Frenchy’s Fracas

General Description
Artist/Band: José James || ||
Album Title: The Dreamer
Year: 2007

Hard work, just rewards

How I Got Into This Music
The evil man, Hieronymus Fox, all his fault
He took me to see the guy perform in Paradiso about a month ago. And I was seriously impressed!
So when his album was released I had to have a listen.

Google Search for reviews of this album || Album details at ||
Video clips at ||

Tracks that got my attention:
The Dreamer
Title track, takes you directly to the essence: jazzy trumpet, omnipresent piano and a lazy but sweet bass on the background. What? The vocals? Ooooooow, so sweet! It’s got this dreamy, lullaby softness mixed with booming vocal peaks, damn!
This song’s a classic Walk Along The Beach theme.

Velvet
The song’s strongest point is (how Zen) also its Achilles heel: the slow, repetative and grinding build up to this.. climax, I guess. And that climax isn’t that satisfactory.

blackeyedsusan
Damn, this track’s close to perfection. James’ smokey and brittle voice is great. Nice piano solo.

Park Bench People
Sample from A Tribe Called Quest’s Sucka Niggahs. Now I got to find me the original, heheh..
Interesting social commentary, soft and sharp edges at the same time.

Nola
Hauntingly beautiful song. Melancholy in a kind way.

Red
Another excellent track. Puts him in the true Jazz Vocalist category, forget Collum and those crooner types.

Winter Wind
This one’s a Walk In The Park On A Sunny Winter Day kind of track.

Desire
A bit too heavy on the drama.

Love
Nice up-tempo track; a pleasant change of style.

Conclusion
Go see this guy perform live.
This album’s a great product of hard work, devotion and soul. It’s just a bit too repetitive for my taste. It’s not James’ vocals, that’s diverse enough to take you to heaven and back. But the tracks all have the same setup, his vocals and the piano/keyboards are the main instruments. The other musicians are purely there for support, only the trumpet gets some minutes in front, that’s it.
Same thing occurred to me when I saw the band at Paradiso: how hard is it to let the drummer and the bassist join in? Again, it’s the one-sideness that caught my attention, everything else is bloody top notch.
It’s probably gonna be the same thing as with The Roots: I’m not very impressed with the albums but I’m 100 per cent sure that I’ll be seeing them play live again, the first chance that I get. I’m seriously hoping José James and band will perform during North Sea Jazz this year.
And as I said before, this guy is not of the J Collum class of easy listening crooner babies. Do not confuse crooning with jazz vocals: different disciplines and José James is of a greater quality.
Go see this guy perform live.

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

General Description
Artist/Band: Donny Hathaway || ||
Album Title: These Songs For You, Live!
Year: 2004

This is why I love music..

How I Got Into This Music
Annoying little man, Hieronymus Fox.. The guy’s right 99% of the time and it would be a serious pain in the ass if it wasn’t for the fact that I always benefit from it.
The man brought along this CD for me to listen to from a singer called Donny Hathaway. The name rang a bell, and after some mental excercise I remembered this track from a Back To Mine compilation by Everything But The Girl called Someday We’ll Be Free. I liked but I thought it was a bit too sweet and soft.
Most of us old-timers know him from his duet with Roberta Flack . That bone-chillingly beautiful Where Is The Love?, remember that?
These Songs For You, Live! is a compilation of live tracks performed during the 70s, the man himself died 1979.

Google Search for reviews of this album || Album details at Artistdirect.com || Answers.com || || ||

Tracks that got my attention:
Flying Easy
Love this recording, the sound system isn’t working right, so the first minute or so the vocals are a bit too soft. No slickness here, boys and girls! And it doesn’t matter cause the man’s vocals bring a spring sunshine to anybody’s dark winter day..

Valdez in the Country
One of his own tracks, love the crispy keyboards on this instrumental track.

Someday We’ll All Be Free
Ohmygod.. The track I thought to be a bit too soft and sweet: this live version just breaks my heart in a gazillion pieces. Fuckmethisisbeautifulnuffsaid..
Listen to this man’s voice.

