Jose James @ Bohemian Caverns: Travesty
With all of the talk of jazz needing young listeners, and in particular young African American listeners, it is unconscionable that Jose James—who sang a marvelous set at Bohemian Caverns Thursday night, is not the talk of the jazz world.
James, 29, doesn’t sound like a jazz singer. Oh, his throaty baritone and rapid “vocalese” (lyrical improvisation) is in the same lineage Eddie Jefferson, but his delivery full of is dark and earthy and philosophical inflections that place it more squarely in the realm of neo-soul. That was even the case in James’ cover (with self-written lyrics) of John Coltrane’s probing blues “Equinox”; James’ band (drummer Adam Jackson, electric bassist Chris Smith, and keyboardist Gideon van Gelder) captured the majesty of ‘Trane’s modal modern jazz, but James’ heady but understated declaration “I go to claim what’s rightfully mine” was impossible to limit to jazz. Doubly so, his gentle gospel waltz “The Dreamer”—the title track of his album, dedicated to Martin Luther King—on which he adopted a lighter, higher voice that might have made him the envy of the Quiet Storm movement in the 1980s. He sounded old enough to have done so, too, never once betraying his youth.
But neither of these was the magic moment. In between the two, James called a tune named “Electromagnetic,” which shifted the band’s whole position. Van Gelder switched to Fender Rhodes; Smith initiated a slippery but steady bass line, and Jackson launched into the classic “Funky Drummer” lick. Was this funk, or fusion? No – it was hip-hop. James’ lyric was free-flowing, a percussive ramble that was in essence freestyle rapping with a melody. As it progressed, however, he would stop on a word or syllable and repeat it in an endless staccato—vocal glitch. His right hand even imitated the motion of a deejay scratching a record. It was a brilliantly clever moment for any musical performance (let along jazz), made even better when he repeated it during a medley of the hard bop standards “Moanin’” and “Work Song.”
So why isn’t this guy, with his ingenious ability to find and exploit the common ground between jazz, soul, funk, and hip-hop, jazz’s darling? He could and should be touted as the wave of the future; instead James has given up on the New York jazz scene and relocated to London. (When you can’t get a gig in New York City, you’re in trouble.) It could be he simply doesn’t fit the current jazz-singer template (young, female, pretty, probably white); or, as jazz critic and former CP contributor John Murph put it, “Perhaps [the jazz world] is waiting for him to incorporate James Taylor and Radiohead into his repertoire.” James, the jazz world, and jazz audiences deserve better.
Which is why I won’t delay any longer letting you hear the man, performing the aforementioned Coltrane tune “Equinox.”
11:56 am
Amen Mike. It was an awesome show last night. Jose is coming from a place of heavy, heavy sounds. There’s a lot of love and beauty in that music. A singer studying Coltrane solos? Even putting lyrics to some? This ain’t no Bobby Buble. You’re spot on about the state of the Jazz industry. It’s a crime that this man does not have a U.S. distribution deal. He’s got this modern soul/broken-beat thing and yet is bringing that heavy spiritual vibe ala Coltrane, Pharoah and Leon Thomas. Cheers to Bohemian Caverns for bringing his group to us.
8:59 am
Imagine that, an American jazz musician leaving the country in pursuit of better acceptance and success abroad…some things never change. Thanks for putting up this post – more folks should hear this type of approach to jazz. Esperanza Spalding is hogging all of the spotlight as the “future of jazz.”
1:20 am
I found Jose on the site formerly know as fabchannel.com. I was watching a concert of one of my favorite performers, Eric Roberson. Well, they have little mini commercials that pop up for other concerts being shown on the site. In pops this dude sitting in a chair with dreads sticking up everywhere. I’m hot cause this was the first interruption and I didn’t know they would do these little pop ups during the concert. Honey, when that man’s voice came across my computer speakers, my mouth fell open. I was completely mesmerized by that voice. Oh that voice! I googled him with the quick fast. There wasn’t much of him on youtube yet. So, when they aired his concert on fabchannel.com, I didn’t need to see no more. I was definitely hooked. Honey, this is not a studio singer. That man can actually sing. No excuse me, he can sang. I was sitting there like the barber from “Coming To America” taking about Randy Watson lol. “That boy is good”.
I eagerly awaited the release of “The Dreamer”. I purchased it the day it was released. The album is amazing. This is truly a CD you can listen to from start to finish without skippig tracks.
Now, me and Jose got to know each other through myspace. Let me tell you he is a real cool dude. I would worry him to death about this certain song of his called “Resolution”. He had it on a second myspace page of his called the b-sides. Well, he closed that page and my song was gone. It wasn’t on the net anywhere else. I begged him to put it up again. He put it up and took it down and put it up and took it down lol.
Well, I hated the fact that he was only performing overseas. I could never get to NYC when he was there. I would always make jokes about how lucky everybody else in the world is to get to see him live. I had to settle for youtube. Honey, when he said that he might be getting more US dates, I just about lost it. When he said he was coming to DC, it was over. I was right there in the front row for the 10 o’clock show Honey! I was a little mad that the people for the 8:00 clock show got to stay for the 10:00 show. If I had known that, I would have came earlier..*whew*. I was greeted by a very handsome man in nice suit. I was looking for the signature NY cap lol. He looked at me and smiled and extedned his hand to me (just like in my favorite song Resolution). I almost had a heart attack cause he knew just who I was. He counted off and smiled at me and started singing Resolution. OMG!! This man is an amazing performer. The show just blew me away. I still couldn’t believe that he was right in front of me and not on youtube. Who is running the music industry here in the states and can’t recognize this man’s talent. This man is and incredibly talented artist and an amazing performer. This is something you can’t find in most of the artist in any top 10 list for any music genre. He is definitely the full package and that’s important when I spend my hard earned money lol. I promote his music to anybody that will listen. It’s only a matter of time. I’d rather keep him to myself lol, but the world needs to hear “That Voice”.
I have a video of him performing Resolution available on youtube. Just incase the video doesn’t show up, just search for Jose James @ The Bohemian Caverns.