Review: Jessie Ware w/ Rochelle Jordan @ The Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco 01/24/13

We LOVE Jessie Ware. Love Love Love Love. That level of love, admiration and Devotion seemed to radiate not just the (infinitely psyched) members of the b3 team at Thursday night’s Rickshaw Stop show but the entirety (and this is not hyperbole) of the sold-out house on hand. So much love. After a somewhat banter-formulaic beginning (shout the city, tell them how good it is to be there, how cool that city is), that love seemed to overwhelm and grab hold of our Ms. Ware not long into her approximately 60 minute set. “(San Francisco) really is our favorite city.”

Jessie Ware, who first emerged in 2010 & 2011 as a featured vocalist on electronic and dubstep tracks by artists like SBTRKT & Joker, received near universal praise for her debut LP Devotion last year. Blending the classic R&B strains of artists like Aaliyah and Sade with more modern arrangements & instrumentations, the album’s (which somewhat ludicrously has not yet seen a physical release in the U.S.) 10 tracks span various and disparate (yet entirely complementary) styles of production and writing and our #5 album of last year.

Jessie Ware’s vocal performance. Just WOW. The quality, texture & conviction of her singing was very very impressive. Captivating without resorting to cheap needless theatrics; commanding while seeming totally accessible; Ware’s on stage persona and performance is one of a star. It seemed odd that Ware would play a venue as tiny as the roughly 200-person capacity Rickshaw Stop and her star was no doubt much larger than the venue size.

Opener & b3 fave Rochelle Jordan’s brief 20 minute set did also impress. The Torontonian soulstress’ spare voice + MPC set included roughly four-five songs and was highlighted by the excellent Kaskade-sampling “Shotgun”.

Thursday night’s performance felt special; it felt starmaking; it felt rare & valuable. We were witness to the emergence of a major star and Ms. Ware’s arrow could not point further northward now. A+.