Mike West is out this week; here’s some jazz!

Read More “Jazz Set List Nov. 12-18: Elikeh Afropop, Stefon Harris, Joe Sample, and More” »

Friday

• An Evening w/ King Sunny Ade & his African Beats. 9:30 club. $25. All ages.
• The Paulverizers, Idle Americans. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Oleta Adams. Birchmere. $39.50.
• Novalima, Pistolera. Black Cat. $18/$22. All ages.
• Lovvers, Small Doses, Cigarbox Planetarium. Comet Ping Pong. All ages.
• John Legend, India.Arie. Merriweather Post Pavilion. $36–$109.
• Hello Society, Marbin, Lucky Dub. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.
• Stellastarr, Wild Light, The Postmarks. Rock and Roll Hotel. $12/$14. All ages.
• BLDGS, Screen Vinyl Image, Cobalt & the Hired Guns, The Water. Velvet Lounge. $8. +21.
• Danny Harris (Fatback DC): Mashed Potatoes. Cafe Saint Ex.
• Eastern Music Festival Piano Program. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free.
• Friday Nights Out Back w/ Chopteeth. Strathmore. $10.
• Aural Tapestry: An Evening w/ All Our Noise, feat. Seas, Typefighter, John & Paul Thornley (of US Royalty). Fort Fringe. $10. See Fringe & Purge for WCP’s take on the best and worst of CapFringe thus far.

Read More “Weekend Music Round-Up” »

I headed to Chesapeake Beach last weekend equipped with the essentials: sunscreen, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and Chopteeth’s self-titled debut. Sunscreen was unnecessary (the day, though steamy, was overcast), the pillars a bit heavy (WWI Turkish politics ≠ beach reading). But man, the Chopteeth was right on the money. Whether funky-murky (”Dog Days”), feel-good-shimmery (”Upendo”), rappy (”No Condition Is Permanent,” feat. Head-Roc), or pseudo-political (”Struggle”), the disc’s ten tracks never fail to deliver blood-pumping, Afrofunking goodness.

And how ’bout onstage? From our last write-up:

Chopteeth is a fearsome live act, especially when Anna Mwalagho steps up to the mic to add a gradual, shimmering Swahili lyric to “Upendo.” Maybe the band’s decided that there’s no percentage in edge (it bleeps guest MC Head-Roc, who lends a verse to “No Condition Is Permanent”), but it’s hard not to get swept up in its urgent beat. And if you still need more grit in your groove, Justine Miller’s snarling trumpet pits Maynard Ferguson acrobatics with the deep syncopation of Fela’s great bands.

Catch ‘em this Friday at the Strathmore; deets below the jump.

Read More “This Friday: Chopteeth at the Strathmore” »

Friday

• The Dance Party, Ra Ra Rasputin, Tigercity, Casper Bangs. 9:30 club. $15. All ages.
• Deja Blue, Clarence “Bluesman” Turner. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Handsome Furs, Dri, The Cinnamon Band. Black Cat. $12. All ages.
• Lynne Fiddmont. Blues Alley. $25.
• Atheist, The Faceless, Psyopus, The Agonist, Gnostic, Condemn the Infected, A Bloodbath in Boston. Jaxx. $20/$23.
• Alex Brown Quartet (Fri. & Sat. show). Twins Jazz. $15.
• Sunsets with a Soundtrack: The U.S. Army Concert Band. West Steps U.S. Capitol. Free.
• Video Games Live! Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $20–$48.
• Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free.
• Chopteeth, DJ Thick. Rock and Roll Hotel. $15. All ages.
• Chance Gardner, Molehill, Gist. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.

Read More “Weekend Music Round-Up” »

Remember Chopteeth? BPB reviewed ‘em back in October during the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. They cook. They dance. The Korgans are fat. The horn section is beastly. And the protest (”Struggle”) generally takes a backseat to the party (”Upendo”).

