Concert Review: Jamila Woods
February 24, 2024
Illustration by Malaaya Adams
Late last year, Jamila Woods — the poet and singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois — released her third studio album, Water Made Us. On Saturday, February 17th, Woods played Philadelphia’s Theater of Living Arts (TLA) music venue in support of her latest album, delivering a powerful, exhilarating, and timely performance. Here are some thoughts from the night:
In the Wake of 2020
I last saw Jamila Woods in February of 2020, just a few weeks before the COVID shelter in place period. At the time she was opening for Raphael Saadiq on his Jimmy Lee Tour. At Saturday’s show, she referenced that performance, and how at that time she’d just gone through a breakup. She also jokingly stated that she wish she’d made an “emo breakup album” rather than LEGACY! LEGACY!, which she was performing at that time. Nonetheless, she shared that performing those songs helped her develop the courage she needed for making, Water Made Us, which was primarily written and recorded during the early days of the pandemic.
Now that we’re four years post-2020, what’s most fascinating to me is that we are beginning to hear much of the music that was being produced during an incredibly scary and unpredictable time. For Woods, Water Made Us sounds and feels especially reflective and bold.
Jamila Woods’ Sound
I’ve always found Jamila Woods’ sound interesting. It’s unabashedly rooted in Black music traditions. But I can also “hear” Chicago in her music, which — to me — means the Blues, Gospel, Soul, and House musics. To be even more specific, contemporary Chicago has a particular soundscape that’s being shaped by a collection of artists who Woods is in community with — producers like Nico Segal, Saba, Peter CottonTale, and Monte Booker come to mind as key figures.
Woods’ band is entirely comprised of musicians from Chicago (or who call Chicago home) and is led by musical director and keyboardist AMI. They were excellent! The show was well-sequenced and included many of the interludes from the album. The arrangements, transitions between songs, intros and outros, were all exciting and added something to the original compositions!
Some of my favorite moments (and a bit from the Music Theory Nerd Corner):
One of my favorite moments from the night was hearing Woods perform Wreckage Room, a slow and tender tune that built with momentum with each passing verse and chorus. At the songs climax, Woods’ voice was soaring over the band but then slowly started fade as guitarist Justin Canavan took hold of the melody. (This is when I almost blacked out). Here, Canavan’s guitar was used as a set up for the next song, BASQUIAT, a hard driving rock-infused tune led by bassist, Matthew Skillz.
In the midst of all of this is where, AMI, the musical director, and the band’s expertise shined through the most. Wreckage Room is in A major, BASQUIAT is in B flat minor — a musical mile away, if you will. But playing the melody in A major (the key that Wreckage Room is in), then transposing the melody to C# major (the “new” key) allowed for a resolution to B flat minor (the relative minor of C# major and the key of BASQUIAT). It was excellently executed!
Another one of my favorite moments — and certainly one of the more exhilarating moments from the night — was Woods’ performance of Still, a proto-Punk inspired tune from her latest album. The performance was high energy, but the lid came off the roof when Woods used it as a springboard to transition into a cover of Paramore’s That’s What You Get. This is where drummer, DJ Abernathy was able to exhibit his dexterity and musical acumen. The crowd rapturously sang and danced. Both Still and the subsequent cover speak to Woods’ dynamic range as a songwriter and performer, as well as the vastness of her musical repertoire.
Harriet Tubman’s Visions & Palestine
After performing Holy, and right before transitioning to Good News, Woods paused to acknowledge Black History Month and share story about Harriet Tubman that she’d been reflecting on. As a child Tubman was hit with a lead weight by an overseer, an event that caused her to experience seizures and other ailments throughout her life. But, in the aftermath of this traumatic event, Tubman also began having prophetic dreams, visions, where she believed that God was speaking to her. In particular, after one dream, Tubman woke up saying “my people are free.” Being the poet that Woods is, she clarified for the audience that Tubman did not misspeak — she didn’t mean to say “my people will be free” — but to say that freedom had already been achieved. For Woods, the story of Harriet Tubman was instructive, inspiration even, for committing to a life of liberation. And it was also in this moment that Woods used this space to make connections to Palestine; to note that when we say “Free Palestine” it’s in the same spirit as Harriet Tubman’s vision.
Hearing Woods make this connection was both beautiful and affirming; prescient and well-put. There were quite a few people in the audience wearing keffiyehs as well. I’m happy Woods used that space to speak life when catastrophe feels so imminent.
