Even though the weather outside Asbury Park NJ’s Convention Hall on this May 14, 2016, evening is chilly and damp, inside it feels like summer.
Cabanas with overstuffed furniture.
String lights.
Rows and rows of ocean blue bleacher seats.
The crowd of all ages — from college students just home on summer break to senior citizens, with every age in between — mills around the cavernous space looking for old friends to greet, new friends to meet, and, perhaps, a drink that’s sweet from the bar set up in the middle of the dance floor. There’s a party atmosphere in the air and people have already started dancing to the recorded music streaming through the speakers as colorful spotlights wash the crowd with a pastel glow.
Before too long, cheering begins as musicians start to fill the stage.
The band starts to play the bold and brassy opening song from Remember Jones’s new album, Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones!, “Introducing Jones.”
Everyone looks high — and, then, low — for the man of the hour… yet he’s nowhere to be seen.
But, then — do our eyes deceive us? Could it really be Asbury Park’s very own “soul sensation,” Remember Jones, aka Anthony D’Amato, entering the hall, advancing through the packed crowd…
…riding a neon-lit bicycle?
Like a bolt of lightning, we hear the introduction for the man everyone in the theater is here tonight to celebrate:
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN…
And, then…
BAM!
Remember Jones hits the stage running with his first single from the new album, the upbeat scorcher, “Let ’em Look,” featuring his blue-eyed soul lead vocal, a rock-solid rhythm section, one of the tightest horn sections you’ll ever hear, and an oh-so-talented group of backup singers including Brielle Von Hugel, Virginia Cavaliere, Bre Cade, Lindsey DeSena, and Emily Grove — the Remember Jones’ Forget-Me-Nots!
The crowd roars with appreciation as Jones segues into Stevie Wonder’s Motown classic, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.”
Not your father’s listening room, on this particular evening, Asbury Park’s Convention Hall is surely the perfect setting for the dance party you wish you remembered from high school.
Forget all about perfect acoustics. (If you want that, you’ll just have to listen to the Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones! album, brilliantly recorded by sound engineer Chris Everett.)
THIS evening is all shaking loose, letting it all hang out, and groovin’ to a night of soul music… all performed on overdrive.
And it’s also about celebrating Jones’ career, thus far. So, in addition to Remember Jones’ own set of potential hits, the evening is also poised to include Jones’ signature tributes to such musical greats as Amy Winehouse, Joe Cocker, the legends of Motown… and more.
Highlights of the show include Jones’ own instant smash hit, “BAM!,” co-written by Bob Burger, Idina Menzel, and long-time Jersey favorite Glen Burtnik — a funky and updated “You’re So Vain.” Our favorite song on Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones!, this great tune is followed by another: Amy Winehouse’s “My Tears Dry On Their Own,” Winehouse’s radiant take on the Ashford and Simpson-penned Motown smash, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
Not one to monopolize the stage to himself, the revue is also set to feature performances by a selection of guest artists associated with Jones — current members of his 20-plus-piece big band, songwriters who’ve contributed tunes to the new album, and musician friends who have come to help him celebrate the release of Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones!
Jones’ first special guest, Brielle Von Hugel, is already well-known to many in the crowd from her recent appearance on YouTube’s uber-popular channel, Postmodern Jukebox. Also known for being a 2011 American Idol finalist, Von Hugel hypnotizes the crowd at Convention Hall with her sultry performance of Gotye featuring Kimbra’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
To piggyback on that, Jones excites the crowd with an energetic version of Rick Barry’s “All of Your Mistakes Have Names,” a clever and infectious funk tune featuring Jones’ storytelling and a tight musical arrangement spotlighting Jones’ horn section — Denis Daley on sax, Joe Gullace on trumpet, and Ian Gray on trombone — along with electric bass player Billy Vegas and drummer Kevin Grossman.
