Showtime! Jazz Re:freshed Day 4 [Part 9]

London Day 4

When we last left our hero…

I was getting up on Thursday morning determined to do something else besides just do the show that night. Jeff still hadn’t seen any sights in London except through a car window so we had to do  something, anything.

The night before we were trying to figure out how we could go sight seeing with all of our gear in tow for the show that night. LyricL then suggested that we drop everything at her friend Bunny’s place, which is also Uprock Studios and then we could do things from there. Jeff is a huge Beatles fan so he wanted to go to Abbey Road, and it just so happened that Uprock is very close to Abbey Road. Also Bunny said he wanted to interview me for his blog Code Emphasis. Okay. So here was the plan. Get up, head to Uprock, drop our stuff, go to Abbey Road, come back to Uprock to do the interview, then head to the Mau Mau Bar for soundcheck. Sounds good right? Well…

We wake up and it’s raining. Probably the first “real” rain we’d had since we got there. I say real because it had rained a bit, but it was off and on rain. Nothing that hung around for too long. But on Thursday it really rained.

We got our stuff together and headed for the train at Anerley. Kevin was kind enough to drive us to the train again. On this short ride to the train we were listening to the radio and the announcer was talking about seeing some celeb at some event, but the thing that caught me was that he said she was looking “quite fragrant.” I love that! I have to remember to use that from now on when I see someone looking good.

We got on the Overground at Anerley and took that Canada Water and switched for the Jubilee Line toward Stanmore to Kilburn. LyricL told us to call her when we got there because she was coming from a totally different direction.  So I called when we got out and it was really raining then. We had all kinds of gear with us, but we didn’t think we would be going very far. When I spoke to LyricL and she told me to go to the bus stop on the same side of the street I was on and go toward Kilburn High Street. At least I think that’s what she said. The point of this matter is that we got all turned around in the pouring rain. When we got on the bus I felt like we were riding in the wrong direction and I was correct, but it took us some time to figure that out for real.

Jeff and I got off the bus after talking to LyricL and realizing we were going in the wrong direction. We stood at the bus stop trying to figure out the directions when another bus came by and properly splashed me. Okay, at that point all I could do was laugh. We backed away from the stop and called LyricL one more time to get clear and we figured out we should head the other way because that’s where she was. So we got on another bus headed back toward the Tube we just got off, but when I told this to LyricL she still thought we were going in the wrong direction. It was a total “Who’s on First” moment. LOL. So after some back and forth she told us to just wait at the Kilburn stop we got off the Tube and she would come get us from there.

After all this back and forth it had gotten really late. I was feeling bad because I knew there was a possibility that Jeff wouldn’t get to go to Abbey Road because I still had to do this interview with Bunny and then we had to head to the Mau Mau for soundcheck.

When LyricL arrived she suggested getting a mini cab to our destination at that point. So we did and headed to Uprock. I knew upon our arrival that I wouldn’t have enough time to go to Abbey Road. I told Jeff he could go on his own, but he chose not to. I was kind of bummed about that, and tired, but the show must go on.

Uprock Studios is a very cool place. It’s really the musical home of my crew of folks that produce Jazz Re:freshed, and my man Daz-I-Kue who now lives here in ATL. Daz still calls Uprock home along with Bunny Bread, Adam Rock, Top Rock and whole host of magical musical folks who are part of the legendary West London crew. If any of you out there like broken beat, well this is where all the magic happened. Of course I know there are some out there who will disagree and I may not have all my facts totally straight, but that’s where it started for me. At least with those people and the Bugz in the Attic crew. I’m not going to give you the whole Bugz history, but I highly suggest you check them out as a collective and individually.  Their music is amazing!

Anyway, Bunny interviewed me for Code Emphasis and then we had to get ready to roll to Mau Mau. Turned out Bunny had to bring the drum kit from Uprock to the Mau Mau so we called a big cab, all piled in, drums included, and headed to the club.

At this point I was really late for soundcheck. I didn’t mean to be, but it was sort of how the whole day had been rolling. Also when we got there Tim had brought his own kit so Bunny didn’t have to bring the one from Uprock. We didn’t find this out until we were in the cab and almost to the club so it was too late to turn back. When I walked in I was surprised to see my aunt Helen and uncle Richard were already there! Yes this is the same aunt and uncle who were in Paris the week before when I was there with Burnt Sugar. They extended their trip and came to London for a couple of days after Paris. I really love them for that. So we all settled in and started getting the band ready to check.

Marquee!

Jazz Re:freshed @ the Mau Mau Bar

Now the Mau Mau Bar is not a huge place, but it’s a very cool space. The thing about the space is that if you have a large band like I had that night, you have to split up the band on either side of an aisle so that folks can get to the bathroom. So on one stage with me was the drums, bass, guitar and backing vocals. Then on the other stage was all the horns and percussion. It’s still a very cool setup. I could see everyone and that’s really all that matters.

