First Listen: Johnny Britt gives that EWF sound on “Emotions”
(June 10, 2025) There was a time when bands like Earth, Wind & Fire would include an instrumental tune on their albums. Those tracks served to highlight the band’s musical dexterity while reminding listeners that funk, R&B, soul were jazz music’s younger cousins. Johnny Britt, trumpeter, singer, songwriter and producer, remembers those days, and the […]
Hot 70s group Change returns with “Unconditional Love”
(June 9, 2025) Throughout the first half of the 1980s, Italian disco-funk collective Change bridged international barriers of soul and dance music by pairing soulful European composers, musicians, and producers with top American R&B voices such as Jocelyn Brown, Luther Vandross (unknown to the public at large at the time), and Deborah Cooper. Six albums’ worth of […]
First Listen: Melba Moore uses “No Filter” on new dance single
(June 6, 2025) More than five and a half decades have passed since Melba Moore left her first profession as a teacher and embarked upon what has been a remarkable music career noted for dozens of soulful albums and singles, as well as an award-winning legacy on Broadway. With a discography spanning sophisticated R&B classics […]
First Listen: Donna Odain delivers an adult soul gem
(June 6, 2025) Donna Odain’s “Find Our Way” is a tune that will go down well among music fans who long for the acid jazz sound that had us grooving in the 1980s and 90s. The song features that mesh of a funky bass line and jazzy guitar riffs, along with tightly harmonized horn work. […]
First Listen: Mark Evich teases on “Miss Demeanor”
(June 5, 2025) On the reality show America’s Got Talent, musicians and other non-music acts audition before the judges, many of them representing countries outside the U.S., to follow their lifelong career dreams. While Stanislav Markevich has yet to appear on the long running TV showcase, the singer/songwriter/producer, better known as Mark Evich, knew choosing […]
First Listen: Legends CeCe Winans and TobyMac team for a winner
(June 4, 2025) in the early 90s, Toby McKeehan (aka TobyMac) and CeCe Winans were key members of Grammy and Dove Award winning acts (DC Talk and BeBe & CeCe Winans) that were at the top of the Contemporary Christian and Gospel genres – each with tremendous crossover success. But by the early 2000s, each of Winans and […]
First Listen: Cornell CC Carter says “It’s Over”
(June 3, 2025) “It’s Over,” the new song by Cornell C.C. Carter, is a slice of real life that details the consequences of a betrayal told from the standpoint of the person who was unfaithful. The mournful ballad covers a story that has been told many times in song, poetry, and prose. However, Carter notes that […]
World Premiere: Smoke Jones wants “More Time” with you
(June 2, 2025) “More Time,” the new song by Smoke Jones, is a reminder of the importance of cherishing each moment we spend with those we love. Jones sings from the standpoint of someone who has lost a family member or good friend. He grieves that loss even as he looks back on the good […]
First Listen: 112 co-founder Q Parker smooths it out on “Keep On Lovin”
(May 30, 2025) Romance has always been a part of Q Parker’s musical vocabulary. That was the case when Q Parker was a founder and member of the singing hit making group 112, as well as during his career as a solo artist. So, his new song “Keep on Lovin’” finds Q Parker putting those classic romantic […]
First Listen: Alvin Garrett gives us “Life” on new single
(May 29, 2025) Alvin Garrett emerged in 2012 as a singer who can wrap his classic soul vocals around contemporary R&B production techniques and swagger. That 2012 album, Expose Yourself, gave music fans their first full look at an artist who could be relevant vying for the ears of younger R&B fans while also possessing the vocal and […]
