Mambo Sauce's first gig!
Club Daedalus, 1010 Vermont Ave NW, Washington, DC 20005


When I arrived, the cover taker said this was a private party. I said "Mambo Sauce", she said yes, and let me in even though I wasn't on the guest list. The club was downstairs from the entrance. The stage was below the regular bar level - like an orchestra pit. I went down and asked when they would be performing; a guy named Sean said the first set would be at 1 AM. Since it was only a little after 11 PM, I went up to sit down and wait. Smoke was sitting on a couch and said hello. He said if he had known they would have been starting so late, he would have played the first set at Safari with Familiar Faces. I asked him how long he had been rehearsing with them (Mambo Sauce), he said he started rehearsing with them before he joined Familiar Faces. I asked how often they would be performing, he said not often, they would have to schedule around his playing with FF and the other people's other bands as well.

I went over and introduced myself to Red - his nickname was obviously due to his red hair. He said they had originally planned to do one set opening for other bands, but this two set opportunity popped up. He said they wouldn't be performing weekly, or if so at different clubs partly because of Smoke's commitment to FF and the keyboard player Lil' Chris Wright's commitment to Suttle Thoughts. The other reason is that if they perform on a weekly basis, they would have to do covers. He said they would be doing three covers tonight, but they are Black Boo's songs. Black Boo likes them so much with Mambo Sauce; he wants to re-record them with them. Red kidded that he wanted to pull rank on Smoke to play with Mambo Sauce over Familiar Faces since "He was in my band first." He said he wasn't concerned when I said that the club's website said tonight was "Hip Hop Night". He said he hadn't heavily promoted it since this is their first show. He didn't like how the performance area was below the audience level. He told me they were late with their sound check, they wanted to do it at 9:30 PM, but the sound men arrived at 8 PM, and the club wasn't open until 9 PM.

They did their sound check for about fifteen minutes starting at 11:30 PM - they started with Stevie Wonder's Superstition. The sound was nice; you could hear/feel the bass very well. After the sound check, Red said they were leaving but will be back for the first set. The whole band left the club.

There was a DJ playing pre-recorded Hip Hop. At 1 AM, interestingly they played two Rare Essence songs; then the band walked in.

There was a guy affiliated with the band taking digital photos. Even though this is not a regular GoGo venue, there were GoGo pics being taken. A few people wore the T-shirts that RedC Records sells.


All of the band members' bios are listed here. Alfred "Black Boo" Duncan - vocals, Thi Lai Simpson - vocals, Samuel "Smoke" Dews - congas & timbales, Khari Pratt - bass, Barrington "Barry" Talbert - drums, Andrew "Drew" White - guitar, and Christian "Lil Chris" Wright - keyboards.

First Set
1) Instrumental
2) Sweet Baby - Black Boo introduced this as being written for all the Single Moms out there
3) Things Will Get Better - Black Boo introduced this as being about struggles
4) A love song, a slow ballad intro, then refrain "They say two wrongs don't make a right"
5) Refrain - "I'm not a pimp, I'm not a player"
I noticed Boo's signal to end the song for the first time - a closed fist
6) Fairweather, the song they have streaming on the website
Black Boo showed another signal - his hand held in a C - this told the band members to close the set

They had obviously spent a lot of time rehearsing. I assume the setlist (including order) was pre-determined. They have a really nice sound, but I wish they had a cowbell. Smoke asked me how they sounded, I said, "Good, but I wish you had a cowbell player, he said, "Yeah."

The stage lights were turned off for the second set.

Second Set
1) Instrumental
Black Boo did band intros, the he said stop, time to bring to the stage - Antoine (a singer)
2) Refrain "You're the best thing, I just have to get to know you" (Black lights came on in the stage area during the song)
3) Refrain "Do that sh*t"
Black Boo thanked Antoine (who had walked off the stage after the song), and introduced by title (the only song he did this for) -
4) Cool Points, it had a nice Smoke Roto-tom solo
I noticed Black Boo looked down at this point and later at a sheet that was either a lyric sheet or a setlist. It didn't affect the music; it was just something I noticed him doing.
5) Heavy guitar and Drew did the Jimi Hendrix maneuver of playing with his teeth, this song was really crankin' - It had the refrain "No I'm not" (it was hard to tell because of the loudness of the instruments and the mic being held close to the singers mouths)
A girl standing to my left yelled, "We love you", Black Boo responded, "We love you too."
6) Another crankin' song with the refrain "Crank" - a nice percussion (drums & congas) solo at the end
After the set was over, a girl shouted, "Thanks for coming motherf*ckers!

