Sunday Night with Amel Larrieux

Soul singers seem to dig Oakland. Something about the city's vibe resonates with them. Their appreciation is always reciprocated and audiences move rapidly from laidback contemplation to active engagement. Somehow I managed to catch Amel Larrieux and her five piece band last Sunday night in performance at Yoshi's in Oakland. Thus I can share a few notes on a comfort suite...

An electric bass guitar begins warbling, sounding something like an ethereal sitar by the time Amel walks on stage. She hums and launches into a warm acoustic rendition of Morning, the title track of her most focused album. Right out of the gate her voice grabs you as if to say "Pay attention. Get ready for some soul music". She doesn't intend to leave anything on the stage.

Trouble, is done Latin style with, as is typical in her live performances, an impromptu ending in which she starts scatting with abandon. "Louis Armstrong", she later explains, "All those years trying to be like you". She adds, "Lena Horne too". Well she's a singer's singer, it stands to reason that she has impeccable taste.

Giving Something Up is a bassy funk groove overlaid with increasingly abstract vocal stylings as it progresses, the arrangement is a mixture of jazz, soul and hip hop. Then almost improbably she breaks into Amazing Grace - a song that has never been done in this mode, urgent futuristic blues. How, the listener wonders, can a song contains such multitudes, rendered so seamlessly?

All I Got is an effortless follow up, a march reflecting on our condition. The refrain is all about the set upon (when she sings the passing lyric "slapped down a racist fool", those darker than blue in the Oakland audience respond knowingly). It's about standing strong and living without expecting any big bailout or "helping hand" as she sings: "this is all I got" indeed. As she riffs on the economic climate, "we're thoroughly spent... our credit's jacked up", there is complete empathy with the five piece band. They follow her on that the long walk with those worn shoes.

She gives a stately take on Magic and the zingers are fired rapidly: "still paying for your education when you're sixty six". Again the chorus is revelatory: "stress level's high and the morale's low". It's a blues for our time done with minimalist instrumentation. She ends with a turn as a choir director enlisting the audience in three part harmony. This kind of crowd participation is fun: we all need to "tap into that magic" to overcome our subprime present. Indeed that has been the theme of the whole concert, acknowledging what is going on in the world and finding humour to deal with it. Amel is an unpretentious artist, she makes everyone feel at home. It doesn't hurt that she's very easy to look at, the word chic describes her clothes and the long hair is doing all the right things.

A cheer of recognition greets the start of For Real, the ballad being one of the perennial fan favourites. With deft piano playing in the background, she floats into the upper registers displaying her Minnie Riperton credentials. After welcoming a a few bars from a guest soprano in the audience, she takes over. Her vocal control is breathtaking. Game, set and match, I'd say. To top it off she provides three or four different takes of the song - live remixes on stage. I'm always interested in the way singers manage to keep their trademark songs alive; somehow Amel always comes up with new arrangements subscribing to the jazz improvisation aesthetic. The jazz inclination will keep her in good stead with her audience.

We Can Be New is a warm poem, a melodious ballad very beautifully sung and ends with a reggae tinge. It must be the band's trademark to provide full glimpses of her range and musical comfort zone.

She debuts a new song, Have You?, a lover's lament peppered with humourous lyrics "I've mixed denim with whites, have you?". By this stage we are all spellbound. The elements of her appeal are simple: sympathetic piano, the light accents of her backup singer (Amira) and a singer at her peak. Amel is in full effect.

Then I almost died of joy: she sang Gills and Tails - my favourite song, the very definition of virtuosity. The vocal performance is wonderful; what the professionals would call her cry is a thing to behold. It's emotional, it's cerebral, it's quietly devastating. It's everything I like in soul music.

