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Back once again, a young man who literally breathes life into his horn. I am sitting in the back today with a group of young individuals that are entranced with the high energy of flame. Yes the music is hot and James along with his almighty three came to play. The sound is thick and dense with the harmony kicking the melody’s ass. James is swinging like the Mike Tyson of yesteryear and connecting all over the place!
This trio is having way too much fun as they saturate their audience in a sauce so thick you need a steak knife to cut through the flavor. The Blues is mighty good! Gerard Gibbs on the organ takes us to the hot and sweaty deep woods of the South with reverend JC at the podium. As the sermon proceeds, drummer Leonard King holds down the congregation with a sharp beat and time that keeps everyone on point. It takes years of traveling the world and study to build a cerebral library that houses an array of sounds to pull from. James reaches way back through time and out of his horn, pulls the blues from the spirits of the past, to right on stage in the present. His lyricism has the audience swayin’ and sayin’ “Yes Lord” and giving you the feeling that everything is going to be alright. Each instrument, the soprano, flute, tenor and the big phat baritone are all played and taken way beyond their intended limitations. The all come alive with character and distinguishable voices that are all their own and stamped the JC insignia.
Many musicians have families and I am coming to recognize that pretty much everyone is musically inspired by their children. This wonderment always seems to wakes the child within and sparks a new creation to emanate, emulate or in some way reflect the joys and adventure of free thinking minds in a world of rules that they don’t yet have to adhere to. “Little Hats Oddesy” was written for James’s three year old and is full of the mystical and adventurous surroundings of a young child’s lazy afternoon which turns into a journey of curiosity.
Gerard Gibbs is working the sustain on the organ. How apropoe that the feeling of this sound on the organ seems synonymous with being deep in the hedonistic cut before the explosion. The euphoric circular chamber of slow motion ecstasy intoxicated with the altered mind state of control before the sense comes back. This is truly where art imitates life in wondrous ways and the audience gets it.
Clarity returns, and the sounds of the music separate those who are plugged into the information super highway from those who are still working at 28k speed. There is one guy in the front row that just upgraded to 56k and might as well make the band into a quartet. He has no instrument; he may not even be listening to the same tune that the rest of us are but, his contributions of uncharacteristic notes, movements, claps and general over excitement definitely make his presents felt and not in a warm and fuzzy sort of way.
James has got that Motor City cool so this little disturbance is no problem at all for him. He will be spitting heat one second and have you trapped in the raspy ness of a swarm of bees the next. His warm breezes of candle light sounding romance leave you gently caressing the ass of the music. Yes, there are many side to a man and through music, they can all be expressed with malice towards none! Next time, don’t miss the James Carter Trio.
LeRoy Downs
