Silver Lining – Rilo Kiley
Heard 11/5/2014 around 12:15, at Boston Market (White Oak)
Friday, November 7, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
The James Hunter Six w/ Emily Elbert, The Hamilton, 11/1/2014
If you’ve
never seen James Hunter and his band live, put it on your bucket list.
Immediately. The best description of his style I’ve found was in a New Yorker article from earlier this
year – “rooted in American soul music without being bound to it”. Their CDs are
great, but they’re even better live.
As usual,
Hunter and crew – Kyle Koehler on organ, Jason Wilson on double bass, Jonathan
Lee on drums, Damian Hand on tenor sax, Lee Badau on baritone sax – were at the
top of their game during their 100-minute set at the Hamilton in downtown DC
(14th & F NW). They hit most of the tracks from their 2013 Minute by Minute album, a number from
the earlier CDs People Gonna Talk and
The Hard Way, two or three I didn’t
recognize (new?), and the usual knockout cover version of The “5” Royales’ 1953
smash R&B hit “Baby Don’t Do It”. They did do my all-time favorite (“I’ll Walk Away”) near the end of the set, and finished with an audience
call-and-response on “Talking ‘Bout My Love”.
Emily Elbert
did about a 35-minute solo opening set – has some background (and awards) in
both folk and jazz, along with a great voice. She particularly wowed the crowd
with cover versions of “Whipping Post” (with a couple bars of “Manic Depression”
in the middle), “Crazy”, and “The Wind Cries Mary”. Her originals weren’t bad
at all, although on most of them I felt that a somewhat more sedate guitar
style might have allowed her vocals and lyrics to come through better. She also
provided more evidence for the maxim that it’s generally a bad idea for anyone
to cover a song that Aretha Franklin has made famous (“Until You Come Back To
Me” in this case).
This was my
second trip to the relatively new Hamilton, both times for the JH6. We arrived
about 20 minutes before the downstairs doors were scheduled to open (actually
opened about 5 minutes after we arrived), with the line about halfway up the
steps to the performance room. (The stairs are black and lighted in a domino
pattern, which is much more attractive to look at than to navigate.) We sat in
the row of tables closest to the stage, with the dance area in between.
Although this did somewhat hamper our view of the stage from time to time, a
couple of us had as much fun observing the dancers as watching the show. The
downstairs menu is relatively limited (there’s a separate restaurant upstairs),
but the burgers and pizza were at least serviceable.
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