Seattle isn’t exactly known as a dancing town.
While Lizzo and Beyoncé-themed nights at clubs bring out young folks ready to lose their shit to “Good As Hell” for the umpteenth time, there aren’t tons of spots that consistently offer a space to dance to live music, especially by local artists. But Ahamefule J. Oluo wants to change all that.
Every fourth Friday, the noted Seattle-based trumpeter, composer, and writer now brings a party/concert called The Shrine to the Crocodile. It kicked off at the venue last month—and its goal? To play a heady mix of jazz, funk, and other Black and West African-inspired music that will get people in this cold, drippy corner of the world MOVING.
“I think it’s a particular challenge in this city,” said Oluo over the phone recently. “But I have experienced with Industrial Revelation [a 2014 Stranger Genius Award-winning jazz group!] in the years that we played together—it can happen. You can get people to move; you can get people to actually experience joy out loud and not just internally.”
Oluo observed that local musicians rarely have access to large clubs like the Crocodile on such a prime night, having played a good amount of Tuesday and Wednesday evenings during his career in the city. He likened the principle behind The Shrine—a type of holy space dedicated to worshipping a particular deity, spirit, god, ancestor, or demon—to the funky go-go clubs that still bump in D.C., Prince’s performances at the legendary First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis, and Fela Kuti’s sets at his roving Shrine in Nigeria.
Though Prince’s guitar-driven R&B stylings sound distinct from jazz legend Fela’s pioneering Afrobeat, Oluo said both artists were making “new original music that created its own style while simultaneously being really focused on the idea of people going out and having a good time.” And there was a communal aspect to how the music was consumed and enjoyed: in a packed club. It’s an experience denied to most of us during the (still ongoing!) pandemic. So after two years of not being able to play with a full band, Oluo is grateful to finally get back on the stage in a major way.
“To me, the holiest experience that I have is that experience of performing and creating with other people, that kind of Black improvised music. So especially in the pandemic, it really felt like my faith had been taken away,” he reflected. “Part of [the night’s name] is a reference to Fela’s Shrine in Nigeria, but part of it is that I really want to be very focused on that specific visceral, emotional, religious experience. I’m Nigerian—my family’s Nigerian—and shrines are really big in my tribal culture. This is the closest thing to a shrine that I have.”
Oluo’s Shrine All-Star band, which will join him every fourth Friday, is composed of some of his closest collaborators from over the years: D’Vonne Lewis on drums, Josh Rawlings on keys, Marina Christopher on bass, Jerome Smith and Jason Cressley on trombone, and Skerik on saxophone. When I went to their debut show at the Crocodile last month, Oluo expertly guided them through a seemingly never-ending wave of music. He told me they’re using the show as a vehicle to make and compose new work—the songs can range from frenetic and masterful riffs by Oluo on the trumpet and Skerik on the sax to slower, more key and bass-forward jazz movements by Christopher and Rawlings.
Standing out that first night was a guest performance by vocalist SassyBlack, known for her psychedelic and soulful performance style, where she sang of a beautiful Black future over the band’s swelling music. While Oluo has loose plans to continue to include featured musicians and vocalists from the region, he wants the focus to mostly remain on the band, to give them a chance to “stretch out” and really dive deep into the task at hand.
“All these musicians that I’m playing with, I have played with for years and decades. It is very specifically my closest group of players who I very much know that we can build this language together,” Oluo said. “That’s what the goal is for me, to build this language, build this way of people interacting with music in Seattle.”
Judging by the opening party’s buoyant and receptive crowd, it seemed like he’s making progress. Everyone was lit and flirty by the time I got to the Crocodile, with people literally twirling. And since the party starts late at 11 pm, people have ample time to eat a big dinner, see another show, and end up at The Shrine. This after-party vibe felt like something I’d expect to see in a bigger city like L.A. or Chicago. “I should’ve worn my dancing shoes,” I thought as I left around midnight.
You can go to The Shrine featuring Chief Ahamefule J. Oluo & The Shrine All-Star Band at the Crocodile every fourth Friday, which falls on this Friday, March 25. Doors are at 10 pm, show starts at 11 pm. Entrance is free (for now). Get more information here.
