What do Booker T & The MGs, Fela Kuti and Nina Simone have in common? To musician Larry Simon, there's an obvious answer.

"All three, to me, represent what soul music is all about," he says. His deep appreciation for their soulful sounds has led him to organize a 17-piece band for "Infinite Soul: The Music of Booker T & The MG's, Fela Kuti & Nina Simone" on Friday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. at The Press Room in Portsmouth.

Forming the core will be Simon's regular band Groove Bacteria, consisting of Simon on guitar, Scip Gallant on keyboards, Nate Edgar on bass and Mike Barron on drums. Among the other musicians joining in will be keyboard player Matt Jenson, sax player Matt Langley and singer Joanne Conolly, who will take the Nina Simone parts.

There are two aspects to the show that appeal to Simon. First is the music itself.

"Soul music is an approach in which the groove is at the core, where the musician's technique is at the service of the groove," he says. "Booker's group had superb individual technique, but their groove was so organic. Nina Simone was a classically trained pianist who studied at Julliard, yet her music had a soulful groove as well. Fela started out playing African Highlife music, a form of dance music, but incorporated blues, rock and jazz into his music after a visit to England in the late '60s. It was this music that became known as Afro-Beat, a term that I believe Fela was the first to use."

The other aspect is the diverse range of the artists, each of whom "could go in a lot of different directions with their music," Simon says.

As far as the music the band will play, Simon says that music has evolved into one big show, rather than individual sets. The songs will be faithful to the original tunes. "Fela's music is the most open, in terms of going in different directions, while Booker's music is much more straightforward."

Simon also praises trumpet player and arranger Nick Zaricki for his detail on the horn parts for Fela Kuti's music. "Nick got the parts down accurately," he says.

Simon sums up by saying, "We've got great musicians in this band. They're a big part of the reason why we're doing the show. It's almost like having a big band, and it's been a lot of fun putting this together."