Review: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at the Crystal Ballroom

Posted by Luciana Lopez, The Oregonian January 31, 2009 21:26PM

Categories: Music Subject Stories, Music Top Stories, Reviews, Shows

"That's all right, I can work it," Sharon Jones told the audience Friday night when she learned the number of presumably innocent-eared under-agers present.

The lady didn't lie.

Jones is the kind of singer who does the term soul justice -- that's where her power comes from, and that's where she aims it. Though she worked in relative obscurity for years (she's in her early 50s), she's recently caught on fire, and she and the Dap-Kings, themselves excellent ambassadors for the genre, have been steadily building their audience.

In fact, when Jones came to Portland in late 2007, she played at the Doug Fir. A hip joint, and a high-quality one, but a venue only about a fifth the size of the Crystal Ballroom, which was packed on Friday night. The line outside, in fact, was just about the longest I've ever seen it. (Note to Jones and the D-Ks: Maybe a two-night stand next time?)

Jones is a whirlwind of energy on stage, dancing, strutting, getting down on her knees and rising again. She brought a number of audience members on stage during the night, and only one -- a kid who looked in his early teens -- even kind of kept up with her. She is indefatigable. She sang for a little over an hour and a half (the band did a few songs without her to start the show) and was as strong at the end as she was at the start. At one point, she even took off her heels and earrings to go into a song that detailed her own ancestry both in music and dance. Yes, she did this at the Doug Fir show, too, but her energy makes it worth watching as many times as she performs it.

While she and the Dap-Kings played much from their previous albums, they also played some new, as-of yet unrecorded songs. The two songs suggest the next album will be a continuation of the solid soul sound on which they've built their careers, a sound that would be called retro if not for the fact that these musicians actually lived through the golden years of soul themselves.

And speaking of that era: The night's highlight was easily their rendition of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." This is a song that's every bit as relevant today as it ever was, and to hear someone sing it with Jones' heartfelt power was moving.

"I never though that I'd see it," she said after she closed the song.

-- Luciana Lopez; lucianalopez@news.oregonian.com