From: Addi Hou (adease1_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 2003-03-06 20:40:15
It may be true that Koop is actually improving as the shows continue across the states because last night's show in NYC at the Bowery was nothing short of stupendous. The band was tight and, to my relief, Yukimi Nagano wowed me. Her incredible beauty, confident stage presence and surprisingly resonant voice had the crowd transfixed all night. (No one I was with could believe it when I said she was all of 20 yrs old.) She conjured up mages of Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn in my head. It is quite strange (in a good way) that such a voice comes out of such a small girl...I felt that the band was nice and tight. The drums and vibes were spot on. The bassist was on his groove. Magnus looked a bit funny with just his G4 laptop and some sort of sampler.
I was struck by the purity of Koop's sound. Even though they pretty much played the songs from the album verbatim, the live sound really did swing. At times, when the lights were dimmed and the spotlight shined on the individual performers, it really felt like we were all in a smoky underground jazz club grooving away. many people in the crowd were swaying and dancing almost feverishly.
they covered 3 songs, maybe 4. Curtis Lundy's 'Never Gonna Let You Go' was lush and sensual. Pharoah's 'Creator Has A Master Plan' was wonderful and to my delight, for their encore they did a version of UFO's 'Flying Saucer'. (They did another song in the beginning that I'm not sure of.) I was hoping maybe they would cover Ms. Vaughn's 'Just A Little Lovin' but they didn't.
All in all a wonderful night. The opening band 3 Generations Walking were average. A bit sloppy and dated, they still had the crowd whooping it up. But I think everyone was there to see Koop. They did not disappoint. West Coast people, what you on about?
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