Their LP is called “Afrofunk Big Band.” It’s great. And without giving too much away, I can say that it’s a prime candidate for the 2008 iteration of our Year-in-Review Top 10 List. What’s not surprising about the disc is the quality of the playing—they’re aces, and we’ve know that for a while. But we didn’t know they had the composition to match the chops. (Much of the credit goes to guitarist/singer/principal songwriter/recording engineer Michael Shereikis, though Anna Mwalagho contributes some songwriting alonside her exultant vocals.)

So remember, folks: weigh your blessings. And check out the clips below.

“Struggle”:

“Upendo”:

“Fogo Fogo” (the lone Fela joint and the album’s only cover):

The fifth track, “Dog Days,” is available for free download on the Chopteeth website.

As promised, some stills and vids from Friday night:

La Timbistica:

Chopteeth:

Fertile Ground:

…and the Chopteeth videos…

“Struggle“:

Nice horn bit:

Trouble viewing? Check out the YouTube versions here and here.

Review below; videos and photos forthcoming.

“The future of la musica is assured,” a beaming Jim Byers informed the 9:30 club on Friday night.

Byers, the host of WPFW’s “Latin Flavor,” spoke after a stellar performance by La Timbistica, a high-flying salsa outfit also known as the Berklee College of Music Latin Jazz All-Stars. The group alternates between five-piece Latin jazz unit and full-on Salsa band. In both formats, they are astonishing. Juan Maldonado deserves special mention for his efforts on the six-string bass, as does Kalani Trinidad for his searing flute (how often do you hear those two words together?) and fine voice, both of which cut admirably through the bright wall of the high brass. Throughout, the band exemplified a classical precision infused with lively improvisation—most notably by Alex Brown, whose eclectic work on the keyboard kept the band from retreating, anonymous, into a genre that too often overshadows its practitioners.

This was good, jazzy salsa, in other words…and consistently up-tempo, to the delight of the D.C. Casineros, who took over the dance floor and put the rest of the audience to shame.

***

The Timbistica crew were passing out promo materials and enjoying a few well-deserved beers when Chopteeth took the stage. The D.C.-based group, which calls itself an “Afrofunk orchestra,” launched into a groovy set that veered between the reedy guitar dance-lines of classic Fela Afrobeat and a sophisticated brand of ska. “Struggle,” the first track on their latest LP, was a highlight, as was their funky reinterpretation of Duke Ellington’s “Digeridoo.” Led by the magnanimous duo of Anna Mwalagho (vocals) and Michael Shereikis (vocals and guitar), Chopteeth bounced and rolled for close to an hour, with fat sounds from the Korg organ sailing under the snarling five-piece horn brigade. They smiled, danced, colored the two Kenyan songs with neat accordion lines, and took audience requests. (”The dancers want more Fela,” Shereikis laughed at one point.) Their set was the high point of a beautifully eclectic evening—kudos to the DEJF for espousing a “jazz without borders” mentality.

***

Fertile Ground closed out the night with a jazzier variety of what some people call “neo-soul.” With the caveat that this music usually strikes me as way too smooth, I have to say that Navasha Daya was mesmerizing as frontwoman, strutting under her headdress and leading the band as much with the rhythm of her hips as with her commanding, sinuous voice. “Yesterday” was powerful in its ambience, and “You Take Me Higher” (from the 2002 Seasons Change LP) took me pretty high. Daya can build a single syllable from a lyric for several bars and then launch into a weird scat, or an island-tinged rap, or a series of grace notes cued impeccably to the drum breaks, while James Collins‘ synth bass holds it all together. (His right hand, meanwhile, cooks up artful keyboard patterns with the same maddening rhythmic persistence that kept Chick Corea flush for several decades.)

“Jazz is not a listening music, but an organic music,” Collins told the modest crowd, chiding them to dance. “And since Duke Ellington’s from this neck of the woods, I’d hate to believe that the folks in Tokyo know how to move to this music better than y’all.

“It shouldn’t exist in the classroom,” he added, “but on the streets and in the minds of our children.”

Collins then kick-started a nice version of “Be Natural,” on which the crowd sang along, before a closing, anthemic but eerie rendition of “Roots, Rock, Reggae.” Synths aside, the groove had vitality. And the song, a tribute to cross-generic unity, may have struck the perfect coda for the evening.

Photo courtesy of chopteeth.com