When discussing music that crosses stylistic boundaries, seldom are the words “funk” and “opera” used in the same sentence – but singer, producer, and Isotopia Records founder Constance Hauman showcased a successful merge of these seemingly conflicting styles over two nights and three performances at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan, February 6-7. The evenings featured a host of standout New York City musicians and special guests that included the members of Blu Eye Extinction, percussionist Everett Bradley, and the legendary George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic. “George was like, ‘When are you gonna do your own stuff [live]?’” Hauman told the Amsterdam News in an exclusive interview just minutes before she was set to hit the stage. “I thought ‘I have to do this,’ and make it not just about “Falling into Now” (Hauman’s debut album) but take selections from different things and thread it through what an influence George has been on me.”
Johnny Knollwood photos
Isotopia Records founder Constance Hauman getting ready backstage before a series of performances with special guests, including George Clinton and Everett Bradley, at Joe’s Pub on Feb. 7. 
George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic raises his horns, as Constance Hauman and Blu Eye Extinction perform at Joe’s Pub on Feb. 7. 
George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic joined Isotopia Records founder Constance Hauman for a series of intimate performances at Joe’s Pub on Feb. 7.
Hauman came to prominence in the 1980s just steps away from the pub. “I got my start in New York on this street, next door. There was this thing (Public Theatre founder) Joe Papp started called Opera at the Academy,” she explained. “And I used to look over here and go ‘god I’d love to be there.’” Hauman developed a relationship with Clinton while producing an album for Miss Velvet and the Blue Wolf. “I had this crazy idea, because I wanted to get a sound like the Red-Hot Chili Peppers and Parliament-Funkadelic,” Hauman told the Amsterdam News. She sought to record at the legendary United Sounds, where Clinton recorded and produced classic P-Funk albums. “It wasn’t ‘de-funked,’ but it wasn’t functioning like it used to.” Hauman used funds set aside to produce the album to help rebuild the studio. “The walls were breathing everything that had happened in there, and I thought: ‘I got to get this [album] to him somehow.’”
Since then, Clinton has sung praises for Hauman’s work on NPR’s Play it Forward, appeared on tracks with the singer, and taken her funk group, Blu Eye Extinction, out on the road. On Saturday night at Joe’s Pub, Clinton was seated in the intimate venue near the stage, interacting with the music and providing bits of cosmic interjection throughout a set that blurred stylistic boundaries. Operatic wails were juxtaposed against down and dirty funk, ambient free-jazz against Broadway-reminiscent, lyrically driven tunes, and a revolving door lineup of top notch musicians that included drummer, Ross Pederson, bassist Julia Adamy, trumpeter JS Williams, trombonist Huck Tim, bassist James Jones, guitarist Henry Ott and special guest percussionist Everett Bradley, who has performed with Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen. “When I started my label, Isotopia Records, the idea was to break down the prejudice between musical genres,” Hauman explained. “Music is the most joyful thing there is. It connects – it is the fabric of the universe.”
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