COLUMBUS
Brian Culbertson has never been an artist who sits still, and his 30th album may be his most personal detour yet. The jazz, funk and soul keyboardist has announced The Midnight Tapes, set for release February 5, 2027, and a tour stop behind it: CAPA will host Culbertson live at the Southern Theatre, 21 E. Main St. in Columbus, on Tuesday, April 27, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $44.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, October 23, through the CAPA Ticket Center at the Ohio Theatre, online and by phone, BroadwayWorld reported.
The album itself is a one-man production in the most literal sense. Culbertson plays 44 different instruments across The Midnight Tapes, combining his signature blend of jazz, funk and soul with a distinctly vintage-inspired sound. Conceived as a late-night musical journey, the record draws on the atmosphere and nostalgia of music made after dark — and on the multi-instrumental musicianship that has been a hallmark of his career. He plays everything himself: piano, drums, bass and guitar, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone and euphonium, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3 organ, Clavinet, analog synthesizers and an expansive collection of percussion that runs all the way to the glockenspiel. Every sound on the album was created using real instruments, a deliberately hands-on, old-school approach in an era of programmed grooves.
Remarkably, the whole thing started by accident. “This album was kind of an accident, as I never planned to play everything myself,” Culbertson said. “Initially, I was going to have my band over to the studio for a couple weeks to make a ‘funk/jam’ type of record, so in preparation for that, I bought a vintage 1970's drum kit. I set it up, plugged in the microphones, and then decided to test it out by recording a groove. I was feeling it, so I added a bass line, some chords on the Rhodes, and finally a piano melody over the top. The next day I played it for Nicholas Cole and Adrian Crutchfield who came by. They freaked out and said, ‘Man you gotta do a whole record like that!’ And so I did!”
What followed was the fastest album of his career. The Midnight Tapes was written, recorded and mixed in just three months, with Culbertson overseeing production, arrangements and engineering himself — the record's credits list him as producer, arranger and engineer, with mixing by Bob Horn and mastering by Gene Grimaldi. BroadwayWorld describes the result as Culbertson at his most spontaneous, focused and creatively inspired, balancing musicianship, groove and creative freedom across a set built to feel handmade from the first note to the last.
The album also reaches back into funk history. Culbertson includes his own interpretation of Bootsy Collins' classic “I'd Rather Be With You,” a fitting choice for a record steeped in after-hours groove — and a timely one, since the song celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year. The first single, “'76 Monte Carlo,” arrives digitally on November 27, with its official music video dropping on YouTube that night. The track is a funky, groove-driven cut inspired by the feeling of a fun late-night ride, and BroadwayWorld notes that its vintage-inspired sound and effortless groove set the tone for the album as a whole.
The numbers behind Culbertson explain why a one-man-band experiment from him lands as news rather than novelty. With the new album he reaches 30 albums across three decades, alongside 41 Billboard No. 1 singles — a chart résumé few instrumentalists in any genre can match. A powerhouse keyboardist, songwriter and producer, he has built a sound that moves freely among jazz, funk, R&B, soul and pop, and he is known for dynamic live shows with elaborate stage productions. He is also the visionary behind the Jazz Getaways, the destination-event series in Napa Valley, Chicago, New Orleans and Honolulu, with Boston joining the list next year — music-filled weekends curated by Culbertson himself that draw fans from around the world.
The Columbus date puts that live show in a room with its own history. The Southern Theatre, CAPA's downtown house at 21 E. Main St., opened on September 21, 1896, making it one of the oldest surviving theatres in Ohio; its audience chamber is ringed by a series of concentric arches that create an acoustic system still praised today. It is, in other words, exactly the kind of warm, resonant room a record built from real instruments deserves. Tickets for the April 27, 2027 performance start at $44.50 and go on sale Friday, October 23 at 10 a.m. at the CAPA Ticket Center at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.), online, and by phone at (614) 469-0939.
For the wider music calendar on Previously, see the Music section, and for more of this week's live-music news, read about tonight's Dolly Parton tribute and the Usher and Chris Brown R&B tour. The Midnight Tapes arrives February 5, 2027; “'76 Monte Carlo” is out November 27.
