Sean Ardoin VEN release concert

Elebash Hall, New York Sept. 27th 2019

“I’m going to bring it” Sean Ardoin promised of his long awaited return to a New York City stage, at Elebash Hall. The fiery performer’s first appearance here was with his grandfather Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin as a youngster. Fittingly he stepped into the spotlight alone, opening the show with two solo accordion songs, Amédé Two Step and Les Barres des Prison, that have been in his family for generations.

The concert and the release of VEN (20 in Cajun french) marked 20 years and his evolution as a solo artist. Joined by his band, the audience next heard the fanfare intro to Pullin, with the vocal line “I came through the door pullin” rising above the rumble.

The crescendo of sound hit like a smack in the face, then drew listeners in to a South Louisiana dance party like pebbles in a receding wave. Pullin is the classic title track of his 2001 album and opening track of the just released Ven.  The music built on the original, Mitchell Hayes’ drumming driving the music with a rock and roll energy without altering the original drum pattern or cymbal signifiers. Davis Whitfield on keyboards added a layer underlying the interaction between the accordion, Sean Ardoins rub board scraping and Brian Worick Jr’s bluesy guitar riffs. Austin O’Carroll’s rolling bass lines completed the band. Ardoin added a bridge and rap lyrics to infuse the zydeco classic with his current vein of creativity, Kreole Rock and Soul.

The frenetic pace slowed for a moment when Sean coaxed a guest from the audience, the extraordinary Melonie Daniels. She sang a tearjerker of a ballad, Tennessee Whiskey, that evoked Fame studios era soul music. 

Throughout the set of original tunes, drawn from VEN and the grammy nominated Kreole Rock and Soul (2018). Ardoin paid attention to detail, switching between three different accordions to vary the sound.

The Ardoin name is synonymous with Zydeco, but the Lake Charles based accordion player says “Kreole Rock and Soul more accurately explains my music, You are coming to see me and not a genre” On VEN he told us “I reimagined songs from the past 20 years in the current vein of creativity known as Kreole Rock and Soul. This album fully realizes the vision I had for the music.” “When you hear my music, you hear a mix of zydeco, R+B, reggae, rap, and rock, all mixed up through my creole filter.”

In the 1920’s. Amédé Ardoin became the first artist to record the regional music of southwestern Louisianao. A blend of cajun and african american musics with french caribbean influences that, later became known as Zydeco. His songs were kept by Sean’s grandfather Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin and father Lawrence.

Growing up with this rich musical background has more lately presented the solo artist with a conundrum. “We tweeked the whole genre thing, zydeco music has been getting culture vultered and appropriated by so many different people. Its gotten so If you have heard zydeco before, you have not heard what i do.” 

Sean Ardoin NYC concert will be presented by Livesounds: https://www.livesounds.org/events/sean-ardoin/