Boney James – Arena Theater – Houston, Texas May 26, 2011
Concert Reviews
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Written by Daniel Barker
May 26, 2011
Image     Believe it or not, I am a smooth jazz fan….blame it on my step dad and all the torturous hours of listening to radio stations that played instrumental jazz versions of Top 40 hits during road trips at a younger age. So with that in mind, I attempted to lower my stress level at my office job, bolted to a desk for 9 hours a day, by listening to 95.7 The Wave and Sunny 99.1. Smooth Jazz won out by far. That led to a favorite spot on my car radio, etc., etc….Then I joined BMG CD Club and chose “Contemporary Jazz” as my personal preference to start my collection.

Once the CD’s started making their way to the mail box I beagn to have name recognition with players like Norman Brown and Kenny G plus groups like Incognito. It is here that I was introduced to Mr. Boney James and what is dubbed as “urban jazz” – contemporary jazz with elements of R&B and Hip-Hop. Tonight he was coming to town supporting his 13th album, “Contact”. An album that has spent 10 weeks at the top of Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Chart.

Boney James may not be a household name to anyone outside of jazz circles but he has sold over 3 million albums making him one of the most successful instrumental artist of all time. Nine of BJ’s albums have reached #1 and two have reached the Top 10 on the beforementioned Billboard chart. The guy is no joke and I was pumped to have my first chance to see him live and to cover him for HMR to boot.

It had been quite awhile since I have been to The Arena Theater and I can say nothing has changed. That is a good thing. Same intimate atmosphere with the rotating stage down Hwy 59. Same long entranceway with all the pictures of the greats that have come before. I have always liked coming to this place. With that said, tonight the place was half empty or half full – whatever your perspective is. Not a great showing for the Houston jazz scene for sure.

Image     Boney James had Grammy award winning artist, Regina Belle, opening tonight. Her set was more gospel driven as she really felt at home interacting with the audience. She has recently beat cancer and was here to testify. You go girl.

BJ made it out and played his ass off. The guy has style and made everyone feel like he was playing just for them…his band was young, enthusiastic and tight. He played all the hits from those 13 albums in the new material off “Contact”. A solid album that I have had the pleasure of listening to many times.

I am trying to stretch things out a little in 2011 for HMR by covering some genres that our fans have not seen us cover before. If you love music, then you will love Boney James…great music for anytime, anywhere. Until next time, I will see you out supporting live music.