Wild is the Wind from her album of standards, shrewdly titled Lovely Standards, is done as a homage to Nina Simone. It's just her and the piano player; she has got the audience clinging to her every note. As the song starts to wind down she brings in the rest of the band and they add a dance groove - whoa, she can do house music, what can't she do? - the groove then morphs into Dear to me. House music man, just for the heck of it. She took a jazz standard, did it with flair and, just to show how fearless she is, she gives you some house. I give up, I'm joining the street team, Amel.

As if she read my mind, she then covers Prince's Pop Life, it's a party pure and simple - she reminisces about the Purple Rain to Parade Revolution era of His Royal Badness (she notes that she even digs Tambourine! claiming by this revelation membership in that purple secret society) and talks about the rush she got performing Take Me With You with Kamal the Abstract a couple of weeks ago.

She closes with two crowd favourites: Get up, the monster club hit from Bravebird and Tell Me (from her Groove Theory beginnings). We're all dancing and singing along. It's a celebration. There's a community feeling. We'll be holding our head high in the weeks to come, smiling on Manic Mondays and Black Tuesdays, lifted above the fray, fortified by some soul music, a soundtrack to our struggles, "this great Mountain of When". This is her thing, this is what she does best: two ninety minute sets, three nights in a row in an intimate jazz venue. Every show sold out, the audience in the palm of her hand, the soul singer performs. Amel Larrieux has done it again.

File under: music, soul, review, concert, live, jazz, virtuosity, Amel Larrieux, toli

The Toli Music Awards 2004

So the September 30th deadline for Grammy nominations is fast approaching and it's time to review the music class of 2004. We'll exclude Lauryn Hill and the Fugees who couldn't get their act together on time (or maybe their marketing teams decided for a Christmas push); similarly the word is that Omar has just completed his new album and previewed the first track on Giles Peterson's show last week but that will be next year's campaign. Unfortunately too, it looks like D'Angelo's creative block will extend for at least another year as he's fast approaching Michael Jackson like minimalist hermetism (5 years between albums?)

Before I give my liner notes though, a reminder of last year's picks:

• Les Nubians - One Step Forward - Africa meets Jamaica meets France meets Phildalphia
• Roy Hargrove - Hard Groove -a celebration of soul/jazz and funk
• Anthony Hamilton - Coming From Where I'm From - the Bill Withers of southern soul
• Common - Electric Circus - Soulquarian goes Jimi Hendrix
• Dwele - Subject - like butter baby
• Donnie - The Colored Section - essentially Stevie Wonder Jnr
• Orchestra Baobab - Specialist in All styles - le retour du Senegal avec un peu de Cuba
• Parts of the Outkast and Floetry albums and one song from Erykah Badu's Worldwide Undergroud EP.

On to the short list of contestants

As others have noted, the big musical meme this year was "The Return of Prince" (see this piece also), he performed at the Grammys with Beyonce, did the most mind-tingingly explosive guitar solo at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where he was inducted, released the 20th anniversary edition of the Purple Rain movie, toned down the 'difficult' stuff, seemed comfortable in his shell and with married life, not to mention that he had the the best tour (probably also the most lucrative this year) where he played a lot of guitar, emphasizing the pop-rock side of his work instead of the Fender-Rhodes soul, jazz/funk stylings and Jehovah's Witness' zeal of 2001's The Rainbow Children. More importantly he produced the kind of stripped down one-man-band album that he hadn't released in a long while.

Musicology has a bunch of perfectly constructed songs: the title track is prototypical James Brown, Sly Stone and Bootsy Collins, Reflection - unhurried acoustic guitar. What do you want me to do - a little perfect pop song like he used to throw out with ease (see The Ballad of Dorothy Parker, Pop Life or Raspberry Beret). Once D'Angelo's Untitled (How does it feel) reminded everyone of the kind of lush ballads that Prince used to produce, His Royal Badness needed a comeback and "Call My Name" fits the bill. On the Couch - a hilarious blues like "If I had a Harem" that he performed during the Lovesexy tour. And for me, Dear Mr Man is akin to Sign O' The Times, social commentary with a funky beat. A great album if somewhat nostalgic: like he says on the title track:

"Don’t U miss the feeling music gave U /Back in the day?"

