Canadian artists’ K-OS and Drake, along with N.E.R.D. performed at Syracuse University’s Block Party Concert on Friday. Francis and the Lights opened. The sold-out show brought over 10, 000 people to the Carrier Dome.
Fans, Block Party
K-OS
P Williams, N.E.R.D
Fans, Block Party
Drake
Erika Lovette, singerFans, fellow artists, friends and family packed Sophistications Cafe in downtown Syracuse last night for singer Erika Lovette’s album release party. Her album is titled Love, Life and Everything In Between.
You can see Lovette performing one of the songs from her album at a previous Art & Soul Cafe here.
During last night’s gathering, she described the genesis for songs and various collaborations. She also mentioned that one of the songs was produced by Leonard Stephens, Jr. (who passed away last year).
Young Cats
Props to the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet (pictured are members Nick Frenay and Chad Leftkowitz Brown) the young cats who served as the defacto house band for the Northeast Jazz & Wine Fest late night jam sessions at Jazz Central over the weekend.
DJ Tobotius
I wrote about the mult-talents of DJs in a previous post. I recently saw DJ Tobotius (pictured above) with the band and guitarist Freekbass. Tobotius is a sound engineer for Bootsy and producer as well.
Maceo Parker
Music from the saxophone can be described as hard, harsh, munificent, ethereal, soft, muted, brash or clean. But Maceo Parker asks, “whatchu know about funk?”
Parker played a three-hour set Monday night at the Westcott Theater that was a musical mind trip. The show featured tributes to New Orleans jazz, the folk soul of Ray Charles, rapid-fire GoGo of Chuck Brown and even a funky introduction to Shakespeare’s Hamlet (“To Be or Not to Be”)
Parker’s superior musicianship and ebullient stage presence are obviously the keys to his longevity. In his hands, the future of funk is secure.
Some things you have to see to believe; some things you must feel before you can hear.
This was the case last night when I attended a concert by Soulive for the first time last night, held at the Westcott Theater. I over heard someone in the crowd say, “if you’re going to be here, you better be upfront.” Sounded like good advice. Especially since I wanted to get a good shot and only had a wide-angle lens. But I may have been too close. At one point Alan Evans (pictured above), hit the kick drum so hard I thought my head would blow off. Just like that I was “baptized,” as one fan told me.
Alan Evans, along with his brother Neal, bass organist, make up the funky heart and soul of the band. On stage they were joined by guitarist Eric Krasno and later by guest saxophonist Sam Kininger. I’d covered Kininger during a previous music fest.
To say I was impressed with Soulive would be an understatement. I found their live performance and musicianship as good as any band I’ve seen lately. And their energy was like Red Bull mixed with Amp.
The Syracuse crowd gave new meaning to the word fanatics, but on the other hand, I found a lot of musicians in the audience.
Made for a sweaty, yet sophisticated party.
The opening act was the Ithaca band Thousands of One, which featured our friend Will Sapp on background vocals. Glad to see he and his band were in such good company.
The beat goes on.
Thanks to the leadership of Joy Community Church in Rochester, NY for their decision to host the Gospel Hip Hop Festival last weekend. We finally got a chance to see Renewed Disciples and they were certainly a crowd favorite. In addition to the music, the festival stayed true to the spirit of the movement by including dance and graffiti art as well. We were particular impressed with the artists Sno and Oz, who were given an old van to serve as their canvas.
Thanks also to cousin Marcus, who told us about this event.
September is Gospel Music Month. In my many car trips this summer my children memorized a song by the group Renewed Disciples (from New Jersey) called “What Would Jesus Do.” RD will perform in Rochester later this week and in Buffalo later in the fall. The groups contemporary style shows that Hip Hop has just as much influence on Gospel as it does R&B for the younger generation.
I’d heard of soul, I’d heard of bluegrass, but I’d known very little about “soulgrass” until I experienced a Bill Evans show featuring Christian Howes (fiddle) and Ryan Cavanaugh (banjo) at this year’s Syracuse Jazz Fest.
Six Chasing Seven
I had the opportunity to work with the band Six Chasing Seven again a few weeks ago. They were finishing up a tour of New York and were off soon to California.