Drawing George Clinton was a thrill – he wasn’t performing but being interviewed, a headliner of the Red Bull Academy series at the Brooklyn Museum in May 2015. Having a front row view and a comfortable seat was a great luxury. The signature is his.
Other recent additions include the trance-struck Patrice Quinn, performing here at Kamasi Washington’s first New York show at the Blue Note in late August. The liiiiiiiiiine was around the block. She is the one woman in KW’s ensemble and even more gorgeous than this expression here suggests! Her beautiful energy fills the stage; she is mesmerized by the music and, in turn, absolutely captivated the audience.
I got to draw Emily King at the Bowery Ballroom – one on Soundpapered’s list for a while – and of all the drawings, including a decent likeness, this speedier sketch is the most accurate capture of her physical presence: strutting about and fabulous.
And 2015 would not have been complete without politely asking a pit full of giant Texan photographers to try not to jog me while we all caught 11x Grammy-nominated Kendrick Lamar at Day For Night in Houston in December. We were cleared after 5 songs, so consider this unfinished – never got to draw all his teeth, nor shade this, but it catches the moment, the proximity, his fierce eloquence and connection with the audience appropriately.
Jesse Boykins III and Eve Cornelious both lit up the stage in their separate sets at Art of Cool in April 2015. JB3 started out in fifty layers of clothing, only to end his electrifying in a skintight gold top. The days of girls throwing knickers at the stage apparently died out with waving lighters, but this would have been the moment.
At his live/dj set in NYC, during the heavy days of the Baltimore protests a couple of weeks later, The Real Live Show’s Malik Work wore an a propos We The People t-shirt .
Amel Larrieux (formerly of Groove Theory) and LA trio, King, both performed at the Hayti in Durham, North Carolina in April 2014, at the Art of Cool. The Foreign Exchange also performed the same night, where I drew Phonte too, in his home town. The drawings of his backing singers, Carmen Rodgers and Jeanne Jolly, of Zo! and Nicolay are from The Foreign Exchange’s Brooklyn show the following month, at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Jean Baylor and Nadia Washington are now both here – they are a couple of the loveliest ladies in the NY fam, and deserve much more attention than just these jpgs. You’ll see Nadia in Soundpapered’s Revive/Blue Note animation in the news section here.
Nia Andrews I first saw at Church at Drom in Summer 2012. She was performing here (again in NC) with Mark de Clive Lowe’s group. I was waaaay at the back of the De La Soul show so only managed to capture Trugoy (Plug Two) of the daisy-aging trio. Gregory Porter played Summerstage in Central Park in August, and Quincy Jones’ prodigy, Nikki Yanovsky, debuted at the Blue Note the day after.
Cecilia Stalin made her incredible debut at Love Supreme in Brighton in July before she went on to support Gregory Porter in at a few UK gigs later in 2014. Becca Stevens sang Dragon with Jose James on the opening night of his US tour at the Highline. India Arie brought the house down at Stevie Wonder’s DC show on his Songs in the Key of Life tour in November. And Kate Dimbleby sang the songs of Dory Previn with Naadia Sheriff on piano (see keys) over Christmas in 2014. Whew.
