peace all-
just want to let folks know a little bit about the tour and how things are going. thusfar we have played in montreux, paris, den haag, vienne and london... the reception at the jazz festivals has been tremendous, whether from other musicians or audience members. the music is growing and coming together beautifully... meshell is already adding new songs to the set gradually. the shows have basically been 90 minutes, except when we were limited to a 75 minute set in den haag (we did about 85 minutes there). the sets have basically been a mixture of tunes by the various band members, though the set of course changes every night. a sample would be:

1. expensive shit (fela)
2. dr. strange (peck allmond)
3. B flat jam (ron blake)
4. heavy spirits (oliver lake)
5. papillon (mn)
6. al falaq 113 (mn)
7. luqman (mn)

the band recently added "song for j" by oliver lake, which is great, and they sometimes do "dragon run" by peck allmond. meshell is looking to add "dance of the infidels" and an arrangement of "white lines" soon. tunes basically are clocking in at 15-20 minutes a piece. the vibe is very african.. very fela... we call it the spiritual like coltrane/funky like fela tour, and without arrogance, that is what this bands strives for each night. they come pretty damn close.

the festivals are cool becasue folks come ready to listen, but they are also a bit wierd becasue there are so many great acts playing at once that people often "shop" around. for example, at the north sea, herbie hancock and wayne shorter started their set about 45 minutes into our set, so some people left to catch that, while others came in after catching the rahsaan patterson set. its kind of fluid, which can be both annoying and cool. paris has been my favorite so far... folks were just packed into the club and were so receptive, so into the exploration. nobody moved (except to dance). many folks just wore the funk face all night. london was mostly all good too, but the promoters/club misadvertised it (like in richmond), so a few people voiced their dissappointment that she wasn't singing. still, the folks here are a bit more polite and nobody demanded a refund (i heard the promoter in richmond refunded around 150 tickets). unfortunately the misadvertisement doesn't stop here... the websites in wiesen & ghent have the wrong listing. it sucks for the band because they pour their hearts out every night without fail and some folks are unable to just experience something different than their expectations. we don't blame anybody-- it isn't the fans fault that the promoters do what they do to sell tickets (remember the story of the scorpion and the frog?... its just their nature), and it certainly isn't meshell's fault. still, with all the hassle, each night it is clear that 90-95% of the folks get the music, love the music, are fed by the music, and understand that "jazz" hasn't been this neck breaking and ass shaking since the headhunters.

good news is that i have recorded most shows and have a few that have been filmed. the other good news is that the album drops in february... universal france has picked it up.

i want to send a grateful shout out to honestnotes for his patience and generosity... my computer has crashed and yet his positivity and willingess to help remains. thank you bro... soon come.

i'll check in with y'all again as soon as i can.
peace
kt

thanks for updating us kt...man it's good to hear the overseas part of the tour is going so great...wish i could be there to experience some of it myself. Also very glad that you all are getting some of the shows on tape too...who knows what might come out of this...

your description of the music is right on too...there was an element in the music that i don't think i captured very well in my description...that African vibe...the Fela feel...thats that GROOVE that carrys you throughout...

loving it.

gotta thank you all again for swinging through Richmond on your way to the rest of the world...regardless of the inaccurate promotion problems refunds and stuff...the music itself was just great. Tell the band not to take the negative crapp to heart. Richmond is NOTORIOUSLY conservative and close minded when it comes to music. (even hometown boy Dangelo still had tikets available on the night of his last tour here in town, and his performance at his homecoming show here in Richmond..where he's from & lives...was localy criticized for being too subdued...so go figure)

Regardless of all of that, know that there were a bunch of us who DID 'get it' at the Spirit Music Show in Richmond and we enjoyed the bands efforts completely...so, much thanks for doing an encore for US. greatly appreciated! (and SMOKING too...Meshell was tearing into that Bass on that one!)

Wish i could have stuck around longer after the show and met you all, but like i said i had folks from out of town who needed to get back on the road. Perhaps next time.

Anyway good luck on the rest of the tour...enjoy yourselves...and thanks again the info, (I love these 'tour diary' type of updates... it helps us who aren't able to travel around world get some kind of connection to the experiences the band is having). Greatly appreciated as well!

thanks man

derek

kt..
as always, thanks for the update. sounds like things are coming along really, really well.

but i have one word for you..

ok.. no.. two words.

chicago, PLEASE.

if i've said that too many times, i apologize, but i'm hurting to hear sms. badly. i'm here for any promo help you might need. seriously. 200%.
peace out and here's to continued success on tour..
deshi.

great to read an update about this music as well as its reception... esp. regarding the fact that the album is coming out.
i am really curious to hear how this music has developed... curious how much fela vs. how much jazz. it's also interesting that her albums seem to be being recorded when the songs are newer than in the past? so... comparing the live show to the album could be really interesting.. i always wonder what most really good artist's albums would sound like had they recorded them after touring with the songs for a few months.

anyhow, it's inspiring to me and reassuring to have in the back of my mind that meshell is inspiring folks with wordless music... i know in my heart that instrumental music does that, but once in a while i get concerned that i won't be able to use my own music as much for inspiring and reflecting positive social change due to the fact that i am not a rapper or singer (yet?). that i need something more direct to get my voice out there... (well, working with likeminded vocalists is always possible and it has happened on occasion) anyhow... musing out loud.

looking forward to hearing the new music. always.

with love
tasha

The Update is much appreciated here. Thanks for thinking of us.

Outstanding news!

I haven't posted here in a long while, but the progress of this project has been on mind throughout all the personal transitions I've been going through.

Despite what I've been hearing about the initial US reaction, this new direction sounds amazing. It is somewhere that I always hoped Me'shell would let herself go, so I can't wait to catch a show once she returns. Hopefully she'll do her traditional Northampton, MA stopover.

Also great to hear is the double news that Dance of the Infidels will be released in Feb (crossing fingers, cuz I know hoe these things get), AND that she has her next album written already. Will it be in the Spirit Music tradition? or when you say "another direction" do you mean a new direction from what she's doing now?

In any event, all of this news is a blessing. Thanks kt for keeping us informed, and to all that are getting the chance to see her ENJOY!!!!!

peace,
el rey

p.s. if any bootlegs surface of the recent shows, SOMEONE holler at me fast. ;-)

In deed, the shows at the New Morning in Paris where tremendous, especialy the second one ! I had my tickets for a long time and was wondering what the music would be : I was not deceived ! And I think that nobody really was : while I was waiting to get in for the second show, speaking to the others, we realize that a lot of people that came to see "Meshell" the first night, bought their ticket the morning after to see the "SMS" for the second night ! We all liked it so much ! I guess Paris is a good place for afrobeat-like-grooves !
Nevertheless some people also seem to be disapointed (a friend of mine read an article about a show in one of the festival complaining about her not singing and hiding at the back of the stage... How stupid journalist can be !) but the audience realy seem to apreciate the stuff !
Anyway, I'm happy to hear the description kt made for the SMS style, since this is exactly how it sounded to me, after the first notes I heard and this is how I tried to "sell" the show for people that couldn't decide if they would buy a ticket or not...
I saw a third performance of theirs at the Nice Jazz festival. The audience was perhaps a little harder since most of them were waiting for the show of a french soul singer for teenagers... Anyway, they listened quietly. Anyway I talk afterwards to some people who were a bit anxious about me'shell not singing, and they were taken with this show !
So I think here in Europe or at least in France are very happy with the SMS. I'm sure the CD will do very well in February.
Did I hear well at Nice, or did my poor english make me misundersand what me'shell said ? Is there gonna be a new show in Paris In February ?