Date: March 16, 2013
Venue: BAM Cafe (Brooklyn)
Review, video and photos by Dawoud Kringle
There was high energy in the packed venue. Tension rose as the musicians drifted toward the stage, making last minute preparations. Then, after the MC spoke to the crowd introducing Shelley Nicole’s blaKbüshe a blues pulse drew the audience into its hypnotic undertow. The band moved toward their places, and held up the rock solid pulse the bass drum invoked.
Then Shelley Nichole took the stage. When Shelley takes the stage, there is nothing subtle about it. You know you’re in the presence of a strong, larger-than-life personality. Her powerful voice and indomitable presence are impossible to ignore. Working the crowd like a Baptist preacher, she deftly combines the old time streetwise vibe of a blues singer with the flamboyance of the classic R&B soul funk singers such as LaBelle, Grace Jones, etc.
The band was tight. Guitarist Jerome Jordan deftly wielded his instrument, defining the instrumental role of the music with shimmering funk guitar, in-your-face power chords, and Post-Hendrixian solos. Jerome had been a partner with Shelly for years, and has been with blaKbüshe since its inception. Another blaKbüshe alumnist, bassist Ganessa James, largely eschewed the spotlight, favoring the low frequency pulse that is the special domain of the bass player. She stayed in sync with drummer Hiroyuki Matsuura. Matsuura is an accomplished and skilled drummer who brings an important element to the music. Percussionist Shawn Banks, another blaKbüshe mainstay, adds marvelous jewels to the rhythms and texture of the music. Singers Ki Ki Hawkins and Achuziam Maha-Sanchez belted out flawless locked-in-sync vocal harmonies that stand up next to Shelley’s powerful vocals greater than the sum of its parts. Saxophonist V. Jeffry Smith brought melodic invention with his horn parts, and his stage presence was as flamboyant as Shelley’s, yet at the same time subtle and understated in comparison. Guitarist Jeff Jeudy rounded out the group’s sound with his supporting role in the music.
The set was well paced; Shelley and the band never let the audience’s attention wander. They always followed one interesting thing with another. The subject matter of the songs often carried motivational political and occasionally spiritual / philosophical messages, but noticeable traces of sexuality, sexual tension, and sexual politics ran through everything.
The songs covered the spectrum of blues rock, muscular funk, rocked out neo-soul, R&B, hard rock, etc. BlaKbushe’ music is an extension of that tradition, and while it pays homage to it and does not deviate far from it, the music never slavishly imitates it. BlaKbushe’ has a style all its own.
All in all, Shelly Nichole & BlaKbushe always delivers a great show. They are entertainment with a strong sense of community and social responsibility – and a lot of fun.
