The Essentials is a collaboration of ten highly talented and experienced musicians, each with a personal or professional attachment to the University of Oregon School of Music in Eugene. Covers of such artists as Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, and Chicago join originals written by the group to make up the band's sound, a mixture of tight rhythm, heavy brass and soulful vocals. The band has performed at dozens of nightclubs on the west coast from San Francisco to Seattle, headlined festivals, played weddings and private parties, and appeared at numerous college events and football games. They have opened for such household names as Leon Russel and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Their original self-titled album, released in Spring 2007, has had nothing but solid reviews, and is recieving television licensure, spots on national compilation albums, and rotation radio play from Denver to Des Moines to New York. "Something to Give” was recor...