Another guest star on tonight’s bill is Arlan Feiles, known for his original songs which have been featured on TV shows and in Hollywood films such as Dallas Buyers Club. Feiles contributed two selections to Jones’ new album, “Everybody Steals,” and “Viola,” and, like Jones — who recorded Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones! in front of a live audience at The Strand Theater in Lakewood, NJ — Feiles is currently slated to record his next album at The Strand on July 2, 2016.
One of New Jersey’s own musical favorites, Emily Grove, is featured doing her song, “You’re Bringing Me Down.” In addition to singing backups on Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones!, Grove — who attended Boston’s famed Berklee College of Music — is a talented singer/songwriter on the rise with two recordings to her credit: The Life of a Commoner and Way Across the Sea.
As the evening progresses, visual highlights of this night to “remember” includes watching Jones as he gets folks’ hands clapping and feet tapping to such Motown mainstays as The Temps’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” and observing the The Mad Feather Group as they keep the dance party going with their easy-to-move-to musical groove and seriously “Mad” dancing.
Lindsey DeSena — another Forget-Me-Not — along with Jones’ guitarist Zac Silva and bassist Kevin Grewen, are all members of NJ’s Shady Street Show Band, a group which also often includes the members of Jones’ horn section. DeSena and company take the stage in celebration of their latest single, “Don’t Be Fooled By the Rain,” currently available at liveforlivemusic.com, in addition to the release of their first album which will make its debut at Asbury Park’s own House of Independents club on May 27, 2016.
Ever the Energizer bunny, Jones continues to pour it on with another album cut — the second single from Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones! — the high-spirited “When I Used to Do You.” With RJ’s Billy Joel-esque vocal and an uptempo arrangement, the bouncy tune — written by Andrew Clelland, Keith McCarthy, and Jones himself — is a saucy number which clearly tickles and entertains the Convention Hall crowd.
Following a vigorous “I-can-dig-it-you-can-dig-it-he-can-dig-it-she-can-dig-it” performance of The Friends of Distinction’s “Grazin’ In the Grass,” Jones introduces a pair of his Forget-Me-Not backup singers, Brielle Von Hugel and Virginia Cavaliere, who literally and figuratively light up the stage with their soul-sational rendition of Aretha Franklin’s R&B hit, “Rescue Me.”
On an evening filled with musical highlights, one truly heart-skipping moment comes when Remember sings Lindsey Miller’s powerful and emotional ballad, “Miranda.” When the music swells and Jones wails, “And I know that it’s wrong/Oh, but I can’t think of anything else to live for,” his sensational band — featuring Mark Masefield and Roshane Karunaratne on keys, AJ Merlino and CJ Thouret on percussion, and James McCaffrey and Zac Silva on guitar — soars, as Jones sings his heart out in a performance for the ages.
Other notable moments include Jones’ rendition of the classic 60s Box Tops’ hit, “The Letter,” in addition to his tasty duet with long-time friend and Forget-Me-Not backup singer, Bre Cade, on Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Cade, a savvy vocalist who regularly performs with The Rock of Ages Band featuring American Idol’s Constantine Maroulis, also recently helped bring down the house in her role as mean girl “Heather Chandler” in the Exit 82 Theater Company production of Heathers The Musical.
To conclude this over-the-top soul party of an evening, Jones gives an over-the-top soul performance of Sam Cooke’s “We’re Having A Party” with another of our favorite frontmen — Philadelphia’s Nik Greeley — and follows that up with a smoking rendition of another cut from Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones!, Arlen Feiles’ “Viola.”
Not yet completely finished, however, for an encore, Jones returns to the stage one last time to conclude his three-hour Soul Revue and Dance Party with a dynamic version of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”
And just how might we describe that?
Simply put…
BAM!
For more on Remember Jones — including information regarding his upcoming five-city “Back to Back to Black Tour”— check out rememberjones.com. To order a digital download of Remember Jones’ new album, Ladies and Gentlemen, Remember Jones!, please go to cdbaby.com.
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