Not only has Alicia Olatuja shown that she has an important voice since getting attention from her singing at President Obama’s Second Inauguration, but she showed the audience at the Moss Theater that she has something important to say with it.
Teamed up with LA’s best, with the indefatigable Josh Nelson/p-key, Ben Shepherd/b and Christian Euman/dr, Ms. Olatuja featured material from her latest album Intuition, an important release that stays away from standard fare and focuses on music about by women. Her delivery of musical messages was a success in that the songs themselves touched on important issues, with Olatuja delivering the themes in riveting and soul searching fashion.
From the opening and easy pulsed “So Good, So Right,” it was easy to tell that Ms. Olatuja has grown up in the church, as her delivery and depth have a rich gospel Sunday Morning flavor, and she gives an earnest delivery of the heart behind each lyric. Her sepia toned hue to Joni Mitchell’s “Cherokee Louise” was featured Nelson’s delicate treatment on the piano of a delicate topic to a harrowing story. On “Hide and Seek” Shephard and Euman created resonant ripples of support that built up to a dramatic edge, with Ms. Olatuja mixing both drama and celebration about the climactic changes in relationships.
For a gloriously intimate duet with Nelson, Ms. Olatuja’s voice was part Broadway and part confessional as her voice glowed on the tender and vulnerable thoughts of “Transform,” while her opening to “Ordinary” was both vulnerable yet defiant.
Using the African style of vocal percussion mixed with languages of the continent, Ms. Olatuja was warm and sensuous like the Serengeti after a storm on “Under the Moon” while she was as nurturing as a mother while singing the soft lullaby “Child of the Moon.”
Showing another side of a woman’s life, Olatuja slapped some BBQ sauce on a plate of ribs and gave a greasy stomp of Traci Chapman’s “Gimme One Reason” that had her and her mates play out the funky chicken before encoring with a celebration of Divine Love in a re-focused and sweetly soul strutting take of “Human Nature.”
The good news about Ms. Olatuja is that not only does she have something worth saying, but as she showed the appreciative crowd Friday night, she has an alluring and riveting way of delivering the message.
Upcoming shows sponsored by the Jazz Bakery include Mary Stallings 03.29, Abdullah Ibrahim 03/30-31, Peter Erskine presenting Daniel Szabo’s Visionary 04/13, Kurt Rosenwinkel 04/20 and Tierney Sutton 04/28