Chewy-Chew-Chew/Bennie Maupin fan here reporting here: Chewy has seen B.M in a few different contexts- the 1st being the full-blown headhunters reunion concert, circa 97 or98 which was seriously awesome. secondly bennie used to have weekly gig at some really weird big weird sunset blvd. hotel, in their little bar/dinner room, (i think called Bonaventure): The #1 thing i remember about that gig was it was truly the worst traffic jam i'd ever encountered in my entire life to get there, hands down, by far. but besides that IT WAS MY FAVORITE BENNIE GIG. ***WHEN I WALKED IN, HE WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRAZY ASS REALLY FREE BASS CLAIRNET SOLO. THEN A FEW MIN. LATER THE BAND GOT ALL FUNKY, BUT NOT REGULAR FUNKY IT WAS ALL CRAZY FUNK LIKE HEADHUNTERS 3000. THE PIANO GUY HAD 1 SYNTHESIZER ON TOP OF HIS GRAND PIANO AND HE STARTED TO GET FREAKY-FREAKY WITH IT. THIS IS MY FAVORITE BENNIE CONCERT.
I also saw him w/ this worn out really crazy and i mean crazy tonite show musian "sal marquez" but also in the band it was tootie on the skins. HERE WAS A GOOD SHOW TO SEE BENNIE PLAY MORE STRAIGHT AHEAD SWINGING BEBOP JAZZ.............BUT BENNIE WAS ANYTHING BUT STRAIGHT AHEAD-- HE WAS MORE LIKE OUT OF CONTROL. HE WAS SO DAM GOOD