Concert Review: The New York Winter Jazz Fest Gets The Cool Jose James
The New York Winter Jazz Fest came and went, but this year was its biggest year yet, especially at Rough Trade NYC. With Fire Marshals saying, “NO MORE ENTRANCE!” it was hard not to feel like that Spongebob Episode where Spongebob had to toss patties to a bunch of hungry, stacked sardines. Yet, in this scenario, it was Rainbow Records that was our Spongebob, and these sardines needed music to feel full.
From Ben Williams to Taali, it was hard not to feel smart, soulful, and even a little cocky as you absorbed their music. (lol!) The NY Winter Jazz Fest feels like the “sophisticated” festival: splashed across NYC for music-lovers that know how to tell the value of an artist like one would in a variety of wine. Honestly, if the artists could have been tasted Rough Trade would have become one of the hottest wine bars in town. For one, Ben Williams would have weighty merlot; playing his strings as if it stirred and swirled in the reddest of grapes to give us rhythms that, by all means, could be quantified as anti-oxidants. Williams makes music that, similarly, slows the damage an unstable world can cause a soul, which is the purpose of jazz. By acknowledging the high amount of pain, jazz elevates it to relief and Taali has a voice that RELIEVES.
José James – You Know What It Do (Official Audio)
Taali has a voice that feels like the morning. She should be next to coquis and robins; singing as the sun rises to tell everyone it is time to start a new day. Her voice simply blankets; wiping away all prior notions of feelings to show you how you should REALLY FEEL….. good. As she played in her piano, closed her eyes, and let the stage lights shine on her, she embodied that a performer is truly a moment. You get up on stage, you leave your heart in every minute that clings to a beat, and you make sure anyone in your presence REMEMBERS you. If there is one performer who will always achieve this, it is Jose James.
José James – Lovely Day ft. Lalah Hathaway
Jose James is becoming one of those icons/ artists that you can tell who a person is if they know him. It is like if someone mentions The Smiths or Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings as their faves, in a party, and 2 or 3 ears perk up. These artists are cultivators and connoisseurs of music that reach the soul, and Jose James can 100% be qualified as such. He devoured that stage with a coolness as if his life depended on whether he pleased himself and God approved of his every riffing, high note. While some artists reach for performance, he reaches for excellence, which is why he felt like the cherry on NYWJF and the embodiment of this fest’s purpose: to show people that music is not just to be listened but completely sensed: from taste to vision. For More Information On Rainbow Records and New York Winter Jazz Fest Click Here.
