano, Hammond organ, synth-drenched sorcery, soulful vocals, and an electrifying personality into the mix. Up front, Ryan Zoidis (saxophones) and Eric “Benny” Bloom (trumpet) soar with storytelling solos and ethereal textures.
Over the years, several stalwarts have passed through the Lettuce ranks. Past members include co-founders Eric Krasno (guitar), Sam Kininger (sax), Neal Evans (keys), Rashawn Ross (trumpet), Jeff Bhasker (keys), and the late James Casey (sax), among others.
Considering the band’s dense and diverse discography stretching back nearly a quarter of a century, and a live presence that embraces the jam band mantra of unique sets every night, getting into Lettuce can be an intimidating task. With that in mind, here are five albums for those wishing to enter the house of LETT.
Live In Tokyo (2004)
Capturing an ambitious squad just getting their proverbial wings, 2004’s seminal Live in Tokyo showcases the green collective behind promising 2002 debut LP, Outta Here. Krasno, Kininger, Evans, and Ross joined Deitch, Shmeeans, Coomes, and Zoidis for this landmark 2003 run through Japan. The confident set unveils faster rhythms, deeper pockets, and far filthier improvisations than the record introduced. Highlights include the smoky “Kron Dutch,” fatback funk of “Reunion,” and 11-minute romp through fusion-focused “Flu the Coop.”
Rage! (2008)
Lettuce’s 2008 sophomore masterpiece Rage! is a seminal, watershed moment, a statement fueled by the band’s now-patented future-funk crossed with authentic hip-hop elements: boldly reimagining raw 1970s fusion precision with J Dilla-inspired beatscience (“Mr. Yancey”). Rage! is driven by the largest lineup Lettuce ever fielded on record, with the all-world rhythm section of Deitch and Coomes, Evans on keys, Krasno and Smirnoff on dual guitars, and a horn trio of Zoidis, Kininger, and Ross. The album birthed beloved live staples “Blast Off” and “Last Suppit,” and welcomed Hall to the collective for explosive D.C. go-go anthem “Making My Way Back Home,” and Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” To many hardcore fans, the sweat-drenched Rage! remains LETT’s definitive funkafied document.
Lettuce With the Colorado Symphony (2025)
Lettuce’s live album with the Colorado Symphony at Denver’s Boettcher Concert Hall blends hip-hop-infused psychedelic funk with sweeping orchestral grandeur—one of the many genre-fusion tricks up this band’s sleeve. Recorded in 2018, Lettuce with the Colorado Symphony combines the band’s heavy rhythmic foundation with 80-plus classical musicians to create a massive, cinematic wall of sound. Dynamic numbers “Mt. Crushmore,” “Gang Ten,” “Larimar,” and “Trapezoid” extrapolate with layers of lush string arrangements. Classically-inspired “Requiem” nods to Mozart; “Madison Square” is updated with a translucent tearjerker intro, while Hall elucidates a familiar euphoria on the group’s reimagining of Tears for Fears‘ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Nearly ten years after this performance, Lettuce continues its collaborations with orchestras across the U.S.
Live In Amsterdam (2023)
Captured at the intimate Paradiso in February 2020, weeks before the world locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this potent transmission showcases a seasoned sextet operating at peak frequency amidst the Elevate/Resonate/Unify album trilogy that rolled out between 2019–2022. While halfway across the world in Amsterdam, Lettuce sounds right at home making magic in this historic room, where ten cuts bump and breathe with urgent, muscular force. The Tower of Power-tinged “Last Suppit,” a feverish “LETT Bobby,” a ten-minute stomp through early-days chestnut “Squadlive,” and the psychedelic voyage “Purple Cabbage” all traverse vibrant new territory as compared to their studio versions, making this show another fantastic cross-pollination of geography and generation—precisely the musical DNA that’s long defined the Lettucefunk mojo.
Cook (2025)
Lettuce’s latest studio offering, Cook, arrived in December 2025, serving up a full course of inventive compositions rich in viscous funk, subterranean voyaging, syrupy R&B, and instrumental hip-hop. “Grewt Up,” “Gold Tooth,” and the heavy exploratory jam vehicle “7 Tribes” highlight a breadth of styles. Hall delivers his finest vocal performances to date, shining on a breathtaking version of Keni Burke’s “Risin’ to the Top” and the buoyant, brass-drenched East Bay banger “Keep On.” The sonic alchemy reaches a blissful zenith on retro levitation “Breathe,” and “Ghosts of Yest” treads ethereal topography to close the disc.
This is “Where Do I Start? A Beginner’s Guide,” where “expert” fans of various artists provide a selection of solid starting points for anyone looking to take the leap. In this edition, B. Getz, a veteran music journalist, Live For Live Music contributor, and host of The Upful Life Podcast, provides a beginner’s guide to Lettuce.