By DCist contributor W Jacarl Melton
At the time when Jaguar Wright’s 2002 album, Denials, Delusions and Decisions, was released, the industry term du jour, “neo-soul,” was used to describe any singer who presented themselves as part of the vanguard who shunned the trappings of mainstream urban music. But the Philadelphia-based Wright resisted this categorization, and wound up standing out from those who were being viewed as artistic oddballs. Tonight she’ll be supported by the band Back Alley as she performs two shows at the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s Lang Theatre.
While honing her skills on the Philly music scene most notably as a back-up singer with The Roots, Wright built a loyal following with that band’s fans and eventually gained a little more notoriety in 2001, when she provided the primary female vocals on Jay-Z’s Unplugged recording from an MTV special. A few months later Denials hit the streets and thoroughly confused some of the bohemian types who assumed the strong association between neo-soul and the City of Brotherly Love meant her CD would be filled with deep tributes to loves both found and lost. While she did cover Patti Labelle’s “Love, Need and Want You,” Wright also had two parts to the song “Same Shit, Different Day” where she contemplates beating down a woman who’s trying to steal her man. The latter isn’t exactly standard fare for the incense-burning crowd. By 2005, the neo-soul marketing strategy had been mostly disregarded and Wright drove the point home with the aptly titled Divorcing Neo 2 Marry Soul.
Even though she maintains some of the musical sensibilities of her hometown’s rich R&B history, Wright blazes her own path by writing and singing lyrics that are more gut-reaction than anything else. This might not always be the most eloquent style, but it’s a method that artists like Wright find the most authentic and tends to resonate with listeners as well. Even better for her audience, though, is that Wright is ridiculously energetic live and will lead the crowd to experience a direct connection to whatever or whomever she’s loving or hating at that given time.
District 51’s “Intimate Evening of Raw Soul” is tonight, 6/22, in the Lange Theater at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE, 8 p.m. & 10 p.m., $27.00. Photo from Jaguar Wright’s website.
