To have missed SoulMates' Tribute to Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, you needed a really good reason. One special couple missed it and everyone noticed they missed it. As it turned out, there was a very good reason and that was evidenced by the young man's Internet posting on Saturday (the day after the tribute) which read: "(She) said yes! I'm getting married!"

Although SoulMates' fans never need a reason to celebrate, this was as good a reason as could be hoped and the celebration was on. Fresh off the Hathway/Flack tribute, there was sweet music for celebrating as the tribute continued from the previous Friday night.

And it all started with an instrumental of Roberta's huge hit Killing Me Softly. This instrumental version proved the depth of the material as one would tend to think that the strength of the song was in the agonized lyrics. But Jay "Bird" Koder, Jarrod Lawson and Reinhardt Melz proved that the foundation of the piece was indeed to be found in the music.

After another couple of warm-up instrumentals, SoulMates concluded the intro section with their own instrumental composition entitled Bacchus. The fingers, gear, audience and the voice were truly warmed by now as Reinhardt worked over a barrio beat while Bird had taken flight with his guitar solo. The keyboard solo also proved that they were ready to roll.

Attention was then turned to Monica and Jonah as it was announced to the audience of Jonah's proposal and Monica's acceptance. Full-throated cheers went up in acknowledgment and celebration. SoulMates then sent out Jonah's favorite song to the couple, Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay. Fortunately for the newly-engaged young woman, the song does not reflect the young man's work ethic. "Sittin' in the morning sun/ I'll be sittin' when the evening comes..." is not what a future wife wants to hear about her man's prospects for employment. But it was a swinging, cheerful version and was affectionately received by the lovely couple.

With Donny Hathaway still in everyone's mind, SoulMates moved to I Believe to My Soul which contains the great lyric delivered so well by Jarrod; "Last night while you were sleeping I heard you call my name 'Oh, Ronny.' ... When you know my name is Donny!" Jarrod's intonation was filled with bitter irony and it worked. Great stuff.

With Knocks Me Off My Feet, Bird took ownership of the room...again. His guitar solo took him into the audience like a medieval minstrel passing amongst the nobility in a great hall. He was greeted with awed, wide-eyed stares as he played before the assembly. While he was passing between the tables and patrons, it became clear that a metamorphosis has taken place over the weeks since SoulMates had set up shop in the Blue Diamond at 20th and Sandy in Portland's eastside.

The audience had changed. It was no longer just the Blue Diamond regulars who had been there all along nor was it the SoulMates regulars who had followed the band after the closing of the Candlelight. The crowd were now filled with young people. There were 20-somethings in the audience and they were making up a larger and larger percentage of the audience. These listeners had heard the sound of Bird's guitar, Reinhardt's drums and Jarrod's voice and had begun to attend and to bring their own crowd with them. Here was fresh energy and a fresh outlook on music that we had grown up hearing. These listeners arrived after the original artists, in many cases, had already passed. The music they were hearing was not their parents' music but was music that has been reinterpreted and reinvigorated and it is now their music just as much as it is our music. They do not bemoan the fact that Donny Hathaway passed before they were even born. Rather, they breathe in the timeless music of Donny Hathaway or Marvin Gaye or Otis Redding as retold by the SoulMates who belong to them.

They rejoiced in Earth, Wind and Fire's September as offered up by SoulMates. They loved Bird's funky guitar and Reinhardt's blistering drums and Jarrod's celebratory vocals. It became clear that the new audience was also breathing new life into the old audience. It has made me see the music as celebration and not simple reminiscence. Hearing the music alongside them has made me hear the music afresh; not just as great versions of eternal classics but as great music played with...soul.

Now the Remy Shand song Colour of the Day is from their time. Once again, however, SoulMates have made it their own and have given a depth to it that did not seem to exist before. The story of Remy Shand is rather a bleak one, if you will permit me.

Remy Shand was born in Winnipeg, Canada. At the age of 19, he sent in a demo tape which was presented to Motown Records and Shand was signed to the label and released his widely received 2002 debut album The Way I Feel. The album was a huge success in Canada and the US, selling over half a million recordings in the US alone. It received the 2003 Juno Award for best R&B/Soul Recording and was even nominated for a Grammy.

