Monday, March 9, 1998
Quaye massages crowd with smooth, confident sound
MUSIC: Blending reggae, rock, soul and pop, this singer is
anything but uncomfortable on stage
By Michelle Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
In blue jeans and a navy blue sweater, Finley Quaye came onstage
at the Roxy on Wednesday night like a guy who had just had a couple
of blunts with his mates and wanted to sing to linger on that
high-heavy feeling.
The cool confidence of the half-Ghanan, half-Scottish Quaye
showed he was very at home with the music scene. He comes from a
large musical family. Quaye’s father, Cab Quaye, is a jazz composer
and his brother has played guitar for Elton John and Hookfoot and
Hall and Oates in the ’70s.
Or maybe his demeanor stems from a person who takes success
even-handedly. Someone had taken Quaye’s demo unwittingly, and
immediately five record labels came seeking him out. Now he’s
burning up charts in England and throughout Europe.
The audience did not seem to have any doubts about his
understated style. Their heads had been nodding to the DJ who was
spinning reggae anthems previously, and their heads just kept on
happily nodding when Quaye began.
His debut album "Maverick a Strike," a blend of reggae, rock,
soul and pop, has an appeal that was sure to attract a diverse
crowd. Alternating between British ex-pats familiar with the London
scene and new American fans, it was an eclectic audience, peppered
with hard-core reggae fans donning their tribal head gear and
mainstream-minded yuppies.
Quaye’s voice was album-perfect, sounding as smooth, controlled
and beautifully nasal as always. With cigarette in hand, he offered
his idealistic and romantic musings in non-theatrical earnestness.
When he broke away from his focused gaze on the mike, he would
occasionally crack a knowing, boyish smile to the audience.
Cradling Quaye’s crisp croon was the eight-piece band. Tie-dies,
sunglasses and dreads made up the visuals for most of the members.
After doing an easy, altered version of his hit, "Even After All,"
the band received a carte blanche from Quaye to jam on free and
ferocious without him.
The three piece brass set went on to solo individually, a
reminder of how sweet it is to hear the rhythmic vein of jazz
giving life-blood to its reggae cousin. The scent of sweet, green
smoke curled its way around the tight and simple reggae-esque
riffs.
The saxophonist caressed his notes teasingly during "It’s Great
When We’re Together" but joined his fellow trumpet player and
trombonist later to jump it up ska-style in with their short,
blaring notes as they moved in unison. With lips jutting forward
and tightly pursed, the bassist would look to the sky in his dark
sunglasses as he etched out the groove-line for the audience to
follow.
Quaye’s show flowed without breaks of onstage banter. The band
just wanted to play and no one was going to argue about that. The
audience snapped out of its chill mode and became jumpy teenagers
when the hit "Sunday Shining" was played.
The seductive, bass-heavy "Falling" had the guitarist swirling
his head round and round, eyes closed in bittersweet agreement. It
was as if he felt what Quaye was saying, as he sang the lyrics
"Feel like I’ve been down this lonely track before."
Known as a drummer who practices with knives while waiting for
the toast to pop up or on poles waiting for the train, Quaye gave
us a taste of this practice when he joined the bongo drummer
towards the end of the night.
There were a couple mediocre songs that lacked the verve needed
in uncomplicated reggae-like rhythms. They seemed to drift off into
oblivion, almost devoid of distinction, but very few reggae artists
avoid this pothole, whether in concert or on album.
To the delight of the crowd, only the guitarist and keyboardist
came back out with Quaye for the encore. With an acoustic guitar in
hand, the guitarist strummed "Your Love Gets Sweeter" for Quaye as
they played like two island boys basking in the sun. Quaye provoked
the crowd to shout back affirmations to him as he sang the lyrics
"Everyone knows music/ everyone knows shapes," proving that the
rasta spirit does bring people together.
MICHAEL ROSS WACHT
Finley Quaye performs his trademark mix of music genres.