Naomi Shelton grew up in Alabama and like most soul and gospel singers began singing in church at a young age. Later she moved to New York and got into the soul scene. She had club hits on the 41st St. Breakdown” and “Wind Your Clock Beginning with the familiar `Wade in the water' she went on to sing songs from her new album `What have you done my brother' out on Daptone Records I loved `I'll take the long road' and `Lift my burdens' but all the tunes were great. She has a deep rich voice. On some tunes one of the 3 gospel Queens took the lead. The group were backed by a local quartet some of which had performed with other bands at these concerts and have a Booker T and the MG's type of sound but also including Cliff Driver on organ and keyboard. Often the sound was reminiscent of early James Brown material.
Burning Spear is a Grammy award winning Jamaican reggae artist and black activist. His philosophy was influenced by Pan African advocate Marcus Garvey who was born in the same town in Jamaica as Spear as was Bob Marley. There is a huge Jamaican community in Brooklyn and they were out in force along with many other fans of Burning Spear. We saw Asians, Mexicans and young and old in the audience. This concert drew a bigger crowd than any others we've been to in the park. Backed by an 8 piece band which included 3 horns Burning Spear performed his most famous songs Africa, Marcus Garvey, Slavery days, Calling Rasiafari and African postman all of which drew a huge response from the crowd. Literally everyone was on their feet on the 1st number and didn't sit down again! Spear is great on the congas and did several long solos often dueting with the keyboard. The guitarist played some wild solos on some of the tunes.
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