Friday, January 30, 2009
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings with The Ivan Milev Band Crystal Ballroom 1.30.09
Anticipation was growing outside the Crystal for the Sharon Jones show. It had been sold out for a while and there were lots of bottom feeder types out trying to buy and sell tickets as well as a crowd at the curb who appeared to be ticketless. Jones' popularity in Portland has been increasing for a while now due to her shows at the Doug Fir Lounge and, especially, her appearance last year at the Oregon Zoo.
It does my heart good to see so many folks spend an evening of straight ahead soul music.
This is the Ivan Milev band, which on this evening consisted of Bulgarian accordion player Ivan Milev and his violinist Entcho Todorov. I am usually pretty casual on getting to shows on time for the opening act unless I know that the headliner is bringing their own support. One sure would not readily expect to see a Bulgarian accordion player before a hard working R&B singer, but somehow the combination worked.
And watching Ivan work was quite a treat. Bulgarian folk music is intricate, full of odd signatures, lots of changes and breaks. In the midst of some of the tunes, they would break out parts of American folk tunes, the theme to the British arts television program The South Bank show, and at one point ended a tune with some big fat chords from Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. I'm very glad I cought this set.
Ivan never spoke. Violinist Todorov took the emcee role with a bit of an intro here or there. My favorite is when he told everyone they should go back to the merchandise table to meet a beautiful young lady that was working there and if they wanted to they could buy Ivan's CD.
The most amazing moment of the show came when Milev actually flipped his massive accordion over his head where it resembled a back pack that he hiked off the stage with.
Sharon Jones is a dynamic wonder. She is 51 years old and her show is true vintage soul. Almost all of her material in her show are original tunes that keep the changes, rhythms and templates of sixties soul tunes. Just like James Brown, the model for a lot of her music and stage performance, she is perpetual motion during her performances.
This is one of the only pictures that wasn't more or less an impressionistic blur. She even was moving all over the place when she did one of two covers of the evening "Someday A Change is Gonna Come." It might have been the best version outside of the Sam Cook original I have ever heard.
It is easy to compare her with James Brown, Koko Taylor, Etta James, and early Tina Turner, but Jones is her own soul star rooted in the tradition of those who came before her. The church is never too far away. She looked at the foot of her stage early in the show and said "We have a lot of young people here." And then she fell into a gospel voice singing "I'm gonna have to watch my language tonight."
I know it is classic shtick to bring people from the audience on stage to dance. But, Sharon, seven or eight tunes of this. I had to shut my eyes during some of the tunes. It was like finding a radio program with a fascinating interview and then to hear the announcer say "we are now going to take some questions from our callers." Are you sure this is what people want to hear? Same thing with the Jones show. I really could live without watching a bunch of Portlanders with exhibitionist issues get an opportunity to act out in public by the invitation of the headlining performer. Thank goodness the second hour of her set did not include such needy attention getters such a spotlight.
It would be pretty cool to be a Dap King, i.e. a member of Sharon's eight piece band. They look like a male cross-section of New York City from the canga player to the guy with a handle bar mustachioed bass player looking like one of the Sopranos crew.
posted by well-executed buffet at 11:59 PM
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