A Night Out: Jesse Harris, Richard Julian, Sasha Dobson
Thursday night, I went to Lincoln Center's American Songbook concert featuring Jesse Harris, Richard Julian and Sasha Dobson.
I was initially attracted to this show because I recognized Jesse Harris as the author of "Don't Know Why," and a few other Norah Jones hits, but disappointingly, his set was the least compelling.
He played some sophisticated pop with a jazz undertone, but, frankly, it was just a little boring. And after my friend pointed it out, I just couldn't get past the fact that he sounds a lot like David Gray.
Fortunately, things picked up when Richard Julian took the stage. Looking like a folksier Johnny Depp, Julian took the energy level way up with his folk-rock ditties. His lyrics are smart and funny, and his music simple and straightforward. Thursday night, he introduced a new song, "Syndicated," which was a great exploration of living in America these days, and having a love-hate relationship with our homeland.
Then Dobson and Harris came out, for a three-way jam session. The three singer/songwriters are friends and collaborators, and that familiar relationship came out in their playing together. They did an fun, uptempo cover of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs' "Modern Romance," and it was interesting to look around the room and see who recognized it and who didn't. They audience was pretty evenly split between older Lincoln Center subscription holders and young hipsters.
One thing that turned me off, however, was that when they finished the song, Dobson told the audience only that it was the title track from her album, not that it was a cover.
The rest of her set was pretty cool. Her bassist was really talented, and totally stole the show with his solos. Dobson herself, who comes from a jazz family, has a cool, old fashioned (in a good way) voice.
The show, at an hour and a half, seemed a little bit long, but it was a nice night out.