Jeff & Scott (on trumpet) warming up their fingers pre-show

John breaking down the math. LOL!

Stage Left

LyricL & Tuca setting stage right

The Mau Mau also doesn’t really have a space where you can change. The last time I played there LyricL and I changed in the bathroom of a restaurant across the street. This time things were a little better. Chippy, who worked the door, had a friend named Chris who lived upstairs from the club and he was kind enough to let Hannabiell and I change in his apartment. Thanks Chris!

Hannabiell warming up pre-show

Hannabiell, fresh and ready to go!

Let me just say that Chris's apartment was so cute! I really love being able to take a peek at how apartments are in different neighborhoods and different parts of the world. Something that I have always loved and wanted was an apartment that had split-levels. Not like a staircase, but just a couple of steps down or up into the living room or the bedroom. I always thought that was cool and Chris had that.

Scott and I pre-show

Hannabiell and I chatted with Chris while we were putting on our makeup and he said he would come down to see the show and he actually did, which was very cool. We finished with our makeup, gathered our things and headed back down to the club. We had nice crowd brewing and it was almost time to go on.

Horns getting their charts together

Tuca! Ready to Rock!

Jeff! Ready to go!

Max on Sax!

I asked my uncle if he would video the show for me, which he did and my aunt took some awesome photos. Hannabiell was concerned about Yillis not making it because her train got delayed, but the made it, which was great! She didn’t miss a thing. I checked to make sure we were all in the house, Justin a.k.a. Top Rock introduced us and we were off.

Top Rock with the intro

The set list for the night was Out of My Mind, I Am American, Can’t Blame a Tree, Box, Give it to Me, I’m a Woman (I’m a Backbone), Go Head & Rise and the blaK Girls remix. It was an amazing night and set. The horns were in full effect and everything just came together.

The people! In front, my girl Van.

The afterglow

To see the complete set of show photos check out Flickr! Enjoy! 
photos by my Aunt Helen & Uncle Richard

I’ll just say this about the show. FIRE!!!  Everyone in the audience was so beautiful. I felt so blessed to back in that space again. The people there really love music and that’s what it’s all about folks. I played my tambourine, played John’s bass, danced with the people and with LyricL. It was so much fun!

Adam Rock! The man who makes is all happen!

When the show was over a few people came over to talk to me who were from the States and they were so excited about “Can’t Blame a Tree.” It was actually a white woman who said she was from Florida and had done some work around helping the Jena 6. This world get smaller and smaller. Another woman was so excited about “Out of My Mind”, but that song is not on my EP so I promised to send it to her. In fact I should do that right now! LOL! My friend and vocalist Michael Ashanti came to the show. He’s another one of my Ex-Pat friends from New York, but living in London. My friend Lindsay was there with his wife who I was happy to finally meet. It was so good to see him although it was short. The Temporary Residents crew was there, who I would get to spend much more time with on Saturday.  Ah, gang's all here.  My aunt and uncle left pretty much right after the show, but Jeff and I would hook up with them the next day.

I signed CDs and almost sold out. At the end of the night I only had two left! That’s what I’m talking about! After meeting and greeting I pulled my things together and Max said he would take us back to Anerley again. I love Max! He’s so sweet that he actually took Hannabiell, Yillis, Jeff and I back to our respective spaces. But before we went home we had to have an after show hang right?

Max decided to take us to Chinatown for some food there since that is one of the few places you could find food at that hour. So we piled into Max’s ride and headed that way.

The welcome dragon in Chinatown

We found a place to park and walked through the red light district to Chinatown. There were all kinds of restaurants open, but Max took us to one that he knew and they had a table for us in the corner in the back. We settled in, ordered, ate and talked for a while. It was a really nice end to a really great evening. This was another moment in which I was feeling especially blessed and so so thankful.

Jeff's plate? The meat special! What happens in London... LOL!

After eating we headed back to the car and back down south. Max dropped Hannabiell and Yillis in Peckham and then we were off to Anerely. We were soon at the house and saying out goodbyes to Max. Luckily it wasn’t the last time we would see him, but I was so thankful for him. I really had to hold back tears of gratitude. He’s such an amazing guy, that Max, and super humble. I found out during that trip that Max played with Prince when he was in London doing all those shows. I think that’s the beautiful thing about musicians. If the music is good, no matter if you are Prince or Shelley Nicole you will be there. I’m like that too. I just love music. No matter who is playing it, if it’s good it’s good.

So another night in London down. Show three tomorrow at Native Tongue. The horn players were so hyped after tonight’s show that they said the would come do it again with me the next night and I hadn’t even asked them. Blessings, blessings.

Thanks again to my London band & the Jazz Re:freshed crew: Tim Rickard, John Calvert, Tuca Milan, Hannabiell Sanders, Alam Nathoo, Scott Baylis, Max Grunhard,  LyricL, Adam Rock, Justin "Top Rock" McKenzie, Chippy, Bunny and anyone I may have forgotten, you are not forgotten. XXOO

Words to live by