I head over to the Great American Music Hall on Friday night to check out Joe Bagale’s CD Release Concert. As I enter for the first time—I am embarrassed to admit—I am impressed by the ornate balconies in this welcoming musical hotspot taking you back to when it was built in 1907. Upon mentioning the concert to my dad waxes nostalgic about the days in his youth that he saw legends BB King and Ray Charles on stage.
While this is not my usual music scene (if I am bold enough to say I have one outside of tagging along at concerts with more music savvy friends) I enjoyed the stray from my musical routine, a night studded with up and coming artists and heart felt performances.
Nino Moschella kicked off the night with gritty vocal stylings with a flair for funk and soul. After a substantial lag time between acts, local musicians, The Shotgun Wedding Quintet, got the crowd pumped and on their toes as people moved over to the dance floor. MC Dave Payne-Schwirtz aka ”Dublin” (paying tribute to his Irish roots) dominated the mic as he rapped "We take it Back" whose poignant lyrics ran from generation to generation from wild jungles to its concrete counterpart. One of my favorite songs of the night for its energy and social introspection.
Next up was the star of the night Joe Bagale and his 10 piece funk soul band—which simply took over the stage if not music in sheer size alone. It was interesting to see Bagale perform with such an ensemble as he plays every instrument on his record except the horn. This 24 year old even writes his own lyrics, composes the music and sings the backup vocals—stand aside superman here comes Joe Bagale.
His passion for the craft oozes out as he sings guitar in hand under the pink and blue lights of the stage. On his album his voice glides over the music about our president like “I am not gonna sit here and listen to your policies, there is so much fear and baby theres so much dying…and why wont they listen to us, why can’t they hear what t had to let my voice be heard through all this pain and sorrow” in Your President. While on stage accompanied by a stellar band the band and back up singers were really talented, I could hardly hear Bagale’s voice amidst the two female backup singers, the electric piano, saxophone, bass player and trumpet.
His voice and personality really shines as the show goes on, He takes a break from the band and spends a little one on one time with the crowd and makes a shout out to his parents who flew here to see him perform. After singing along with his recorded voice beat boxing he engages the crowd by splitting us into a two part harmony while he takes over the mic as he sang "That Is Me".
Though I didn’t make it to the whole show, as I left at 12:30 pm, it was a night of filled with musical talent.
http://www.joebagale.com/
http://www.jazzmafia.com/the-shotgun-wedding-quintet/
www.ninomoschella.com
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