I've already gushed at length on Amel Larrieux's live performance. Suffice to say that her album, Bravebird, is similarly artful. A dozen hypnotic and personal songs about family and love. Soul, hip-hop, jazz, folk, classical and even middle-eastern influences infuse this album with such style. The ballads are lush (Beyond), it's very danceable (Brave Bird, Sacred) and head-nod-dable (Congo - ) and the beats are ethereal. If Tricky had a case of Pre-Millenium Tension, then tracks like Giving Something Up and Say You Want it All are a case of Post-Industrial angst for the 21st century. Timbaland, Missy Elliot and the Neptunes can step aside, this is how it's done: spare, naked funk, with some trumpets floating in and out punctuating the point and the voice as an instrument inside, over and under the track. Omar's Best By Far was the last album that got me as excited and that is saying much. The peaks and valleys are in the right place, there's wonderful vocals and it is all grounded in soul and a personal musical vision - these are auteurs. All in all, a very powerful and emotional outing.

The Tipping Point is not a typical Roots album and purists might prefer Things Fall Apart which had a looser feel or Phrenology which was more experimental.

This has to do with the way it was recorded: first, weeks of jam sessions with a whole host of artists they enjoy and respect and then studio recreations of the best bits - a process that might mean something gets lost. Also as a band, they decided to showcase lead MC, Black Thought, who wasnt' getting the kudos he undoubtedly deserved rather than the normal hip-hop band 'feel' they are known for. My own feeling (see my longer review) was that this approach was inspired and a great success.

They've certainly hit a groove. It's like Prince circa 1986-7 when the Miles Davis horns came into his arrangements on the Parade. They've done the kiss-off album (Phrenology as Around the World in a Day) to throw off fairweather fans. They are now going for the vituousic and this works perfectly. Could a Sign O' The Times be in the offing next?

I suspect that this will be the album the critics will latch to and for good reason. It's a strong sophomore return from "Jilly from Philly". The subtitle is "Words and Sounds Volume 2" but there is less overt poetry than in the first album.

I saw her live in early 2000, months before she blew up and crossed-over to the big leagues. The show, at lowly Avalon, was a revelation and personal affair, think Prince at First Avenue as he previewed the tracks from Purple Rain in early 1984 just before the hysteria broke out. It was basically grungy college students and a lucky few who had heard the word. Six months later, the venue had changed, she sold out the Fleetcenter Pavillion. The black bourgeoisie was out in full effect to support their girl and this was a capitalized Event. She'd also crossed over and so Boston's finest were on display. Soccer moms felt comfortable dropping Jenny and Biff off to listen to our Jill. It was a celebration but less personal.

She still strives to maintain that unassuming girl-next-door feel but I suspect she can't quite resist the larger-than-life Diva pose when she takes charge of audiences these days. Who can blame her if both audience and record company canonize you as "The Real Deal (tm)".

About the music. First, the remixers are going to have a field day. This is the soul equivalent of Jay-Z's Black Album: there's something for everyone and you can take it in any direction. She is a very stylized vocalist, striving to make each song feel different and unlike much of the cookie-cutter "R&B" you hear on the radio. For example, on last year's collaboration with Common on I am Music and Heaven Somewhere she was sounding like Portishead's Beth Gibbons while the other divas (e.g. Mary J. Blige) were standard soul.

She keeps the same production team, A Touch of Jazz and James Poyser, who lay down great backing tracks for her to play with. She's now married and very happy with that; it shows in the writing and the confident, celebratory feel of the album. Also note that she's still obsessed with food; I guess an album without a mention of grits would be out of the question

The standouts: I'm Not Afraid - a female manifesto with some vicous beats. Bedda at Home will destroy any dancefloor and make homeboy exclaim: "That's what I'm talking about!!" as he jiggles his butt. Family Reunion - perfectly captures the late summer barbecue feel and would have been this summer's jam if she'd gotten the album out earlier. This is bravura songwriting and a great performance.

