JAZZ; NUJAZZ; BROKEN BEATS; SOUL; HIP HOP; FUNK; BRASILIAN RUNNINGS
Jazz Culture Online
London's Summer Salsa Event OSCAR D’LEON + his Venezuelan Big Band + DJs: Lubi + Julian Mr M
SAT 12th JULY 2008 8.30pm – late
Box Office 0844 482 8008 www.roundhouse.org.uk
ROUNDHOUSE Chalk Farm Farm Road, London NW1 8EH
Como no! proudly presents the first London show in five years from the great Salsa star aka El Sonero Mayor (‘The Great Improviser’), Oscar D’Leon. Oscar is a great singer, bandleader, composer, arranger and truly dynamic and innovative live performer. Oscar D’Leon is without doubt one of the enduring giants of salsa - and he yields the stage to no one. The huge dancefloor at the Roundhouse gives the salseros the perfect opportunity to swivel their hips so the night also includes 2 of the UK’s top salsa DJs: DJ Lubi, album compiler for the legendary Fania Records of New York; and Julian Mr M, of La Bomba and Latin Krazy fame and London's Latin community’s DJ of choice, who will be making sure the evening is caliente from start to finish.
We live in hope that summer will have arrived before Oscar does but either way tropical heat is forecast for 12th July at the Roundhouse. Last summer Como No presented the mighty Willie Colón and his band in the same venue and almost two and a half thousand Latin music lovers rubbed shoulders, and more, in the hottest salsa night of last year. The Oscar D’Leon event promises to maintain the tradition.
Oscar D'Leon has recorded more than 50 albums, gained many gold discs, and received numerous awards and honours. In November 2007 his last album Fuzionando won the Latin Grammy Awards as best Contemporary Tropical album proving that after more than 30 years Oscar is still on top of his game.
Unlike most of his peers in the Salsa firmament Oscar learned his tradein his homeland of Venezuela - rather than in one of the traditional salsa hot spots like Cuba, New York, Puerto Rico or Colombia and because of this he has made certain that his sound, and appeal, embraces the entire Latin diaspora.
Oscar combines the classic Cuban music of masters such as Beny Moré, La Sonora Matancera, and Orquesta Aragón with the New York salsa of the late 60s and early 70s, particularly Eddie Palmieri and the Fania generation and, if Oscar plays his version of Moré’s “Que Bueno Baila Usted” the Roundhouse will surely levitate.
‘El Leon de la Salsa’ was born in the Caracas' neighbourhood of Etamin where he began to show an interest in percussion instruments and to sing at social events as a young child. He originally made a name for himself as the bassist in Dimension Latina, which went on to become one of the greatest salsa bands of all time whose classics are still played on salsa dancefloors around the world to this day.
Roundhouse
Chalk Farm Road, London
NW1 8EH
Box Office 0844 482 8008 www.roundhouse.org.uk Tickets - £25 in advance – more on the door.
Available from the venue and SEE Tickets, Ticketmaster and Ticketweb
On Wednesday February 13th 2008, two days after having met with funk and jazz trombone legend Fred Wesley JR, I was back in London. This time at Camden Town’s world renowned Jazz Café to sample ‘the Fred Wesley JR Live’ experience for myself.
The crowd had assembled and there was a hum of anticipation as the band members made their way to the platform. They took their places and waited patiently for the main protagonist to come to the fore. It wasn’t long before the funk and jabs maestro appeared at the top of the Jazz Café stairs which lead to the stage. His iconic brass trombone glistening in the neon lights. Fred Wesley JR was ‘in da house!’
Once centre stage, Fred cut a commanding figure, the crowd whooping and whistling in famed Jazz Café style. After acknowledging the audience and giving a head nod in my direction, he raised his instrument and adopted that familiar stance and began with a haunting intro to the opening tune. The aficionados present quickly recognising the strains as the jazz classic ‘Spain’ by Chick Corea, and nodded appreciatively. As the tune evolved we were treated to early evidence of the quality of the group Fred had assembled, with Gary Winters sending down a sublime trumpet solo and Peter Madsen twinkling delicately on piano and doing the absent Mr Corea proud.
The group kept with the jazz theme, Fred’s first passion, by segueing into the tight and rhythmic flow of ‘Sandu’, instantly paying homage to another of his influences, Clifford Brown. The solos were naturally shared between trumpet player Gary winters and Fred himself – Mesmerising! Fred’s own composition, ‘No One’ from his ‘Amalgamation’ album completed the opening jazz triplet and our lesson in jabs phrasing and spacing. Methinks there were a few more converts that evening to this delightful art form.
A powerful horn salvo announced the onset of some serious funk in the guise of JamesBrown’s ‘Soul Power’, followed in quick succession by the Pee Wee Ellis penned ‘Cold Sweat’, which had the Jazz Café massive bouncing and steppin’ on the good foot! 1980/90s soul diva Kym Mazelle took care of lead vocals and didn’t disappoint. That woman got some pipes! Veteran Theodore Arthur on saxophone was blowing like a young’un and the crowd responded audibly to his efforts. The tempo was taken down a notch briefly as we were treated to the laid back ‘In Love In L.A’ from the 1993 set ‘Swing & Be Funky’. A chance for Fred to showcase his breath control with a measured trombone solo. He’s still got it!
From there on in it was pure one hundred percent funk! Raising the temperature with a floor shaking version of the title track from his current album release ‘Funk Fo’ Your Ass’. The remaining group members were now also let off the leash to have their time in the spot light.
