Marcia Griffiths with Jay Douglas live at the CNE Bandshell Friday, August 23, 2017


Marcia Griffiths with Jay Douglas, CNE Bandshell, August 23, 2017

      Jay Douglas must have played the CNE almost as often as Burton Cummings. The Jamaican- born, Toronto – based musical force has been entertaining audiences here and abroad for decades. He is mostly associated with roots reggae, but he has played soul music around town since his days with the Cougers in the 1960s. Sometimes he plays still older songs, such as “What A Wonderful World” which he sang tonight after covering the Marvin Gaye classic “What’s Going On?”
      Ska hits like “No Man Is An Island” and “There’s a Stranger Knocking” were performed alongside Rocksteady songs like “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” and “Take Your Time,” with the audience sing-along that accompanied it, kept the vintage Jamaican sounds dominating Jay Douglas’ set. Douglas acknowledged this when citing the necessity of a tight band for any singer who wants to be able to change things up mid-show. Jay Douglas’ voice has aged well and he continues to sing with a full voice. More recently, he has been working with Chris Butcher from the Heavyweights Brass Band.

      Marcia Griffiths came on stage after a short break. The enthusiastic crowd sang along with many of her hits and covers. The Grandstand, with it’s relaxed vibe, works well for reggae artists. Leroy Sibbles, Freddy McGregor and other reggae artists have played great sets there over the years, often with family and friends in the audience. 
      She led the crowd through the choruses of many classics, from sixties chestnuts like “Solomon” to the somewhat more recent hit “Welcome to Jamdown.”
      While some jams featured brief moments of hit songs, most of Marcia’s own songs were played through. “One Draw,” Marcia’s biggest hit with the I-Threes, preceded a Studio One medley that had the audience singing along loudly to Marcia’s early solo hit “Feel Like Jumping” and “54-46.”
      “Stepping Out of Babylon” and “Electric Slide”, solo hits for Griffiths, were as well received as the Bob Marley songs – an abridged rendition of “Redemption Song” and “Mellow Mood,” which came later. “Electric Slide” featured an improvised dance contest / demonstration on stage.
      Following the “Electric Slide” competition, Marcia gave an extended shout-out to various deceased reggae singers, including Phyllis Dillon whose “Perfidia” concluded the show.
     




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2020.2.1 Elage Diouf live at Alliance Francaise, Toronto

Elage Diouf at Alliance Francaise Saturday February 1 2020 Batuki Music Society and Alliance Francaise bring some terrific African talent, artists often little known outside their community, to our community of music fans downtown. Elage Diouf started playing as a kid, with his brother. He hid this predilection from his parents initially, but the pair became known as purveyors of music in Diouf’s native Senegal. He toured Europe before arriving in Montreal on a limited engagement that turned into a new life in Canada. His first solo album “Askil” is the Wolof word for “welcome” or “enter.” Singing in Wolof and French, with the occasional smattering of English, Diouf has become an accomplished singer – songwriter and percussionist.   Tonight, with some expert help imported from Montreal, Diouf played two well received sets. His live sound is raw and immediate, despite the smooth production on his released songs. The drummer let Diouf meander on his hand ...
Read more

Ruby Waters Live at the Horseshoe, Wednesday, November 13, 2019

2019.11.13 Ruby Waters Wednesday November 13, 2019 at The Horseshoe Tavern. Ruby Waters career is taking off. She toured with Classified and appears on his song “10 Years,” which they performed together at the 2019 East Coast Music Awards in Charlottetown. Recently she released an e.p. called “Almost Naked.” She had the idea and title on her mind for years but decided to wait until now to put an album out. Waters brought her 1-man back-up band to the Horseshoe for the first of two nights in her home town. The keyboard player riffed on some soulful slivers between songs, which varied stylistically once they got going. Some of Waters’ material is classic singer-songwriter rustic sounding, while other songs are decidedly poppier. The drum sounds emanating from the keyboard player for some tracks seemed incongruent with Waters’ natural vibe and singing approach. A good live drummer would have pushed the music harder on stage. The keyboardist meandered into th...
Read more

Downchild Blues Band Live Bloor Street, TD Jazz Festival, Saturday June 22, 2019

2019.6.22 (2) Downchild Blues Band with guests -   Saturday, June 22, 2019. TD Jazz Festival, Bloor Street, Toronto. A few casualties of the road later, Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh’s Downchild Blues Band had made it to their 50 th Anniversary in road-worthy form. The band are touring Canada on and off for the rest of the year, raising the stakes for this particular gig. Luckily, it fell on a sunny Saturday evening, the first of the summer. Downchild’s rocking blues with a dash of soul might be more famous globally for inspiring The Blues Brothers, but they’ve been a reliable ticket to a party in Canada for, (ahem) 50 years. Like their more famous musical forebears, each lost a charismatic front man to lifestyle problems, but Downchild soldiers on. Tonight’s bash was a free street show for thousands of people crammed into the concrete canyon of Bloor West at Bay Street. A few friends came by, like American keyboardist Gene Taylor, guitarist Kenny Nea...
Read more