Note: This would be the only gig with this line-up. Khari was replaced by Candra "Candy" Newkirk for the next 2 gigs and Smoke left the band and was permanently replaced by Jermaine "Lil Pep" Cole.

Here's another review from Solace from the TMOTT Board:

?When I saw the guitar player start playing guitar with his mouth, I knew I came to see the right band??

?Most people know that I divorced go-go back in ?98... After hearing Mambo Sauce, I?m thinking about reconciling?

-Solace.

What can I say? I think back to that night when I called my wife on the phone as I was driving home from the Mambo Sauce show to find an answer to that question. All I kept telling her was ?These kats ROCK!!!? It felt like a mantra. I just kept saying it over and over again as if each time made it more valid than the last.

These are some of the most humble performers I?ve ever come across, and I?ve played with many to include famous gospel singers. This band has what I call ?quiet confidence? and I DIG IT!!! Even with seasoned vets like Smoke and Khari, there is NOT even a hint of arrogance or overconfidence in this group. The best part about it is that it shows in their playing.

They started off the night with a nice jazzy intro as the singers made their entrance on stage. I?ll be honest and say, the musical depth on their intro impressed me more than most full songs I?ve heard from other bands/musicians as of late. Mambo came out of the blocks a tad slow in the beginning, but once they got warm, they lit the place on fire.

The entire first set to my knowledge was composed of original songs written by the band. All the songs varied from good to ?fire?. NOTHING that I heard during the show could be labeled as whack by my standards. Smoke is a serious asset to this band with his ability to push conga beats over non-standard go-go songs. Smoke has an uncanny ability to conform what he is playing to any song. During one point of the show, he caught me imitating him as I was mimicking his beat on the speaker I was standing next to. He laughed at me as he continued playing effortlessly. That?s not to leave out the rest of the music section. Khari, Barry(drummer), Drew(guitar), and Chris(keys) HOLD IT DOWN.

On the front line, you have Thi Lai and Black Boo. These two bring something to the band that is very rare nowadays. Both sing well and Boo can actually rap. Most of you that know me know I am very unforgiving with emcees, but Boo can actually hold it down and fits very well with this band?s sound.

Without giving away all their songs, I?ll say that the second set is what sold me on Mambo Sauce. They hit everything from neo-soul to hard rock. When the guitar player started playing the guitar with his mouth, I knew I came to see the right band. There were two songs in particular during the second set which made me a believer in Mambo Sauce. One was a song that transitioned from a hard socket beat into a roto-tom/timbale breakdown, and the other was the rock & roll song that they hit.

This band is versatile and plays/mixes several styles of music together very well. They definitely get my vote and my stamp of approval. I told Smoke and Black Boo after the show that watching them made me miss playing/rapping.

Some things I think the band should sustain are their chemistry, their sound, their humility, versatility and their hunger for good music. If I had to give some advice on things to improve, it would be to practice the transitions between songs, and to develop a strong stage presence on the front line. The back line is EXTREMELY fun to watch. The frontline, while also EXTREMELY talented, just needs to work on their techniques to better connect with their audience. They have it, they just need more time playing together to let it truly come out.

Bottom Line: My hat is off to you fellas/lady and to Malachai for pushing the vision of the label and the band. This is a band that came out for their first show already showing more power and presence than bands that have been doing it for years. Something I truly respect about this band is that 98% of the songs that they played were original tunes. Not only that, but the entire club was partying from start to finish even though this was their first time hearing any of these songs. The next time I put out information about this band playing somewhere, do yourself a favor and do NOT miss the show. You will not be disappointed.

Overall Grade: A-

_________________ Maaaaan for real.. They was hookin like it was no tomorrow. Knockin on dudes car windows and moving like they was some old special forces hooker team joe

-Solace