Desde que se mudaron a Europa en 2012, James & Black han girado por Bélgica, Holanda, Alemania, Italia, España, Francia, Bulgaria, el Reino Unido y Eslovaquia, tocando cerca de 150 espectáculos por año y cubriendo más de 700,000 km el proceso
Bruce James y Bella Black unieron sus fuerzas en Austin, Texas en 2011. Las raíces de su música surgen de la tradición del Southern Soul de Texas, Nueva Orleans y Memphis, pero no son un retroceso. La base de James & Black son las voces y las historias en sus canciones.
Junto a Gregory Porter y Fatoumata Diawara han actuado en Summer Jazz, Candy Dulfer en Amsterdam en Vondelpark, actuado en el Porretta Soul Festival tres veces en Porretta Terme, Italia junto a artistas como Bobby Rush y Lattimore, Clay Hammond. Actuaron en el Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona, y ha teloneado a los neoyorquinos, The Slackers, en toda Alemania y Austria. En abril de 2017 actuaron en el Baltic Soul Weekender con Sister Sledge, Lenny Williams y CeCe Penniston en Hamburgo, Alemania y realizaron un tributo a Allen Toussaint en el Porretta Soul Festival.
James y Black también participaron en el festival Peer Blues con sus compañeros tejanos ZZ Top, Jools Holland y los Blind Boys of Alabama.
En la primavera de 2019, realizaron una gira por China por primera vez, encabezando el festival de primavera de Shanghai.
James & Black ha lanzado un álbum en vivo, grabado en Bélgica en 2012 en el famoso club «N9», así como su primer álbum de estudio, «How Long is Now» grabado en Italia, en mayo de 2015. «James & Black – Live at La Chapelle» (París FR) fue lanzado en noviembre de 2016 y presenta a Felix Sabal Lecco, Nicolas Thys con DJ Phil Ross y su segundo álbum de estudio, «This Time», producido por Jean-Pol Van Ham en Magnet Studios en Bruselas BE, en julio de 2017 con giras de lanzamiento en Alemania, España, Francia, Italia, Bélgica, Eslovaquia, Eslovaquia, Bulgaria, Hungría, Reino Unido y Países Bajos.
Con la pandemia en todo el mundo, las giras, se habían detenido estrepitosamente. Esto les ha dado tiempo para recargar y terminar las grabaciones que comenzaron en la primavera de 2019 en Antwerp BE con sus compañeros habituales Jordi Geuens (batería), Erik Rademakers (bajo) y Jeroen Capens (saxofón). Los miembros de la banda Fumihito Sugawara y Max Benassi pudieron agregar la proverbial guinda a este pastel multinacional con su trabajo de guitarra.
«Be Water, My Love», lanzado en el verano de 2020, consta de cuatro nuevas composiciones y agrega un nuevo elemento, que no se encuentra en sus dos álbumes anteriores, con Bella rapeando en dos de las pistas. Las pistas rítmicas fueron grabadas en vivo y capturan la energía que es la marca registrada de una actuación de James & Black. Como siempre, el enfoque son las letras y las historias que se cuentan en las canciones.
Nuestro compañero Josechu Egido ha hablado con James & Black de su trayectoria, de sus canciones, de su último disco «Be Water, My Love«, de sus conciertos, de la Pandemia y de sus planes de futuro… y del AfroBlue Festival. Esta es la entrevista completa.
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THE QUESTIONS
It’s been a lot of time since your start in music. Looking back, are you satisfied with your musical career to date?
Satisfied with our career? Not really. Satisfied with the music and where it’s taken us? Definitely. We’ve played music in over 15 countries on 4 continents. Obviously we’d like more visibility, and a higher income, haha, but music has been a vehicle for us to meet some incredible people and work in some amazing places. Also, we’ve been independent since the beginning – we’ve pretty music managed our career ourselves.
Last years have been difficult for the entertainment world. What has the
Pandemic taken from you and what has the Pandemic given you?
We were about to release a new ep right before everything kicked off. We were visiting family in US for the holidays and got stuck there – after being away from the US for a while it was definitely a shock. We ended up relocating to Boulder, Colorado, where we’ve been for the last 3 years. It’s a beautiful place but everything stopped, at least when it came to performance and touring. We never stopped writing and recording but we had been on the road, mostly in the EU for almost 9 years consecutively. Things like that make you realize what is truly important – causes you to prioritize your life in a different way.
How are the songs on your latest album different from the songs on previous albums?
The last 2 singles we’ve released are pretty much just the 2 of us. We had some contributors on guitar for both of them but everything else was done by us. Stylistically they are quite different as well – not so much the classic soul vibe but drawing on some different styles.
Do you give up any of your old songs because over time you no longer feel identified?
No – we have a connection with all of our tunes – they are like time capsules but everything is cumulative. Of course at particular times different tunes are going resonate with you in their own way but we haven’t really abandoned any tunes.
Is your last album accomplishing your expectations? Set to dream, where would you like to go with him?
Musically, absolutely. Commercially, not so much. We haven’t been able to tour properly in support of our latest releases or put them through the promotional machine, so to speak. Hopefully we can tour in the fall and give them the opportunity to find their audience from the stage.
How are your concerts? How do these songs sound live?
We’ve always been a “live” band. We’ve been extremely fortunate to have amazing musical partners all over the world to help us bring them to realization on the stage. Music , for us, is a transfer of energy from the stage to the audience and then back – its this cycle that makes it magical – the supernatural connection you make with an audience.
What are your future plans in the short, medium and long term? Are you already thinking of new songs or is it still early?
We’re always writing and recording. As far as the business, we’ll see. We have
a lot irons in the fire.
What will the concert be like that you are going to offer at AFRO BLUE? What do you think of a festival of these characteristics?
We’re super excited! It looks like a really thoughtful lineup and the organization has been great so far. For us, soul music, and all the branches of that musical tree, naturally belong in one place – it’s going to fantastic.
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MISCELLANY
Could you recommend us…
…a book?: We’ve both been digging into our Spanish books – specifically 501 Spanish verbs and Spanish for Gringos (level 2). I’ve also been reading In Search of the Blues by Marybeth Hamilton – good stuff.
…a film?: We just watched the Bob Marley and the Wailers performance film from Capital Records in 1973 after being hooked on the recording for a while – super raw and loose. It was right after Bunny had left the band and Joe Higgs was filling in. They had just been dropped from the Sky and the Family Stone tour and had the free time to do the recording.
…a song?: Our new single, naturally, “Love Flows Like a River”. We just released it last week.
…an album?: We’ve been digging these live Bob Marley recordings from 1973. So funky.
…a group or singer?: we’ve been digging into the Al Green records lately.
…a hobby?: I’m always taking lots of photos and we have been doing lots of
cooking.
Thank you very much for your time and congratulations for your music.
Thank you! We appreciate you taking the time! See you soon!