Frenchy’s Fracas

Our impressions of our first day at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam:
[Hieronymus Fox - HF; Frenchy - F]

Clinic with Branford Marsalis
[HF]
Surprising, was expecting something with music, a performance, whatever. Turned out to be a Q&A session. Interesting to hear a musician’s mindset and motivations: depth, simplicity and feeling about jazz.
[F]
Damn hot in that room. Loved the down-to-earthness, funny guy!

Sergio Mendes
[HF]
A compromise between his old (true) stuff and his recent release. Best way to introduce his music to a large crowd. More substance than show.
[F]
Agreed, too bad that most people are corpselike and not really swinging to the music. Only when they played Mas Que Nada did some of the corpses start moving around a bit

Neville Brothers
[HF]
Old and seasoned warriors, authentic performers
[F]
Well.. not really impressive, just ok..

Bilal
[HF]
Crappy sound, ego show, seemed like Bilal thought he was the ultimate performer, Soul God.. Potential wasn’t used very well.
[F]
Crappy sound, check! Great voice, okay ego, okay performer, but not God’s gift to Soul

Tower of Power
[HF]
Blown away! Brilliant. Better singer than last time I saw them, adding more to the band than being annoying. Great encore.
[F]
1st time ever, excellent! 28 years in the business, that’s my age, goddammit! Incredible!

Omar
[HF]
Crappy sound, sore legs, good music, same old, same old.. Great DJ in the Yukon room.
[F]
Got used to the crappy sound, even sorer back ;o)

Leela James
[HF]
Second time around, better than the HMH show, video screens added to the charm and power of the performance.
[F]
Agreed.. tired of typing ;o)

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General Info
Artist: Leela James
Location: Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
When: 1 April 2006

image from Musikbase.de

Who?
You could call it Nu Soul and get your head torn off.. This lady’s a vocal talent that covers a wide range of music: soul, rhythm & blues, funk, you name it. Her latest album: “A Change Is Gonna Come” was okay, but what I really liked was the “No Tears” track she made with Pete Rock on the DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “The Soul Mixtape”. It ‘told’ me that I really, really should see and hear this dame performing live.

The Show
The Heineken Music Hall is a bit of a moodkiller of a location: nice acoustics, plenty of space to stand or sit, easy access to the bars, but totally soulless..
Leela James changed all that: she rocked the house from start to finish, talking up to the crowd (yes, Amsterdam is a city not a country, Leela, heheh..) and shaking her wild stuff all over the place (which was nice). Her band was solid and professional: a great keyboard man, born to entertain, two lovely and very vocally talented backing singers and that skinny white dude on the guitar that was enjoying himself and sharing the love.
The interlude with “Apache” by The Sugarhill Gang worked like a charm for me!
A bit more about miss James: she doesn’t really need a microphone with that voice of hers, I reckon the soundman was having a hell of a time keeping that mic from blowing up ;o)

Conclusion
I sang along, danced my funky butt away and had a good time enjoying a great performance! Special thanks to Hieronymus Fox and his great friend Wouter W. for inviting me over for this gig.

Rating:

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Off to see Leela James, an incredible singer!

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