In 2003, Shand was set to release his highly anticipated sequel A Day in the Shade. It was never released and the reasons are not known. More than simply that, the whereabouts of Remy Shand have remained unknown. In 2006, someone who claimed to be an insider stated that Shand had been through a bitter divorce and had suffered from depression. He was returning to music in 2005 when his mother passed, leaving him so broken that he could not even attend her funeral.

The quest to find Remy Shand had become a near-obsession from 2005-2007 but the public have moved on and only infrequently do searches reappear. His website now redirects to the Motown website and email addresses are seemingly dead-ends. His original of Colour of the Day can be heard on the YouTube link below.

From Colour of the Day, SoulMates turned on the juice with All Day Sucker and Can't Hide Love and the latter included an enthusiastic audience sing-along of the coda. Reinhardt's Afro-Cuban rhythms in All Day Sucker simply left Blue Diamond owner Steve shaking his head behind the bar.

Donny Hathaway got a final nod of the night with Love, Love, Love as the young couple were still being celebrated. It was near closing time but few were making any moves toward the door. But the crowd was sent off with the roar of You Haven't Done Nothing or, as Reinhardt calls it, "the doo-da-wop song."

Feeling that good makes it difficult to leave the place that gave that feeling. As long as any SoulMates were around, so were music-lovers. It's tough to leave those who bring such joy. Especially, when you have to wait a whole week...

In 1970, Donny Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was pinpointed by Rolling Stone magazine as “a major new force in soul music." He was indeed that and, despite his too-early departure from the
world, he remains a force in soul music and in other music genres, as well. Perhaps he is best remembered for his soul duets with Howard University classmate Roberta Flack.

Hathaway was not limited and refused to be limited to only one category of music. He wrote astounding soul music, to be sure, but he also composed soundtracks (1972's Comeback, Charleston Blue), jazz, blues, funk, and even country and classical.

In a 1973 interview with British journalist, David Nathan, Hathaway revealed that he had written a concerto entitled Life which reflected on his life in music. His hopes, at the time, were to have it recorded and performed by the Boston Pops with himself conducting. Unfortunately, it is Donny's death that has embedded itself in America's musical remembrance and not his life and magnificent contribution to American music.

April 20, 2012 at Jimmy Mak's, however, it was Donny's life and music that were celebrated and paid homage with SoulMates' Tribute to Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack. Roberta Flack was included because it was his collaborations with Roberta that ran the charts so heavily (two #1's) and won them 1973's Grammy for "Best Vocal Performance by Duo or Group." In fact, the five Hathaway singles that were Top Ten Billboard Hits were all duets with Roberta.

Performing with SoulMates Jay "Bird" Koder (guitar), Jarrod Lawson (vocals and keyboards) and Reinhardt Melz (drums) were Farnell Newton (flugelhorn) and the lovely Saeeda Wright (vocals). It was a flawless line-up with an equally flawless set list which included chart-toppers Where is the Love and The Closer I Get to You. Among the sweetest choices were Donny's non-charting songs and the original SoulMates compositions which peppered the set list with contemporary songs showing the influence of Donny Hathaway. While the concert was a tribute to Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, it was not be forgotten that this was a SoulMates concert in tribute to the duo.

This was not mere mimickry of great songs. Any band can do that. But to take great pieces and restructure them, to enhance what had once been subdued and to underplay that which had once been featured is truly a tribute in that it allows the original to speak again with freshness and relevance amidst the talents of the current musicians.

J.D. Stubenberg, General Manager of Jimmy Mak's, introduced the band as "the best kept secret in Portland. Soulmates," he continued,"are the band that many of Portland’s great musicians call their favorite. Tonight they’ll be dipping into the deep wells of music built by legendary soul singing duo Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway. This is the band to play this music. It just doesn’t get any better."

After some warm-up numbers, SoulMates offered original compositions that featured Jarrod Lawson's lyricism and Jay "Bird" Koder's soaring guitar, especially on Everything I Need (J. Lawson, composer) which contained very Hathaway-esque  sentiments about joy in the presence of loved ones. This was followed by Everything is Clear, an original composition of Lawson, Farnell Newton and Steveland Swatkins and was featured on Farnell's CD Class is Now in Session. This provided a fine spot for introducing Farnell to the audience, although he needs no introduction to any Portland audience. As always, Farnell opened masterfully and continued so throughout the evening, playing a gentle horn solo on I Love You More than You'll Ever Know and playing it hot on Back Together Again.