Van Hunt has given us such a lovely soul album. It reminds me of Bobby Womack, Al Green and Curtis Mayfield with a twist of Sly Stone. I guess amongst his contemporaries you'd have to put him alongside Dwele, Donnie, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Lenny Kravitz, Maxwell, and Rashaan Patterson. I mention all of these names to give an idea of the caliber of the man. Supremely confident, Van Hunt writes and produces himself ala Tony Rich Project. He's Down Here in Hell (With You) is a beautiful, beautiful song; you feel you've grown up with this song. Similarly with Her December or Anything (to get your attention) which are genius. The craft in the song-writing and arrangements is evident as in the lazy and plaintive blues stroll of Seconds of Pleasure or Who will Love me in Winter. The voice sometimes tends to the falsetto. There's also a rock tinge that keeps you on your toes: this isn't your garden variety R&B, this is soul music, grown-folks music, the stuff that you listen to late nights in Q's Jook Joint with your honey and some good friends, the soundtrack of laughs, friendship and love. He's the real deal, I definitely want to see him live.

I'll always throw in some UK soul into the mix. This is an album that will hit the States next year and will sell lots even if the record company is incompetent. Tell others that I hipped you to this before everyone got into it. The blurb:

The result of a five year search by former Fine Young Cannibals songwriter David Steele to find the perfect singer, Fried combines Steele's undeniable talents with that of 23-year old New Orleans gospel singer Jonte Short.

People will compare Jonte's voice to Macy Gray if only because it's so different from the norm. But it's nothing like Macy or Aretha Franklin or anyone else that you've heard. It's angular and it's salty and I love it. The arrangements are great, it's like a great Al Green or Sam Cooke album that your mum would be singing in the shower, or when she came home and took her shoes off. A musical massage ala Leon Ware.

Like Sade, the first lady of soul is back and it's an event. In the same way that I'll kill for a good Alexander O'Neal or Cherelle album, I run to my record store (actually its the Amazon.com One-Click thing) and buy an Anita Baker joint sight unseen (hearing unheard?). A decade since her last release, she comes back with ten new classics. Thankfully this is not your easy listening or smooth jazz deal, this is a real Anita Baker soul album. 'Nuff said: it's great, go buy it.

In the tradition of Fela, this New York/Nigeria Afro-beat collective bring acerbic social and political commentary (on Bush, Ashcroft, Imperialism) laced with funk, salsa and the infectious African groove. Sharp percussion and horns blend into something that grows on you immediately. 70 minutes of fun, of humour, of dance music. There are shifting beats and shifting tempos like those old highlife albums from the 50s. Musical inventiveness pervades the piece; you won't be able to sit down. About the only thing flaw is the lack of some female voices in the call and response. James Brown may have had Bobby Bland singing Git on Up, but he also knew that you needed some Memphis Soul babes in the background. Fela, Femi Kuti, not to mention Koffi Olomide tour with with electic female dancers and backing singers. It's not just eye candy or showmanship; it informs the tenor of the performance. Where are your girlfriends, fellas?

Kanye West is clearly deserving of producer of the year since he's had essentially a song in the top 10 all year writing for Twista, Dilated Peoples, Slum Village amongst others). I enjoy his sensibility and the musicial direction on the album a lot. The beats are original, the samples are well chosen, it's hip-hop grounded in gospel and the great soul singers of yore. I like the fact that a backpacker can make it to public acclaim, wearing formal jackets and as opposed to track suits or baggy pants. I like especially that a hip-hop artist (or any artist) can get get away with a Number 1 hit overtly about religion (Jesus Walks) with marching bands.

