September 12th, 2010: David Murray – The Last Poets – The Roots

@la villette

The show was called “tongues on fire”, and was a tribute to the black panthers. David Murray did a great job of staying consistent with the musical spirit of that era, but as it’s not one I’m fond of, that was my loss too. But it all made sense, and that’s not so easy and was critical for it not to become a complete joke — a definite threat with the overwhelmingly white and affluent audience the ticket price all but guaranteed.

The Last Poets were amazing, very much worth all the praise I’d read and heard over the years. That part of the show made it all worth it, and far outweighed the relative disappointment I got out of the overall thing.

The Roots were OK, but I felt they were a little bit too respectful. ?uestlove remains very good, and I’m glad I finally got to hear him live, but it’s still a bit of a letdown. I guess they had reasons to tone it down playing with The Last Poets, but I’m sure they could have been a bigger part of it to no ill effect. Vernon Reid was a little too present for me, though that kinda made sense too, as he does have roots in that musical era.