I Love You More than You'll Ever Know was Donny at his blues best and "Bird" Koder was just the man for the job on the sweet, bluesy guitar. Like Hathaway, Bird has refused categorization and both of them were at home in genres from blues to jazz to classical. J.D. was correct in saying "This is the band to play this music."

Jarrod Lawson proved himself more than master of the soulful and bluesy vocals as well as the keyboards in I Believe to My Soul. This was hard blues. It had powerful rhythms and Reinhardt Melz has proven himself Portland's superior drummer over and over again. With Jarrod's kicking bass on the keyboards it might be suggested that the two of them at least approached, if not equaled, the rhythm section of Satterfield, Upchurch and Jennings on the original recording. With Bird and Farnell trading fours, the blues took on a jazz element only to be jerked back into blues with Jarrod's angry delivery of the memorable line "Ooooo, Baby baby baby/ Last night while you were sleeping/ I heard you say/ Ohhhh Ronny/ When you know my name/ When you know my name/ When you know my name is Donny!"

The YouTube link below is the original recording from Donny's first album Everything is Everything from 1970.

Then Saeeda Wright came to the stage for a portion of the duet material. Bird announced "You can't do a Donny tribute without including Roberta Flack and we are lucky to have Saeeda Wright joining us." Lucky is one word to describe it. Blessed is another. Especially when she so marvelously handled the duet with Jarrod on (That's the Time) I Feel Like Making Love. Farnell's soft horn and Bird's soulful guitar solo created a soft backdrop to the playfully sexy vocals of this adorable young woman. She is charming.

From such playfulness, she turned quickly to anguish with Roberta's huge hit Killing Me Softly. The song included stirring harmonies between Saeeda and Jarrod, which was not originally a duet but was treated as such on Saturday night. Jarrod's inclusion was fittingly representative of Donny's presence in Roberta's life. The song was not written with Donny Hathaway in mind nor with Don McLean in mind as apocryphal stories suggest. But the male vocal harmonies were fitting.

The song faded to close with Saeeda repeating the line "Killing me softly...killing me softly...killing me softly..." It received sustained applause for this unbelievable treatment of an already unbelievable song. This was mature treatment of legendary material. Jarrod Lawson has written "If your rendition of a cover tune isn't better, OR, just completely different than the original, what's the point?" With this as the philosophical approach to this tribute, it took the concert beyond the bounds of simple flattering imitation.

Donny loved and appreciated Marvin Gaye and most of Donny's live shows included his cover of the Marvin Gaye hit What's Going On. To pay homage to Donny is not just to reiterate his own material but to realize the music that moved him, as well. That understanding undoubtedly prompted the inclusion of Marvin's song in this tribute. It wasn't done in Marvin's style or even Donny's but, rather, SoulMates style. Jarrod's understanding of the vocals and Bird's take on the melodies in his solos bring this powerful and prophetic song right into the present day. Saeeda provided very heartfelt backing vocals.

For The Closer I Get to You, however, she resumed the duet lead with Jarrod in what was easily the most beautifully portrayed sense of longing heard on this night. Saeeda had shown her playful side, her sexy side and her pained side already but, at this point, she turned on the relaxed emotion of pure desire. She was truly capturing every emotion that Roberta herself has displayed so often. "Lying here next to you/ Time just seems to fly..." was delivered with languid satisfaction. Bird's supportive and understated guitar solo only added to the satisfaction. As the number faded, Saeeda repeatedly breathed the words "a little bit closer" while furtively reaching her hand toward Jarrod. This song was enough in itself to prove the truth of SoulMates' theme of "Sweet, Sexy Soul."

Reinhardt Melz had been the perfect gentleman on drums all night but, with Back Together Again, he turned on the hard funk groove and gave the perfect platform for Farnell's cool flugelhorn solo and Bird's hot guitar. You can't hear SoulMates' version but the link below will take you to the original by Roberta and Donny. This is the extended 12" single.

The first set ended with a roaring version of the Temptations' Ain't Too Proud to Beg. Reinhardt continued the thunder from the previous tune and created a romp for Bird and Jarrod to enjoy. Even the Jimmy Mak's servers were dancing while carrying the empties back to the bar. Thus ended the first set and the calling out of the bandmembers' name brought huge cheers from the audience.

