An Essence Fest 2016 roundup…

11th July 2016   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

It seems unlikely to compare the closing set by Puff Daddy & Family on the final night of the 2016 Essence Music Festival to the many finales provided by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. Granted, their styles – one being predominately hip-hop and the other old-school soul and rhythm and blues – are worlds, no generations, apart. Puff started hitting in the early 1990s while Maze led by Beverly began making its mark in the early 1970s. Yet, on the night of Sunday, July 3, 2016, with Puff Daddy dressed in tails and a host of friends on the bandstand, the Superdome arena was filled with the same kind of camaraderie and joy – everybody knows all the words, everybody is up and moving – that marked the casually attired, white-capped Beverly and his get-down band Maze. It seems like a mighty long time – as Barbara Lewis once sang – that the Dome felt a spirit like that at the close of the event.

Kendrick Lamar, who this year won a Grammy in the Best Rap Album category for his release To Pimp a Butterfly and absolutely killed his performance at the awards ceremony, preceded Puff Daddy on the stage Sunday night. Some questioned this scheduling, thinking Lamar should close out the Fest. Festival producers turned out to be right on in their line-up decision. As strong as Lamar’s performance was – musically, politically, social consciously – the informally-dressed rapper, wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, and his show’s stripped down production qualities probably wouldn’t have been enough to stand up to the sparkle of Puff.

The weekend also began on a strong note with several African musicians and bands performing early in the evening on Friday night at the Global Superlounge. This musical direction, it can be presumed, was in promotion of the debut of Essence Festival in Durban, South Africa that will be held on November 8-13, 2016 and is slated to return in 2017.

The night started with jazz – always a good and refreshing sign — by a talented, always smiling modern pianist Nduduzo Makhathini with a rhythm section that included New Orleans bassist Jason Weaver. Offering a totally different African flavor was vocalist Skye Wanda, whose rap, offered in an African dialect, often resembled the “toasting” style heard in reggae music. Zakes Bantwini, a known name as a producer who acts as the executive A&R man for Sony Music/Africa, burst, in an almost amusing way, with influences from traditional African music to pop to reggae. There was something wonderfully ironic about Bantwini, who while dressed in a sophisticated slim, stripped suit, kicked, in classic African dance style, way above his head and clowned around on stage.

Many who were at the Global Superlounge that Friday night thought that the focus would be, for the most part, on African music at that stage for the entire weekend.

Unfortunately, for those who dug the rhythms and the vibe, that was not the case.

The superlounges, still under-publicized and under-appreciated (some people asked if you had to pay extra to get into the lounges!), spotlighted several New Orleans acts that came through in a big way. It’s easy to understand why the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is now being booked at festivals like Bonnaroo that courts younger audiences. Though the ensemble doesn’t stray too far from its New Orleans traditional jazz roots, everything it touches is executed with such raw power produced by a cast of such talented musicians that it’s irresistible.

Essence Festival, like everything else, is what you make it. It can be a arena concert experience with some of the biggest names in music working the gigantic stage. It also has the potential to hear artists like keyboardist Robert Glasper explore jazz’s edges in an intimate setting or get down with vocalist Cyril Neville whose passion never wanes. Musically, Essence Festival is a matter of seek it and you shall find.

Putumayo Presents
Blues Party
Various Artists
(Putumayo World Music

One of the best aspects of the Putumayo World Music label’s theme-based compilations of music from around the globe is the obvious consideration that’s put into the selection of material. The most obvious tunes by the most widely recognized artists of a certain genre aren’t necessarily in the mix. That standard is maintained on the label’s latest release

Blues Party that offers the listener the opportunity to discover or rediscover blues musicians of great note as well as hearing a broad spectrum of the genre.

Through artists like second-generation guitarist Lurrie Bell, the stunning pianist Johnny “Big Moose” Walker and the technical wizardry of guitarist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown the album travels the blues highway from Chicago, Mississippi and Louisiana/Texas, respectively. The label, which is easily recognized by its releases’ colorful cover illustrations, didn’t forget about the women of the blues and included the raucous singer and wailing pianist Katie Webster. The exotic quiver in the voice of the great Magic Sam on “I Have the Same Old Blues” is a reminder of why he was called Magic.

Perhaps the most familiar, and arguably the most overplayed, song on the album is “Down Home Blues.” However, this version with the meeting of blues legends James Cotton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell (Lurrie’s father) and Billy Branch makes it historic.

Blues Party brings together classic names like Albert King and lesser known artists including guitarist and composer Big Jack Johnson and harp genius Big Walter Horton. The album title says it all, it’s nothin’ but a blues party.

This article originally published in the July 11, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.