Raul Midon
Posted by Richard on October 2, 2007
I saw Raul Midon on the Tonight Show last Thursday night, performing "Pick Somebody Up" from his new album, A World Within A World.
I. Was. Blown. Away.
Simply fantastic. Best performance I've seen in a long, long time. Midon (it's actually Midón, with the acute accent, but even his website uses a plain o in the text; more search-friendly, I guess) is the son of an Argentinian father and African-American mother. His music blends flamenco, jazz, soul, pop, world music, and more. He'll remind you at times of Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Jack Johnson, Donnie Hathaway, …
Midon is a virtuoso guitarist and singer, and he does the best vocal impersonation of a trumpet ever. If I hadn't seen him do it, I'd have sworn it was a horn player.
You can listen to "Pick Somebody Up" and other songs — terrific songs — from the new album on his website. Check out "All The Answers" or "All Because Of You." Heck, listen to them all. I've ordered both A World Within A World and his previous CD, State of Mind.
I was hoping to find the Tonight Show performance on the Web, but no luck. The studio stuff sounds great, but that live performance was just riveting. His list of upcoming tour dates doesn't include Denver (much of the tour is in Europe), but I'm hoping he gets out here some time. Anyway, here's Midon's network TV debut on Letterman earlier this year, a terrific performance (complete with some "trumpet") of the title song from State of Mind:
And here's a pretty good live version of "Pick Somebody Up":
If those don't pick you up and put a big smile on your face, check your pulse.
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