While juggling work and careers with music and performing, the members of the local band Righteous Buddha find time to write and play the music they love.
“It takes quite a bit of effort, but if you like what you’re doing, you find the time for it,” said 48-year-old John Smart, organ and synthesizer player for the trio.
Other members include drummer Chris Dejohn and upright bassist David Hinson.
The band’s lineup mimics that of one of their many influences, Medeski, Martin & Wood, in the barebone style of percussion, bass and organ.
These ingredients create the blend that Smart describes as “South Louisiana funk music.”
The band formed in 1999 after Smart bought an organ and approached Hinson about forming a jazz group.
They played a few gigs around town while rehearsing and writing songs when they befriended Dejohn, who worked at Bebop Music shop on Government Street and added him as the drummer.
Dejohn bought Bebop in 2001, and is busy working to maintain the business.
Smart is a commissioner in district court, and Hinson teaches music and plays in the Baton Rouge Symphony.
With so much work to do, Smart said that it is hard for the band to play where they would like to play and spread their music through the country.
“We used to play a lot in Colorado a couple of years ago, but we’ve been more centralized around the Southeast region lately,” he said. “We play a whole lot in Louisiana, especially Baton Rouge, and we have recently been making a few weekend gigs in Houston.”
Righteous Buddha found time late last year to record their CD “Get Right,” independently released in January, as a follow-up to their 2001 debut, “Black, Blue and Bamboo.”
To manage all of the band’s business while continuing their careers, the band hired John “J.B.” Bell, who formed his management company, Connected Artists, in January.
Bell had been friends with the guys in Righteous Buddha for about five years, and last October, when the band’s former manager left, they asked Bell to handle their booking and publicity.
“Right now, I’m trying to play their gigs at Mellow Mushroom and areas around there to the younger kids and the people there who haven’t seen or heard it,” he said.
Righteous Buddha plays in Baton Rouge at Mellow Mushroom, The Varsity and Chelsea’s and has opened for notable nationwide touring acts like G. Love & Special Sauce, Derek Trucks Band, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and opened a show at The Varsity with Leftover Salmon last week, according to Dejohn and Smart.
The group will perform this Sunday at 1:00 on the Galvez Plaza Stage on Florida Boulevard as part of Fest For All.