A BP Music Review

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The ongoing success story of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings can be told in three parts. To begin, there  is Gabriel Roth the producer and founder of Dap-Tone records. During the late 1960’s nineteen-year-old Roth could often be found in his dormitory room at NYU emerged in his obsession of listening to doo-wop R&B music, particularly the work of the “hardest working man in show business,” James Brown. Fast forward fifteen years and we find Roth the songwriter, bassist, sound engineer and co-owner of the Brooklyn based Dap-Tone records. During this time period Roth ardently adhered to the principals of musical purism. His taste in music was devoid of computer enhanced sounds, and the records he has produced consists of real musicians playing real instruments, all this in order to produce his ultimate product, those retro dinosaurs – vinly records.

Roth’s big break came in 2007. At the time his pure R&B sound had begun to be exploited by the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye West.  Then the hit song “Rehab,” along with five other singles from Amy Winehouse’s 10 million selling LP “Back to Black” were found to have been recorded in Roth’s Brooklyn studio.  Ironically, Roth’s purist approach to music/sound; his James Brownish hard-core, Stax-Volt type R&B, deplete of drum machines and computer technology, had arrived and in so doing, marked Roth as the producer with the band and sound that held the keys to the pure yet commercial sound mix people were seeking.

The second component of this successful package is the band The Dap-Kings. The nucleus of this band came from a mid-1990’s band known as the “Desco Records House Band.” They were the back-up band for Lee Fields, various gospel groups, and for the first time Sharon Jones, on such singles as “The Bump and Touch,” “Damn its Hot,” and “I Got the Feeling.” Two members of this band, Phillip Lehman and Bosco “Bass Man,” their bassist, remain with Sharon as part of the Dap-Kings. After the break-up of Desco Records House Band in 2000, the band which is now the “Dap-Kings” gained most of their current members along with Mann on bass the stalwarts of the Dap-Kings are: Binky Griptite – guitar, Neal Sugarman- tenor sax, Homer Steinweiss- drums, Fernando “Boogaloo Velez 0n percussion, and Tommy “TNT” Brenneck-guitar. This band is somewhat reminiscent of the 1960-70 Stax-Volt band and the JB’s.

The lead vocalist, Sharon Jones rounds out this band.  Sharon is a product of James Brown’s hometown of Augusta, Georgia. She grew up singing in a gospel church and as a teen in the early 70’s singing doo-wop and R&B music, singing at local shows,weddings and sporatic session dates. By this time her family had moved to Brooklyn, NY, and after her schooling Sharon took various non-traditional employments, particularly for a 4″11′ female. Sharon was Wells Fargo armored car guard, a correctional officer at NY’s infamous Rikers Island, to name two. With the formation of the Dap_Kings, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings began a three month tour of Spain, which evolved into three years of steady work, mostly in Europe and Australia. In 2005 her first album with the Dap-Kings was released, titled “Naturally.” The name Sharon Jones began to get recognition and this led to subsequent Lp releases including her current critcally acclaimed 2006 release “100 Days, 100 Nights.”

The Nokia Theatre on 44^th and Broadway in NYC just so happens to be an excellent venue to see, hear, and feel music. It has a free-flow ambiance about it, designed with a dance floor sandwiched between two reserved seating sections, presenting an informal yet at the same time intimate setting. The audience for this Valentine’s day eve show, was composed of an eclectic mix of native NYers, tourists, yuppies craving that shot of sweet soul music, and the late-nite walk-up crowd – the working class. This “Rhythm Revue” crowd that just got paid, and were ecstatic to have “extra” cash to afford Sharon’s show. This is the “cabaret-all-night-Saturday and in-church-all-day-Sunday audience, the women with enough pork-cellulite hanging off their upper arms to provide enough material for a toddler’s nice leisure suit or ankle length overcoat. This is the heart of her audience who grew up listening to: The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Ray Charles, Tyronne Davis, Wilson Pickett, Aretha, The Supremes and the like.

10 p.m. marks the turning point for tonight’s show. After the opening band, The Menahan Street Band, who sound a lot like Stax/Volt band,the JB’s and Gamble and Huff’s TSOP we get it on with Sharon and the Dap-Kings. Sharon and the band proceed to work every cut from the “110 Days..” Lp, and then some.The some include; “I’m not gonna Cry” – an amazing takeoff of Lynn Collins from her James Brown days. A new tune for the band “If I Give you my Love”, which proves to me there is a magic elixir in Augusta’s waters – this is pure funk, it may be intimidating at first, but if you are able to roll with it, it feels great. Another new tune, “When I Come Home”, written by Bosco, features an outstanding tenor sax solo by Neil Sugerman- kinda like King Curtis. The band and Sharon next target one of my favorites, a Gladys Knight and the Pips classic “Giving Up” – and they manage to give it everything Gladys and the Pips ever did. The last five on tonights show are really intended to take you over the top, and they do that. On “Losing You” Sharon gets spiritual, it reminds me of Cladia McNeil humming in “A Raisin in the Sun.” Sharon then gets in her political messages, kinda of “it’s best to study your history so that you’ll better understand – like you better know Obama if you know Malcolm, or Nas if you know Muddy Waters or Anthony Hamilton through Al Green. They continue the respect theme doing Otis Reddings “Pain in my Heart”and they end with the Sam Cooke classic “A Change is Gonna Come.” Quite naturally an encore was called for and was obliged with the gospel tune on their Lp “Answer Me.”

Overall, an outstanding evening of music and entertainment. If Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings should be performing anywhere near you and you happen to be a lover of good music and great showmanship this group is a must.In the interim pick up “100 Days,100 Nights” – but be mindful it could turn out to be what they say about books compared to movies of them. The Lp is great but the live show is off the hook.

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