James Carter Back at the Jazz Bakery
by jazzcat on Sep.09, 2006, under News

Additional Photos
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