Letters from Birmingham
Since marketability trumps musicianship these days and image matters more than ability, it’s a frustrating fact that some of the more talented in our midst don’t get all of the shine they deserve, and that’s what’s immediately apparent when one listens to Ruben Studdard. Bestowed with the title of ‘Velvet Teddy Bear’ by soul icon […]
A Beautifully Complicated Life
Chinua Hawk’s A Beautifully Complicated Life includes four and a half cover songs. What, you might ask, is half a cover song? I would define it as an original that covers the same thematic ground as an older song, with which it shares a title. Music fans might recall Regina Belle’s “If I Could,” a […]
Fast and Curious (2012)
For all you gym rats looking for that motivating “Get your life!” workout mix of the Spring season, well…look no further; Sy Smith and Mark de Clive-Lowe deliver the goods in their new collaboration, Fast & Curious. An ode to those nasty ‘80s girl groups and performers who soundtracked the roller rink and the discotheque […]
Covered (Advance Review)
I feel a certain amount of dread whenever I learn that an artist has dropped an album of cover songs. I think y’all know why. Cover albums usually fall into a couple of categories. There is the Great American Songbook cover albums in which a singer – usually an aging rocker or R&B singer looking […]
Volcanic Sunlight
For those who have witnessed the free for all, uncensored zone called slam poetry it is truly an adventurous and occasionally unpredictable ride. Since his childhood, Saul Williams has fed off the energy of live theater and freedom of poetic license. Naturally, these two gifts stirring inside Williams inspired him to pursue a graduate degree […]
Inspired by a True Story, Vol. 1 (2012)
There have been many music artists who began their sonic journeys while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Iconic acts like Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and John Coltrane all found their musical calling as soldiers. Up and coming singer/musician Homemadesoul is yet another example of a music artist who discovered his niche as a serviceman. […]
The Other Man
Before Heatwave hit it big in the United States with their debut album Too Hot to Handle, they had a large following in Europe. The band was especially popular in Germany. By the mid 1970s, Heatwave was following a well-worn path to Germany that had been blazed by acts such as The Beatles. So it’s […]
Soul Over The Race, Vol. 2
After hearing the dance/pop track “Big in Japan” by popular French DJ Martin Solveig, the song’s hook struck me in an odd way: “Because the next thing you know I’m big in Japan.” This chorus is particularly odd if it is a derisively intended commentary on Japan as a second-tier music market. If so, it […]
Angie (Reissue)
A stroke silenced Angela Bofill’s singing voice. However, Bofill still has a voice, and she has used that voice to return to the place that had been her home away from home for more than four decades – the stage. The stage show The Angela Bofill Experience allows fans to hear from this classically trained […]
Black Radio (2012)
He called it “experimentation for meditation.” On the sixth project for jazz pianist Robert Glasper and the first full-length debut project for his electric jazz band, the Robert Glasper Experiment, on Blue Note, the soothing music is consistently zen enough to allow for spiritual elevation and introspection, if not simply a cozy night’s sleep. Glasper […]