The second set opened with the Jay "Bird" Koder original Man 4 U and was introduced by Bird tying it to Donny Hathaway with the words "Donny was all about love and that's what this song was about." Being a Koder composition, it contains a very soulful guitar solo and the bridge is just splendid. Of course, Bird plays every song like it is his--and when he's finished with it, it is truly his--but this one comes directly from his heart to the love of his life and every note speaks it.

Bill Withers' composition Lovely Day was next and the playful mood continued as Farnell had not made it to the stage, prompting Jarrod Lawson to call out during the intro, "Yo, Farnell! Where you at?" Farnell, red-faced, made his way quickly to the stage with his horn in hand and jumped right in.

Saeeda's playfulness had been seen earlier but it turned into downright taunting during Where is the Love with Jarrod in duet. None other than Mel Brown had been the drummer on the original recording of this great hit and Reinhardt respectfully kept Mel in mind in playing his rhythms. When the song was coming to its end (and nobody wanted it to end), Saeeda and Jarrod traded the lyric "Where is the love?...Where is the love?" Finally, Saeeda looked at Jarrod and said, "Really, Jarrod, where is the love? I mean, I see that ring on your finger...but where is the love?" Jarrod brightened to red and said "Oh, yeah..where is the love?" Saeeda was relentless. "Jarrod, where is the love?" to which Jarrod answered, "You know that's my WIFE sitting right there..." Saeeda poured it on with "Yeah, but you told me that you were gonna leave her...." It was good theater and it was great music.

But to hear Saeeda Wright with SoulMates and Farnell Newton on The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face) is a study in absolute desire. This was staggering! It is not enough to mention a stanza or a line of the lyrics and hearing them often distracts from the words themselves. So, with your permission, the lyrics:

The first time ever I saw your face/ I thought the sun rose in your eyes/ And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave/
To the dark and the empty skies, my love/ To the dark and the empty skies.

The first time ever I kissed your mouth/ And felt your heart beat close to mine/ Like the trembling heart of a captive bird/
That was there at my command, my love/ That was there at my command.

And the first time ever I lay with you/ I felt your heart so close to mine/ And I knew our joy would fill the earth/
And last till the end of time my love/ It would last till the end of time my love

The first time ever I saw your face, your face/ your face... your face.....

The trailing off of the final words were so heart-breaking. Perhaps it was so emotional because of the expressed hope that this love would last till the end of time but Donny would be gone so soon. Looking back at dashed hopes is the cruelest fate of all.

But the music still sings to us and the power of the words are no less relevant today than when Donny first recorded them. The song I Believe in Music (written by Mac Davis) became an anthem under Donny Hathaway's treatment. "I believe in Music/ I believe in Love" resounded of hope in the midst of blood-letting and horror. When Donny first recorded it, we were still embroiled in VietNam. Today, we are bogged down in Afghanistan. Donny would remind us that policies and politics divide us but music and the love it expresses are the great unifiers. The audience responded to that sentiment with hands raised and waving in the air. The guitar solo from Bird was electrifying and the audience was invited to sing the refrain, so that even the musicians stopped and let the audience take the lead. The song closed with Bird and Jarrod playing echoes of Let it Be. Powerful.

Howard Ingber is a lovely man who has been dealing with health issues. Howard was in attendance because he loves Donny Hathaway and he loves SoulMates. The words "Take it from me, someday we'll all be free" were sent out to Howard with love. Farnell's melancholy horn solo was a beautiful feature of the song. Howard sat with hands raised and a smile to light up the room. Someday We'll All Be Free is a Donny masterpiece.

From Donny's last album came Love, Love, Love. Hathaway had once told a reporter that he liked writing "pretty music." Love, Love, Love is, most assuredly, pretty music. Reinhardt provided what can only be called a cheerful groove for this sweet piece. Jarrod's intonations of "I looked out into empty space and all I saw was your pretty face" was splendid.

Tonight I Celebrate My Love was, to me, a bit cheesey when it was first released. It was around 1980 and it was one of the worst periods for music, I thought. The SoulMates' rendition, however, was moving and meaningful in a way I never thought possible. With Jarrod and Saeeda singing it, the song turned into a celebration of the deep friendship of Donny and Roberta. I have since gone back to listen to the original and have found new life in that song. That new life was breathed into it by SoulMates. Now, doing that is a tribute!

