(6/24/17 @Cooper’s, Nevada City, CA)
review and photos by Anthony Postman
I finally caught up with a night of music that I’ve been curious and fascinated by since first hearing about it: Lee Tafari, and his Acoustic-to-Vinyl (ATV) night. In this lineup, Lee sings vocals with acoustic guitar, and also selects vinyl favorites. A simple and direct format that I am surprised to have only seen now: you would think more people would be doing this! But I would say that few people would be able to move smoothly from singing and playing to DJing, all while bringing enthusiasm and vitality to the music, as does Lee Tafari.
Lee sings and chats along with the vinyl selections, all while inviting the crowd to singing and clapping along. Lee’s selections go back to much of the music he heard while growing up, and also selected as a longtime professional club and event DJ—it’s not only some of the classic reggae from Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs and the like, that you might expect, but some of the music that has even more widespread appeal (and in part influenced reggae as well), in the likes of Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson. Lee had the crowd dancing and singing along to the soul and reggae favorites that have been part of our lives’ soundtracks for decades now.
Lee Tafari would switch to acoustic guitar after three or four selections from his (singular!) turntable, and bring the crowd into his world of intimate roots reggae songs, bringing the message of peace, love and “Nah War With You.”
As Lee says, this format brings two original presentations together into one: the sharing of song from a record collection, along with the sharing of song in its most stripped-down form: acoustic-and-vocal. This format brought strangers together to groove and sing together on the dancefloor, and created an intimacy and immediacy very much like hanging out in a living room having some good times listening to great tunes—all guided by Lee’s own deep love, excitement and enthusiasm for the classic set of tunes he selected and the originals he strummed.
Bring some friends and take this musical ATV ride—it will be close-up, intimate, and thoroughly enjoyable, in a format unlike anything you’ve seen before.
PURE ATV Summer Tour Dates:
June 29th — Cotati; Redwood Cafe; 8-10pm, all ages
July 1st — Eureka; Ethiopian International Cafe; 9pm-12, all ages
July 3rd — Bolinas; Bolinas Community Center, with The Upliftment Band, opening for Raging Fyah, all ages.
