Black Rose (2015)
When that Coca-Cola commercial appeared and a teenage Tyrese was first introduced to the public in 1994, it seemed to mark the appearance of the next great R&B/Soul voice. Overnight, everyone wanted to know who the handsome kid with the infectious smile and the brilliant vocal delivery was and when could we hear more? However, […]
1968: Soul Power (2015)
On Dec. 24, 1968, the astronauts of Apollo 8 became the first men to orbit the moon and return safely to earth. They were also the first humans to gaze out of a window from space and see the earth. The famous photo of the earth looking like a tiny marble against the massiveness of […]
Coming Home (2015)
The wide availability of streaming music services, with Apple Music only the latest entrant to the market, is a double-edged sword for artists. While it allows new and independent artists to release their music quickly to a worldwide audience without the necessity of a high-powered label, it also pits new artists against the entire history […]
Kingdom Therapy
The Soul of Future Worship, Vol. 1 is the name of the critically acclaimed debut by the nine-piece South Floridian band of male vocalists and musicians comprising the gospel soul act Sensere. More than a declarative title, the name has also served as a tagline for the group’s sound and artistic mission. Fans who have […]
Jamison Ross (2015)
I wonder if Jamison Ross is familiar with the standards recordings that Marvin Gaye made when he first joined the Motown label in the early 1960s and then toward the end of his career and life in the 1980s? That question comes after listening to the cover tunes that make up the bulk of the […]
In Another Life (2015)
Underwhelmed is the furthest thing one anticipates to feel when listening to a Bilal Oliver project. Yet, considerable swaths of the new Adrian Younge-produced Bilal project, In Another Life, falls into this category. Low-fi production choices designed to give the project an aged minimalist sound that characterized the solo debuts of Aloe Blacc and […]
I Am Charlie Wilson
“The thrill of creation is indescribable. Magical. And my brothers and I took great pleasure and pride in our art. It was as if we were a bunch of chefs, mixing this with that, tossing beats and guitar licks and runs on the keyboards and blasts of the horns into a stew of funk and […]
Anthology Live (2015)
It is truly and astounding achievement if an artist can sustain both career longevity and the respect of other artists, and is one that usually reaps many rewards down the road. Through his distinguished career that included the founding of the first gospel choir at his alma mater, Howard University, Richard Smallwood deservedly has been […]
Behemoths (2015)
I have reviewed three of the six Soul Basement albums. The first, The Awakening of the Heart, was a soul and funk record that included an ensemble of vocalists, such as Marlon Saunders. In 2013, I reviewed Yesterday Today Tomorrow, an excellent album that paired a minimalist piano jazz arrangement with the vocal stylings of […]
Cyber Funkist (2015)
It’s inevitable that listeners will seek to place the soul and funk revivalist groups somewhere on an invisible musical spectrum. The question becomes, who inspires this individual or group musically? After hearing the guitar fueled funk and rock of the Stevie Ray Mays creation Ultra Van Krome’s Cyber Funkist – Mays’ debut album as band […]
