Toshi Reagon brings the power

Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely--plus their big crew of lovely friends--really rocked the Schomburg Center last night. This return engagement for Reagon's band, part of the Center's Women's Jazz Festival 2010, was precisely the jolt of joy we need, mid-winter, and in the midst of the often demoralizing struggle for truth in this country.

You know Reagon, if you're lucky, as a talented, versatile singer, songwriter and musician with a profound ear for sonic Americana--from folk to funk, from blues to rock. She masters each of these genres with vocal strategies that easily spiral and swoop from the expressively sinuous to the hard-charging, a combination of warmth and mischief.

She's the daughter of beloved singer-activist, Sweet Honey In The Rock co-founder Bernice Johnson Reagon and shares her mom's knowledge of the power of song to focus, unite and mobilize people. If you've been lucky enough to be in Toshi's presence, you know you can't walk away from her without feeling better about yourself as a human being. She aims for nothing less.


Take all that and multiply it by everyone on the two lists below. You're in the right place when you're watching a show where the audience doesn't have to be coaxed to sing along or clap in time. They do it because it just feels right. And they accept every type of song in the spirit of generosity in which it's offered.


BIGLovely's musicianship is all good, with Adam Widoff's soaring guitar work ringing especially true. Judith Casselberry, Marcelle Davies Lashley and the guest vocalists* formed a sturdy backup for Reagon, but each also got her own excellent moment. The diversity of these spotlights was mindblowing. A day later, I'm still having a hard time deciding on my favorite, although the intense Helga Davis--singing of rallying her life, her joy, her fear and her anger, without judgment or exception, thank you--might just be the one.  

If you happened to miss the Schomburg show (tsk, tsk, tsk), just be sure to get over to New Jersey Performing Arts Center where the Reagons, mother and daughter, will be holding court (Saturday, March 20, 7:30pm).

Many thanks and all praises to:

Toshi Reagon (guitar, vocals)

Fred Cash (bass)

Adam Widoff (electric guitar)

Robert Burke (drums)

Judith Casselberry (guitar, vocals)

Marcelle Davies Lashley (vocals)

*and featured vocalists:

Helga Davis

Stephanie Battle

Josette Marchak

Karma Mayet Johnson

Morley