This Christmas was never a Top Ten hit for Donny but no Christmas passes without hearing it on numerous radio stations and other outlets. Being difficult to sing a Christmas song in April, SoulMates took the music and wrote lyrics in honor of Donny. The concluding line was "Donny, you will always be so special to me." It served as a reminder of the impact of the man and his art. Not dwelling on the end, the choice is better made to celebrate the life and love of Donny Hathway.

Bridge Over Troubled Water is one of those songs that serves us best when things around are difficult. Saeeda Wright took this popular and hopeful song and moved it into another place that even Paul Simon could not have imagined. When she sang the line "And pain is all around..." Howard had his hands in the air again. Music just may be the best ministry one can offer. Saeeda was the bridge over troubled water that night. I can say without any worry of exaggeration that this song was written over 50 years ago for Saeeda Wright to sing. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I confess that Paul Simon doesn't move me... but Saeeda Wright does.

You've Got a Friend was recorded by everyone back around 1970. Everyone remembers Carole King's version, or even James Taylor's, but the Hathaway version is what we saw through the lens of SoulMates and Donny's version should never be forgotten. It ended cheerfully, even a bit rollicking, which is the effect of good friends.

The encore left Jarrod Lawson alone onstage. Saeeda and Farnell departed first. Bird and Reinhardt slipped away. Jarrod and his keyboard remained for A Song for You. The sheer beauty of the lyrics and the emotion of the music were overwhelming. It created an image of Donny Hathaway alone and giving his music to those who would follow after. The last lines were:
"We were alone and I was singing this song for you..." Almost one could imagine the spirit of Donny at rest, alone with us, and singing his music to a world that still needs his voice.

Donny Hathaway's influence is still felt today and music lovers' ears still stand to attention when Hathaway's songs are mentioned.

Friday night, April 20, 2012 will see SoulMates at Jimmy Mak's in Portland for the SoulMates Tribute to Donny Hathaway. The Blue Diamond crowd, however, was treated to a preview of the Hathaway material on Monday night.

After a couple of opening instrumentals, SoulMates moved to a third such with the 1960's hit Caravan. The song has been recorded by the Ventures and even Les Paul but none of them, not even the legendary Les Paul, plays it with the same heart as Jay "Bird" Koder. I admit, I watched the Les Paul performance again on YouTube and was horribly disappointed. In comparison with the Bird version, Les Paul's rendition is bland and emotionless.

The SoulMates version came in fulfillment of one patron's request for something that featured drummist Reinhardt Melz. He wound up cheering the song and Bird and Jarrod as well as Reinhardt and, during the song, it became clear that Reinhardt couldn't hear very well. He then set finesse aside and turned into Thor with thunder and lightning for drumsticks. The guy who had requested the Reinhardt number yelled out "Yeahhhhhhh!"

Before the evening progressed much farther, a special song was sent out as a birthday greeting to Chieko, everyone's favorite SoulMates fan. The song was Sukiyaki and has always been a delight to SoulMates audiences. Monday night was no exception as the audience was moved in appreciation. Bird's playing of this can turn the stoniest heart to jello and everyone responded to it.

What was interesting was watching the audience. One guy admitted to getting teary-eyed when he heard the song. Another guy who looked like a veteran from the battle of Jutland sat in the back and even his weathered face and craggy smile turned into springtime as he listened to Bird's playing. But almost everyone was watching Chieko during the song for her. The regulars who know her were watching her and smiling warmly. However, even people who were new to the band kept their eyes on Chieko and smiled as Bird played for her. This is Chieko; she causes even strangers to smile. She is SoulMates' soulmate.

With the band and the audience warmed up, SoulMates launched into the vocal selections of the set. It began with an original composition entitled Her Twisted Mind or, as Bird calls it, "That Twisted Sister thing." The song is a bit enigmatic and a listener can't just listen to one verse or line and think they understand it. It is raw in its emotion with lines like "Your teeth are stained/ With the lies you claim." And Jarrod's throaty delivery brought cheers that were just as raw from the audience. Exclamations of "Well, DAMN..." and "Don't take that!" were heard throughout the room.  After some back and forth lyrics, Jarrod announced to the crowd, "This is the last verse. It will explain everything." To which Bird answered, "Yeah. Sure." Sure enough, the payoff line was "I am an innocent man/ Just a victim of circumstance..." Ah, there was the answer and it was in the title all along.

