Music Reviews
what they say
Dakota is perfect fix for Cowboy Junkies
- Jon Bream, Star Tribune Sunday • March 22, 2010
“the Dakota allowed a SRO crowd to appreciate the subleties of Michael Timmins’ guitar and Jeff Bird’s mandolin and harmonica as well as the nuances of Margo’s hushed voice. … “
Dazzling, Daring, Darling: Hiromi Solo
- Andrea Canter, JazzPolice • March 11, 2010
“by the end of the first set, I was convinced I had heard the most exciting night of piano jazz in my own history …”
Everybody dance now: Angelique Kidjo at the Dakota
- Tim Campbell, Star Tribune • March 3, 2010
“The Paris-based Afropop superstar, who normally plays theaters — including L.A.’s Disney Hall Sunday night — clearly reveled in the small-club vibe. … “
John Hammond at the Dakota: Concert Review
- Pamela Espeland, Bopified • Monday, March 1, 2010
“Following last night’s one-night, sold-out stand at the Dakota …”
Bebel Gilberto at Dakota: breezy and brief
- Jon Bream, Star Tribune • December 4, 2009
“Still, there was enough to confirm her star qualities and her innovative instincts as a blender of traditional Brazilian sounds and modern electronica and dance grooves. … “
Hiromi leaves the Dakota awestruck
By Andrea Swensson, City Pages • June 22, 2009
“I’m having a hard time putting my experience at the Hiromi show at the Dakota Jazz Club last night into words … It may seem over-the-top, but her prowess on the keys was unlike anything I had ever seen. …”
Review: LaVette reigns in Dakota appearance
- Jon Bream, Star Tribune • June 12, 2009
“The R&B singer wowed the crowd with her deeply emotive performance, and nobody seemed to mind that she skipped her famous song. …”
Review: A special night of blues served up hot
- Jon Bream, Star Tribune • June 9, 2009
“The internationally famous Dakota Jazz Club is known for its sumptuous food and its delectable music. On Monday, the downtown Minneapolis nightspot served a special three-course menu of the blues, which will surely rank as one of the year’s most memorable musical meals. …”
Review: A special night with Rickie Lee Jones
- Jon Bream, Star Tribune • May 27, 2009
“The revered singer-songwriter showed off new material in an intimate setting at the Dakota, one that showcased her unpredictable talents and gifts. …”
Soul singer Bettye LaVette has been performing and recording for over four decades. Bettye is just now getting her due, with a Blues Award in 2004 for “Best Comeback Album of the Year.” In 2008, she was named “Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year.”
Review: LaVette reigns in Dakota appearance
The R&B singer wowed the crowd with her deeply emotive performance, and nobody seemed to mind that she skipped her famous song.
“A change is gonna come,” Bettye LaVette famously sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in January.
Of course, she was referring to Barack Obama, soon to be inaugurated as president. She also could have been referring to her own career. After 48 years as an obscure R&B singer, the underappreciated LaVette finally stepped into the national spotlight for two stunning televised performances: the Who’s “Love, Reign O’er Me” at the Kennedy Center Honors and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” at the Obama pre-inaugural concert.
However on Thursday night at the sold-out Dakota Jazz Club, LaVette, 63, didn’t want to celebrate her overdue ascent to national attention (she hardly mentioned it), but rather she wanted to honor the fifth anniversary of her playing at the Dakota, one of the few clubs on a summer itinerary filled with outdoor festivals and arts-center appearances.
Playing her first one-night stand at the Dakota, LaVette was in great form, sort of demonstrating the best of her semi-annual Minneapolis appearances. She remains the most deeply emotional and physically emotive R&B singer on the planet. When she sings, she gets in touch with the deep recesses of her psyche and soul.
Imagine Otis Redding’s pleading style of Southern R&B rendered with Tina Turner’s leathery lungs, delivered with more emotion than Janis Joplin could summon.
With LaVette wearing a backless black halter top, the aching tension in her muscles was as evident as the agonizing grimaces on her face. No one experiences and purges pain in song like this tiny dynamo from Detroit.
While offering “Choices,” a cry-in-my-beer soliloquy about bad decisions in life made famous by the great country singer George Jones, LaVette was choking up with pain. After her guitarist played a weeping pedal steel-like coda, LaVette had to take a deep, deep breath. So did the audience.
That was one of three transcendent moments in the 80-minute opening set. The others were “Talking Old Soldiers,” with Bernie Taupin lyrics and an Elton John tune, slowed to a funereal pace, and the closing, a cappella rendition of Sinead O’Connor’s “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,” a note of strength after an evening of pain.
That LaVette didn’t sing “A Change Is Gonna Come” or “Love, Reign O’er Me” didn’t really matter. She didn’t want to signal a change; she wanted to give an indelible valedictory performance at her favorite Dakota.
“Is there any soul singer who brings more guts, more conviction and more emotion to her singing?” – NPR
“Is there a more wrenching soul singer alive than Bettye LaVette? If so, keep it to yourself, because I’m too wrung out from [her newest CD] Crime’s intensity to take anything more emotionally potent” - Entertainment Weekly
“LaVette’s nuanced singing evokes prime Tina Turner with even more command” – Rolling Stone
“Classic soul singing doesn’t get any better” - New York Times
“The sexiest female vocalist alive” - Esquire
“She sings, she smolders, she testifies … An extraordinary combination of raw emotion and sublime musical intelligence enhances a voice hinting at decades of disappointment, cigarettes, tear stained pillows and benders - Dimitri Ehrich, Uptown Social
“Living proof that classic soul is as durable a style as any brand of American music.” – New York Times
“LaVette … she’s a musical force of nature, a hurricane in heels that whips up a fiery mix of soul, jazz, country and blues.” - The Houston Chronicle
At The 2008 Kennedy Center Honors honoring The Who’s Peter Townsend and Roger Daltrey, Barbara Streisand, Twyla Tharp, George Jones and Morgan Freeman, her gut-wrenching performance of The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” provided the one of the evening’s most spectacular moments.
“My favorite moment was when Bettye LaVette sang a very fine version of ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ at the Gala and Barbra Streisand turned to ask me if I really wrote it.” - Pete Townsend
“We showed up for rehearsal, and one of the performers was rehearsing the song for the Who segment. It was a woman named Bettye LaVette…She is gonna steal the show. She was so phenomenal … It will bring you to tears. The room was pin-drop silent when she did this song, and it was just unbelievable”. - Dave Grohl, The Foo Fighters
• “A Change is Gonna Come” • celebrating President Obama’s inauguration on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with Jon Bon Jovi
• Bettye’s stunning rendition of The Who classic, “Love Reign O’er Me” at the Kennedy Center Honors
|
| Well known to musicians and jazz fans alike, the Dakota continues to be one of the most talked about jazz clubs and restaurants across the country |
|
|
| "The most comfortable jazz club in the world for musicians and patrons." – Grammy Award winning musician Roy Hargrove |
|
|
| "The Dakota is hands down one of my favorite venues in Minneapolis. The ambiance is romantic and sophisticated yet not pretentious…. always a good mix of people watching and the food is superb." - merchantcircle.com |
|
|
| "go early or late – the music is always good…" - thriftyhipster.com |