Aja Wilson - Kaleidescope

On June 23rd, I had the pleasure of attending the showcase of a Rising Star in Hartford, Aja Wilson entitled Young, Wild and Free. Aja is a Hartford native and a 2010 graduate of the Hartt School at the University of Hartford and in the past two years since she's graduated, she's been working hard to create a name for herself in the music scene.

The showcase was held on the stage at the Polish National Home, a beautiful building on Charter Oak Avenue downtown. Aja was accompanied by a full band with a guitar and electric bass, keyboard, trumpet, saxophone and trombone players, as well as two background dancers for the upbeat numbers and an upright bass and piano to back her up on her original songs. The stage was full of light and movement when Aja entered in a sparkly pink and purple outfit. She started her show with a rousing rendition of Runaway Baby, a song originally performed by Bruno Mars, stepping in time with her dancers. She kept that momentum going and followed up with the equally high energy song Tightrope, originally performed by Janelle Monae. This was my first time hearing Aja sing live and she brought it! Her voice is as pretty in person as on the studio recordings that I'd heard on her website, with a rich tone to go along with it. Her set list took us on a musical journey of her favorite songs and artists, singing songs by Michael Jackson, Etta James to a killer version of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know (creatively arranged by her friend Scott Packham) just to name a few.

I had the opportunity to chat with Aja after her show and we had a wonderful conversation about her career and her ambitions in the local artist scene. Last Fall, she was granted the opportunity to sing at the Langham Place Hotel in Hong Kong for 5 months as their in house musician. After that ended she followed it up performing at a week-long festival in Belize, and once home she and her mother immediately began planning for her showcase to storm onto the Hartford music scene in a big way. It was a bold move, but one that she succeeded at in spades. The place was packed and the crowd was loving the show, hooting and hollering as she belted out our favorite songs.

If you missed this show, don't fret: you'll be seeing much more of Miss Wilson around. Her debut album, Kaleidescope, is now available for purchase and she's going to be "growing the buzz" on herself even more. She has big plans for more shows and outings so stay tuned into her website (www.ajawilson.com) to hear the latest. In a city like Hartford, with such a strong artist community and people ready to support talent, I'm sure she'll have no problem getting that buzz out there.

I'd appreciate if you didn't make a liar out of me and support a local artist!

Charmagne & Porter Soul at Airport Road Cafe

Today is the start of the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, which if you've lived in Hartford for even a day I'm sure you know. Your black friends, your white friends and your taupe friends are probably washing their blankets right now. And if they're not, I dunno what's wrong with them. You're not doing Hartford right if you don't at least stop by. It's a Hartford law: A man isn't allowed to kiss his wife on Sunday and you must stop by the Jazzfest. But I'm not going to get much deeper into that because if there's one thing Hartford doesn't lack, it's reviews of New England's Biggest Free Jazz Shindigapalooza. So assemble your crew, pack your picnic basket and listen to some local legends. But don't plan your evening around only that, because I have even bigger plans for you...

Airport Road Cafe: You know the "biker bar" on the corner of Airport Road? It's actually a very cool bar that has local bands stop through all the time. And every third Friday of the month (hey, that's tonight!), my girlfriend Charmagne stops in with her band Porter Soul and graces them with her soulful presence. That's right: I'm plugging. And why the hell not? I'm dating a Grammy Award winning artist who has black people in Hartford coming to her shows on a regular basis. So sit here and listen to how awesome she is for a second.

Her style fits in with the tone of the weekend, as she's a neo-soul/R&B artist with some jazz undertones. But that's if you're asking her. As someone who's been to almost every show she's done in the last 2 years, I can tell you that her performance is much more interesting than someone standing on stage belting out ballads. In addition to her beautiful voice, her banter is hilarious and usually risqué. The band is extremely talented and can follow her on any musical tangent she'll go on (and sometimes lead her back to the task at hand if the Patron is flowing too freely). A show can start with you nodding along to her cover of "A Long Walk" (Jill Scott) and by the second set she's added a rap to "Cruising" (Smokey Robinson) as she pretends to swim on the floor or has a breakdance battle with a member of the audience. When she needs a quick breather, sometimes she'll provide some eye candy for the ladies by putting the saxophonist, David Davis, out front for some "good sax"; that's kind of like a fully clothed lap dance with a woodwind. It's probably more like watching a musical circus than a smooth R&B show.

The venue itself is a treat. The bartenders are of the no nonsense variety, so if you're an "ummer" who doesn't know what you want, or you want some special drink with a lot of ingredients, they're not afraid to bust your chops about it. Some of my favorite food in the world is bar fare, and this stuff doesn't disappoint. Of course you should eat the chicken wings because they serve them. Who goes out somewhere that serves chicken wings and doesn't order them? Unless you're a vegetarian, then that's understandable. They probably make a ripping grilled cheese. They might even have a good salad but I wouldn't know because I don't want to be the woman eating a salad at a biker bar. I have a rep to maintain. And I know I keep saying "biker bar", but that's only because that's the reputation Airport Road Cafe has had for as long as I can remember. This isn't the type of place that's acrid with cigarette smoke, everyone clad in leather and the record scratches when you walk through the door in stilettos. The tables are set up lounge style around the dance floor, the bar is fully stocked, large and gorgeous, and while the regulars are sometimes clad in leather themselves, they're fine with seeing you. And no one's scratching any records because this is 2010; the jukebox is digital.

So after your children tire themselves out from dancing around and playing with other peoples' dogs at Jazzaroo, you can head out for some grown up fun and get a great show at the same time. Bad ass. Here are the deets:

Showtime: 9p-12a
Music: Neo-Soul/R&B
Food & Drinks: I believe the kitchen closes around 10 or 10:30, but just like any other bar, last call is at 1:45a. They don't usually have drink specials, but ask the bartender, maybe she knows something I don't.
Dress code: Whatever you like!
Ages: 21+
Cover Charge: $5
Address: 330 Ledyard Street, Hartford, CT (there's parking in the back, but you can also park on Ledyard Street if it fills up.)


p.s. I wasn't lying about the not kissing your wife on Sunday thing.