Sweet Sunrise (2011)
You don’t have to be observant to notice that the classic sounds of soul, pop, rock and country are drifting further from the mainstream in American music. Turn on youth oriented radio and modern, digitized sound predominates. This is to be expected. Every generation has to create something new. And to be fair, many of […]
Love and Sax (2011)
Some successful musicians cater to their audience to keep them satisfied . Like the ever reliable saying goes: “Give the people what they want.” Others prefer to tweak their musical game without particularly worrying about their commercial status — but still somehow satisfy their core fans. Jazz saxophonist Elan Trotman fits into the latter category, […]
Madrid Boogie (2011)
One can usually imagine that when a vocalist or band makes the quest towards establishing a public platform – whether on stage or as a recording artist, many hard lessons are being learned and perseverance is constantly tested. VenueConnection was birthed by Javier del Aguila and Fara Alvarez in 2002. At the duo’s inception, almost […]
What Is Hip? (2011)
Tony Adamo’s What is Hip? is a 50/50 album. I’m not talking about its quality, I mean that about half of the tunes are covers and about half of them are originals. But of the many enjoyable tracks on this CD, the one that absolutely stands out is Adamo’s spoken word version of the Tower […]
As Above So Below (2011)
Talk about moving from the background to the foreground: in the seven years since his debut, 3 Chords & the Truth, singer, lyricist and musician Anthony David went from being known as India.Arie’s occasional collaborator and opening act to a Grammy-Award nominated soul provider in his own right, thanks to his unassuming, yet undeniable charisma, a rich, […]
Curious Life (2011)
I had a the feeling that I heard the voice somewhere from the first moment I clicked “play” on Antoinette’s new album Curious Life. Her vocals had that kind of light night lounge club feel that kind of reminded me of Lisa Stansfield. I did a little background research and quickly learned why the voice […]
The Resurrection (2011)
Salakida knows that there is no such thing as overnight success. The Oakland, CA. native has been doing this music thing since she was a teenager. She also knows that perspective and epiphanies often come in the twinkling of an eye. Back in 2007, Salakida was involved in a near fatal car accident. At the […]
Doo Bee Doo Bop (2011)
It’s a time honored tradition for jazz artists to make instrumental versions of pop songs. Most of the music listening public recognizes the tunes of the Gershwin brothers as jazz songs even though George and Ira Gershwin wrote many of them for Broadway shows. Of course, the Gershwins were greatly influenced by jazz music, as […]
The Intro (2011)
Imagine for a moment that it is 2011 and New Edition is still singing songs like “Mr. Telephone Line” and “Is This The End?”. That is the appeal to — and the limitation of — the R&B vocal trio 4IIC and their new album, The Intro. Joe Shivers, Ron “RK” Pierce and Jerry Hairston have strong group […]
Late Nights, Early Mornings (2011)
The 2000s was a decade filled with exhilarating highs and devastating lows for the England duo known as Floetry. After combining their mutual flair for lyrics, vocals and rhymes, Natalie “the Floacist” Stewart and Marsha “the Songstress” Ambrosius cut their teeth in London clubs before moving to the US in 2000. Penning tunes for some […]
