Live Concert Photography: Lee Fields and The Expressions at Piano’s 11/2/16
If you’ve been frequenting this site for some time you’d likely have come across a handful of posts featuring Lee Fields. Beginning his music career with his first recorded efforts being released in 1969, Fields has had a lengthy and prolific career that has included touring with the likes of Kool and the Gang, O.V. Wright, Hip Huggers, and others — although Fields has toured in a bit of obscurity, outside of crate diggers seeking deep, funky grooves and passionate soul music fans. However, as I’ve written about countless times over the course of this site’s six years, over the past 10-15 years, the classic soul sound has seen a remarkable resurgence with both forgotten talents achieving the attention and fame that had long eluded them — rin particular think of Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, the late, great Chuck Brown and others, as well as a number of contemporary acts writing and recording new material employing that classic and beloved sound.
With the release of 2009’s My World, 2012’s Faithful Man and 2014’s Emma Jean through Truth and Soul Records, Fields and his backing band The Expressions won the attention of the blogosphere and new fans — all while increasingly pushing their sound and lyrics in new directions; in fact, Emma Jean featured a gorgeous and soulful cover of Leon Russell’s “Out In The Woods,” which also managed to evoke Fields’ own experience of arriving in the NYC area as a 17 year old with only $20 in his pocket and a desire to make a name for himself at all costs.
Fields’ fourth and recently released effort with his backing band The Expressions Special Night thematically focuses both on human relationships and getting the world right, as you would hear on the album’s latest, stomping, early 70s James Brown-indebted bit of soulful funk “Make The World.” Fields and The Expressions played a private set at Piano’s to celebrate the release of his funky as hell, new album and to build up buzz for their upcoming tour. Check out the Stateside tour dates and photos below.
Tour Dates:
Nov 30 – San Diego, CA – Belly Up Tavern (TIX)
Dec 01 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey (TIX)
Dec 02 – Pomona, CA – Glass House (TIX)
Dec 03 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine (TIX)
Dec 05 – Portland, OR – Aladdin (TIX)
Dec 06 – Seattle, WA – Neumos (TIX)
Dec 07 – Vancouver, BC – Biltmore (TIX)
Jan 07 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza (TIX) #
For these photos and more, check out the Flickr set here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskLrjnzj
