as promised, here is a "small"report of the Leoska festival, near Bordeaux.
half way down to our destination, the sun came to say hello and some one hundred kilometres later, i became obvious that it was very hot in the car, we had no choice but to open the windows.To our amazement, the air was warm : we had reached the south-western part of the country, a place well known for its cognac, a bit further we would reach the wine region.we wouldn't need them for extra warmth...
25 ° C (sorry, no F° in this story!), a real shock for us who hadn't had one decent day in 3 months!
when we arrived at the little city south of Bordeaux, everyone one with wearing t-shirts and a lot of the younger crowd also had bermudas on!Actually, it just turned out that we were among the older elements of the audience.Around 5 pm, more people were gradually reaching the venue, and lots of them were in high spirits : a lot of booze of undescribable quality was being passed around, besides the classic beers. No wonder a good number of people would litterally crash on the ground some hours later.We also spotted several people indulging in some other sorts of artificial pleasures, even on public dustins lids !That we were not so far away from Spain possibly accounted for this (some of you will get my drift!).
the atmosphere was still very peaceful, none of the screwfaces who usually adorn the reggae events in Paris!
after a decent beer session and the grumblings of the publican who didn't care much for the coming of so many youths, even though they bought a lot of drinks from him, we made it to the hall to meet with a number of acquaintances and local activists who informed us of the bands' order of apperance.
first would be Rotterdam Ska Jazz Foundation, then Rude Rich & The Highnotes, both from the Netherlands.Then it would be Alton Ellis & ASPO 's turn and the show would be closed by Les Fils de Teupuh, one of the many brass bands that currently enjoy a high level of popularity in the country. Despite most of its members being very proficient musicians, i will pass describing their show.Still, were i to start a band, i surely wouldn't minds drafting some of them! their high-speed ska meets new-orleans funk meets oriental stuff meets tzigane music meets punk ends up being some wall of sound which did well among the youngsters.
On the other hand, The RSJF is obviously a band with a serious potential, even more so that its musicians aren't very old, but with too many lineup changes, their formula doesn't totally gel: good ideas, good musicianship, nice solos but they obviously lack a strong frontman or frontwoman.Some more roughness and more madness would be a welcome improvement, a different sound for the keys would also be a plus.WHat is good is that they mostly play their own originals, always a plus in my book. Not technical enough to please the jazz buffs, too smooth for the ska crowd, but with such a tight rhythm section (the foundation necessary for any good band who ventures into JA music), they really have something to groom.The horn section also deliverered the goods, though it consisted only of a 'bone and a sax (four, indeed, as the guy juggled with 4 different types of saxophones!).One more sax and a trumpet (they used to have one)would provide a fuller sound.Then came their fellow country men RR & THN, a much revered band in the current ska scene.They fulfilled my hopes and my doubts all at once.
the first part of their show started with well-known instrumentals from Studio One : Swing Easy, Heavy Rock and some more: unfortunately it sounded like we were listening to one of those ultra classic Heartbeat compilations!classics covered perfectly but with NO sense of individuality: it was like a live lesson learnt by heart! it was a pity in a way as those guys are brilliant musicians and they deliver pure ska, rocksteady or old school reggae perfectly but i kept wondering where their real own soul was; When their lithe vocalist jumped into action, the set lightened up some more.They have obviously developed a serious love affair with Jackie Opel's repertoire as three of his songs were covered, among which Turn Your Lights Down Low (now covered by too many bands) and above all a wonderful moving version of I'm Free which reached a high level of greatness: though the singer doesn't have a voice as amazing as JO's, he defintely held his ground.They also did a sweet rendition of Ernest Wilson 's Money Worries.Yes, you see me enumerating (
) names of top class JA standards, and the dutch posse really did them justice...But that 's "all" they did, indeed! absolutely no personal tunes, a great shame, in a way. I believe their website should be bombarded with e-mails to let them know that they simply NEED to write their own material: such musicians somehow "waste" their talent by not composing more, in a way. Anyway, it's just a personal opinion and they went down fine with the young crowd : it is always reassuring to see that the younger generations can be moved by such sounds and dance to them till the end of the show (and even stage-dive to them, which is rather odd, but who cares ?).
Then came the star of the night, Alton Ellis, dressed in a white suit and a matching hat, really striking looks.We promised we'd go check a tailor one of these days to have one like this done for us (with the summer season coming soon, needless to say such outfit would help us become better scorers "wid them gals" during the romantic season!).Well he really looked like a Cambridge (or Oxford, don't ask me!!!) student!
as we had previously learned that he suffered a serious sore throat (that he has started smoking again didn't really help matters!) had us all worried about the quality of his performances, but how he proved us wrong! under potent medication, he came back to vocal life ! it is always great to see how certain top class veterans know how to use their vocal abilities, even on a bad day : he wouldn't reach higher notes on most of his classics but the soul impact was perfectly in place. And yet, he finally let loose on Reggae With You, a very classy version where the band's own female singer shone bright on backing vocals. Alton also let her have some verses on other songs and the mix of both vocalists was purely heart-wrenching. THough her voice really is unusual by JA standards, it holds some reallly uncanny strength which hasn't been properly captured in the studio yet.
Unlike in his previous stint with the band, everyone was happy to do Reggae With You, complete with new arrangements (one of the band's trademark) : certain tunes would be played on different tonalities, flute parts and other solos would also be included! Smooth like silk melodies with a relentless rhythm section which has to be seen to be believed : unlike the Highnotes bass player who switches between Bass and double-bass according to the style, ASPO's plays the whole set on his "dog house instrument" (in Alton's own words, as he could hardly believe that this guy plays murderous rocksteady and reggae bass lines on that big thing!): he even ventured into a Party Time segment. for those who had seen them together before, there were a few novelties like a cool cover of Let Him Try. The merry veteran got two encores and closed his set on a killer version of Dance Crasher, complete with strong backing vocals and some more of those subtle variations the band is known for : too bad they had no time for their own numbers! at the end, there was no doubt why they have such a devoted local fan base, Alton had won the hearts of the whole crowd!
their horns did a great job, though the full lineup wasn't there (their trombone player was absent, and they sometimes have another sax) : only four guys!
if you ever come visit the south-west and see posters with their names, don't hesitate one second, they are THAT GREAT and as their performances are few and far between...that's the fate for an all-star group : you just can't make a living by playing old school JA sounds!
they always get praises from JA veterans who play at the same shows, yet remain very underrated in france, not to mention the other countries:not too easy to travel when your act includes between 10 to 14 members.
all in all, it was a fine way to start the spring season, though it looked more like it was summer!
i hope my report wasn't too boring and maybe some other posters will write other ones in this section soonish.In the meantime, i hope this gave some exposure to those 3 nice bands who really need to be better appreciated by the reggae crowd: they may not be sporting red gold & green and pretend they are the new prophets but they definitely have all it takes to provide a good night out with a high level of dedicated authenticity.
as a conclusion, i'll just add that the Highnotes have just released a 12" with Winston Francis, which is a good updated version of Mr Fix It. All those bands have websites and you should be able to get more info there.
) names of top class JA standards, and the dutch posse really did them justice...But that 's "all" they did, indeed! absolutely no personal tunes, a great shame, in a way. I believe their website should be bombarded with e-mails to let them know that they simply NEED to write their own material: such musicians somehow "waste" their talent by not composing more, in a way. Anyway, it's just a personal opinion and they went down fine with the young crowd : it is always reassuring to see that the younger generations can be moved by such sounds and dance to them till the end of the show (and even stage-dive to them, which is rather odd, but who cares ?).