Portland-based singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Jarrod Lawson told us about his D'Angelo experience...
Jarrod Lawson: In 2015, shortly after I had dropped my debut album, which was gloriously received in Europe and Japan, I was touring the globe ferociously, and found myself in the Netherlands performing at the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam.
It just so happened that my favorite contemporary soul artist, D’Angelo, was to headline the festival that year with his new squad, The Vanguard, featuring prodigious additions to the roster such as Chris “Daddy” Dave on drums, and Isaiah Sharkey on guitar.
It would have been enough just to be out in that massive audience of 60K, but as performing artists, my band and I were granted backstage passes that allowed us to go pretty much anywhere we wanted, so we posted up in a backstage balcony where we could not only see the entire audience, but we could see D’Angelo and his compadres before they even walked onto the stage, which felt like such a privileged perspective to have! We watched as D and the Vanguard had a moment of prayer and then, with an absolutely legendary gait, the baddest band on the planet walked with poise and purpose to that massive stage, and then delivered an unforgettable performance.
Jarrod Lawson's Just Let It album is out May 1.
Photo by Chad Crawford