The only thing is that he just doesn't have the flow or the voice; Black Thought would massacre him in a battle. And even though he's very intelligent, I'm not one for this fake anti-intellectual pose: college dropout? Come on... Nevertheless, this album has sold a ton and has brought him much acclaim. He deserves it; it's exciting that something this focused can break out.

Having obviously seen what the Philly connection did last year for Les Nubians with whom she toured, Zap Mama go wholeheartedly for the Philadelphia production and the result is great. Collaborating with Erykah Badu, Common, Talib Kweli, Bahamadia and QuestLove of The Roots, this is essentially a Soulquarian joint, rooted in Philly. What's not to like, my favourite collective come through again. The track with Scratch (ex Roots), Wadidyusay? is acappella heaven: Congo pygmy music meets hip-hop beatbox mastery. There's less of Africa here than in the past and as in Les Nubian's masterpiece but it's a wonderful album set for much repeated listening.

Another solid, if commercial, album from Miss Mahogany Soul, much loved by all the big girls out there (if Jill Scott goes on about food, Angie is concerned with body image). I say commercial because she brings on Snoop Dogg as a guest. Still she's one of the hardest-working female vocalists. It's a long album There's very little filler but at the same time there isn't much experimentation. On the other hand, there are at least 10 songs that are club classics and dance floor bangers. And of course any album featuring Antony Hamilton and Betty Wright is all right by me. Not to damn her with faint praise though, I sometimes wish that she'd occasionally let someone else do the production and/or writing, Jam and Lewis perhaps.

Two complaints tangential to the album itself: the acoustics were horrible during her concert in Boston, in fact her opening act, Lyfe, had better acoustics which says something about her road crew and sound engineers. Second, what is it with record companies trying to copy-protect CDs especially of soul singers? First the Anthony Hamilton album and now Angie Stone. These artists need the bucks and copy protection will turn buyers away and annoy them. Anyway remember to press the shift key when you insert the cd into your computer. Just on principle, I ripped it and am sharing to the world.

What can you say about Bjork who goes acapella on this round. No instruments, just layers of voices as percussion, harmony or with some jarring squeals. Like Zap Mama too, she enlists a Philadelphia and ex-Roots Beat-box guru, Rahzel, the so-called "Godfather of Noise". Well Bjork is her own self and there is no one quite like her in pop music. Nod your head to this Icelandic ear candy.

Le funk. Gritty funk. Sweaty funk. Nasty funk. Hard funk.
I Funk. You Funk. He Funks. We Funk.
Conjugate the verb to funk please.
George Clinton would definitely tweak to this.

Give it up for Jigga for Izzo, for Hova... His last album? A retirement party for the man at the top of the game? Say it ain't so. Remixed so many times that you need Google to keep track of things (see DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Album - Jay-Z meets The Beatles White album - or The Purple Album - Jay-Z meets Prince). This was bumping in jeeps and clubs everywhere, even in your cousin's dodgy Honda Civic. Get the Dirt of your Shoulder, ignore your 99 Problems, Change Clothes if you like. What More Can I Say.

Honorable Mentions

Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner

A hungry MC from London, voracious on the microphone. Place a Cockney accent over garage and drum and bass breaks and a street sensibility emerges. "Fix up, Look Sharp" was infectious.

The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free

His conversational style takes some getting used to but is a winner.

Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions.

Strictly speaking this came out last year but I only dug it recently. She does have the voice, now if they'll let her do more of her own songs. I understand a new album is in the can and hope that her promise comes through. There's so much goodwill for her plus she's a marketeer's dream: white, English voice with a voice like Marlena Shaw.

And so on to The 2004 Koranteng's Toli Music awards

Album of the year
Winner: The Roots - The Tipping Point

This would be a three-way tie by all accounts:
Prince simply because he had the best show and a decent Prince album in any year would be at the top;
Amel Larrieux because she got me excited about the possibilities of music and her album is superb;
The Roots because the five song sequence of Star, Guns are Drawn, Stay Cool, Web and Boom has to be the strongest of the year. Rendered live they took no prisoners not to mention the outtakes, Din Da daa and Melting Pot which are club gems.

Since I have to give the award, The Roots have it.

Soul album of the year
Winner: Amel Larrieux - Brave Bird

I love you Jill Scott but Amel's sophomore outing is the greater work. Be consoled that both you and Angie Stone will sell 2 million more albums than Amel...

Producer of the year
Winner: Kanye West

Well Kanye West had more hits than even the Neptunes so he gets the nod. Anyone who brings back Chaka Khan breaks and was collaborating with Rick James knows what he's doing.

Best New Artist
Tie: Fried and Van Hunt

I can't decide this one so it has to be a tie between the two self-titled debuts: Fried and Van Hunt. Perhaps, I should split this up by geography: in the United States, let's have Van Hunt, outside it should be Fried. Best Live Performance
Winner: Prince Say no more... Even the Fleetcenter's passable acoustics couldn't deny the strength of Prince's show and the tightness of his band, The New Power Generation (Maceo Parker on saxophone, Greg Boyer on trombone, and the ever-sexy Rhonda Smith on bass and Candy Dulfer, you know "When I want sax, I call Candy", that Candy, not to mention the monstrous John Blackwell on drums, Renata with the jazz stylings on keyboards and Reverend Mike Scott sharing rhythm guitar duties). This was partying like it was 1999. Amel Larrieux lurks of course...

Other good shows: Femi Kuti (when's the next album coming?), Orchestra Baobab - a great party, Kekele (laidback Congolese Rumba) and Gladys Knight (with one Pip).

So there we have it: a comeback, some breakthroughs and lots of musical excitement to keep me spending my hard-earned Lotus cedis. Not a bad year in artistic achievement. Erykah Badu and D'Angelo what's your response?

[Crossposted at blogcritics.org]

File under: music, soul, funk, hip-hop, pop, afrobeat, Jill Scott, The Roots, Prince, Bjork, Amel%20Larrieux, , Van Hunt, Fried, Anita Baker, Antibalas, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Amp Fiddler, Zap Mama, Angie Stone, Les Nubians, Dwele, Roy Hargrove, Orchestra Baobab, Donnie, virtuosity, toli

Amel Larrieux Breaking Through

All roads to good music seem to run through Philadelphia these days. This summer has seen The Roots give us The Tipping Point - virtuosic performances and the strongest album of the year (all genres), Jill Scott just dropped Beautifully Human - I'm taking a little time to fully digest that one but from my first few listens it feels like a blanket of Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Al Green before he became a Reverend. Of late too, Bilal's album from a couple of years ago has been making a strong comeback into the playlist.

Last year's best albums, Les Nubians' One Step Forward and Roy Hargrove's The RH Factor were both soaked in Phillydom. Strictly speaking Amel Larrieux is a New Yorker but I'll argue that she does have a strong Philly connection and, in any case, her sensibility is at one with all the aforementioned artists with whom she has collaborated and toured with.

Last Thursday, Amel gave what Art Blakey used to call a "cooking session" at the Regattabar - the kind that gets your juices flowing or, to mix my metaphors, a shot across the bow, as it were. I had to travel the next day so couldn't get a repeat performance, but "The Girlfriend" reports that Friday's show was indeed all that I knew it would be and even more as word of mouth had done its duty.

It isn't often that you want to fork out your own money for two concerts in a row from the same artist. That is the measure of an inspired act, or put another way, of a cult artist, of a musician's musician like Prince. Amel Larrieux is someone who makes you want to join the street team and start handing out leaflets and posters to anyone you meet. That, I think, is a tribute to the kind of scary talent she displayed and the devastating empathy of her rhythm section.

