WORDS & PHOTOS BY FIESTABAN PHOTOGRAPHY!
The Midnight Hour brought the Harlem Renaissance to Los Angeles this Thursday at The Lodge Room in Highland Park. An upscale jazz ensemble with a jolt of funk, R&B and hip-hop, this 10-piece band is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalists and producers Adrian Younge and A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The pair worked together previously to create the soundtrack for Marvel’s Luke Cage Netflix television series, but The Midnight Hour is no superhero theme song. It is a highly orchestrated and well-heeled big band jam session of sorts, in the style of Count Basie or Quincy Jones, with stylish arrangements and musical phrasing reminiscent of everything from Gene Krupa, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis to Curtis Mayfield, Chaka Khan and The Meters. Their latest single “Harmony” featuring Loren Oden is a dazzling love song which highlights Oden’s smooth falsetto and the group’s rich tapestry of harmonies. The band, which has been touring all year, chalking up over one hundred shows around the country (including a few cities which Younge half-jokingly described as having some, “real suspect gas stations…”), finished their tour here in LA. Their opening act was a collaborative subset of the band, featuring veteran guitarist Jack Waterson, incredible percussionist Malachi and breakout vocal sensation Angela Muñoz, whom at only seventeen years old is soulful beyond her years with the voice of a seasoned singer like Solange or Goapele. Providing the groove between sets was DJ Kaleem spinning old school soul and r&b vinyl. This band takes music to new levels, while also creating new platforms for emerging talent. We can’t wait to see what’s up next for The Midnight Hour as they gear up for next year.
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR
JACK WATERSON
NOVEMBER 21ST, 2019
THE LODGE ROOM, LOS ANGELES, CA
PHOTOS BY FIESTABAN PHOTOGRAPHY!
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