A week after unwrapping his new album in New York before an audience that included millionaire mogul Donald Trump, Wyclef Jean came out to California to show the West Coast his next step. The Preacher's Son, due November 4th, is Wyclef's first album for Clive Davis' J Records and accordingly follows a blueprint similar to the one Santana used to re-establish himself while with Davis at Arista -- namely guests, guests, guests. Joining Wyclef on the album is a litany of stars that includes Missy Elliott, the Edge, Redman, Patti LaBelle and Carlos Santana.

"After an artist has a few albums out there, it's not as easy to get people's attention," Davis said from the stage of the Conga Room in Los Angeles, where the label head played a sampling of the new album to a crowd that included Brandy; Earth, Wind and Fire bassist Verdine White; and Katherine Helmond, the actress who played Mona on Who's the Boss.

"We're going to do this right," Wyclef announced, taking the stage to perform when Davis was done. "We're going to do it old school. No hype, no playback, no lip sync, real raw." Fronting an eight-piece band and decked out in a white suit, hat and shoes, Wyclef sang "Baby" in falsetto, a tribute to soul singers that went before, name-checking the likes of Smokey Robinson and Donny Hathaway over a sparse traditional arrangement.

After one song, Wyclef determined that the staid listening-party atmosphere needed a jolt. "Get these chairs out of here," he demanded. "This J shit is done." On command, club workers scurried to yank the chairs off the main floor and stack them in back as Wyclef explained the song "Take Me as I Am." "My girl was about ready to get a divorce," he said. "I wrote this song because I was so glad she decided to stay with my bony ass."

Wyclef got in character for "I'm Your Doctor," donning a white lab coat and pulling a girl from the crowd to lay down on a quickly summoned table, so the singer could, well, operate. Straddling the selected fan, Wyclef delivered much of the song inches from her increasingly wide eyes, with Buju Banton stepping out to deliver a guest rap.

Mid-way through "Guantanamera," Wyclef had another request: "Turn off the lights. Everyone with cellulars and two-ways, get 'em out and hold 'em up high." The dark room soon was lit only by a blue digital glow.

Wyclef closed with a medley of "Industry" and Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry," the latter being the last of the singer's demands for one evening.

COLIN DEVENISH
(September 24, 2003)