Then attention was turned to the great Donny Hathaway (1945-1979). This became a preview to the SoulMates' Tribute to Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack. The performance of Love, Love, Love, I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know and I Believe in Music certainly served to whet the appetite for more to follow on Friday night, April 20. All this along with the set-list standard Valdez in the Country and SoulMates are tuned and ready for such a memorable tribute.

Love, Love, Love contains the sweet lyrics "I looked out into empty space/ And all I saw was your pretty face." It was soulful and wistful and it brought the audience to silence again. That seems to happen very often when SoulMates play.

If this was the preview for the Donny Hathaway tribute, just imagine what the full show will be like with Saeeda Wright joining them to do Roberta Flack's parts and Farnell Newton adding his horn.

It is the show not to be missed. If there is only one musical performance to see this spring, it must be...it has to be...Friday night, April 20th at Jimmy Mak's with the SoulMates Tribu

Jarrod had not even finished bringing his keyboard gear into the Blue Diamond before he starting rubbing his chest and repeatedly clearing his throat. Time to soldier on. Something like laryngitis may stop a singer of more fragile make-up but not a SoulMate. SoulMates play under the most heinous of circumstances. Reinhardt Melz once played the drum solo from In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida while in a full body cast and Jay "Bird" Koder  played Smoke on the Water during an open-air concert in a thunderstorm. Didn't you ever wonder how his hair got so curly?

Ok, not really... but the point, of course, is that "the show must go on."  And go on it did.

Jarrod wasn't going to get much warm-up time because, at the Blue Diamond, the show is from 9 pm to midnight. They have to jump right at it.

However, they did open the night with five straight instrumentals and this gave Jarrod a lttle rest time. What it also did was highlight Jarrod's work on the keys and that is always satisfying.

The opening instrumental featured some cool guitar and equally cool keyboards and, from there, SoulMates soared into and through original instrumentals like Bacchus and Fly Away.

It is this last piece that stands out and remains one of my very favorites simply for its pure lyricism. The title Fly Away is a fitting description of the soaring guitar that "Bird" allows to take wing. It is full of those moments that just let the listener hang suspended on single notes.

Donny Hathaway's Valdez in the Country was sent out to Mikey G in the audience. There were nice change-up guitar lines and it is easy to get caught up in watching the Bird work his way around the fingerboard of his guitar. Fingering horizontally and vertically, he has the board completely mapped out in his head and he does not get lost. There is no dead-end in a Koder guitar solo.

I mention this because I have seen so-called great guitarists simply lose their way in improvising a solo. I have seen Eddie Van Halen practically come to a stop because he had lost his way. The Bird can fly his way out of any solo. And he flies furiously.

So there, in Valdez in the Country, Jarrod was like Odysseus caught between Bird's Scylla at his bitingly best and Reinhardt's Charybdis with his swirling drum sounds. Jarrod navigated the middle passage and held them both in perfect tension. It was hot.

Moving from his place of safety, Jarrod was then thrust into the deep for his vocals. Remy Shands' Colors of the Day was the first vocal number of the night. Despite the roughness he felt, the vocals were smooth and guitar was on top of it all.

What's Goin' On? continued the vocal voyage and Jarrod can handle this one on any night. I am a big Marvin Gaye fan and SoulMates just own this song. "Talk to me / So you can see / What's goin' on ..." Even layrngitis can't stop this song and Jarrod's ending drizzle kept this one as fresh and soulful as the day Marvin first sang it.

SoulMates have performed September many times but this time was funkier than most and I laughed out loud to hear Bird's drop-in of Shortenin' Bread at the end. Written by poet James Whitcomb Riley in 1900, Shortenin' Bread has been covered by performers from Al Jolson to the Beach Boys to Chris Rock and now finds a fitting place in a Jay "Bird" Koder solo.

Kris Magaurn was the recepient of the next send-out from SoulMates in the form of Cruisin' and the set ended with If You Want Me to Stay.  The Sly and the Family Stone original is linked below. Listen to the original bass line and then imagine that line carried by Jarrod's kicking bass on the keyboard.

As always, SoulMates take great songs and put their own soul to it and move them into another realm altogether. The song ended with great rolls from Reinhardt, drizzle from Jarrod and scratches from Bird.

