I saw D'angelo's manager Kevin Liles before his show. I started to talk to him. But he's not very approachable..So I declined. Does anyone know if D's album has even went gold yet?

The music industry is an empty shell. Album sales and the charts are verging on irrelevant now. Then again, Black Messiah is one of those releases that connects with me on a personal level, which means it must be "triple platinum" now.

Identity said:

The music industry is an empty shell. Album sales and the charts are verging on irrelevant now. Then again, Black Messiah is one of those releases that connects with me on a personal level, which means it must be "triple platinum" now.

Let's hope the new CD, The 2nd Coming is released soon.

Graycap23 said:

Got to see him at the Roundhouse yesterday. I unfortunately have to admit that the experience was tinged with disappointment somewhat, not due to the content of the gig itself, which was as always excellent, with the addition of the horns giving the funky jams a lot more dynamism and flexibility that wasn't possible with the keyboard samples when I saw him last. The problem was that he was incredibly late for the gig, the doors opened some time after seven but apparently due to a delayed flight D'Angelo wasn't going to be able to play until 9:30, and when it finally reached that time an announcement on the PA told us he would get on stage at 10:00. They finally started playing at 10:20, with the result that the gig was much shorter than the two hours we had generally been expecting, and it finished around 11:40. I don't want to seem ungrateful, as when they were actually on stage it was an incredible experience, but seeing as how the tickets were pretty damn expensive it's hard not to feel short changed by the drastically shortened duration of the gig. It made it rather hard to enjoy Untitled knowing that the house lights would come on immediately after it finished, and that many of the looser, funkier jams (which tbh I tend to prefer to the slower songs live) had been exercised from the set. Ah well, music was amazing, but definitely mixed feelings about the night

Not to make excuses for him but maybe he felt wiped out. I know when I come from the airport I just want to sleep. But I still understand the dissappointment after paying that money. Just my open thoughts.

wonder505 said:

Apparently the gig on the 20th is now cancelled. Dunno what's going on, pretty shambolic behaviour...

kookooman73 said:

wonder505 said:

Not to make excuses for him but maybe he felt wiped out. I know when I come from the airport I just want to sleep. But I still understand the dissappointment after paying that money. Just my open thoughts.

What kind of bullshit is that? Are u 4 real??? If he can't get organised then he shouldn't do back 2 back gigs in different countries! Ticket sales alone were nearly $80,000. Not bad 4 7 songs!!

How are old you? Five? throwing a tantrum over someone posting their opinion. Shit happens and when you choose to travel so far to see an artist anything canhappen.

The thing is I agree with you. It is irresponsbile and Poor planning. The point is he's not a machine and the disorganiztion is bound to mess him and his his schedule up.

Go ahead. Throw more little BOY tantrums and implode with anger. I could care less.

[Edited 7/14/15 12:32pm]

KingSausage said:

It sucks that your shows got shortened or canceled. I'm hoping you get a chance to see him soon!

Did u peep that show I posted above? It looks and sounds rushed.

Graycap23 said:

KingSausage said:

Graycap23 said:

Did u peep that show I posted above? It looks and sounds rushed.

I didn't because I'm at work. But from what people said above, it certainly sounds like it was a bad experience. I hope everything is okay with D, between this and the upcoming show being canceled.

Sounds like the back to back nights might not be such a good idea. (in different locations)

Graycap23 said:

KingSausage said:

It sucks that your shows got shortened or canceled. I'm hoping you get a chance to see him soon!

Did u peep that show I posted above? It looks and sounds rushed.

That was at the North Sea Jazz Festival were artists only get a limited playtime, so a regular full show would not have been possible for D.

Nineteen minutes in watching that show now, I think the band sounds great. The songs are played a bit faster than on the albums but not in a way that it irritates me. So far so good, thanks for posting!

Here's an especially emotional performance of Untitled from Montreux (not the full video unfortunately). Not sure where's Pookie's at, hope everything's alright with him:

[Edited 7/14/15 17:39pm]

getfunked said:

Atlanta

Drop everythang, that is some great audio. Thanks, GC.

D needs to hire the PURPLE POLICE!!!

Graycap23 said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

D needs to hire the PURPLE POLICE!!!

[Edited 7/16/15 18:47pm]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

D needs to hire the PURPLE POLICE!!!

