Jalen Ngonda & MT Jones @ Brooklyn Made [Show Review]

Article views: 18

The way from Jalen Ngonda was long and winding. Born in Baltimore and educated in Liverpool (at LIPA, Paul McCartney Fame School), it feels like a lifetime since he’s been performing in small venues and festivals across Merseyside. I championed Jalen in 2016 after seeing him perform in front of a tiny crowd at Liverpool’s LIMF Festival, compare him with Marvin Gaye And Sam Cooke and welcome him as the new voice of classic soul. When I interviewed Jalen in a cafe on Bold Street in Liverpool, I found him shy and very quiet. It’s hard to believe that this was the same person who could create such magic on stage. I could never have imagined that eight years later I would be watching this artist on a Saturday night in Bushmills, Brooklyn, now brimming with confidence and showing off the true makings of a star.

He brought with him MT Jones. This Liverpool singer-songwriter is a Dapton He is a label mate of Jalen and vocally he follows a similar path. Looks like Tom Hollands As a long-lost brother and in true 60s soul boy style, Mikey promotes his new one Everything I do EP tonight. Opening with the Sublime “I would lie” before going through the EP. Mikey has the crowd in the palm of his hand. Liverpool artists playing in New York have the advantage of being from New York The Beatles Hometown before they even start. Mikey tells the audience that this is his first visit to America before reporting on The Beatles.And I love her” from the The night of a hard day Film. It’s a brilliant version and a smart move. This is a very talented new artist who could very well follow in Jaden’s footsteps.

When Jaden shows up, everything falls into place. Unlike the modern sports jacket he wore at Brixton Cross the tracks At the festival earlier this year, Jalen Ngonda looks handsome in a white shirt and black pants. This matches the lush pink/blue retro background of the stage Brooklyn made and recalls similar soul revue shows that would have been common on Saturdays in Brooklyn in the ’60s and ’70s.

He still sounds like Marvin and Sam, but his voice is now much stronger and more varied, immediately hitting the biting tones of “rapture” at the start of the show. From his 2023 debut album, Come over and love methis is just a track that rounds out a practically perfect album. The production of the album, so close to “What’s up“-Era Marvin is carefully reproduced on stage, with a great band and backing singers.

Most of the album is covered tonight and many of these songs already sound classic (“Give me one more day,” “That’s all I wanted from you” and the title track of the album “Come over and love me“), everything is breathtakingly beautiful.

Selected covers highlight the expected album cuts, particularly “Prisoner of love“, written in 1930, we are told, but made famous by both Perry Como And James BrownAnd Jimmy Reed’s “Baby, whatever you want from me.” Both songs demonstrate Jalen’s deep appreciation for the blues and his ability to present it in an irresistible form.

The highlights for me include “What a difference she made“the painfully perfect”If you don’t want my love,“ and the “ which is characterized by the northern soulThat’s all I wanted from you“who would have felt at home at Wigan Casino.

It’s incredible that it’s taken Jalen Ngonda this long to get to this point in his career because the talent was there from day one, but he’s finally arrived and his popularity can only increase. Without a doubt, Jalen has the most essential voice in soul and the ability to write songs that rival even the most strident Motown/Stax classics. Tonight it felt like a privilege to be in Jalen’s company.