from today's daily variety...
THE ROOTS/CODY CHESTNUTT
by steven mirkin
going to a roots show used to mean a night of music eliciting equal amounts of jaw dropping and eyelid drooping. they were a band that did many things well and insisted on doing all of them, repeatedly: hours-long endurance contests were made endurable by moments of brilliance and unendurable by moments of sheer wankery.
on record, they're forced to keep it relatively short, but live the roots suffer from some of the same problems as liberal talk radio: their earnestness -the imuplse to see things from all sides and present an affirmative message- can sometimes get in the way of their effectiveness as entertainers.
while there's little doubt they are the smartest kids in their class, the roots sometimes acted like a smug valedictorian. at the house of blues saturday nite, the middle of a three night four show stand, the band managed to meld its sprawling talents into a cohesive, if still prolonged, concert. from the opening salvo of eric burdon's "war" to the finale's medley of hip-hop hits, the roots stayed (mostly) ony message.
"phrenlology", their latest album, is the roots sharpest, and their performance was focused as well. it's a balance between the wit of rahzel, black thought's literate passion, and the music heft of their five piece band, anchored by drummer amir "?uestlove" thompson.
the latter allows the roots to change styles at will: without them it would be impossible for the band to pull off the free jazz breakdown during "the next movement" or the sun ra oddness of "water." a monster behind the drums, thompson is abetted by kamal's steady keyboards, leonard hubbard's graceful bass and ben kenney's versatile guitar, at home with both the "chicken scratch" rhythms of james brown and the psychedelic screech of funkadelic's "maggot brain." in the past their solos could put a dead stop to the evening's momentum but now they are well integrated into the flow of the music. while tompson's drum showcawe threatened to veer into "in a gadda da vida" territory, he thankfully avoided that eternal damnation, remaining interesting throughout. rahzel's always inventive beatbox segment was highlighted by a witty remebrance of rum DMC's jam master jay.
about the only the thing the roots miss is the loopy reach of george clinton. and opening act cody chestnuTT has that to spare. a true eccentric, he is something of an innocent-savant. his too-short half hour set swayed between curious preaching and pithy songs such as "upstairs in a blowout" (from "the headphone masterpiece" independently released by ready set go, recently picked up for distribution by bmg's bemusic unit). he mixes roots rock, power pop, folk, soul and whatever else appears on his radar.
when he joins to the roots for their collaboration, the lubricious "the seed (2.0)" the combination is combustible. guest appearances by musiq (who appeared late for "break you off"), kemo and jaguar wright were also effective but the best impression was made by skillz, a rapper whose gritty, slyly humerous tunes, from his upcoming album "i ain't mad no more" shone in his mid-show entr'acte.
THE ROOTS/CODY CHESTNUTT
by steven mirkin
going to a roots show used to mean a night of music eliciting equal amounts of jaw dropping and eyelid drooping. they were a band that did many things well and insisted on doing all of them, repeatedly: hours-long endurance contests were made endurable by moments of brilliance and unendurable by moments of sheer wankery.
on record, they're forced to keep it relatively short, but live the roots suffer from some of the same problems as liberal talk radio: their earnestness -the imuplse to see things from all sides and present an affirmative message- can sometimes get in the way of their effectiveness as entertainers.
while there's little doubt they are the smartest kids in their class, the roots sometimes acted like a smug valedictorian. at the house of blues saturday nite, the middle of a three night four show stand, the band managed to meld its sprawling talents into a cohesive, if still prolonged, concert. from the opening salvo of eric burdon's "war" to the finale's medley of hip-hop hits, the roots stayed (mostly) ony message.
"phrenlology", their latest album, is the roots sharpest, and their performance was focused as well. it's a balance between the wit of rahzel, black thought's literate passion, and the music heft of their five piece band, anchored by drummer amir "?uestlove" thompson.
the latter allows the roots to change styles at will: without them it would be impossible for the band to pull off the free jazz breakdown during "the next movement" or the sun ra oddness of "water." a monster behind the drums, thompson is abetted by kamal's steady keyboards, leonard hubbard's graceful bass and ben kenney's versatile guitar, at home with both the "chicken scratch" rhythms of james brown and the psychedelic screech of funkadelic's "maggot brain." in the past their solos could put a dead stop to the evening's momentum but now they are well integrated into the flow of the music. while tompson's drum showcawe threatened to veer into "in a gadda da vida" territory, he thankfully avoided that eternal damnation, remaining interesting throughout. rahzel's always inventive beatbox segment was highlighted by a witty remebrance of rum DMC's jam master jay.
about the only the thing the roots miss is the loopy reach of george clinton. and opening act cody chestnuTT has that to spare. a true eccentric, he is something of an innocent-savant. his too-short half hour set swayed between curious preaching and pithy songs such as "upstairs in a blowout" (from "the headphone masterpiece" independently released by ready set go, recently picked up for distribution by bmg's bemusic unit). he mixes roots rock, power pop, folk, soul and whatever else appears on his radar.
when he joins to the roots for their collaboration, the lubricious "the seed (2.0)" the combination is combustible. guest appearances by musiq (who appeared late for "break you off"), kemo and jaguar wright were also effective but the best impression was made by skillz, a rapper whose gritty, slyly humerous tunes, from his upcoming album "i ain't mad no more" shone in his mid-show entr'acte.