Lauryn Hill + Hot 8 Brass Band - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (Portland, OR; Apr. 9, 2011)

Too often, life as a musical genius destroys the best in people. The same could be said for geniuses of any kind, but it’s particularly true for musicians facing fame, constant scrutiny, and never-ending pressure, once they reach celebrity status. This generation watched it in the plight of Kurt Cobain, and continues to see it, today, with the once unstoppable Lauryn Hill. Over the past ten years, it’s been painful to witness someone who once enraptured us with her beautiful voice and angelic presence, seem to disappear into a mental breakdown.

With The Fugees’ album The Score and her solo release The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the songstress helped create two of the most successful and critically acclaimed albums of our time, and that made it even more difficult to see her retreat from music so quickly after arriving to its upper echelon of talent. Firmly removing herself from the spotlight and choosing to exile with the family she was building with Rohan Marley, Hill seemed to be giving her fans the kiss-off. Her return with 2002’s MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 complicated things further, as she rambled incoherently throughout the live set and spoke to the crowd as if she cared nothing of their love for her.

We then heard very little of Hill over the next few years, and I sadly doubted we’d ever hear or see her musical brilliance again. But then she launched a comeback into today’s musical landscape with her Moving Target: Extended Intimate Playdate Series tour, which kicked off in 2010; hope resumed. As she made stops across the U.S., news reports revealed Hill was not 100 percent back to true, original form, however. Fans at some shows waited up to four hours for her to take the stage, where she acted unhappy to be there, and excused her tardiness with announcements of, “I’m worth the wait.” Hearing this left me utterly heartbroken; I had been optimistic Hill would return with a vengeance and dispel all rumors that she had flipped a 180 from the spirited, passionate, and majestic creature of force we all loved in the ‘90s. Regardless, I wished for the best for her stop at Portland’s Soul’d Out Music Festival, feeling it could be different from all the rest; it would give her time on the road to restore her groove with music, and would be one of the last stops before her appearance at this week’s Coachella festival, a performance she’d need to nail if she expected to regain any trust or appreciation from her fans.

Thankfully, Ms. Hill met my expectations at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall last night, but that’s not saying she gave the incredible, mind-blowing performance we know she could have given us. It was a long overdue showcase of her greatest hits--a performance she arrived on time for, and in it, frequently displayed gratefulness to her fans--but there were plenty of hold-ups in the set that prevented it from being the mesmerizing one it could have been.

First, though, mention must be made for her openers, Donald Harrison Quintet & Hot 8 Brass Band, who could not have provided a better build-up to the show’s headliner. Both groups brought a mostly instrumental mix of jazz, funk, blues, soul, R&B and reggae with them from their home of New Orleans, and it helped transform the Schnitz into a community-like event, where everyone laughed, talked and danced the night away. The Quintet played a mostly upbeat jazz jam throughout their performance, with Harrison alternating between hand drums and saxophone while the rest of the sound was rounded out with keyboard, bass and drums. It was a pretty clean set that featured a fantastic sampling of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and plenty of smooth grooves. Harrison also announced he had just turned 50, and proceeded to show us some sick dance moves to disprove beliefs that age matters. He also did some name dropping, citing he used to play with the likes of Miles Davis, and then paid homage to Charlie Parker with the song “Ode To Bird.”

Hot 8 Brass Band, composed of two trombones, three trumpets, one tuba, one sax and two drums, has been featured in HBO’s “Treme,” and are regulars in weekly Second Line parades. They truly brought the music of New Orleans to Portland, and displayed the kind of brotherhood only a group of musicians from the Big Easy could evoke – a kind of marching, triumphant spirit seemed to resound in every note they played. It was, hands down, the liveliest music I’ve ever seen, and easily got people out of their seats. The trumpets, with their volume capability and frequent variation in speed and style, dominated much of the set, but every instrument made their mark. One of my favorites was the tuba player, who laid a deep and balancing layer to the rest of the sounds, and occasionally belched out a guttural roar.

The Band also laid down a terrific tribute to Marvin Gaye with their cover of “Sexual Healing,” and asked the crowd – a gladly cooperative bunch – to singalong with them on it. This perfectly set the stage for the arrival of DJ Rampage, who gave us 40 minutes of rap and hip-hop hits as we bade our time for the arrival of Ms. Hill. Playing greats from such legends as A Tribe Called Quest, Biz Markie, Beastie Boys, Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre and Jay-Z, Rampage also added RIP shouts to Nate Dogg and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Impatience started to swirl about the audience in anticipation of Hill’s arrival, but then her back-up band took the stage and began playing along as Rampage spun Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights,” and the crowd went wild.

