Zeshan B Performs Late Night Set at Mercury Lounge After Colbert

Zeshan Bagewadi released his debut album Vetted in April of this year (under his performance moniker, Zeshan B) on the Minty Fresh label. The album collects a few originals from this versatile soul-singer with covers of rarer ’60s or ’70s tracks and has been driven by the first single, “Cryin’ in the Streets”, a civil rights song written by George Perkins.

Opener Elle Winston was thrilled to be performing with her band. Winston had also released her debut album, The Buy Back this past April. Hailing from Arizona, Winston possesses a jazzy and soulful sound of her own. She was a great warm-up for the headliner for their Mercury Lounge show.

Backed by a powerful band, a few of whom were his regular tourmates while others, including the superb drummer, were joining him for his NYC events, Zeshan kept the soul flowing. He channeled a bit of Sam Cooke, a drizzle of Charles Bradley and even a bit of Pavarotti over the bright and heavy horns and his occasional harmonium accompaniment. It was no surprise that Zeshan could sing in Urdu and Punjabi (based on the press releases) but it was seemingly out of the blue when he sang the first song in Italian (only after the encouragement of his band before the show) and ended with another. Apparently, that’s why he sells out venues in Italy. Check out a couple of videos and photos from the show below.