July 20, 2007. When Boney James plays the stars come out to listen and so it was that when he blew into Newport Beach CA, for the latest in the Hyatt’s Summer Jazz Series, no other than Paul Jackson Jr was in the audience to see him. As a cool Pacific breeze ruffled the grass of the hotels intimate amphitheatre, James, with a virtuoso delivery of some of his best loved tunes, brought his own special brand of urban jazz to the packed and appreciative crowd. Although set at a slight disadvantage by the apparent lack of vocal power available from his backing band he was able, by use of his considerable discography, to showcase the finest of his substantially instrumental numbers and to invigorate them with his consummate skills as a live performer.
Whether going back to the 1995 ‘Seduction’ for ‘Aint No Sunshine’ or to ‘Pure’ from 2004 and ‘Stone Groove’ Boney provided just what his fans wanted. The sensuality of ‘All Night Long’ from the ‘Body Language’ CD contrasted delightfully with the zest of ‘Grazing In The Grass’ and this latter tune, which comes from his 2000 duets album with Rick Braun, ‘Shake It Up’, perfectly exemplified the art form James has made out of collaborations with other smooth jazz and R & B notables. Further evidence of this can be found with the first radio single from his current ‘Shine’ CD. Titled the ‘The Total Experience’ it features George Duke and, although Duke was not at Newport Beach, Boney was able to call on band member Eric Daniels to provide keyboards to the same top notch standard. Staying with ‘Shine’ his urban soul tinged rendition of ‘In The Rain’ had the audience in raptures and they stayed right there for the seminal title track from James 1998 release ‘Sweet Thing’. The ‘Ride’ album is arguably his best of recent times and he delved into it for ‘See What I’m Saying’ before going back to ‘Shine’ one more time to demonstrate his versatility with the Antonio Carlos Jobim classic ‘Aqua De Marco’.
Boney James is the consummate entertainer and always well worth seeing. With an intensive up coming tour schedule, which will take him coast to coast, the chance to do so may be just around the corner. For details go to www.boneyjames.com