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:

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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
Robin McKelle
First act of the first day: great voice doing the the jazz standards of the 30s thru 50s - moved on after four songs - nice performance.

Rob van de Wouw
Talented Dutch trumpet player, conservatory level, and this show is part of his more relaxed jazzy work. Liked it, nice vibe, great quality - not bad at all.

The Roots
Aha!! Check out my review of the gig I saw them do in Paradiso earlier this last year. Same setup but with one great addition: a tuba player! Roots are still the best band in the world, don’t matter if you like their stuff or not, your ears will tell you that I’m right - great show!

Hiernoymus Fox:
In my humble opinion The Roots are one of the best live bands in the world, period.

Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood
Well.. They performed in this great big tent and when we arrived the place was fully packed. So we stood by the side listening to the stuff, solid improvisational musicians, but not my thing - nice, that’s it..

Al Green
Every time the man started talking to the crowd I was aching for him to just shut up and do his Thing. And when he did do his Thing, man.. Goose bumps all over! Al Green is a Gift to music - great and unforgettable experience!

Hieronymus Fox:
Al Green is one of the last soul legends, nuff said. If you can see this man performing live for the first, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity feeling.
His performance was stunning. His voice is still in good quality and he’s a charismatic, born entertainer. Off course, he’s also a priest, so you get a mix from all of this and it felt good, good, good!

Ojos de Brujo
An interesting combination of a gazillion different styles of music, but mainly a combo of hip-hop and flamenco, Indian percussion and scratching - weird stuff, entertaining.

Conclusion
Great first day, the mix of Al Green and Roots had me floating back home (well, not really, my legs were dead, it’s my age, I guess, heheh..)

Hieronymus Fox’s North Sea Jazz Journals at Last.fm:
Robin McKelle
Rob van de Wouw
Al Green
The Roots
Ojos de Brujo

Pictures at Flickr.com

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General Info
Artist: The Roots
Location: Paradiso, Amsterdam
When: 22 November 2006

Who?
Well, read about the band here. And Search Youtube for some Roots Live

frenchy!
Not a band I really enjoy listening to.. Wait, what?!? Yep, I’ll explain: their CD’s don’t work for me; I know they’re an excellent band of incredible musicians, but.. The albums never attracted my attention. I did know that I’d kill someone’s granny’s kitten to see them live, though..

Hieronymus Fox
Well…this was D-DAY! To the Roots @Paradiso with my man Frenchy!
I have been a real Roots follower as from the early nineties. Especially their live album was really really top of the bill, so I was very very curious about this gig. Compared with their live album some members have left the group and their sound has changed slightly. You might say they have more identity now and The Roots have become a band. Off course ?uestlove and Blackthought are the soul of the band, but the sound is more consistent than some years ago.
Personally I think their latest album is the best they have done in some years.

The Show
frenchy!
What can I say? These guys are unbelievable! The opening: just rapper and drummer grabbing the crowd by the Unmentionables from the first second. Blackthought is a trained vocal talent. The set was great with plenty enough room for every band member to give us a solo (the bass was my fave). ?uestlove in his classic Dutch soccer team track suit ruled stage in a easy-going but strict manner. I was really amazed by the tight, very tight performance: these guys went from one song to the next without taking a breather and it all sounded so smooth, wow..
The encore was also wicked: anybody doing Jackson’s Smooth Criminal that way gets mucho bonus points.

Hieronymus Fox
The concert started off in a fierce tempo and volume. I was like a train going and going without delay. Funny thing… most of the songs were from the new album. What an energy, what a band! Unfortunately the sound was really too loud, so you could only hear parts of what he was rapping ’bout and the ears really where blown away by the noise and bass… A highlight was the percussion duet between ?uestlove and the percussion player…
The second part of the concert was even better! A long (a little too long…) version of You Got Me with surprising vocals of the guitar player who was making a George Benson meets Hendryx happening of it. After that the audience was blown away with fragments of classics like Rapper’s Delight, some real hip hop standards and…. I need Love form LL Cool J. But also Michael Jackson (Smooth Criminal) and Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback! Wow….
These guys were unbelievable.. I have been @Paradiso before but this was special…
Everybody went crazy.. the Roof was on fire!

Conclusion
frenchy!
I like the way I set out to go to this concert: almost no references or impressions, only the absolute belief that I’d be in for a treat.
And I was right, oh boy, was I right!
This band takes rap to the mature level of musical craftmanship and I’ll be checking out their tour dates for a second Roots experience!

Hieronymus Fox
I have heard that earlier concerts have even been better. So what!… guaranteed quality! CU next year guys! And eeeh… Mr. Paradiso? Would you please please please be so kind to lower the volume a little next time? Thanks from my ears!

Rating:

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Yep, today’s the day: this evening I’ll be in Amsterdam at Paradiso to enjoy The Roots performing live!
Life can be quite nice, you know?

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