The Jazzcat

James Carter Back at the Jazz Bakery

by 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


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