Marco Benevento hasn’t been active as part of the Benevento/Russo Duo in a long time. Both he and his longtime friend/bandmate Joe Russo have been busy doing their own thangs, though those thangs frequently line up. Benevento is a member of the insanely popular Grateful Dead tribute act Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, amid various other gigs, including rotating membership in post-jazz outfit Garage a Trois, and a steady and prolific outpouring of solo material, which showcase his continued evolution and explorations as a virtuosic keys man juggling a range of sound-making devices (Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, synthesizers and pedalboards and pickups of varying sorts, children’s toys, etc.). Now he’s landing in town behind his rather fine seventh studio LP, Let It Slide. He’s described its interplay of grit, grooves, and lo-fi melodies as “hot dance piano rock,” with particular highlights in the whistling and snapping “Say It's All the Same” and the dark, heady grooving “Humanz.” by Leilani Polk