After the first set, Lance Giles arrived for his first visit to the Blue Diamond since the SoulMates move to their new venue. So the second set opened with one of his favorites and this helped him get over his "two week drought." Once again, it proved the union of SoulMates on-stage and soulmates off-stage. Lance was greeted and treated by people who only know him through a shared love of music but they have become family.

After Just the Two of Us and a voice-resting instrumental for Jarrod, the band closed out the night with All Day Sucker which has become the go-to goodbye song. Mid-way through the song, the young guys in the back of the room began inching their way nearer to the stage to watch Reinhardt. There were big grins all around.

The play from all three SoulMates was astonishing. It was melodic and it was passionate, even the drum solo was melodic. In fact, it was the best drum solo that I have ever witnessed. It was furiously fast but it was melodic. It was complex beyond belief but it was melodic. It swept the crowd with rhythmic pulses and left the audience almost open-mouthed in amazement.

Laryngitis didn't have a chance of winning the night. Jarrod was carried on the shoulders between Reinhardt's flashing sticks and Bird's lightning licks and his own soulful keyboard.

Nothing, it seems, can impede the Sound.

It is always interesting to see what songs grab people. On different nights, it may be different songs that have the powerful effect. Some songs always seem to do the job for one person or another. Some always seem to work for the entire audience.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the SoulMates original compositions seem to fall into the last category. Man 4 U and Everything I Need (by Jay "Bird" Koder and Jarrod Lawson, respectively) are perennial crowd favorites.

Stevie Wonder's Knocks Me Off My Feet is no shock as another audience-pleaser. As Jarrod has said, "It's the perfect song. Just play it straight." And each and every week the listeners are enthralled by the song, especially SoulMates style. Can't Hide Love is another such pleaser.

Monday night, the SoulMates came ready to thrill and captivate. During the instrumental warm-ups, the Candlelight crowd was treated to Night Crawler, another SoulMates original. The Bird's guitar solo was melancholy and emotional and a bit haunting. Reinhardt's drum solo was like watching Shiva on crack. It was only the second song of the first set and Reinhardt proved that he came to play. In fact, Reinhardt wound up as the go-to guy on a couple of occassions this night--for different reasons.

During One Mo 'Gin, "Bird" played his guitar percussively and traded with Reinhardt hit for hit. That was fun! Even Jarrod appeared as if he were watching a ping-pong match, looking back and forth between the two hitters. 

Late in the evening during I Wish Reinhardt pounded the living daylights out of a drum solo that made our pal Toray walk away just shaking his head. That happens a lot at the Candlelight on Monday nights; we all shake our heads in disbelief with these guys. And I mean that in a good way...

Then there is Reinhardt playing that Steve Gadd beat (Jay "Bird" calls it "the Hogan's Heroes" beat) that introduces 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover or what "Bird" calls a foray into "the seedy underbelly of love." I don't know what that means but the way he says it makes you want to go home and shower. And I don't mean that in a good way...

Reinhardt's most memorable and light-hearted moment was at the beginning of Lovely Day. The song started in its lovely way and Jarrod...could not remember the opening line. He looked back at Reinhardt ("Nose") and said, "How's it start!?" Reinhardt called out "When I wake up in the mornin', love..." I'm not sure which was funnier--Jarrod forgetting the lines or Nose knowing the lines. But the "Bird" just shrugged his shoulders and said "Nose knows!"

But what was the most unforgettable part of the night came early and the feeling stayed late. Jay "Bird" said "This goes out to one of our very favorite people in the world and she's right here with us." The SoulMates then soared into the most beautiful, heart-tugging, and tear-inducing rendition of Sukiyaki. Of course, it is the English-speaking world that calls it that. In Japanese, the title is literally I Shall Walk Looking Up. The original was sung by Kyu Sakamoto and was sung entirely in Japanese and still was a huge hit in the U.S. in 1963, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It even reached #18 on the R&B charts.

The SoulMates, however, gave the most emotional of instrumental treatments of the song. This was the song of the night. This was the song that stuck in everyone's mind. People were absolutely "oohing and aahing" at the end. One woman called it "the most beautiful thing I ever heard." Another said, "I have heard it sung and I have sung it myself many times but I never heard anything like this!" as the melody faded away.