Review | The New Mastersounds & The Nth Power | San Francisco
By Team JamBase Oct 18, 2014 • 7:00 am PDT
The Nth Power and The New Mastersounds :: 09.27.14 :: Great American Music Hall :: San Francisco, CA
What this benefit concert for a local homeless charity organization set up by The New Mastersounds’ guitar slinger Eddie Roberts boiled down to was how does one honor tradition but still remain contemporary? With the relatively freshly minted The Nth Power launching festivities in their West Coast tour debut, one had a pleasant contrast in responses to this question.
Straight up, I’ve rarely fallen so hard or so swiftly for a new band as I did with The Nth Power after their undulating, exhilarating set at GAMH. Long a champion and uber-fan of keyboardist-singer Nigel Hall -the man I call “Superstar” and you should to -I’ll always pay attention if he’s involved. Throw in crack-a-lackin’ drummer Nikki Glaspie (Dumpstaphunk) and curiosity rises, but stir them together with stop-ya-in-yo-tracks singer-guitarist Nick Cassarino (Jennifer Hartswick Band, Big Daddy Kane, bohemian preacher), percussionist Weedie Braimah (Toubab Krewe) and bassist Nate Edgar (John Brown’s Body) and something kinda holy comes into being. Holy is a mighty strong word but it’s the right fit when this quintet locks in, the bountiful pleasure of playing THIS music with THESE people throwing off light and positivity. Love in the greater sense and love of what they do, and the ancestors whose steps they walk in is apparent, charismatic and, more colloquially, right the fuck on.
The Nth Power are the children of prime ‘70s Motown injected with New Century bounce, wise in the ways of slow jam gold -I’d pass the hat to get them to cover Norman Connors’ “You Are My Starship” -but also hip to what Sly’s street talkin’ and keen to what today’s ghetto-wise sounds have to offer – ghetto here offered in the Donny Hathaway sense. Too often admirers of crate digger fare end up being rehashes, echoes of the real thing, and there’s none of that with The Nth Power because their underpinnings are dead solid. They’re not trying to emulate Stevie Wonder, The Commodores, etc. but they vibe strong with these root sources because they’re crafting songs for everyone just trying to make it through, inducements to keep one’s head up, and then reach out a helping hand to someone whose gaze remains fixed on the dirty sidewalk.
In short, I’m in love and excited about what’s coming. The Nth Power is evolving quickly but my instincts say we ain’t seen the full scope of this crew yet. Not by a long shot.
So, The New Mastersounds offered a more orthodox approach to the soul-jazz tradition. That’s not a dig, and in a lot of ways the rise and continuing fan-base the band holds owe a lot to their ability to summon the snap-twist crispness and mood of the ‘60s Blue Note stable and Godfather James Brown – patron saint for this benefit Roberts named “The Payback.” This quartet is very, very good at what they do. I need only tune into Pete Shand (bass) or Joe Tatton (organ, piano) and the visceral enjoyment is so immediate that it almost doesn’t matter what tune they’re playing – I just freakin’ dig their playing. That said, it may be that I’ve seen too many New Mastersounds shows or that the members living in different locales and not playing together as often as they once did has had an effect but there was a sense at the Great American that I was witnessing an excellent band play a good show but one they could probably produce through muscle memory.
See, The New Mastersounds are so naturally talented and so natural onstage that I think they can dazzle without trying all that hard. There was none of the hunger, none of the “I’m looking to get YOU off” intensity that The Nth Power exhibited. Even the guest appearance of The Meters’ Zigaboo Modeliste for double drums with Simon Allen at the end of Set I and much of Set II was cool but not particularly engaging, at least to me.
Most gathered at the Music Hall were bouncing quite happily, and it may be that my appetite for straight ahead soul-jazz isn’t what it used to be. I’ll concede that but I’ll also be honest about the differences these ears picked up on in this pairing. The New Mastersounds are ridiculously comfortable working within the framework of their forebears, pushing at the edges in appealing ways, but The Nth Power has the full cosmic yen to emerge from their chrysalis with big wings of dazzling, newly blended colors.
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