Several years ago our friend Laura G. Falls (Red Boot PR) turned us on to one of her clients, Jesse Macht. At the time he had just released what became one of our favorite albums, Suitcase Heart, which we reviewed back in January 2015 on AXS.com.
Macht’s father is actor Stephen Macht, and his brother is Gabriel Macht, star of USA’s Suits. Although he isn’t an actor, he has still made a presence in Hollywood with the placement of his music in a multitude of shows, including The Next Great American Band, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, LA Ink, The Voice, and much of Viacom’s programming.
Through his publicist, Macht became affiliated with Keaton Simons and his step-father, Eric Roberts. As a result, Simons placed his song “When I Go” on the Suits season 5 episode “Faith,” while Roberts became a recurring character on the show.
Macht brought his “A” game to the intimate Second Stage at the renowned Hotel Café. His band included Rob Humphreys on drums Kenneth Belcher on guitar, Jeff Liffmann on piano and Tyler Carroll on bass.
During the show, he played songs from his diverse catalog, including the title track to his latest album, I Was Born, which was become one of his most successful songs, and “Broken my Faith,” which is one of our favorite songs off Suitcase Heart. Despite some technical difficulties mid-set, Macht and his band turned in a superlative set, culminating in one of the best covers we have ever heard of the Tina Turner classic, “What’s Love Got to do With It.”
All in all it was a wonderful night of great music and catching up with friends, as Roberts and his wife Eliza were among the audience members, as well as Alisha and Dan Kalisher of Sleep Machine, another Red Boot client. We highly recommend going to his live performance if he ever makes it to where you live.