Two band leaders come to mind immediately when thinking of the music industry term “commanding the stage.” Both are in control, but in completely different, yet superb ways
James Brown was definitely in charge in front of his band while shouting out stops and starts and accents and changes. If a musician missed a cue, it came off the player’s paycheck. Then, there is the opposite way of being in command with the glorious George Clinton who is more of the main mischief maker at a party of his own creation. Joe Keyes, the leader of the collective known as the Late Bloomers, is absolutely in the latter classification. He is the Peter Pan of P-Funk, the Granddad of Groove, but mostly, he is an ambassador of joy. And he brought his festive collection musicians to Baltimore on Thursday night.
Like the other two band leaders, Joe Keyes doesn’t play an instrument and considers himself more of a “conductor.” Indeed, during the performance, he was much more in charge of the dynamics of the songs than any chord changes as he would give hand signals and shout out volume changes. Much of this has to do with the most important aspect of the show which is create a feeling. The “vocal vibologist,” as he calls himself, clearly feels that the positive atmosphere is on an equal plane with the music itself. In fact, one might think of the music as a soundtrack to the message of love he expounds. This is little wonder considering Mr. Keyes came up listening to and working with the likes of Gil Scott Heron and George Clinton. But this is not a collection of older musicians being nostalgic.
At first glance, one might guess that the average age of the band members to be half his, which probably suits him fine. The tight-knit band laid down hip grooves but were connecting with each other emotionally as well as musically. It was as if each chord was accompanied with a smile and nod to a fellow funkster. After all, spreading joy is timeless and the ambassador will make sure a new generation will continue to provide the sound to move hearts along with feet. Keep an eye out for this force of bliss.
Enjoy a few photos of Joe Keyes performing at Ottobar in Baltimore on March 5th and check out the single “Stinkbug in my Brownie” here:
