Music : R&B and Soul
MINT CONDITION
Live at the Jazz Cafe
Monday 18th & Tuesday 19th September
doors 7pm
£27.50 advance
Please note: These shows were rescheduled from June 2006.
Jazz Cafe exclusive for the multi-talented, Minnesota based, soul and R&B band, Mint Condition, back from a six-year hiatus with the release of their newest creation, Livin’ the Luxury Brown.
Livin’ the Luxury Brown is Mint's first release since their 1999 album, Life's Aquarium. The title of the new CD has a specific meaning for the group, which has spent the last six years playing spot dates, woodshedding with new songs and side projects and just living life.
Lead singer Stokley says, “Livin' The Luxury Brown is a kind of metaphor that celebrates our experience, culture, tradition, and peoplehood. We’re just givin’ you somethin’ honest, creative, fun, deep and real.”
Amazingly enough, the original lineup of the influential band remains essentially the same since its 1991 debut recording, Meant To Be Mint. Mint Condition once again sports the prodigious talents of Stokley on vocals and drums, Ricky Kinchen on bass and lead guitar, Lawrence El on piano and keyboards, O'Dell on lead and rhythm guitar and Jeffrey on saxophone and keyboards. Beginning as a sextet, the group now stands at five after the amicable departure of keyboardist Keri Lewis.
Mint Condition’s classic soul-meets-rock sound is still in full effect as a product of being a self contained unit by writing and producing their own material. Mint Condition also gets support on the new CD from drummer Chris Dave, as well as an expected contribution from A Tribe Called Quest and former Lucy Pearl sound architect Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Happily for longtime fans, Livin’ the Luxury Brown incorporates the back-to-basics ethos of a hardworking garage band, while fully embracing the smooth melodies of contemporary R&B with welcome touches from the hip-hop, jazz and Latin genres.
Saxophonist and songwriter Jeffrey notes that the new album does have some interesting twists, "Musically we have more guitar on this record than we've ever had in the past. In addition to Odell, we have Rick playin’ guitar, Stokley playin’ guitar, and Larry strums a little bit. So, we’ve established more of an organic sound on this record."
Livin’ the Luxury Brown, the band's first release of the new millennium, clearly represents a new era for Mint Condition. Their music itself stands alone and that independence feels right for the group. With their unique sound and musical expertise, Mint Condition has long stood apart from cookie-cutter groups and studio-honed boy bands.
After all, this is the group that launched such indelible hits as Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes), Someone To Love, You Send Me Swingin, What Kind Of Man Would I Be and Pain Our Pleasure. This is also the same group whose awesome stage presence and songwriting skills so impressed production bigwigs Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, that they immediately signed Mint Condition to their own Perspective Record label in the mid-nineties.
It's an ambitious slate for the band, but Mint Condition is just fulfilling their destiny of Livin’ the Luxury Brown.
JAZZ CAFE RESERVATIONS
BOOK ONLINE
Click here to book standing only tickets online
BY PHONE
Call See Tickets on 0870 060 3777 (24hrs; subject to booking fee)
STANDING TICKETS ONLY
IN PERSON
Visit the Camden Ticket Shop,
5 Parkway, Camden, London, NW1
BOX OFFICE OPENING HOURS:
FOR STANDING & RESTAURANT TICKETS
Monday - Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Sunday: 12pm - 6pm
RESTAURANT BOOKINGS
Restaurant tickets can only be booked by telephone.
Call 020 7534 6955 to reserve a table in the restaurant.
Whilst we make every effort to allocate customers their preferred tables, we reserve the right to change the table plan.
VENUE OPENING HOURS
Sunday – Thursday -- 7pm till 12/1am
Friday + Saturday -- 7pm till 2am
PLEASE NOTE: doors open at 7pm each night. On stage times vary. Please call venue for details. If you wish to reserve a table in the restaurant DO NOT book tickets online first. Restaurant reservations must be made by phoning the venue on 020 7534 6955. Tickets are sometimes available on the door. Call 020 7916 6060 for availability. Customers will need to sign when collecting tickets.
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