Frenchy’s Fracas

Rotterdam Views: Summer Carnival 2008 - 1, originally uploaded by frenchy_rjp.

1. Rotterdam Views: Summer Carnival 2008,
2. Rotterdam Views: Summer Carnival 2008,
3. Rotterdam Views: Summer Carnival 2008,
4. Rotterdam Views: Summer Carnival 2008

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Share This

General Info
Artist: Rad. ||
Location: De Melkweg, Amsterdam
When: 01 March 2008

Who?
I know Rad. or Rose Ann Dimalanta from her 1992 album Radified. It’s a nostalgia thing, love the album. Read she’d be performing live with a great band including saxophone majesty Eric Leeds, I was curious.
Check out some of his performances at .

The Show
Ouch.. The place was at half its capacity and it showed. Rad. did their best to give a prodfessional show, and they succeeded, more or less.

Songs that Stood Out
Homegirls Cha Cha Network
Great nostalgic feeling.

10 (Madhouse track)
Listen, boys and girls: Madhouse is one of my favorite bands, read my review of one their albums.
So to get the chance to hear a track from them co-performed by original band member Eric Leeds, was an absolute treat!!

Wishy
That’s when we left..

Conclusion
Hard to rate this concert: on the one hand, the material wasn’t that captivating. While on the other, the band commanded respect for their hard work.
It just didn’t work. Thrilled about Eric Leeds, and I wasn’t the only one: former Paisley Park co-worker and Dutch sax-diva Candy Dulfer was in the crowd along with her dad, Hans Dulfer, another sax-master from the Lowlands.
Meh, nostalgia doesn’t always work, I guess..

Rating: (Mostly because of the band, not the gig itself)

Share This

General Info
Artist: Koop || ||
Location: De Melkweg, Amsterdam
When: 21 February 2008

Who?
Liked their recent release Koop Islands, saw them at The Hague Jazz last year, thought it’d be fun to go see them again.
Check out some of his performances at .

The Show
The Melkweg is an excellent location for this kind of concert: practical, nice acoustics and not too steaming hot.
The guys started on time, and the moment the band was on stage, you knew you were getting a show from performers that love their music and love to share it with the audience. Although, somehow there still is this disconnect between crowd and band, can’t put my finger on it.
I really am getting old coz I was ready to choke some people in the audience for talking all the frigging time through almost all of the songs. You know what? If you wanna chat with your friends, move the frak out of this building and go find a bar, pretty please, with sugar on top?
Stand-in vocalist for this evening, dunno her name, but she almost made me forget the cute and lovely Miss Yukimi Nagano. This did a great job performing the songs in her own way and boy, does she now how to perform..

Songs that Stood Out
Come To Me
Closing song, always a crowd pleaser.

Koop Islands Song
Probably the opening track, strong presence from leading vocal lady

Unknown Song Relaxin’ at club F****n
Possibly on earlier albums, a great dance track straight from the laptop where the band joins in almost instrument by instrument. Better up-tempo work, something the show really needed.

Conclusion
The band has a limited playlist and seeing them again within twelve months doesn’t help either. It’s friggin’ weird: on the one hand, the show felt a bit boring and tame; on the other, you really get pulled into the excitement of the band’s excellent craftsmanship.
But that’s just not enough for me this evening.
Go see them if you get the chance, just don’t go for a second time within a year.

Rating:

Share This

General Info
Artist: José James || ||
Location: Paradiso, Amsterdam
When: 11 January 2008

Who?
Didn’t know anything about this artist; it’s yet another one of Hieronymus Fox’s discoveries. Thanks for the tip bro’!!
Check out some of his performances at .

The Show
Such a relaxed location, the smaller of the two locations at the Paradiso. Nice large number of people attending, show starts reasonably on time. A great setup: piano/keyboards, drums, bass and James’ vocal talents. Sound quality was quite good, lights weren’t annoying, everything fine..
Now, if you’re not of an adult age and you’re reading this post, get the hell out of here because I’m gonna use some faux exclamations. Parents, have you taken the children out of the room? Fine.

H O L Y S H I T ! ! !
M O M M A , T H I S A R T I S T I S F U C K I N G U N B E L I E V A B L E ! ! !

There, you can bring the kids back to this post..

Songs that Stood Out
Park Bench People
Heheh, HF and me recognized the bass from an old A Tribe Called Quest sample, used in the Sucka Nigga track.
The scat-rap-flow is beautiful and so unbelievably mature.

blackeyedsusan
Sweetness, this guy’s vocals make the lyrics ooze the sweetest honey.

Nola
Googling my black ass off; my mind keeps telling me I know this song from some other artist, but I haven’t found it yet.
Back to the track: the band is always an important factor for an artist, in this case the band adds extra support and lays the foundation for a perfect performance of a great song.

Overall, mister James doing his improvisations
Wow..

Conclusion
It’ll take me a coupla months to really define this guy’s voice. It’s not that he hasn’t his own voice, don’t get me wrong, but there are similarities with people like Bill Withers (Park Bench People). I’ll update every time I get another name that needs to be added.
The strong supporting role of the band needs to get special attention. Pianist Gideon Van Gelder had a particularly tricky roll: on the one hand his improvisations added extra brilliance to the act, but sometimes it got a bit too freaky, too self-indulgent. Guest appearance by Ben Van Gelder on the horn was nice.
I was very impressed with José James’s incredible voice and talent, using his vocals as an instrument in a totally jazzy way. Over the last coupla years we’ve been bombarded with jazzy singers, let’s call ‘em all Jamie, but Jose is more than that: he’s a jazz singers, and the Jamies in this world just have a fraction of James’ depth of talent.
The performance itself, well.. After the initial euphoria during the first five songs you notice a bit of a pattern. That in itself is fine, but it would be more interesting to here the band perform together a bit more. A drum versus bass improv or piano versus bass, whatever. Just not always the vocals and the piano for ten songs straight. A bit more diversity would help.
Next time this guy’s in Holland, I’ll be there and his album’s coming out in two weeks, boys and girls!!

Rating: (a great way to start the new year!)

Share This