Concert Previews
Ms. Lauryn Hill Lauryn Hill's considerable reputation rests on a very slim body of work: The Fugees' The Score (1996) and her solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), which earned her five Grammys. Aside from the odd set of works in progress th
Ms. Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill's considerable reputation rests on a very slim body of work: The Fugees'
The Score
(1996) and her solo debut,
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
(1998), which earned her five Grammys. Aside from the odd set of works in progress that was her
MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
(2002), Hill - who now prefers to go by Ms. Lauryn Hill - has been reclusive, and her live appearances rare indeed. So the short, full-band tour that brings her to Atlantic City on Saturday is an event. Expect radically revamped versions of hip-hop classics such as "Doo Wop (That Thing)," "Lost Ones," "Ready or Not," and "Fu-Gee-La," as well as the possibilities of a delayed start and stream-of-consciousness rants. Hope to witness the resurrection of one of hip-hop's brightest, most versatile, and enigmatic stars.
- Steve Klinge
Amina Claudine Myers
Before Cassandra Wilson and her crepuscular blend of jazz, blues, and gospel, there was Amina Claudine Myers. This adventurously genre-mixing, avant-atmospheric pianist, organist, composer, and vocalist trod similar ground before Wilson had any footing. After the church's godly groove, it was Myers' first-wave involvement with Chicago's legendarily weird and experimental Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), whose members included Henry Threadgill and Archie Shepp, that formed her postmodernist reputation. Though Myers bounced freely between improvisational flights of fancy in her piano playing and Lester Bowie-like aplomb in her rhythmic accompaniment, she could spin on the gospel-tinged good foot ("Do You Want to Be Saved?" from 1983's
The Circle of Time
), howl through the gut-shot blues of
Salutes Bessie Smith
(1980), and grind fabulously through contemporary soul-jazz (the second disc of 2009's
Augmented Variations
). For this too-rare trip to Philly (brought here by the Ars Nova Workshop), a solo Myers will take to St. Mark's Church's 1937 Aeolian-Skinner organ Opus 948, built by American organ innovator G. Donald Harrison. Myers will make the pipe-and-pedal "King of Instruments" sound as it never has before.
- A.D. Amorosi
Sharon Jones
Of the factoids you can learn about 54-year-old revival-soul singer Sharon Jones - that she sang backup for Phish during the band's tribute to
Exile on Main St.
in 2009, for example - one of the most interesting is her time as a corrections officer at New York's Rikers Island. Keeping prisoners in line no doubt helped Jones learn a thing or two about commanding attention. That's not as noticeable on her four albums, where the focus quickly shifts to her extremely funky backing band, the Dap-Kings. As a live act, though, Jones acts like a woman on fire. Perhaps she is: Undiscovered for most of her career, Jones only recently began attracting an audience ready for her Stax-inspired sound. Her latest, 2010's
I Learned the Hard Way
, shows a lot of years - and odd jobs - paying off.
- Michael Pollock