Samba Music

Last night I had the immense pleasure of seeing world renowned percussionist James Henry perform at the album release party at Yoshi's in Oakland for his new CD 'Dragonfly'. The night started of with me helping sell his CD's, not very successfully I may add, we sold about 5 before the show started. We broke down the stand and went inside to watch James Henry and Hands on Fire ROCK IT. The saxophonist was amazing, the drummers were amazing, the bassist and the guitarist were in James' words "The Baddest", but he wasn't lying. They were on stage, singing, they had dancers, vocalists, and the filled the stage and just about everyone had to dance. The rhythms they produce just make you want to get up and dance. One song that stood out to me, was 'Heaven Above' which is easily the greatest song I've ever heard played on the steel pan. The cat on keyboard was amazing, playing piano, and a bell program that I've never even heard on the keyboard perfectly. James himself, displayed his huge array of musical talents from singing, to playing just about every percussion instrument I have ever seen. The music is peaceful, happy, fun, and they even got some people from the crowd to come on stage. A little before the show ended I went back outside to help set up to sell Cd's again, and after the show was over, we got mobbed. I believe the total sales were at about 710 dollars, and if you have ever been to Yoshi's you know there isn't a lot of space in there. Everyone was totally moved and just amazed at how live they kept it, going late into Monday night. Samba music, is such a beautiful genre, and the sheer difficulty of keeping all these different instruments in rhythm and together was amazing enough. Everyone caught themselves subconsciously moving to the beat. He's on Itunes, under the World genre, and here is a video of a small ensemble of their music.



Here is a video of how he is at live shows:


Here is a video of some of his work with kids at schools:


Check Him Out