Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (Planet Earth opening)

Planet Earth have been called soul, funk, acid jazz, R&B, power funk and so on. But whatever you want to call them, they are sure to make you move. Touted as one of the vanguards of funk revival, they have been playing the Toronto club scene since 1999 and now boast three releases of original material out on the band-owned label Sleeping Eddie Music (20 MILES FROM BUFFALO -2008, THE ALI SHUFFLE-1999, and ELASTICITY-2001).

In recent years, PE have made appearances as an opening act for Maceo Parker, K-OS, Maestro, and Joey DeFrancesco. Three sold-out Soul in the City concerts, Toronto International Film festival cast parties (1998 and 1999) at Skydome for Dreamworks), Beaches jazz festival appearances (1998-2004), charity events, and a six year running thursday night slot at famed Toronto nightclub The Orbit Room. PE recently had six of their original songs chosen for two feature films: "Fall" (starring Michael Madsen) and "Silver Man" (starring fellow Canadian Eugene Levy). Both records, produced by the band, have received excellent reviews and sold well as independent releases.

Since 2000, the quartet has used weekly gigs to create a buzz and get their live act down. Now as an eight piece band, PE hires the elite of Toronto's music scene to flesh out their signature sound on stage and in the studio. Appearing on saxophone: John Johnson, Shawn Nykwist, Chris Mitchell, Vern Dorge, Perry White and Steven Kennedy; on trombone: Gord Myers, Russ Little, & Steve Donald; guitarists Jake Langley, Arvil Wray, John Tilden, Kevin Breit, Donna Grantis, and Dan Nordermeer; members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, along with special appearances by Alex Lifeson, Lee Oskar, Holly Cole, Jackie Richardson, Doug Riley, Kevin Turcotte, Guido Basso, and others.

Planet Earth's musicians were all born and raised in Toronto. Ron Littlejohn is a self-trained vocalist who began singing at the age of three to old 45's. His eclectic taste in music has added considerably to that collection over the years, immersing himself in gospel, R&B, soul music and funk. His ear for nuance and rhythmic phrasing have earned him a following of audiences marvelling at the range and power of his voice. "Elasticity is a sexy album" says Littlejohn, "lyrically, it's very personal." Littlejohn dresses, moves and grooves in the funk style. "It's my job to make the venue like my rec room and make the audiences have a good time." And that they do.