José James: No Beginning No End

In the past, American singer José James organised projects about Billy Holiday and John Coltrane for the AB. Next week, he is presenting his new studio album, his first for Blue Note, at the concert hall that provided him a European base.

CD | José James ●●
No Beginning No End jazz/hip hop/soul
(Blue Note/EMI)

He seems impossible to pigeonhole in one genre, this sensitive vocalist with Panamanian roots, who was born in Minneapolis but has been based in New York for years. On No Beginning No End, his flexible baritone meanders – in its characteristically eclectic way – around a variety of styles. This genre-bridging approach, vacillating between jazz, R&B, hip hop, funk, etc., occasionally distinguished the singer from the competition on his predecessors too, like The Dreamer (2008) and Blackmagic (2010). There’s a reason the leading British DJ Gilles Peterson referred to him as “the Smokey Robinson for the new generation”. His voice sometimes reminds us of soul god D’Angelo, like on the opening track “It’s All Over Your Body”, which ripples on dubby grooves. James’s delicate delivery is equally gracious, but more subdued and muted. He also transfers this preference for soft touches, plucks, and ruffles to his (guest) musicians, like bassist Pino Palladino and pianist Robert Glasper. On the one hand, James thus sounds extremely controlled and premeditated, but on the other, you never know beforehand where he is going to end up. It makes his music unpredictable, and in the best cases ungraspable. Despite covering the entire range between tense (the sultry and funky “Trouble”) and relaxed (“Make It Right”, set to a lazy hip-hop beat and rhythm), however, he likes sticking to his comfort zone just a tad too much to really surprise us.

Concert: 7/4, 20.00, €16/19, Ancienne Belgique + a talk with José James: 7/4, 18.00, SOLD OUT!, Huis 23, www.abconcerts.be