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You’ve got to wonder about a band that’s opened for both Gil Scott-Heron and Joan Jett. Phoenix-based Hot Birds and The Chili Sauce has done just that, managing to move the crowds of both the proto-rap pioneer and the hard rocker. Credit the band’s power to woo disparate audiences to the charisma of The Hot Birds, the three lovely ladies shaking it up front — Andria Bunnell, Jennifer Lynn Durkin, and Lauren Winston-McPherson — and the finesse of the rotating cast of players that makes up The Chili Sauce. And we’re talking a lot of sauce — usually 12 pieces or more. The band has energy but tempers its songs with a mellow vibe that recalls the strident but smooth sounds of its R&B heroes, including Marva Whitney, Otis Redding, Dyke and The Blazers, and Etta James. The band fits in with the throwback-soul movement currently being pushed by Raphael Saadiq, Mayer Hawthorne, and acts on the Daptone Records roster — whose Budos Band the Hot Birds have also shared a stage with. Ah, now there’s a pairing that makes sense.