How D’Angelo Is Making Black Messiah Even Stronger

Link

Identity said:

How D’Angelo Is Making Black Messiah Even Stronger

Link

Damn WSJ paywall. I even tried Googling the article headline, but still couldn't access it.

?
No paywall here.

KingSausage said:

Damn WSJ paywall. I even tried Googling the article headline, but still couldn't access it.

When D’Angelo released his first two albums, “Brown Sugar” and “Voodoo,” in 1995 and 2000, respectively, his music was marketed as neo-soul, a subgenre of R&B and soul that incorporated jazz into its sound. But he wasn’t fond of the limiting classification. “I make black music,” he told journalist Nelson George during a May 2014 interview at the Brooklyn Museum.

At a concert here last week, D’Angelo demonstrated how his description is much more precise. Touring behind his latest gem of an album “Black Messiah” (RCA), D’Angelo and the Vanguard, his 10-member backing group, gave a fiery, complex, often joyous performance that had very deep roots in African-American popular music.

When guitarists Jesse Johnson and Isaiah Sharkey played funk parts that snaked around each other, it was tempting to listen for references to Jimmy Nolen or Freddie Stone; or, when they soloed, jazz’s Grant Green or funk’s Eddie Hazel. But Mr. Johnson is a funk legend in his own right who played in the Time—his was the wild solo in the 1984 hit “Jungle Love”—and Mr. Sharkey issued jazz recordings that bring to mind George Benson’s smooth, rounded tones.

Similarly, Keyon Harrold on trumpet and Kenneth Whalum on tenor saxophone mined jazz, funk and R&B for their unison lines. In his solos, Mr. Harrold, a Wynton Marsalis protégé, veered away from what jazz master Roy Hargrove played on “Black Messiah.” As for Mr. Whalum, who has backed Robert Glasper, Jay Z and Maxwell: When he quoted Maceo Parker, he did so in a blatant tribute that tickled D’ Angelo, who inched closer to listen.

D’Angelo and band leaned heavily on “Black Messiah” for its in-concert repertoire and, by necessity, the music underwent a transformation. D’Angelo, who is 41, played all the keyboards on “Black Messiah” as well as a few guitar and bass parts, and the recorded music has an airy, amorphous quality that’s difficult to replicate in a live setting.

A muscled-up reading of “Ain’t That Easy” early in the set seemed to indicate power would overrule texture. But in “Betray My Heart,” the band locked in to a groove propelled by Rocco Palladino’s walking bass. D’Angelo moved to electric piano for “Spanish Joint” from the “Voodoo” album and cleared the mid-range for the horns to play warm, darting lines.

When “Black Messiah” was released without advance warning on December 15, 2014, many critics hurried to praise it and shoehorn it into their “Best Of” roundups, thus denying readers, and the album itself, the benefit of critical perspective and independent analysis.

While “Black Messiah” falls short of “Voodoo”—without dispute, one of the 21st century’s greatest albums—it is a substantial work that continues to reveal itself, and live performance illuminated its veiled strengths.

The studio version of “The Charade” seems to place the instrumentalists in conflict, perhaps a technique to reinforce the lyrical message.

But the arrangement here had a greater clarity as guitar and horn lines crisscrossed while the song built to and moved away from its affecting chorus. D’Angelo’s flourishes on piano reconfigured “Back to the Future,” a love ballad that rises from the mid-’70s soul sound of nearby Philadelphia.

In “Sugah Daddy,” which followed a horn-rich, honey-thick reading of the title track from “Brown Sugar,” D’Angelo nudged the band away from its jazzy, syncopated percussion—achieved on the album by septuagenarian drum legend James Gadson slapping his thighs—to a long funk rave that punched heavy on the downbeat. D’Angelo raced across the stage as he challenged the band by insisting it play faster and faster; he laughed aloud when they could not meet his deliberately impossible demands.

Afterward, in a brief conversation as he relaxed in his dressing room, D’Angelo allowed that the live show required a different kind of intensity than what happens in the recording studio. With the Vanguard, he said, the music took on a life of its own, in large part because they aren’t sure what he’ll want once they’re on stage. “They don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said, “but they’re warriors.” Even as the discussion drifted to the influence on his music of small jazz combos like Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five or how funk profits from a sledgehammer wallop on the downbeat, the afterglow of an excellent concert lingered.

On this night, D’Angelo affirmed his place in the pantheon of musicians who are inspired by, contribute to and move forward the continuum of black music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USIRm9aN7D0