Dwayne Dolphin the epitome in stature of a bass man laid down some uniquely funky riff’s, his head swaying back’n’forth lazily and the bass guitar nestling gently on his rotund belly as he dropped a full on phunky-fresh solo. Go on with your bad self! Step forward Joel Johnson on lead guitar and the metronomic Bruce Cox on drums who over the course of the next three stone cold JB classics, ‘Breakin’ Bread’, ‘Pass the Peas’, and ‘Gimme Some Mo’ proved their class and musicianship over and over again.
Throughout all this headiness and delirium, Fred still had the staying power and lung capacity to turn up the heat still further by rousing ‘HIS’ audience to join him in a grand finale, a stirring rendition of the crowd favourite ‘House Party’. Those gathered were on it from the get go, singing along freely to the now infamous first line ‘Bring your own bottle or whatever turns you on!’ And as for the chorus….Is there still a roof on the Jazz Café? In between playing his slide trombone and singing in his inimitable style, Fred would clap along to the grove by slapping the back of one hand into the palm of the other ala BB King. Rolling his head and at times closing his eyes to concentrate on the sweet vibes his group were creating.
And then, all too soon the fun was over, or so it seemed as Mr Wesley sauntered from the stage to raptous applause and chants, which did not subside until our adopted new friend made his way back to the hot spot. He brandished his faithful horn and duly pumped out, in unison with his accomplished cohorts, a pulsating, bring the noise encore of ‘Doing it to Death!
After an hour and a half, the group then retreated from the action, leaving a spent but surprisingly fresh looking Fred Wesley JR seated on the stage signing autographs and albums and accommodating photograph’s with his UK fans for the next forty-five minutes! Legend!
Based on this outing, there is no doubt that The Fred Wesley Group will be touring for many years to come, spreading their infectious blend of funk ‘n’ jazz to the masses world wide. And for the record, on this evidence Fred Wesley JR has categorically made a smooth and much welcomed transition from sideman to front man. Keeping the funk alive! We look forward to his return to these shores real soon!
By Michael ‘The Dood’ Edwards
The Fred Wesley group (on this night) was:
Fred Wesley JR – trombone
Dwayne Dolphin – bass
Joel Johnson - guitar
Peter Madsen – piano
Gary Winters - trumpet
Theodore Arthur JR – saxophone
Bruce Cox - drums
Kym Mazelle – guest vocalist
African Soul Rebels - Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
26 February 2008
For the fourth annual instalment of the acclaimed
African rebels tour, music was this time showcased
from West Africa and in particular from Mali, Nigeria
and Senegal.
Salif Keita is one of the giants and pioneering
figures not only of modern African music, but of world
roots music in general. Through his period at the helm
of the legendary Ambassadeurs Internationaux in
Malian capital Bamako through to the seminal album
'Soro' in 1987, Keita has continued to chart new
territory and in the process work with some of the
finest musicians on the planet including Joe Zawinul,
Carlos Santana and Wayne Shorter to name but a few.
For this evening's concert Keita returned to the
acoustic format so beautifully deployed on the 2001
album 'Moffou'. Resplendent in white hat and striped
shirt recalling a cowboy, albeit a distinctly African
one, Salif Keita entered stage for a solo guitar
version of 'Folon'. Thereafter he was joined by a six
piece band comprising the traditional ngoni, two
guitarists and two percussionists alternating between
calbash, congas and kora.
Keita's voice is so powerful and mesmerising that it
soars over the sensitive accompaniment and the already
captivated audience were entranced by the way in which
proceedings unfolded. We are truly in the presence of
an all-time great. While the voice is rightly praised,
the use of guitar by Keita to create polyrhythmic
riffs of sheer beauty is vastly underrated and used
alongside the other able guitarists to form
introductory theme riffs. Above all it is the
reptition of rhythm and the embellishment of this
seemingly basic sound that creates interwoven sounds
and a feeling of timelessness. Variety is created by
the use at different junctions of harmonica,
percussive breakdowns and talking drum. In a live
setting Keita is truly an artist at the peak of his
form and an album from this particular line up will be
anticipated with great relish.
Tony Allen served an extended and priceless
apprenticeship with Afro-Beat creator and master Fela
Ransome Kuti during the 1970s and it was towards the
end of that tenure that he branched out and recorded
as leader classic albums such as 'No accommodation in
Lagos' that have recently been conveniently repackaged
into a 2CD/3LP set (Vampi Soul). His latest band is a
pared down version of the classic Afro-Beat orchestra
with only one brass instrument, the trumpet and the
absence of saxophones is somewhat surprising.
Nonetheless this six piece band compensated by
incorporating jazzy influences into the music such as
the wah-wah effect of early 1970s Miles Davis work.
The initial sedate pace was misleading for once the
band is in full swing, the repetition of beat becomes
utterly infectous and the audience is immediately
taken on board. This is exemplified on numbers such as
'Don't take my kindness for weakness'. Particularly
impressive is the keyboardist who conjures up 1970s
grooves with the use of spaced vamps. Mid-tempo
grooves predominate with sufficient space for
improvisation. While it is a pity that the brass could
not be beefed up, in its place wah-wah guitar and
trumpet allude to 1970s fusion sounds on a Hugh
Masekela or Eddie Henderson album of that era.
Opening the evening were Senegales rap collective
Awadi. Again a retro 70s feel was in evidence.
However, this tended to be derivative of old skool US
rap and a tad cliched when attempting to convey
political messages. The group worked best when fusing
rap and reggae, and they cleverly segued an extended
opening piece into Bob Marley's 'War'. One hopes they
will veer away from US influences in future to
incorporate aspects of innovative Senegalese music.
The use of kora might just be step in the right
direction. Overall, then, a diverse selection of
sounds, and one that reinforces the strength and depth
of artists from western Africa. Tim Stenhouse
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