Live
Nate James: Jazz Cafe 25/09/09
When a gig starts with the Parliament's 'Give up the Funk' one may expect that the rest of night will follow in kind: a hard edged groove workout. This was Nate James' walk on music for his "Evening with..." show at the Jazz Cafe last Friday night. Ironically, this was as funky as it got.
Nate James is an acclaimed UK neo-soul singer. Though influenced by the greats, he aligns more with those who followed in the 80s and early-mid 90s, leaning more toward the modern, FM station friendly R&B. He has recently been recording and decided to do a more intimate gig to show people that, in his words, "I’m still around!"
First on the bill was Nicky Prince, a little-known English soul singer. A good warmup for James as she seems to be cast in a similar mold: the Blige-esque 90s diva. She was accompanied by a guitarist and a keyboardist, both dressed as if they had just come from rehearsal. Prince looked the part however, confidently addressing the crowd and committing to each song with conviction. The performance was especially challenging as she was recovering from an cold and also had a skeletal band. During one of the thin instrumental solo sections she commented "this is the part where we need the drums." Her vocal style was powerful but she tended to overuse flourishes throughout. This was perhaps to fill out the sound. Though good to watch, her originals were not strong and the cover of Nina Simone's 'Misunderstood' was lacklustre.
The crowd had swollen to apparent capacity when Nate James's 8 piece band took the stage and opened with 'Parliament'. James walked down to huge applause resplendant in Emmy Collins lounge suit and scarf. He segued straight into 'Set the Tone' the opening song from his first album of the same name. His band was enthusiastic, tight and constantly smiling. The two backup singers, one male, one female in matching shades of mauve, added serious layers of smoothness. The majority of the set was upbeat, drawing mostly from older material, almost entirely ignoring his latest album of covers (Revival) except for a very good version of George Benson's 'Give me the Night'.
The highlight however, was not James but his special guest, Beverley Knight who made an all too brief appearance with the duet 'I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)' originally sung by Aretha Franklin and George Michael. Knight, with her extraordinary voice, brought into focus James's vocal limitations, for all intents and purposes relegating him to a background singer for one song. James does have some star quality and relies on his charisma as much as his voice. From the outset he got the crowd involved and was obviously enjoying himself. He spoke a little about the new album that is soon to be released and sang a few songs from it. One was a ballad about recent heartbreak for which he required "a bit of hush". The majority of the crowd obliged. Another was a polemic about the state of the world called 'One Kind' which served as the single, anti-climactic encore. Judging by the reaction of friends and fans they got what they came for. Crowd favourites included 'The Message', 'Get This Right' and 'Justify Me'. James gave it his all, becoming noticably hoarser as the set wore on. Although entertaining and musically sharp, James's material and perfomance lacks certain facets. He is too self-aware, which prevents him from fully engaging with his songs and completely enveloping his audience. Also missing was a little of the intimacy that an "Evening with..." seemed to promise. Despite these qualms, most of who were there Friday night, from those in their late 20s to the slightly more senior, seemed to enjoy themselves and were glad that Nate James is still around.
All photos c/o Simon Pollock. For more visit www.gtvone.com
Words Rob Grundel
