The soulful sounds of Acute Inflections permeated through the Everson Art Museum on Saturday, May 9, as the jazz duo performed in the museum’s auditorium. The visually stunning theater served as the perfect setting for the performance, which was proclaimed a sell-out as the duo took to the stage.
The New York City based jazz duo, featuring Elasea Douglas (vocals) and Sadiki Pierre (upright bass) are currently touring in support of the Soulful Sounds project, which features the band’s blend of jazz, R&B, soul, and a Harlem Renaissance-era style coupled with the duo’s unique and entertaining humor. The duo formed in 2012 and have released five studio albums, most recently Let Go in 2022.
Acute Inflections wandered through the audience, greeting attendees and snapping quick photographs with fans prior to taking the stage, promptly at 7 p.m. Almost immediately, Douglas urged those in attendance to silence and put away their cell phones, and keep the side chatter to a minimum, allowing for the sheer musical talent of the duo to encapsulate the audience. The 85 minute set featured a mixture of original songs (“Let Go”, “Dream”) as well as renditions of rock, pop, and R&B classics such as “Love Song” (the Cure), “Man in the Mirror” (Michael Jackson), and “Is This Love?” (Bob Marley and the Wailers).
Along the way, Pierre and Douglas entertained the audience with their witty and charming banter, intertwining their humor with the soulful music, never steering the performance too heavily in one direction or the other. They engaged the audience with stories of their marriage, past careers, and the journey to becoming the band they are today. The engaged the audience with a rendition of “Name that tune”, and gave away prizes to the longest married couple in attendance (54 years), as well as the best-dressed male and female attendees. The audience had been encouraged to come to the show dressed in their best Harlem Renaissance outfit.
Perhaps the best part of the evening was when Pierre and Douglas spoke of their charitable contributions. The duo contributes a portion of every ticket sale and merchandise item to the Renaissance Youth Center, in the Bronx, as well as to the RedTail Flight Academy’s “Diversify the skies” scholarship fund, a program near and dear to Pierre’s heart, as he himself had previously worked as a pilot. Through out the evening, the duo preached the message of community and acceptance, demonstrating their commitment to making a positive impact.
The band closed out the evening with their rendition of Montell Jordan’s “This is how We Do It”, with had the audience singing and swaying along. As the band concluded their set, they stepped off stage and returned to the audience to bid farewell to their fans, many of whom had just experienced the band for the first time. As the audience spilled back out to the Syracuse streets, they left hopeful for a return performance in the near future.
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