AUDIO: Jose James & Kris Bowers 4/18/14 Boston, MA @ Sculler’s Jazz Club

While I happened to be in Boston last weekend to cheer my sister in law on in the marathon, I was also able to take the whole family to Sculler’s Jazz Club to catch Jose James, someone who has been on my must see list for quite some time now.

First we were treated to a great opening set by Jose’s keyboardist, Kris Bowers and his group who had recently released a very forwarding thinking jazz/fusion/stretch album. The highlight of the opening set for me was the opening part of their last tune in which Kris set the tone with a beautiful solo rendering of the melody on his Fender Rhodes piano. You can hear it at the bottom of this page.

Less than 15 minute later Jose James and band jumped on stage for a stunning 63 minute set that began with 5 songs from his new album, While You Were Sleeping, which comes out on Blue Note Records on June 10th.

Jose James - Sculler's Jazz Club

The 5 new songs, 3 which you can hear above, are definitely a new direction for Jose and are likely partly influenced by this new guitarist, Brad Williams. These were followed by Come To My Door, a beautiful cover of Simply Beautiful by Jose’s Blue Note label mate the Reverend Al Green, and Trouble.

The real highlight, though, was the 20 minute set closer. It began with Jose’s acapella remix/rendering of the Sam Cooke classic “A Change Is Gonna Come” before launching into Park Bench People (Jose’s tune, which is arranged around Freddie Hubbard‘s “Red Clay” groove). The band stretches way out and then Jose brings it back with a distorted interpolation of Nirvana‘s “Something In The Way” before reprising Sam Cooke acapella again. It was nothing short of stunning and you have to scroll up to the top of this page and press play to hear it!

My location in the front row, just right of center, made for a great recording from my Tascam DR-2d in my shirt pocket. And you can download FLAC’s of the entire show using the links below.

Jose James
April 18, 2014
Boston, MA @ Sculler’s Jazz Club
internal mics > Tascam DR-2d > WAV > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > FLAC
Location: front row, right of center
Taped by FunkItBlog

TORRENT DOWNLOAD HERE

01. Angel
02. U r the 1
03. While You Were Sleeping
04. Anywhere U Go
05. Bodhisattva
06. Come To My Door
07. Simply Beatiful [Al Green cover]
08. Trouble
09. Park Bench People (inc. A Change Is Gonna Come [Sam Cooke] & Something In The Way [Nirvana])

Jose James – vocals, guitar
Kris Bowers – keys
Solomon Dorsey – bass, Moog synthesizer, vocals
Brad Williams – guitar
Richard Spaven – drums

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Kris Bowers
April 18, 2014
Boston, MA @ Sculler’s Jazz Club
internal mics > Tascam DR-2d > WAV > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > FLAC
Location: front row, right of center
Taped by FunkItBlog

TORRENT DOWNLOAD HERE

01. Wake The Neighbors
02. Forget-Er
03. #TheProtester
04. Forever Spring

Kris Bowers – keys
Solomon Dorsey – bass, Moog synthesizer, vocals
Brad Williams – guitar
Justin Tyson – drums

Christian Scott debuts “new” Quintet for four night run at St. Louis’ Jazz at the Bistro

Christian Scott Quintet
October 20, 2012
St. Louis, MO @ Jazz At The Bistro

internal mics > Tascam DR-2d > Cool Edit Pro (amplified) > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > FLAC

DOWNLOAD HERE

Set One:
01. No Church In The Wild (Jay-Z / Kanye West cover) 12:47
02. Footprints (Wayne Shorter cover) 10:58
03. banter 11:03
04. Body and Soul 9:54
05. The Eye of the Hurricane (Herbie Hancock cover) 8:11
Total 52:51

Set Two:
01. Intro 1:36
02. Jihad Joe 10:25
03. vs. the Kleptocratic Union 8:13
04. banter 9:20
05. Body and Soul 8:07
06. No Church In The Wild (Jay-Z / Kanye West cover) 10:31
07. banter 5:16
08. New New Orleans > 9:19
09. K.K.P.D. 9:37
Total 72:24

Christian Scott – siren horn (custom trumpet/flugelhorn/coronet hybrid)
Kris Funn – bass
Corey Fonville – drums
Andrew Burglass – guitar
Braxton Cook – alto saxophone

Notes: This was the 4th night of a 4 night run at this venue. This run was also the debut of Christian’s new quintet. The first set was recorded from the front table on the right side. The second set was recorded from the second table dead center, so the sound is more balanced. Both renditions of Body and Soul are without Christian. For the second half of set two, Christian brought out his custom “reverse flugelhorn”, but never played it. For photos of the two horns, check this page: http://foresightandafterthought.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/christian-scott-atunde-adjuah/

Christian Scott Quintet – Isadora
October 19, 2012 – St. Louis, MO @ Jazz at the Bistro

Christian Scott Quintet – K.K.P.D. (incomplete)
October 19, 2012 – St. Louis, MO @ Jazz at the Bistro

10/22/12 UPDATE: It looks like Christian Scott is featured on a studio version of No Church In The Wild by a supergroup of next level jazz musicians calling themselves NEXT Collective. Their EP just dropped on iTunes today and the group is made up of Christian Scott, Matt Stevens, Jamire Williams, Ben Williams, Kris Bowers, Walter Smith III, Logan Richardson and Gerald Clayton. Check out their new EP over at The Revivalist.