You Got A Friend
Now we get a coupla covers of Classic tracks. First one, Carole King’s masterpiece. It’s an easy sing-along track, and the crowd eats it all up. But listen to Hathaway’s subtle vocal changes, brilliant!

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
This is the slowest version of this track ever and it’s friggin’ incredible!! His mix of whispery soft and booming gospel vocals, it’s.. Can’t find the words, just go have a listen..

What’s Going On
You gotta have some very large balls to cover a Marvin Gaye classic; and perform it in a way that makes you accept the fact that someone else is singing it. Shit, this is a very close to a perfect alternative version!

Yesterday
I swear when the Beatles heard this version, they must’ve realised that not only did they make one of the greatest songs of all time, but that there’s someone else who can perform the track better than themselves. Think the Beatles went like: Right, we’re done here, nothing left to do, guys. Off to the pub, cause this bastard’s put us to shame.. Who the hell is this guy?!?

Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)
See previous track. I’ve posted it before: this version of Superwoman is one of the most breath-taking things I’ve ever heard.

A Song For You
When the man’s vocals go all gospel on you, it just makes you stop whatever you were doing and pay attention. However the crowd isn’t behaving at its best, mucking about during such a delicate song, but hey, it comes with the territory.

Sack Full Of Dreams
Wow, such slow sweetness. I can not be grumpy when I hear this one.

Little Ghetto Boy
First heard this as a sample on Dr.Dre’s Chronic and he knew what to use from his Elders. Beautiful vocals singing harsh lyrics with an upbeat ending.

I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know
Damn, the opening vocals on this track! Soul & Blues mixed up in one heart-wrenching song.

The Ghetto
The keyboard buildup is nice and mellow, followed by a lovely up-tempo groove. Great crowd participation and again, when Hathaway puts out that voice out there, I get goose bumps.

Interview
An interesting addition to the album: bits and piece from an interview with Hathaway. You get to see what he was doing, thinking and planning. His life plans, what he wants to do musically, it goes in all directions.

Conclusion
I haven’t heard a contemporary performer put so much heart and talent into the music like Donny Hathaway. It’s possible that I wouldn’t like the studio albums as much as this live compilation, who cares?
It’s very regrettable that we don’t have Donny Hathaway in our midst any more, it is a sad thing that we don’t have a performer of his stature in our midst at the moment.
Enough with the praise, I love this album!

Share This

First things first: some cunts over at rotterdamjazz dot com are splogging my posts through Technorati - no way of contacting them yet, but I have my traditional greeting for them: choke on it and drop dead, pretty please with sugar on top..

The Acts
Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra
Meh

Deelder Draait
The pride of Rotterdam, poet and Mayor of the Rotterdam Night Life: mister Jules Deelder! A jazz fanatic and he likes to preach to anyone who wants to listen: jazz is Jazz! - nice!

Africando
Another mix of styles, nice, but not really memorable - not bad

Dave Holland Quintet
Bassist Dave Holland has a great group of musicians to bring us excellent jazz music - sweet!

Hieronymus Fox:
I think I have never heard a guy playing the contra bass as tight as Dave Holland was. Great drummer, great blowers, great vibraphone and berimbau.. everything was so damn good!

Candy Dulfer & Friends
Just the closing fifteen minutes. I’m always amazed by this lady: her albums are mediocre at best, but her performance is something everybody should experience - solid!

Amy Winehouse
Who? The craziest of the craziest people in the music business at the moment, failed to show up and canceled. I guess I was lucky to get a chance to see her perform at Paradiso, because this is the second time the girl’s canceled a show in Holland this year. As I said before: this gal is one of the most incredible entertainers we have at the moment, but the way the anorexic drunk is behaving at the moment, I expect her to do a Hendrix in six to twelve months - Silly Rabbit..

