Harris dazzles at Singer's Night
Reviewed by Roland Henry Observer staff reporter
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Listening to Michael Sean Harris sing is simply cathartic.
The musician, who performed on Thursday at Christopher's jazz caf..'s Singer's Night was amazing, dazzling his audience with pretty rifts, runs and emotionally releasing melodies.
It's oxymoronic really, his style seems something never before heard, chased with a hint of familiarity. the infectious rhythms and rich tones Harris employed took no getting used to and had
the audience enthralled from the very first chord.
Backed by past and present students of the Edna Manley College of Music, he performed for close to three hours, opening his set with Gershwin's Summertime. A couple of '80s rock ballads and a 15-minute break were the precursors to the more charming second set.
Singer Michael Harris belting out one of many numbers on Thursday night at Christopher's jazz caf... (Photo: Karl McLarty)
It was here that Harris really displayed his masterful vocals. Harris scored with his original, Mountain, accompanied by Mijanne Webster - a 'punk-rock-type-chick' who played a 'mean' violin, giving the song its 'blue-grass-meets-kumina' flair.
"There's a song I heard when I was in France. I decided I'd learn it and sing it, even though I don't speak French," Harris said, before going into L'envie D'aimer.
Love lessons from the world's romance capital now over, reggae (or at least a hybrid version of it) reigned for the next two renditions.
"All you need is a breath of fresh air to breathe.," Harris sang in Breath Of Fresh Air. The melody then transcended into a hard rock-reggae bridge (much like that of Tessanne Chin's Hideaway) before going back to its creeping pace. Christopher's erupted when the singer performed Gnarls Barkley's Crazy - the song which topped acclaimed entertainment magazine Rolling Stone's 100 best songs of 2006. Harris slowed its pace midway through, truly making the rendition his own.
But the show didn't only include musical experimentations and odes to the existential; he threw in a couple of inspirational numbers for good measure. First up, another original: In Your Presence and then He Lives In You (from The Lion King II - Simba's Pride soundtrack) - the latter perhaps an ode to his theatrical roots, as an active member of Little People and Ashe for a number of years.
Harris' musical influences are as eclectic as they are empowering.
But what type of music is it?
He doesn't know.
"It's a mixture of everything, but a lot of
what I do is still very Jamaican," he shared between sets.
He's not even worried that the cornucopia of music genres in his work might lack mainstream appeal.
"Honestly, I can't do it any other way. I think if I bought into the sameness [that exists in mainstream music] I would be killing my spirit."
He added: "There's a following somewhere for pop-world music." While that might be so, Harris did not hesitate to churn out the mainstream classics like the Cars' classic new wave ballad Drive, Toto's Africa, The Spinners' Working My Way Back To You and Betcha By Golly Wow from the Stylistics.
"Today (Thursday, March 8) is International Women's Day, so I'm going to call up my friend Diana Rutherford (Rising Stars, season one)," he said. Harris and the svelte powerhouse, who inaugurated the Singer's Night feature several weeks prior, belted out Woman In Chains, which roused thunderous applause from the appreciative audience. The duo's emotional connection was undeniable.
A more sexually-charged celebration of womanhood came to the fore with the 'Third World-y-sounding' Moonshine Darlin'. "You're just a pretty face attached to a heartbreak.," sang Harris, segueing into the dub-reggae stylings of Shine Eye Gyal - an apt remix played up by background vocalist Chevaughn Clayton.
The rendition was followed by Covered Saints, a tune filled with breezy, light, sexy vocals and a 'sha-la-la' lilt. Much of it wasn't English, but that didn't seem to matter to the more than 100 patrons who immersed themselves in the rich musical offerings.
With raw emotion oozing from every note, Harris pressed on, amidst screaming women and cheering men who shouted for more classics.
"Yuh gonna sing till yuh bleed, you ain't leaving," ordered one patron who'd obviously been by the bar far too long. The requests continued and Harris obliged, but it was the set closer, Voices, that really cemented the emotional exchange between singer and his audience. It's infectious Arabic-pop infused sound stirred even the eldest of patrons to belly dance and then some.
The singer encored with Aaron Neville's All I Need To Know accompanied once more by Rutherford who again shone brilliantly.
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