I gotta admit – it was exhilarating to watch the reclusive Lauryn Hill take the stage, and rightfully exclaim, “Long time, no see.” Goosebumps rippled down my skin as she opened with “Everything Is Everything,” but I quickly got annoyed with DJ Rampage’s firing off of lazer bolt sounds while Hill rapped. While he had spun a lot of great tracks in his solo time on the stage, his presence as a back-up to Hill never felt necessary, and those damn bolts of sound almost made me jump the stage to kick him off it. She had three back-up singers, two guitarists, a keyboardist, drummer and bassist with her already, and an additional beat maker wasn’t needed. As the show progressed, though, he did seem important in establishing a clean sound amidst the loose and rambling spectacle the rest of the band was putting forth. It honestly felt at times like the band had been chosen a day or two before the show, and that no one knew how to play together. This thought was amplified by Hill’s frequent flapping of her arms and hands, which seemed to be asking the band to pick up the pace and intensity of what they were doing.

All of this left the music with little structure, which was both a good and bad thing – it did continue the freestylin’ theme of the night, but it also felt unreasonable. Hill should be backed by a much more cohesive group of musicians. Her music had always been so tight and often intentionally and purposefully slow, but her performance last night was the exact opposite. Most of her songs were sped up to an unsatisfactory level, and it became tough to decide if she owed us exact replications of her previously recorded sounds or not.

Hill did lay out some grittily exceptional rapping in songs such as “Lost Ones,” reminding me she’s an amazing female rapper. Rapping features her voice at its best--definitely at its rawest--because it’s at a deep level that demands listening and respect.

“Ex-Factor” used bluesy guitar to bring rock ‘n’ roll to the stage for the first time of the night, nicely adding to the wide variety of genres played by each group. Often there was zero break between songs, so it was great to hear Hill pause for a minute before “To Zion” and ponder how the inspiration for that tune, her then-unborn baby Zion, was now 13-years-old. Again, though, the song was too sped up, making the listener yearn for the original slow and lush recording.

Hill directed her version of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” to her Portland fans, then asked the crowd, “Who here loves Bob Marley?” To which I thought to myself, “Wow. Must be nice to be able to name-drop Bob Marley as somewhat of a father-in-law.” She soon wiped that idea from my head with a great rendition of “Is This Love,” and set a redirection in the show towards hits from her work with The Fugees.

Considering the embattled relationships in that awesome group and the public hostility Hill once showed for the band, it felt wonderful to hear her say, “I’d like to dedicate this part of the show to the Fugees fans” and listen to her perform the hits with gusto. “How Many Mics” featured some rockin’ guitar, and it was nice to remember that The Fugees used the term “mazal tov” long before Black Eyed Peas did. “Fu-Gee-La” sounded as good as it always had, but “Ready or Not” was played way too fast and felt squished together. Then, the highly anticipated, “Killing Me Softly,” was nearly ruined by the return of DJ Rampage’s bolts of sound, but it was still performed well enough to be satisfactory. Hill offered an upbeat take on her classic tune, and the alternate version was particularly disconcerting.

Hill then closed her set with “Turn Your Lights Down Low,” another Bob Marley cover, and “Doo Wop (That Thing),” which, in its rugged performance, felt much less innocent than it had when it was first released. There was annoying mic static during that last song, and it scared me into thinking Hill would finally prove the rumors correct, and lose it in front of us. But Hill kept her cool, shook the mic, and continued without further interruption. It was then I realized that she had pulled it off. Hill had just completed a set that was far from perfect, but it was one that proved she’s still got one of the most beautiful and powerful voices in the world, and that her genius for music still exists mightily .

Because of Hill’s brilliant recorded works, expectations were high. Her performance left me thinking that we can forgive her the few mishaps of the night by honoring her past greatness. We could’ve bore witness to a trainwreck of a show in which she was late to, and/or disrespectful, muttering, forgetful of lyrics and very vocal about her position on things; instead, Hill put on a pretty great concert. It featured her rapping at its best, and every time her voice shrieked, or her body shook, it created an intense anticipation for what would come next.

Lauryn Hill is still far from the exceptional wonder she once was, but her performance last night signals somewhat of a return and triumph. My hopes for her continued success are rising, and as she maintains a bit of musical genius about her, I only wish she uses it to provide us fans with the extraordinary music she is capable of creating.

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