Sly & The Family Stone
The One Everybody Was Waiting For.. Can’t find the words, I’ll probably post a seperate piece later on.. HF gives a great review:

Hieronymus Fox:
..What happened? The band started to play about five or six songs, playing straight ahead funky music. Timeless classics with a couple of the original band members still standing strong, but without.. Sly…
Anyway, at last he came on stage and yes, he looked hunchbacked, wore a strange XXL T-shirt, but was alive and active and when he sad down behing his Fender Rhodes and started to play and sing… aaaahh the old Sly was back! A deep soulful voice, sometimes soft, sometimes crying out loud. Shivers all over!

Sleepwalker
Japanese modern jazz/R&B - nice!

Snoop Dogg
WTF is Snoop Dogg doing at the North Sea Jazz?!? I mean, last year we had that horrible Kanye West, so this was a nice improvement, but still..

Conclusion
Third day was weird, we were dead tired, but we did get to see Sly & The Family Stone!!

Hieronymus Fox’s North Sea Jazz Journals at Last.fm:
Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra
Dave Holland Quintet
Da Sole Selecta’s
Sly & The Family Stone

Pictures at Flickr.com

Share This

First things first: some cunts over at rotterdamjazz dot com are splogging my posts through Technorati - no way of contacting them yet, but I have my traditional greeting for them: choke on it and drop dead, pretty please with sugar on top..

The Acts
Steely Dan
Paid me some extra cash to see these guys and it was worth it!! I was afraid Messrs. Fagen and Beecker would be al uptight and anal about the whole thing but they were relaxed and even funny sometimes. They played a great mix of hits and what really amazed me was how the sound was set up: almost everything was tightly arranged and sweetly balanced. Kudos to the sound people! - excellent show!

A Special Performance from London (Secret)
Funny thing, we were standing close to the entrance to listen to the announcer and when it turned out to be Jamie Collum, we got the hell out of there. We were just in time to see the tsunami of people hearing the news and running to get inside - not my cup of tea, waaaay too safe.

Benny Golson & Johnny Griffin: Remembering Trane
I was expecting mister Ron Carter, but he canceled, so that was too bad. BUT the replacements weren’t some talented hacks, these elder statemen of jazz rocked the stage with Heart and Love putting quite a lot of younger artists to shame - some real jazz, fantastic!

The Cinematic Orchestra
Interesting band, gonna check them out a bit more. The show was okay, dedicated and purposeful musicians - definitely on my to do list

Wicked Jazz Sounds Featuring Phil Horneman & Leroy Rey
Saw/heard DJ Leroy do his stuff in Paradiso a while back and this guy is incredible! His knowledge of rare grooves and oldies is huge, wow.. And he is one hell of a performer, setting up a beat, a mood and directing his audience to a place of pure Fun - people, you must check this guy out!

Hiernoymus Fox:
The gig took place on the roof terras under the beautiful sun. The dj I saw was Leroy and he really blew the crowd away with his mix of jazz and funk! He’s also a great entertainer, which really added something to the whole.

Roy Hargrove
Last year he performed with his RH Factor band, this year it’s back to jazz, solid work by a great group of genius musicians - loved it!

Maceo Parker
When we dropped in the show was already half way, seeing Maceo doing his James Brown style of entertainment is okay, but seeing him without his saxophone is disconcerting - didn’t like it at all.

Hieronymus Fox:
Donald Fagen was singing like in his best days and Walter Becker played very well and added a comic note to the whole now and then. They realy seemed to enjoy themselves and so did the audience!

Lura
Hieronymus Fox suggested we have a look/listen and it was a great suggestion. This lady mixes music from Cape Verde with different styles to create a passionate and warm sound - liked it!

Conclusion
Best of the second day were Steely Dan and DJ Leroy, with Messrs. Golson and Griffin as the icing on the cake.

Hieronymus Fox’s North Sea Jazz Journals at Last.fm:
Steely Dan
Golson & Johnny Griffing: Remembering Trane
The Cinematic Orchestra
Wicked Jazz
Roy Hargrove
Lura

Pictures at Flickr.com

Share This