I was lucky enough to make it in time for a little sound check tonight.  ‘Always There’ and ‘Listen Here’, whet my appetite for the Ronnie Laws Special Event CD Release Party at Spaghettini in Seal Beach , CA .  Anticipation was running high and the crowd was a beehive of buzz.  I was perched front row, center for the legendary Ronnie Laws.  It doesn’t get much better than that in my estimation.  I am convinced I am living a dream here!  The promoters canvassing the entire venue prior to show time handing out free CD singles of, ‘Step Right’, from Ronnie’s twenty-sixth CD called, Voices in the Water more-than-sustained the excitement.

  His Emcee commented, “Good evening everybody.  How are you doing here tonight?”  Q hit the stage and said, “This is a special night tonight, Mr. Ronnie Laws.  As most of you are aware this is his CD release party brought to you by the WAVE.  He was one of the original members of Earth, Wind and Fire before he went solo.  You are the first to hear his new CD.  Ronnie will be out in a few minutes.  I want to introduce the Ronnie Laws Band.”

  They opened with ‘For Your Love’ and showed us what they were made of.  The cohesive energy they shared was spellbinding.  What a great band!  The grabbed hold of the song and wrapped themselves around it.  A shush from Craig T. Cooper took the end of the tune to as-smooth-as-butter.  Craig T. Cooper is one heck of a guitar player.  His vibe was amazing.

  Cooper announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Ronnie Laws.”  The boisterous voice of the emcee chimed in, “Ronnie Laws.”  The moment he hit the stage it was obvious he has the ‘it factor’, and it is alive and well.  He swept the attention of everyone there from his first note.  His magic begins the minute he gets his groove on.  He was in the zone-zone-zone with eyes closed and mesmerizing the crowd with his wow-it’s-really-him sax style.  His sound is full-bodied and his beat is stellar.  He plays straight into his microphone and the sound is off-the-hook!

  Ronnie asked, “How y’all feelin’?  Put your hands together.  Welcome to the CD release party for a brand-new CD called Voices in the Water.  Are you all ready for this?  We have to start out with a little James Brown.  If you love James Brown say yeah!  Yeah!  He hit it, and hit it hard.  The crowd was hooked and completely engaged.

  Ronnie said, “We’re gonna do a little, ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’ (Live in Concert, Tribute to the Legendary Eddie Harris CDs), by Eddie Harris.  We’re gonna do a little Eddie Harris later.  We’re gonna do a little freedom jazz.”  Craig T Cooper started things off on guitar jand broke it wide open.  Craig was a maniac as he rode his hand up and down the neck of his guitar making the song zing.  Ronnie got so low and dirty he made his sax sound like a foghorn.  What a riff!  His passion and love of music were gorgeous.  It is no wonder he is a living legend.  Every eye in the more-than-capacity crowd was on him.  He stood back while the band took over then created his own vibe.  “Bap, Bap Bap”, he queued Euko on keyboards.  Then it was Ronnie jumped back on sax to round it out perfectly.

  “Ronnie said, “Alright, thank you.  So you liked that?  We’re gonna do something from the new CD.  It’s called, ‘Down and Up Again’ (Voices In The Water CD).  Come on.”  He hit it with his soprano sax and muttered, “Yeah, yeah.  How do you like that?  You like that?” he asked.  He wailed the soprano sax straight into the mic again then pointed to Cooper on guitar.  Craig gifted a stellar guitar vibe.  His confident style looks like he could pull it off blindfolded, and I think he could!  They were all giving up the back-and-forth with some of the best licks I’ve heard.  The still-can’t-sit-down groove was doin’ it to the house!  Ronnie was reinventing the soprano sax while Euko beautified the keyboard with her voice.  Cooper added vocals to his guitar and Ronnie said, “Thank you.”

  He stayed on the soprano for the next one opening without a mic until the band joined in.  He was trillin’ like crazy.  It was mystifying.  Laws said, “Drum roll.”  He walked over and asked, “Keep playin’.”  Bubba’s drum solo took the doors off the place.  The crowd went nuts when he dished out an extraordinary plate of mind boggling rhythm.  Everyone in the band stood back including Ronnie.  The entire crowd was completely into it and cheering him on.  Ronnie grabbed the tenor and soprano at the same time and played them both while the drum continued to fly off-the-chain.  It was spectacular!

  “We’re gonna take this opportunity to honor one of the most legendary sax players of all time, Mr. Eddie Harris.  We all stand on the shoulders of those who precede us.  And with Eddie Harris, those are some big shoulders,” he admitted.

  Ok, fasten your seat belts folks.  There comes Lynn ’s favorite song of all time, ‘Listen Here’ (Live in Concert, Tribute to the Legendary Eddie Harris CDs).  If I was wondering before about living the dream, I am certain now.  This was it!  The entire crowd went crazy for this classic.  Ronnie rocked it home and surely did Eddie proud.  He wailed it, belted it, kicked it and rocked it inside out!  Euko’s keyboard solo was stellar.  She pounded it, rolled it and jazzed it up.  She just, plain did it to it.  From there it was back to Ronnie for the finale.  What a wow!

  Back to the soprano sax it was.  Ronnie said, “Ok, now I want to have some audience participation on this song.  Come on.  Yeah-Yeah-uh-huh.  ‘Can’t Stop the Music’ had everyone singing, “We go like this and we go like that.”  We were all having a blast with it.  Craig rounded it out with another guitar solo that rocked our socks off.

  Ronnie proudly introduced his band and went on to ask, “Are you having a good time?”  He repeated, “Are you having a good time?  I’m sure you’re in for a real good time.”

  After Ronnie left the stage ex NFL player Larry Lee on bass took the stage to show us how it was done during the break.  What a bass player!  The venue was having more crazy-good fun when he and special guest Dante Winslow tore it up on trumpet.  The two had never played together before.  Their improvisation was incredible, the synchronicity was top notch.  They talked about Ronnie being an icon and offered up an old school medley of great tunes.  From old school to Motown they covered the gamete with, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ to ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ and on to. ‘My Girl’.  In the end Larry said, “Thank you for letting me have some fun.”

  The spotlight was back up and the emcee said, “Ok, California how ya doin?  Are you having a fun time so far?  Are you ready for Mr. Ronnie Laws?  Ronnie grabbed the stage one more time with the soprano sax and did the long version of ‘People Make The World Go Round’.  The crowd went nuts.

  He then said, “We’re gonna do one more.”  He repeated, “We’re gonna do one more.  “Put your hands together.  Everybody get up, come on.”  ‘Always There’ (The Best of Ronnie Laws, Live in Concert, Tribute to the Legendary Eddie Harris, The History of Blue Note-Seventieth Anniversary CDs), was his finale-of-all-finales.  The house was on it’s and ear sideways.  He worked the hip sway right into the back arch and brought this one home to mama.  Everyone was standing and clapping.

  A huge thank you and much appreciation to the legendary Ronnie Laws for some of the best music I’ve ever heard in my life.  Here’s a toast to over three decades of some of the most incredible music of all time!

© April 2009 Lynn M. Olson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Concert Review: Spaghettini, Saturday, April 18, 2009 by Lynn Olson for ijazzglobal.com