J.A.M & Jose James at HMV Shibuya

Friday evening I was down in Shibuya to see J.A.M with Jose James for the second time in as many days. This was a free gig at HMV with tickets going on a first some first serve basis, so I made sure I arrived in plenty of time. As always the guys from J.A.M gave a superb performance and Jose James was amazing on the tracks he sang.

J.A.M started off with Quiet Blue and moved on to Roy's Scat before Jose James joined them on stage for a rousing version of Spirits Up Above. Soil & "Pimp" Sessions sax player Motoharu then appeared for Park Bench People, giving a blistering solo and then sparring with Jose's vocals and scatting ~ simply amazing stuff. It was back to J.A.M next for Quiet Fire, with both Josei and Midorin offering up amazing solos, which went down like a storm. Jose James was back after that for an extended version of Moanin' which was a match for the version played at Liquid Room the previous night. We were then treated to an unexpected aside as an over-enthusiastic member of the audience tried to make his case to jam with the band on his bamboo flute before the boys launched in to Jazzy Joint, which was closed out with some call and response playing between Jose James and Josei that was great fun to watch. As an encore they played a wonderful version of Body and Soul. An amazing in store gig that continued for about 75 minutes, and I truly hope that both Jose James and J.A.M can continue to push this wonderful music to a wider audience.