Crib Notes

SOL BROTHER NO. 1: Bilal performs at Sol Fusion on Thanksgiving eve.

(photos by Shannon McCollum)

Sol Fusion, the international love fest/get-your-back-up-off-the-wall jam helmed by lifestyle aficionados J. Carter and Kenny Burns, hit yet another crescendo last week during its fifth anniversary celebration. Voted Critics’ Pick for Best Club Event by CL in ‘05 (click here to read the review), Sol Fusion is a cool blend of artists, musicians, creative cuties, down-home homies and on-point crowd controllers such as DJ Kemit. With soul maestro Bilal riding shotgun, this was one event everybody and their mama’s mama will tell the grandkids about.

See, Bilal ain’t your average singer. He’s emotive. His live set is a mixed bag of personal narrative and an extreme exercise in sonic freedom digging in the crates of jazz, blues, hip-hop, R&B, alternative and musical expressions yet to be named. And with a distinct voice moving from falsetto wails to baritone-inflected blues, every woman in earshot was wooed. But Bilal is more of a blue-collar soul star than the ego-driven star all too commonplace in the industry. His appeal rests on a marriage between witty lyrics dripping with lived experience and a toe-tapping/head-nodding rhythm section causing body parts to shake. Though he covered classic tracks such as “Love Poems” and “Fast Lane,” his performance of the foot-in-your-ass track “Sometimes” brought down the house (almost literally) as a possessed Bilal slammed mic stands and gave his electric piano a beating only Ike Turner could appreciate.

J. Carter (from left), Edward M. Garnes Jr. and Bilal

Thanks to Nicole Garner and Kevin Stuckey of the Garner Circle, I was able to get an exclusive interview with the humorous and humble soulster. Here is a brief snippet:

The songs you write, like “Sometimes,” are things that people have been through. Talk about relating to the heart of folks.

It’s painful; but it’s necessary. A lot of the stuff I do, I lived through it … most of the stuff I do because I know a person has been in the situation I’m in. It’s like church music … it’s like the blues … it’s the thing you play to get through regular life.

A lot of times black music is segregated. You have always incorporated jazz and even made references to Miles Davis. How important is keeping that connection to the past?

It’s all necessary. It’s our roots. But play that shit!!

Click here to play some of Bilal’s hot shit.

Click here for more info on Sol Fusion.

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Tags: Bilal, Sol-Fusion.