Santana Fan Club 'East-West blends' - Page 5

February 12, 2005 07:28 PM

by Richard Tafoya
liveDaily Contributing Editor

The coming out party for Will.I.Am's new record label brought out plenty of musical star power on Friday (2/11) in a well-paced and well-intentioned tsunami benefit concert. The Avalon in Hollywood played host to a multi-generational showcase of music headliners, gathered to raise money for tsunami relief efforts and to wish well to Black Eyed Peas (music) member Will.I.Am's I.Am.Music label venture. The concert--an almost impromptu affair pulled together in a matter of weeks--went off just about flawlessly with a single house band behind all of the event's artists, who each performed just one or two songs before handing the spotlight back to emcee Will. The Black Eyed Peas kicked off the evening with a high-spirited coupling of their hits "Let's Get It Started" and "Hey Mama." From there, John Legend took a seat at the piano to play "Ordinary People." On the song, Legend is a classic crooner in the mold of Donny Hathaway or Marvin Gaye, easily nailing the right tone for his upcoming role of tourmate for Alicia Keys. Legend was followed by jazz great Herbie Hancock (music), who was joined by Carlos Santana (music) for a funky take on Hancock's Blue Note-era hit "Watermelon Man." The pair also took a shot at Hancock's "Rockit," but the performance suffered from Hancock having to use a grand piano to pluck out the the song's distinctive synthesizer melody due to sound system problems with the electronic keyboards on his side of the stage. Macy Gray, one of the first artists to sign on to I.Am.Music, turned in a workable version of her 2000 breakout hit "I Try," re-invented as a loose reggae groove that folded in a nod to Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry." Gray quickly turned the stage over to Earth, Wind & Fire, who, with some stellar vocals from Philip Bailey and guests Floetry, ramped up the stage energy with a spot-on rendition of their 1975 hit "Shining Star." Justin Timberlake (music) wowed the crowd with a spirited "Senorita" that played up his strong vocal talents and considerable stage presence. His stage time continued into some vocal interplay with Floetry and BEP's Fergie, from which he pulled in unannounced guest Adam Levine of Maroon 5 (music) for a vocal trade-off of the band's hit "This Love". Gauging crowd response, Timberlake's mini-set was the pay-off moment for many in the audience. Carlos Santana re-emerged to join Will.I.Am for a run-through of a new track they recently wrote, followed by a charged-up take on "Evil Ways" featuring former session bass wizard and current American Idol judge Randy Jackson on bass guitar. James Brown and Timberlake traded lines on a playful "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" before the stage filled with most of the night's performers plus india.arie, Pink and Nikka Costa for a loose jam session that culminated in a group finale of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" that, kicked off as a spontaneous a capella idea by india.arie, took a couple of verses to find its rhythm and key among the singers and band.

The evening wrapped up with the Black Eyed Peas and Timberlake bringing some polish and spunk back the the proceedings with a solid rendition of their combined studio effort, "Where is the Love?"