SACKETS HARBOR — A 10-piece powerhouse funk band will energize the audience here Aug. 12 as part of the Concerts on the Waterfront series.

It will be the first time the series has hosted the horn-driven band Prime Time Funk, created in the Rochester area in 1996.

Prime Time Funk has played the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris as well as the Rochester International Jazz Festival, and has shared the stage with some of the world’s most respected funk, R&B, blues and jazz acts.

The band recently released its second CD, “Hear and Now.” It’s dedicated to late Prime Time Funk bassist and co-founder Ralph Ortiz, who died in 2009. The band’s debut CD in 2001, “Ready and Willing,” was co-produced by GrammyAward-winning producer Jeff Tyzik, principal pops conductor for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

The lead vocalist of Prime Time Funk is Albany native Ronnie Leigh. He is a four-time Syracuse Area Music Award-winner and a frequent performer in resorts, jazz clubs and concert halls throughout the this country and Canada. He has also worked with Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and has shared the stage with Pat Metheny, the Yellowjackets, David Benoit, Special EFX, Spyro Gyra, David Sanborn, Tom Scott, Etta Jones, Jon Hendricks and Chuck Mangione.

Others in the band: Jim Richmond, tenor sax and vocals; Ronald France, bass; David Cohen, drums and percussion; Vince Ercolamento, saxophones and flute; Ronald D’Angelo, trumpet and flugelhorn; Andy Calabrese, keyboards; Derrick Lipp, trumpet and flugelhorn; Joe Chiappone, guitar; and Michael Edwards, baritone sax, flute,electronic wind instrument and violin.

Concerts on the Waterfront is a free series of the Sackets Harbor Historical Society. Major sponsors are Watertown Savings Bank, the village of Sackets Harbor and the town of Hounsfield Committee for the Advancement of Tourism. Additional support is from businesses and organizations throughout the north country and the traditional of “pass the hat.”

Concerts are held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sundays at Battlefield State Park in the village. Guests should bring a blanket or lawn chair and picnics are welcomed. The rain site is the United Presbyterian Church, Main and Broad streets.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer