The era of 90’s RnB was my era and the best one at that for music!
I grew up listening to everyone from K-Ci & Jojo, R Kelly and Mariah Carey to Erykah Badu and Lauren Hill but the one man who’s lyrics always had me in a dream-like state was Jon B! It was the way he seemed to have a personal conversation with every woman who listened to his songs – his lyrics holding you gently round the waist as you swayed to the music – and almost 20 years later, there I was stood beside the Jazz Cafe, London, stage listening to him perform some of his greatest hits – oh what a night that was!
Opening up for Jon B was North London’s jewel in the crown Juliette Ashby. Turning the temperature of the room from UK cool to Caribbean hot in a matter of minutes – with her sashaying hips and reggae/soul vibes – Juliette really got the crowd bopping along to songs, ‘Grow Like a Seed’, ‘Not Trying’ and a personal favorite of mine ‘Take It Over’ among others.
Jon B’s arrival to the stage however sent the already hot crowd into a fevered madness especially when he sang the risque ‘Pretty Girl‘. Seductively traversing through his hits, Jon’s performances full of nostalgia and romance left women feeling satiated as he sang ‘Finer Things‘, ‘Lonely Girl‘ and ‘What I Like About You‘, the only thing left to do with the spent crowd was to get them vigorously dancing and singing along to the Hall & Oates hit ‘I Can’t Go For That‘ before finally giving everyone what they wanted and climaxing with ‘Don’t Talk‘.
With so much saturation around I had almost forgotten what great RnB sounded like until Jon B and Juliette Ashby took me back. Stay tuned to Musicvein for news on Juliette’s new album due for release in Spring 2014 and also Jon’s new projects with some exciting artists.
Jon B’s Jazz Cafe Set List:
- Lately
- R U Still Down
- Finer Things
- Body Language
- Shine
- Pretty Girl
- Lonely Girl
- Only One
- What I Like About You
- Before It’s Gone
- Don’t Say
- I Do
- They Don’t Know
- Someone To Love
- Coco Brown
- Inside
- B Side (Transition)
- Rockin Your Beautiful
- I Can’t Go For That
- Don’t Talk
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