The Rise of the Zugebrian Time Lords (2015)
Sananda Maitreya – The Rise of the Zugebrian Time Lords When Sananda Maitreya was Terence Trent D’Arby, he dropped a piece of soul heaven into our midst with Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby – an album that was everything that hardcore soul fans crave. D’Arby had that ragged, raspy, soulful voice that […]
Christmas Flow (2015)
Ty Causey – Christmas Flow Christmas Flow, the title of Ty Causey’s Christmas project, perfectly sums up Causey’s approach to music, as well as the progress of his career. Causey’s signature sound is ultra-smooth R&B with an ample helping of jazz, and the tunes have flowed from his pen pretty much consistently for the better […]
Day Dreamer (2015)
Jesse Fischer – Day Dreamer Throughout Jesse Fischer’s time as a leader of the band Soul Cycle, as well as his work as a solo artist, he has displayed an ability to evolve. Fischer’s work with Soul Cycle did have some recurring themes: On most of their previous albums, the group mixed in covers of artists […]
A Simple Act of Faith (2015)
Cymande – A Simple Act of Faith The band Cymande recorded their last album 41 years ago, but music fans have had plenty of chances to hear the group’s music over the past four decades. Of course, most of those fans probably didn’t know that they were listening to the British funk band. Rap artists and […]
Her Reddness (2015)
To be an American R&B/soul singer means that from time to time an artist will be confronted with prevailing perception that those hailing from the birthplace of blues-based music have abandoned the genre, and that soul fans have to cross oceans if they want to hear authentic soul music. That must come as a shock […]
Welcome to My Fantasy (reissue) (2015)
Things weren’t supposed to go like this for Eugene Record. It was 1979, and the former lead singer and principal songwriter of The Chi-Lites was releasing the third album of his solo career, following his split from one of the seminal soul groups of the 70s and the signing of a lucrative recording contract with Warner Brothers. After incredible […]
My Time to Shine (2015)
As lead vocalist on Jones Girls hits that have etched a permanent place in the minds and hearts of soul fans, Shirley Jones has a straight-ahead, uncomplicated style which makes tunes such as “You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else” and “Nights over Egypt” sound just as fresh today as they did 30-some years ago. […]
Silver (2015)
Jazz musicians, more than artists in any other genre (with the possible exception of classical music), have a transient existence. Go back and look at someone like my personal favorite jazz musician, Miles Davis, and realize that in five plus decades of making music, he was really the only constant in any of those great […]
Revival of Soul (2015)
Terisa Griffin – Revival of Soul In the world of contemporary R&B, Terisa Griffin is a complete anomaly: A singer who has developed an impressive audience not by traveling the road of so many adult soul singers who awkwardly embrace hip-hop to “stay relevant,” but rather by immersing her listeners in classic soul history through rich instrumentation, […]
Where Have You Been (2015)
ReSurface – Where Have You Been When thinking back on the select artists specializing in smooth-sailing slow jams amongst the dance-driven scene of the late 1980s, it’s nearly impossible to overlook the prominent contributions of the multi-tiered Surface, a trio originally consisting of vocalist Bernard Jackson, keyboardist/flautist David “Pic” Conley, and guitarist David Townsend. Smooth grooves […]
