Jose James played to a sold-out and, mostly adoring, audience at Band on the Wall on Saturday. James\u2019 rich, slightly nasel baritone is similar to Jamie Cullum\u2019s, and they operate in similar ways, with covers and originals performed with real dexterity and verve. James covers featured a terrific sequence of Bill Withers\u2019 songs, \u2018Ain\u2019t no sunshine\u2019, \u2018Who is that man?\u2019 and \u2018Grandmother\u2019s hands\u2019. This latter was particularly moving, with its \u2018What you doing, JJ?\u2019 in the middle. And where \u2018Ain\u2019t no sunshine\u2019 is more a clich\u00e9 than it is a standard, James\u2019 approached the song with both reverence and a sense that he was subtly making it his own. That was followed by a rather indulgent version of Marvin Gaye\u2019s \u2018Mercy, mercy, me\u2019. James slowed this right down which allowed space for his band to explore the chords, but both James\u2019 delivery and the rather extended solos stretched, I suspect, the patience of many in his audience. <\/p>\n
James band were mostly very fine and the pianist Kris Bowers is a wonderful musician in his own write. When James went into \u2018Afro-Blue\u2019 from Robert Glasper\u2019s Black Radio album, Bowers showed that, if not yet in the Glasper class, then he is certainly a name to watch. The rhythm section of British drummer, Richard Spaven and bass player, Solomon Dorsey, really drove and had the audience swaying and moving all evening. Trumpeter, Takuya Kuroda, also provided lyrical interludes. <\/p>\n
James also played songs from his new album, No beginning, no end; including a direct and driving \u2018Sword and Gun\u2019. James\u2019 strengths as a songwriter are more with the ballad and the lyrical, and from the new album he sang a number of his finely crafted, rather sparse songs, including \u2018All over your Body\u2019, and \u2018Bird of Space\u2019, which he attributed to a day spent with Leon Ware, who was so wonderful at BotW in February. He finished the evening with the equally cool \u2018Do You Feel?\u2019. <\/p>\n
Mention should be made of the supporting band, JD73 Electrio. They comprise: Dan Goldman on Rhodes and synths, the truly excellent Kenny Higgins on bass and Gordon Kilroy on drums. They too got the audience moving with an assortment of their own pieces and others from such as Bob James. If this latter name does not exactly set the pulses racing, JD73 were far racier and hotter than the \u2018smooth jazz\u2019 label implies. <\/p>\n
Ian Pople <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Ian Pople<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n