Even August's summer winds blew cool so not to dare mess with guitarist/harmonicat Garrett Dutton's blowsy raps and smooth vocal styling.

Combine Dutton/Love's chilled-out demeanor with the density of upright bassist Jim Prescott and the cleverly clacking fills of drummer Jeff Clemens - who have been together since 1992 - and you understand how their easy, flowing funk has grown appealing to the Deadheads and Parrot Heads who filled the Pier.

That the intuitive trio added pianist/organist Mark Boyce and his slippery boogie-woogie fingerings to its ranks made the tastiest tunes more sumptuous - extra Sauce so to speak, with some gravy to its groove.

There were heavier fuzz-tones and bruised bluesy riffs emanating from the quartet, along with gutsy, dirty blasts and gristle-filled breaks on the hazy likes of "Rodeo Clown" that mingled with their slippery flow. That is simpatico at work, something that allowed this quartet the intuitive nuance you would hear from aged vets in Return to Forever or N.R.B.Q.

The backing gave grit to Dutton's lazily drawling voice and breezy harmonica on "Grandmother." No matter how chilled these four gents seemed, they were charged up and subtly cutting new grooves into their usually gentle brand of hop-pop. Dutton vented his hurt and ire by adding some snot to the flirty funk of "Stepping Stone." A naughty "Baby's Got Sauce" got breathier and slinkier, vocally and instrumentally, as it loped along suggestively.

But the piece de resistance was their long take on the Lou Reed-ish "Blues Music" that segued into a cover of "Walk on the Wild Side" that slowly became yet another tune borrowing Reed's hit rhythm - A Tribe Called Qwest's "Can I Kick It?" Here, G. and the Sauce took its sweet lyrics of "child of the '80s" awareness through the wizened paces of brushed-drum jazz and hillbilly skiffle through to haughty glam-pop and holy hip-hop in mere moments and still made it all their own.

Bravo.