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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July 14-16 2006: North Sea Jazz Festival@Rotterdam - some of the acts I wanna go and see:

• Sergio Mendes
• The Neville Brothers
• Tower of Power
• RH Factor feat. Roy Hargrove
• Marcus Miller
• Erykah Badu
• Marcelo D2

Happy Puppy, me.. yes..

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General Description
Artist/Band: Sergio Mendes
Album Title: Timeless
Year: 2006

Absolute Brazil
 
How I Got Into This Music
My old man, it’s all his fault, the important part of my musical education is all his fault, thanks Alte! heheh..
Yep, my dad had some of the original albums of this influential Brazilian artist, Sergio Mendes. I just remember the incredible sounds coming from all different musical directions: latin, Brazilian, jazz, pop. And those lovely vocals.. just making me wish I was on a sunny island in the tropics.. Hold on, that’s where I was when I listened to this stuff, the lovely island of Curaçao ;o)
So, a coupla months back, I was eager to rediscover some of this music. Lucky me, this album just came out..

Album credits at artistdirect.com || Google Search: Lyrics of Timeless

Tracks that got my attention:
Mas Que Nada ft. The Black Eyed Peas
First things first.. I do not like the Black Eyed Peas, period. They’re talented and inventive musicians and performers, but.. it just doesn’t work for me, to the point that I just zap away whenever there’s a video of them on the tele. But.. this is Sergio Mendes, so.. Nobody can screw up Mas Que Nada, not even Will I Am

That Heat ft. Erykah Badu
Saw the video, had to listen to the album. Miss Badu gets way too little airplay on this track.

Berimbau/Consolacao ft. Stevie Wonder
Wow.. It’s been a long time since I heard Stevie Wonder on the harmonica (The Eurythmics’ track ‘There Must Be An Angel’ to be precise).. Sweet..
Also when the beat and the vocals follow up the intro: deeeeeeelicious!! Miss Gracinha Leporace does let you feel that Brazilian groove, and the Mendes piano gets you right between the ribs!

The Frog ft. Q-Tip
The Abstract from A Tribe Called Quest on a groovy track, kinda works, too bad about the other guy.. The keyboards are so laidback.

Let Me ft. Jill Scott
Power vocalist extreme, Jill Scott, doing the nice and sweet stuff, love it!

Surfboard ft. Will I Am
sigh.. Fair’s fair: this track rocks! Again I’m guessing it’s the piano doing the hard work.

Samba De Brenco ft. Marcelo D2
Sweet, soft and lazy with groove-ass lyrics (don’t understand most of it, but it just gels..)

Timeless ft. India Arie
Third songstress on this album, excellent selection of artists! India Arie’s voice so incredibly strong and warm..

Loose Ends ft. Justin Timberlake and Pharoahe Monch
Strong message, lovely song, and that guy Timberlake keeps surprising me: damn, his vocals are fine!

Conclusion
Almost every track that has got Will I Am gets on my nerves, it’s usually the other performers that make those tracks bearable, with special exception for Surfboard coz there it all works perfectly. Let’s be honest here, this guy worked his sweet fanny off to make this album, so credit to him for that
But that sure as hell ain’t enough for me: it’s the excellent performances by Jill Scott, India Arie, Justin Timberlake and last but not least the great man himself: Sergio Mendes. Great album to reintroduce a lot of people to classic Brazilian music. Great album for those sunny days at the beach!
Ooooooh.. He’s gonna be at North Sea Jazz Festival this summer!

3(you know why it’s not a 4..)/5

EDIT 11-JUN-2006: I just keep enjoying this album more and more, almost forgetting BEP are on it. Songs like Berimbau/Consolacao, Timeless and Loose Ends have almost permenantly been in my head for quite some weeks now. So.. I reckon I’ll have to change the points:

Rating: (when it’s good, it’s good..)

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