New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
On Thursday, February 5th, Boston’s own Jesse Dee will be in New Bedford MA for a solo performance at The Zeiterion Theatre’s Stage Door Live event. At the Stage Door Live performances, the audience sits right on stage with the performer for an intimate cafe style experience.
Jesse Dee’s latest album On My Mind/In My Heart came out in 2013. It didn’t take long after I started playing this album for his voice and rhythms to get stuck on my mind and in my heart. I was smiling wide, tapping my feet, shaking my hips in my seat and attempting to sing along just a few minutes into listening to the first track which is the title track of the album.
The influences of such artists as Sam Cooke and the Shirelles are very prominent in his music. Jesse doesn’t try to hide these inspirations, he embraces and embellishes these old familiar sounds of the 1950’s and 1960’s and converts them into his own foot-tapping heart-thumping style.
Jesse was around 7 years old when he started listening to oldies radio stations. I was curious to hear what other types of music Jesse listens to.
“I listen to a lot of different stuff. There’s a band I like called Little Dragon. That’s more of an electro pop band. Soul, older soul, and R&B hits the hardest for me, speaks to me the most. But I think good music is good music and the qualities in music people gravitate to I think are found in all different forms of it. I guess I’m drawn to it from all over the place but soul and R&B is kind of where most of my taste is rooted in.”
Jesse Dee creates a contemporary feel for older soul in his music and also brings a great element of visual art from that time period into his posters, website, and albums that he designs. With an education from MassArt in Boston in both Visual and Performing Art, Jesse is able to combine his skills to create a modern sound and feel that bring you back to the good old days.
Jesse Dee’s upcoming performance at The Zeiterion isn’t his first time appearing on that stage. He opened with his band for Al Green in August 2012. He mentioned that it was a special experience for him, being able to perform in the beautiful venue with someone whose music he admires very much.
I could see on Jesse’s list of tour dates that his venues really varied so I asked “I see that you are playing at the Sinclair, and by listening to your music, I would think that you’d get a dancing crowd. A show like this is going to be more of a listening crowd, how does that change the set that you choose?”
“There’s definitely material that I’d be more inclined to play in a listening environment as opposed to, you know, a sold out show at the Sinclair type of scenario, only because I think some of the material doesn’t translate as well in those settings. There’s also a lot of songs that can function in either setting, I’ve found. I think, when I play solo, you have to approach it as a different thing, because it is a different thing. But it’s something that I very much enjoy. It’s how I learned to play, solo, as a performer. It’s fun to jump back and forth between playing with a bigger band and playing all by myself.”
Tickets for The Zeiterion’s Stage Door Live! performance by Jesse Dee $20 can be purchased at www.zeiterion.org, 508-994-2900 or at The Z Box office located at 684 Purchase Street in downtown New Bedford. 02740. Box office hours are Tuesday through Friday 10:00am-5:00pm, and Saturday 10:00am-3:00pm. For more information, visit www.zeiterion.org.
