Solo reverberating echoes of bass spreads a blanket wave of sound over the audience at Royce Hall. One by one, the musicians come on stage and delicately blend in their instruments until they are one. Omar Sosa enters stage left with a cranberry colored candle that he places on his piano to add to the ambiance that he is about to musically immerse into. Will Power, the hip-hop jazz rhyme sayer, grabs the mic and starts straight free stylin’. Now for those of you who are not privy to the dynamics of “free styling” let me explain. Free styling involves an artist mentally linking up with a bed of high energy groove that is layed down, jumping in like a double-ducher and using his environment as the vehicle for his spoken poetry. You have be mentally ten steps ahead in order to logistically rap about the person in the front row with the red shirt and then proceed to choose any and all subjects and subject matter pertinent to the situation around you and do it all in whatever time signature that the groove is in.
Will exercises the “Power” to blend hip-hop, be-bop and Latin rhythms into an eclectic electrifying fusion of urbanized jazz music. No matter whose gig it is, whoever controls the mic verbally is the dominating force that drives the ship. Will feeds off of the mystic essence of the music as he is hangs behind the band dancing freely on stage when he is not trying to rock the crowd with his rhymes.
The message is universal love; a mixture of black, white, red, green and all the global colors of the world coming together and making peace not war. Will tells child hood stories that describe who he is and where he came from, political structures, the essence of jazz, music, hip-hop, culture and then he checks in with you to see “How you feelin’”
We are one, so let’s have fun, under the sun, on/this/earth one race one birth. Jazz is playin’, hip-hop sayin’, chillin’ in the house U-C-L-Ain’. People in their chairs and their movin’ their heads, forget about the ones who say jazz is dead. Tonight I’m writin’, it’s excitin’, movin’ to the sounds Omar’s delightin’! Cuban, “Power”, Funk in time, this is my attempt to bust a rhyme. Is it weak, I must say yes but, these are the words that I manifest (Sorry :-))
Forgive me, I got a little carried away, but urban sounds are intoxicating. They grab you with the Captain Hook and then you are a prisoner of the loop. Rap, spoken word, hip-hop or what ever word you use to describe this music is intriguing and the forms of expression used can range from brilliant to down right despicable. The words are manifested in such a way as to have you leave with that message branded in your cortex.
Chants, the sounds of children and other worldly sounds are used to evoke the emotions of worlds far and near. As we imagine other parts of the world, their struggles, their happiness, their wars, their hunger. We fuse that together with our own humanity and realize that we are one people, one life, one color, one word and we have to love and take care of our brothers and sisters.
Omar creates a fantastic wall of sound that acts as the canvas that the colors are splashed, splattered and stroked on. The tones range from cool to bright with rich chunky burst of Latin melodic expression coupled with jazzy funk rap fusion.
Everyone at Royce seemed to have a great time. Let’s hope the message is utilized!
LeRoy Downs
