The Justice

Combining tribal African polyrhythms with energetic funk grooves, Boston's premier afrobeat group, The Superpowers, brought last Saturday's crowd at Regattabar Jazz Club to a dancing pandemonium. The Superpowers are a self-described "11 member, 21st Century Dance Band," and a dance band they are indeed.

Arriving at the show 20 minutes early to ensure a decent seat, I was overwhelmed by the dense crowd of avid fans and, hilariously, the band members' parents. Much to my disappointment and especially to the parents', the show was sold out to what seemed like mostly stiff older white couples looking to do something novel, like go to a jazz club. But Saturday's show was not "just an ordinary jazz show," the angry mob of parents protested. The hosts' fortitude waned, and the rush of parents toppled the flood gates, seemingly displacing the small minority of youngsters who had actually made it to the show in time to get proper seats. The rest of the thoroughly amused but antsy group of approximately 40 young college kids, Bostonian hipsters and a solitary wholesome family of three (wife, husband and toddler boy) settled for the standing room in the back.

We standers were at first perturbed by this inconvenience, and the toddler had trouble seeing over the towering "big kids and grown-ups," but we were quickly taken by the music. There was initially the apprehensive tap of the foot, then an oscillation of the knees, next the hips gave way, followed by loosely rotated elbows, and finally all of the bodies gyrated wildly. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a few perplexed glares from the curmudgeonly sitters. It didn't matter to us though-the music had entered our veins.

At the core of The Superpowers' gripping vibe was the multilayered percussion section. Led by drummer Adam Clark, three main percussionists blended together beats with independent time signatures, mimicking the call-and-response effect of traditional West African drum circles. Clark's lead drumming held the band together, and the underlying varied rhythm gave the music a sense of continual urgency. Ordinarily, we associate color with particular harmonies and melodies, but the synergy of The Superpowers' percussion added an intense hue by way of polyrhythms alone. At times members of the four-piece horn section would lay down their instruments to join on hand drums in a spasmodic explosion.

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