An Evening with Fantastic Negrito and Mavis Staples
- Cheryl Alterman | The Music Soup Editor
- 28 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Fantastic Negrito comes home after several world tours and supports the legendary Mavis Staples in Napa.
If you are unfamiliar with this very talented local contemporary blues man, Fantastic Negrito...now may be the time. I've been following him since 2018...Since then, he has worked hard and catapulted to the top of the contemporary blues music category with winning three Grammys in the last three years.
Fantastic Negritos' given name is, Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz and he is number eight of 15 children. Xavier has lived in Oakland from the age of 12 when his family moved out west from Massachusetts. He used to be busking at the BART stations prior to winning the Tiny Desk Contest in 2015. When I interviewed him a few years ago at his studio, he told me about having a record contract back in the 1990s. It was canceled when he had a horrible car accident, and he was in a coma for three weeks. The record company cut him. He now says it was the best thing that could've happened to him. He had some rough years in between but came out a shining star nowadays with world tours and winning Grammys!
In 2018 when a friend suggested I check this guy's music out, it took me one listen and I immediately requested a photo credential to cover the show soon after. This particular show was at The Fillmore. On the night of the show, I was sitting in the photo pit before the it started and I felt the buzz in the venue. It was apparent that everyone seemed to know what they were about to experience and that made me even more excited to see this up and coming artist take the stage. As I am still here, still attending and shooting his shows...
needless to say, I liked it! And I have enjoyed every show that Fantastic Negrito has played since. I saw him open for Taj Mahal in Berkeley in October of 2019 and many others since.
Click here for one of my previous articles on this insanely talented musician.
On this September evening in Napa, at The Meritage Resort, he had just returned from his European tour. Fantastic Negrito was opening up tonight for the one and only Mavis Staples. His set was great and and as normal full of that 'Fantastic Negrito energy'. I noticed he seems to get more and more comfortable onstage as the years go on. He chatted with the audience about lifes' little challenges in relationships and even touched on childhood trauma. The childhood trauma is well pronounced in his new material from his latest album, "Son of a Broken Man" which refers to his father. He talked a bit about his father and his family throughout the set. Especially whilst introducing some of the songs born out of that very trauma and growing up in Oakland.
Since that first listen to his material and that show at the Fillmore in 2018, I have been a lover of his music and live performances. It seems that the people who vote in the Grammy committee agree with me as his music has been recognized and deservedly rewarded in the past three year with a Grammy win each year... I couldn't be happier for him. I worked with BAM magazine for several years, until the start of the pandemic. For the last few years at BAM I was the Managing Editor, and still photographing and writing, until one day when the world shut down. Kenny Wardell (BAMs owner) and I parted ways and I began my version of BAM which is what you're reading now, The Music Soup. We parted ways because we had a slight difference of opinion on music. Kenny was old school and favored heavily on The Grateful Dead and Grace Slick. I wanted to bring in fresh new music. So in 2018 I insisted we cover this up and coming Bay Area artist Fantastic Negrito. Then in 2019 Kenny finally went along with my idea. So, a full video crew, and Kenny and I spent the day at Storefront Records studios with Fantastic Negrito (Xavier) and interviewed him...
then over the next few years his career took off. The day we spent with Xavier in his studio back in 2019 was great. I have very fond memories of all of the stories he told me. I found Xavier to be fun, easy to be with, chatty and very humble. He took me through a lot of hard times in his past that made him the man and artist he is today. He was very easy to talk to and easy to just hang with. I think we could've chatted until the next day but after several hours, he was catching a flight to Florida and we had to stop the visit and the cameras. We even played a game with albums! I'm unsure if that interview ever saw the light of day, but in my memory it's all there and as vivid as the day we spent hanging with him at his studio. Everytime we see each other we tentatively plan another interview but his and my schedules have prevented this thus far...but I have a feeling we will at some point in the not too distant future make that happen once again...this time for The Music Soup.
Here is the link to my previous article about Fantastic Negrito if you'd like to know more: https://www.themusicsoup.com/post/2018/06/25/fantastic-negrito-live-at-the-fillmore
And now for the headlining act, the magnificent Mavis Staples...
Legendary music diva... Mavis Staples. What can one say about this magnificent artist. On this night, she was escorted out by a member of her team but once she came to the front of the stage it was apparent that this amazing singer has not lost any of her talents onstage even at 86 years of age. She has had a long and successful career in the music business as an American Rhythm and Blues gospel singer and a civil rights activist. She started out as a member of her family band, The Staples Singers of which she is the last surviving member.
As a young woman, Mavis had a romantic relationship with Bob Dylan. He even propsoed to her. She turned him down as she thought she was too young, and she wanted instead to pursue her music career. Dylan and Staples remained friends and are still friends to this day. They even recorded together in 2003 on one of Dylan's songs "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" and they also toured together in 2016.
On this September evening in Napa, she performed many of her familiar songs complete with a band and backing singers. She sang a few deeper cuts as well as the better known tunes. When she performed, "Respect Yourself" of course, the audience sang it with her. It was a very cool set and at one point her activist self emerged and she said, with passion, "I'm from Chicago, and I want ICE out of my city!!!" Bravo to Mavis....Good for her! She was great. May she continue to bring us her huge library of music for as long as possible!
As always, and now we need this more than ever.... "Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, be kind to each other, and never regret anything that made you smile".... And last, but definitley not least...see live music - it keeps our brain firing + keeps us young!
With peace, love, art and music,
Cheryl ☮ ❤️🎵
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Here are a few affiliate links to music and photo gear: Fantastic Negrito Please Don't Be Dead - https://amzn.to/3KybvPd Son of a Broken Man - https://amzn.to/4nsqYil Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? - https://amzn.to/4mOeIHY Mavis Staples - https://amzn.to/3VMWHyE Mavis Staples We'll Never Turn Back - https://amzn.to/46NKJcV Have a Little Faith - https://amzn.to/4mPMHj4 Canon R6 Mirrorless - https://amzn.to/3K6FoG8 Canon 70 - 200 2.8 lens - https://amzn.to/4mfGL2t Holdfast Camera Harness - https://amzn.to/3K9X6bG ©Cheryl Alterman Photography 2025
©Cheryl Alterman Photography 2025
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