Sy Smith : Psoulful Psinger

Vintage Trouble still abroad, their time slot was substituted by the soulful Sy Smith. Large of afro and voice - she is commanding visually and sonic-ly filling the club with groovy parishoners worshipping on a Tuesday night. What is one to do except join in the worship of one the best performers I've seen all year? With three albums under her belt, it's surprising she isn't more of a star, cuz she sure does shine!! If she returns, I highly recommend. Hopefully she will play more songs and keep us out a bit later. I could have heard another hour of her voice!!

Special shout-out to Kamasi Washington - who used to blast his sax on a semi-regular basis on Tuesday's back in the (Ryan Cross) SoulFunk days - who was just one of the members of Sy's awesome backing group. (I will amend this post with the rest of the band members' names asap.)

UltraLove : Valentine's Day

What's worse than not having a Valentine's Day date? Having one who cancels at the last minute. I had planned a romantic evening that would have ended at the UltraLove show. I went anyway. UltraLove's music always puts me in a good mood, as does the man himself - Mike "Ultralove" Wagner. That's him in the argyle sweater vest below.

Also in the photo above is vocalists Love Logiq on the left and T-Smidi on the right. The other members of UltraLove include Doug Showalter on guitar, Adam Berg on keys, Mike Gunn on bass and Seth Murphy on drums. Singer Soul Star was recently in a car accident, so she was not in the house. Wishing her a speedy recovery!!
Pan America (above) has been opening for UltraLove recently. Come early and check them out!!

Special thanks to Sheena for these pix!!

Esperanza Spalding : Grammy's Best New Artist

Best new artist Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding may have shocked the Bieber-heads, but at the Harvelle's blog, we've been a fan of Esperanza's ever since she dropped by in September of '09. Back then, she sat in with SoulFunk - bassist Ryan Cross' weekly jazz jam -playing Ryan's upright, accompanied by Gene Coye on drums and Brandon Coleman on keys.

I was in the right place at the right time to capture this performance.

Congratulations Esperanza!

Special shout-out to Ryan, Brandon, Gene, Kiki and Megan!!