Stagestruck

FEMI KUTI & POSITIVE FORCE/KARL DENSON'S TINY UNIVERSE
@Stubb's, Austin, TX
April 27, 2001
He was regal. There's no other word to describe him. As he took the stage to the Afrobeat vamp provided by his band Positive Force, Femi Kuti radiated royal charisma, commanding attention even when he'd gone no further than the wings. He was definitely a benevolent ruler, though, rather than a despot. He came to share his riches, not show them off. He wanted his band and the audience to feel the power he wields as the spiritual, life-giving force he believes it to be. Like his late father, the great Nigerian bandleader/composer/activist Fela Kuti, creator and undisputed emperor of Afrobeat, Femi believes music has the power to heal, uplift, and change things for the better. His tight, funky take on his father's creation was so galvanizing even unbelievers could not remain unmoved. Fela's version of the music combined African juju with American funk and jazz; Femi lets the jazz elements be more ornamental, preferring instead to clothe his messages of unity and spiritual surcease in cleaner, more dance-oriented robes. This was body music, not so much in a sexual sense (though certainly that as well), but in the sense that Femi and his band feel this music deeply, right down to the lowliest cells, and they were determined that the crowd feel it as well. He sang, he played spirited alto sax and splashy organ, and, like every member of his band not actively involved in instrumental fireplay, he danced. He and his trio of dancers, including his wife and his sister, communicated the rhythm more eloquently with their hips, arms and grace than any mere words could ever hope to do. There was no pretense to this performance, no party-hearty artifice. Femi Kuti and Positive Force gave everything they had to this music, and gladly. The audience shared and gloried in all they had to give.

Saxophonist Karl Denson, who is co-headlining this tour with Femi, played a hard funk version of jazz that incorporated Fender Rhodes piano, Latin percussion and tight, punchy horn lines that draw as much inspiration from James Brown as from Duke Ellington. As with Femi's set, the rhythm never let up and hips never stopped shimmying—even Denson's short flute solo kept the four on the floor. While the band didn't reach the heights of Femi and the Force—it couldn't, no one could—they still kept the crowd moving with energy and sheer musicality. Like Femi, Denson never stopped moving; when he wasn't blowing, he banged on something from the arsenal of percussion at the foot of his mic stand or simply danced. He clearly enjoyed this music as much as the audience. Speaking of which, the crowd seemed to made up mostly of young neo-hippie kids, the kind that devote themselves to Phish and other jam bands. It's nice to know the new millennium's great unwashed are discovering there's much more to jamming and improv than stretching a song out for ten minutes with enervated soloing. The groove is all, children, and Femi Kuti and Karl Denson rode it to paradise. Michael Toland