>>PREVIEW
NEW CALGARY INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL: THE RE-BIRTH OF THE COOL
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS
Friday, June 23
The Gateway (SAIT)
"He flipped the line and it went into my bottom lip," laughs Sharon Jones regarding a fishing trip with a friend. "This gigantic nightcrawler hung from my lip and I stood on the boat screaming."
She conjures the scream up again, sending her cellphone into a seizure of static. Despite the horrors of her friend removing the hook with pliers, Jones returned to the lake to fish and take a break from her title as the "Queen of Funk." She didn’t earn that title overnight, clocking in years of service in a church choir and performing at weddings while working as a correctional officer at Riker’s Island jail. The title comes from remaining true to the funk regardless of which music trend chugs by.
"All of a sudden Prince comes back with a new funk album. Jamie Foxx? Get out of here," scoffs Jones. "The Dap Kings and I have been doing this for the last 10 years. James Brown has heard of us. I was with Mavis Staple and Solomon Burke, all these old-timers, and they love me, asking, ‘Where you been all these years?’"
The overdue respect and critical acclaim may have just arrived, but Jones is without bitterness or regret. Instead, she punctuates sentences with song and constant laughter. This is the legendary Sharon Jones’s energy – onstage, audiences swear she becomes possessed, something she attributes to a higher power.
"I pray – God give me the strength, ignite my body, my voice and give me the energy I need. I’m 50 now, so the last 10 years I’ve prepared for this road."
Humming only a few bars, she can electrify a room and everybody better be ready to come along for the ride – including her band. While the man she’s often compared to, James Brown, would fine his band for not keeping in line, Jones tries to avoid such extreme measures.
"I have so much energy," she says. "Sometimes the band can’t keep up and I get angry. I’ll literally curse them out and then turn around to smile at the audience. It’s good they record this stuff, ’cause I really learned a lesson. When we’re on tour I got to let them know I appreciate them."
Whether it’s the seething indignation of her rendition of "This Land is Your Land" or the trampled spirit found in "How Long Do I Have to Wait for You," Jones’s voice reverberates with a genuine passion. It connects her audiences with the secret histories residing within the notes, which is just part of her process as a storyteller and singer.
"I got to get these lyrics in my head. When I sing, I pick somebody out of the audience and make that story come alive, telling that young man, ‘you got to be easy if you want to get the girl.’" |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.