Reach: JOSE JAMES in Leeds and Manchester
Internationally acclaimed US soul/jazz singer Jose James launched his debut album for legendary New York jazz label Blue Note Records “No Beginning No End” at the back end of February this year and is currently on a world tour to promote it. He and his band touch down in April for only four exclusive UK gigs – London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
LEEDS: THE WARDROBE WED 10 APRIL TICKETS
Leeds Launch Party : Information
For this Leeds gig, Jose is joined onstage by fellow American musicians Takuya Kuroda on trumpet, Solomon Dorsey on bass, Kris Bowers on keyboards plus London’s finest Richard Spaven on drums. Onstage time will be 9pm.
Support comes from top UK jazz-funk/fusion keyboard wizard Dan Goldman (Leon Ware, Corinne Bailey Rae, Haggis Horns, Morecheeba, Nightmares On Wax) and his JD73 ElecTrio featuring Gordon Kilroy on drums (Eddie Roberts Roughneck) and Kenny Higgins on bass (Corinne Bailey Rae Band). Onstage 8pm with a fiery set of fender rhodes fuelled funk-jazz fusion!
This concert is a collaboration between DJ Lubi (Lubi Jovanovic), Sounds Like This Radio Show (weekly Sundays 5pm-7pm on Sheffield Live 93.2fm) and Band On The Wall (Manchester).
MANCHESTER: BAND ON THE WALL SAT 13 APRIL TICKETS
This concert will begin 8.30pm but the Picturehouse Cafe Bar is open earlier for food and drinks.
“No Beginning No End” is Jose’s fourth solo album and features original material and collaborations with bass maestro Pino Palladino and Grammy award winning pianist Robert Glasper. It moves further into deep soul and gospel territory than his previous releases but still has enough soloing, improvisation and blues feeling to keep the jazzheads happy. It has already topped the iTunes soul/r’n’b charts in many territories (including the USA, Holland, Germany, Japan, France) and gained excellent reviews via The Guardian, Jazz FM and the BBC website.
Jose James’s breakthough came in 2008 with his debut album “The Dreamer” for Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, followed up in 2010 by “Black Magic” for the same label. His jazz credentials are in no doubt with guest recordings for jazz legends such as Junior Mance (2008) and Chico Hamilton (2009), and a beautiful duo recording of ballads and standards with pianist Jef Neve for US jazz label Impulse/Verve entitled “For All We Know” (2010).
“No Beginning No End” digs deep into the neo-soul bag with inevitabel comparisions to D’Angelo, particularly the “Voodoo” album from 1999 and it’s stripped down soul production and songs. However, Jose’s musical references and inspiation reach much further back than “Voodoo” to the original 1970s masters of deep soul – Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Leroy Hutson and Leon Ware. Fantastic original compositions from Jose and his fellow collaborators alongside amazing musicians like Pino Palladino on bass, Robert Glasper on piano and boss groove jazz/funk/hiphop drummer Chris “Daddy” Dave make this release an essential buy for all those who love deep contemporary soul with a touch of jazz!
Jose James links
https://soundcloud.com/#josejamesworldwide – “No Beginning No End” tracks
http://youtu.be/5Gz2kqOupCI – live recording at AllSaints Basement Session London autumn 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/gp9p – “No Beginning No End” BBC website review
