by Jaz Bowens
If you walked into the TLA on Wed. Nov. 20th, you would have thought it was a Saturday night and no one had work the next day. It was a large turnout and though the venue wasn’t packed, Escort and JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound filled up the place with their infectious melodies and smooth beats. The tunes couldn’t stop people from dancing.
The first band on stage was Brooklyn’s Escort. I listened to their music before I had the chance to see them perform and, although I was indifferent to their music, nothing beats hearing them live. Listening on YouTube or any other stream doesn’t quite do them justice. They are a band that can truly be appreciated live in my opinion and it gave people who hadn’t listened to their self-titled LP something to check out when they got home.
After Escort’s hour-long set and a short break, JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound got on the stage. As soon as the band started to play, the vibe in the room changed. Not in a bad way, though, these two bands have completely different sounds. Both upbeat and both got the crowd dancing, but each to a different chord. The Uptown Sound has more of a soulful, 60s James Brown mixed with a Otis Redding sound. Brooks has a strong voice and his energetic stage presence carried the band’s great instrument playing and everything seemed to flow perfectly.
