José James in Berlin
José James‘ fifth album for his own label Rainbow Blonde came out in early April of this year and he is currently on tour in Europe with “1978”, the album which not only marks the singer’s birthyear, but also supposedly conveys the turmoils and political and social upheavals of the time. And so, he spoke to the overall enthusiastic and receptive audience about women’s rights, about the current election campaign at home, about the pandemic and how glad he was that people come out again to hear live music. Starting off with the two moody, subdued, and highly intoxicating tracks “Let’s Get It” and “Isis And Osiris” from the album, José managed to put in several curveball vocal arrangements, stretching and elongating parts of the pieces, yet maintaining their original incredibly soulful stance, steeped both in tradition and the current indie alt-nu soul surroundings.
Other pieces from the album included the fierce dance track “Saturday Night”, including some impeccably rendered jazzy rap part which worked well with its repetitive notion, the equally funky “Planet Nine”, a very deep version of “Black Orpheus”, and the exotic “Place Of Worship”. Fascinating throughout the evening was his backing band, especially drummer Jharis Yokley who released his first album on Rainbow Blonde in May called “Sometimes, Late At Night”. His vibrant drum work was mixed pretty much in your face, but not interfering with the vocals, the warm Rhodes, or the phat bass. For a few numbers, José drifted away from “1978” and included a couple of tracks from his first Blue Note album “No Beginning No End” from 2013: the beautiful ballad “Come To My Door”, which he wrote and recorded with the great Emily King, and “Trouble”, where he easily incorporated parts of “Ain’t No Sunshine” and showed his compelling jazz chops. At one point, when he spotted an audience member recording the entire show, he asked himself if that particular person is ever going to watch the whole show again. You can watch it in its entirety in one of the upcoming cities on his current tour:
10/12 Tourcoing – Jazz Festival
10/13 Warsaw – Jassmine
10/14 Sofia – Live Club
10/17 Beograd – Bitef Art Café
10/18 Beograd – Bitef Art Café
10/19 Dortmund – Domicil
10/20 Brno-Mêsto – Cabaret Des Peches
10/21 Darmstadt – Central Station
10/22 Porto – Casa da Música
10/23 Madrid – Sala Villanos
10/25 Palma – Trui Teatre
He also plays two shows in his hometown Minneapolis at the Dakota on December 13th and 14th.