UCSB Arts & Lectures presents the Santa Barbara debut of Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4,  at UCSB Campbell Hall. An hour before the concert, there will be a party in the plaza in front of Campbell Hall with a live DJ set, refreshments and other festivities.

Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles is the newest project of Brooklyn native Cory Henry, a member of two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz-R&B group Snarky Puppy, hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the more versatile groups on the planet right now.”

On his instrument of choice — the Hammond B-3 organ — Henry features his improvisational performances of music ranging from old gospel to Stevie Wonder. He has been featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

At age 6, Henry made his debut at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater, and at 19, he joined the touring band of jazz icon Kenny Garrett. Since then, he’s toured or recorded with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, The Roots, P. Diddy and Yolanda Adams.

He also has cracked the Top 10 on Billboard’s Jazz charts with a pair of solo albums. NPR hails Henry as “a master” whose “musical charisma is a match for a nearly 400-pound organ,” while Keyboard Magazine dubs his playing “soulful, church-y, playful, restrained and virtuosic.”

The Funk Apostles musicians have been hand-picked by Henry, who pieced together the lineup out of players he met on the road over the years. Each band member is an all-star in his own right.

Guitarist Adam Agati, who co-wrote the album’s lyrics with Henry, has worked with everyone from Booker T. Jones to Ludacris, while bassist Sharay Reed has performed with Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin and Chakha Khan and more.

Henry met drummer TaRon Lockett while he was playing with Snarky Puppy; he’s performed with big names in R&B including Erykah Badu and Montell Jordan. Keyboardist Nick Semrad’s credits include Miss Lauryn Hill, Bilal and Gabriel Garzon-Montano.
 
Henry’s debut album with The Funk Apostles, Chapter 1: The Art of Love, is set to be released Sept. 15. On the album, the organ virtuoso moves from sideman to frontman with seemingly effortless grace and cool.

“When I’m singing, it’s like this extra way of connecting and communicating with people beyond what I can do just playing the organ,” Henry said. “I’m able to convey these messages that are really important and meaningful to me through my words.

“Every influence that I could think of growing up is in this record,” Henry said. “I’m trying to break the barriers. The word funk is in our name, but I want people to know that this band is bigger musically than any one genre.”
 
Recorded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Chapter 1: The Art of Love was tracked live to tape in an effort both to capture the energy of the band’s live shows and to channel the warm analog vibes of the 1970s.

“I want to make music that really means something,” Henry said.

“I think of the ’60s and ’70s as this golden era of music, and if you look at some of the top artists then like Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder, they were singing about what was happening around them in this creative way that made people want to act,” he said.

“They used music as a tool to reach the world and bring about change to help make it a better place. I want to do that, too,” Henry said.
 
Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. Tickets are $25-$38 for the general public, $10 for students with a valid student ID.
 
For more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

UCSB Arts & Lectures acknowledges SAGE for its major corporate support of the 2017-18 season.

— Caitlin O’Hara for UCSB Arts & Lectures.