Her first public outing in the mid-nineties was with Mantronix's Bryce Wilson on Groove Theory, a cool collaboration borne of a superb demo and the ensuing serendipity. There was a summer where "Tell Me" was played in all the clubs and house parties I attended (similarly to the way Zhane's Hey Mr DJ took off). I suspect that she got a little frustrated with the sandbox that record companies were trying to place her in and truth be told, Bryce tended towards the metronomic. Amel's vision is much wider and she's one who wants full control of the direction of her art; she has to write her own songs, do her own arrangments and put her personal stamp on the whole package.

Infinite Possibilities (2000) was her solo debut, a soulful and low-key album (think Sade meets Bjork) that probably got lost in the mix for more earthy and commercial R&B of the time. Again that's the problem: she isn't just R&B, she's more like soul by way of jazz, folk, rock and classical music. Her musical influences are diverse and her material resists easy categorization. "Get Up" was the big club hit but it was the more personal songs I kept returning to like Sweet Misery and especially the title track. I think Infinite Possiblilities sold a fair amount but nothing near what Mary J Blige, India Arie or Macy Gray sold, and she is far more talented than any of those singers. For that reason, Sony seemed to want to cut their losses. Another example of how record companies don't actually serve the artists they claim to represent and serve.

Last year she changed her record label and the label, Bliss Life, is doing a smart thing in promoting the new album, Bravebird. They recognize that she's an outsized talent who needs nurturing and they are making sure that she gets the grooming by going out on tour. That's why she's playing in the small jazz club scene. The folks who normally come out in support of artists like Cassandra Wilson will immediately see the point and start spreading the word from the grassroots. Some might see it as a shame that she isn't filling arenas, but I see it differently: the hits will undoubtedly come, spending the time to garner the "live" reputation will mean serious dollars long after Britney Spears is forgotten. Again think of Maze who never had a number one in the pop charts but will fill out the biggest theatres in DC for weeks on end.

On to the show... It was a small and intimate audience and felt like a jam session with friends and family. It was also one of the most exciting concerts I've attended all year (second only to Prince, but then who can top Prince?). The band came out and locked into a groove immediately, playing a few of her first hits. Simple arrangements: funky hip-hop drum, some Bill Evans stylings on the grand piano and a Stanley Clarke bass. After 15 or so minutes she sidled up quietly, hit the first note and never looked back. Her new songs are hypnotic and ethereal (made me regret not having snapped it up when it came out) and she re-imagined the songs from her first two albums. The live renderings give a full picture of Amel Larrieux's varied world.

Her voice is not an earthy voice, it's slight and higher-pitched, perhaps reaching towards the Minnie Riperton range. It's finely controlled and she has great technique; she wouldn't be out of place in a Jazz Academy. But the music is soul, she's just a soul singer. Her vocal approach reminds me of Abbey Lincoln, Rachelle Ferrelle when she lets her hair down, Betty Carter, and even Sarah Vaughn - yes I mean it. She swoops, scats and takes you on excursions. The song, as you remember it from the album, is only a prelude to an extended jam that deconstructs the beat ala Sun Ra. She jokingly recalled that a critic had called her "The Queen of Long Endings" but she revelled in it. And I appreciated it, I went along with her. That's what a live show should be like: we don't want the studio vinyl or just the radio-friendly jam.

And the band. What a band. Three guys who listen closely to her and each other: the essence of a jazz, hip-hop, funk, soulful, classical, basically-nasty rhythm section. Think The Roots meet the Ahmad Jamal Trio by way of Earth Wind and Fire and Debussy. They are just in a zone right now; no fat, no preservatives and just great empathy bringing out the best in her.

On the basis of last night, even Jill Scott, Angie Stone and Erykah Badu aren't quite cutting it. And as for the Alicia Keys or India Aries out there, well they're not even on the same planet as Amel Larrieux. Buy her album tomorrow or, better yet, run to see her live, she's that good.

[A year later]

Sunday Night with Amel Larrieux

File under: music, soul, jazz, concert, live, review, cool, fun, appreciation, enthusiasm, Philadelphia, New York, Amel Larrieux, Philly, The Roots, virtuosity, toli