José James - Always There

José James - Always There https://t.co/Ukkz0GFj75 via @YouTube

— Jazz Chill Music (@Jazz_Chill) 19 de janeiro de 2017

CD REVIEW: José James - Yesterday I Had The Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday

CD REVIEW: José James - Yesterday I Had The Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday

José James - Yesterday I Had The Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday
(Blue Note 00600406536204. CD Review by Peter Jones)

With a string of genre-busting albums behind him, collaborations with everyone from Nicola Conte to Basement Jaxx, and a stellar performance at last year’s Love Supreme Festival, it seems José James can do no wrong. He has embraced hip-hop, rock and jazz. On early, groundbreaking tracks like Park Bench People (from his debut album The Dreamer), he staked out a piece of Gil Scott-Heron’s territory. Last year’s While You Were Sleeping featured both electric and acoustic rock guitar, reflecting his youthful passion for bands like Nirvana.

The velvet-voiced singer from Minneapolis, now reportedly resident in London, has been making a lot of new friends here, and with good reason: he doesn’t go in for the tiresome histrionics witnessed on talent show TV; his delivery is gentle and cool, dreamy and ecstatic, as if transfixed by the vision in his head. The result is a compelling intimacy of style that gives the impression that he’s singing just for you. His recordings have been among the most interesting and original in recent vocal jazz.

James is not afraid to take risks, and with this new tribute to Billie Holiday, he sets himself a target: the tunes are so well known and have been so often covered that he can now be judged alongside the greatest singers in jazz – including Billie herself. How well he pulls it off is a matter for debate.

He’s kept it stripped-down and simple, with just a piano trio led by Jason Moran, with John Pattitucci on bass and Eric Harland on drums. So far, so good. Now comes the problem: José is a hipster. It isn’t that he lacks passion, but his usual mode of expression is restrained and inward, casual, as if he can’t quite be bothered. This becomes apparent on songs like What a Little Moonlight Can Do. When played uptempo like this, the song’s vocal delivery needs to be snappier, otherwise the singer risks trailing in the band’s wake. Likewise on Fine and Mellow(cue some gender-reassigned lyrics), he doesn’t seem convincingly engaged. On Body and Soul, featuring some beautiful soloing from Moran, the last note José hits would have benefitted from the attention of producer Don Was.

read more: http://news360.com/digestarticle/qaEmuVq3gkW6EhVcYg6bBw

José James: Maximum Seductiveness

NY Times Review: Ben Ratliff Playlist

"José James is a young American jazz singer who’s gotten most of his reputation making moody, post-D’Angelo R&B in Europe. He has traces of Gil Scott-Heron and Joe Williams in his voice; he can swing hard, murmur, sing ballads and chant cosmic chants. He still hasn’t made the serious jazz record my ear can imagine, but perhaps “Blackmagic” (on the British label Brownswood Recordings) is fresher than that anyway.

Partly produced by Steven Ellison, the Southern California innovator known as Flying Lotus, it weaves through dense headphone moments (“Warrior”), a dramatically delicate jazz ballad with piano, bass and brushed drums (“The Light”) and the great rhythm-and-blues tune “Save Your Love for Me,” written by Buddy Jones, which has been sung by some of the best pop singers of the century — Nancy Wilson, Etta Jones, Bobby (Blue) Bland. I’m being overoptimistic, but at least I have cause to wonder whether Mr. James could be, someday, among that company."

Influences:

Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Marvin Gaye, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Life....

Program:

4 mar 2010 20:00 Le Poster a Galene Marseille

5 mar 2010 20:00 Le Jam Montpellier
6 mar 2010 20:00 Centro Cultural Cordon Burgos
7 mar 2010 20:00 Auditorium (Hall B) Barcelona
10 mar 2010 20:00 Festsaal (at Kaufleuten) Zurich
11 mar 2010 20:00 Sinkkasten Frankfurt
12 mar 2010 20:00 Ampere Munich
14 mar 2010 20:00 Lido Berlin
15 mar 2010 20:00 Luxor Cologne
16 mar 2010 20:00 Stage Hamburg
18 mar 2010 20:00 Band On The Wall Manchester

by John Murph
Melding jazz with electronica may be a dicey proposition, but when the combination is executed as deftly as it is on José James' "Detroit Loveletter," the result can be smart and sexy. The song's producer, Moodymann, is based in the titular city, and he's long had a knack for incorporating that town's multifaceted musical legacy into soul-stirring deep house. Here, Moodymann uses the legacy of Motown — most notably Marvin Gaye and two of Gaye's most revered producers, Norman Whitfield and Leon Ware — as a jumping-off point, infusing James' sound with wah-wah guitar, overdubbed vocal harmonies and shadowy rhythms.

Still, James' silken baritone remains in the spotlight throughout "Detroit Loveletter," as he croons words crafted for maximum seductiveness. The improvisational pliancy of his singing reveals his jazz bona fides. He never mentions Detroit in the song, but when he sings "Feel like dancing" over a four-on-the-floor pulse, his shout-out to that city’s deep house scene rings loud and clear.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124077475&sc=nl&cc=sod-20100225