The Smiling Hour (2015)
You want to love it, because it’s Julie Dexter. I mean, come on, it’s Julie Dexter, one of the pioneering British sisters of independent soul and Afro Jazz music. And yet, throughout the eleven tracks of pleasant and utterly unmemorable material there is a dawning realization that the moment of sublime bliss for which […]
Radius (2015)
Blue-eyed soulster Allen Stone goes from strength to strength on his second commercial LP and fourth overall recording release in the last seven years. With strong lyricism on relationship ballads like “Circle” to powerful progressivism in political songs like “American Privilege,” Stone illustrates why he has broken out ahead of a very crowded pack of […]
The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets (2015)
Those who have followed the quietly distinguished career of Van Hunt know that they are best advised to jettison expectations. Hunt would likely have more than a small but loyal band of followers had his output remained in the same vein as the material on his self-titled 2004 debut – or at least not gone […]
Tony Minvielle Presents Into Something (Vol. One) (2015)
Doing a soul jazz reimagining of something from The Beatles Songbook would hardly be considered groundbreaking. Stevie Wonder added some funk to “We Can Work It Out”; Lakeside transformed “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” into a soul ballad;. Stanley Jordan and George Benson gave us jazzy versions of “Eleanor Rigby” and “Here, There, Everywhere”; […]
Back 2 Love (2015)
After 20 years and 10 solo CDs, creating classics with renowned Jazz collective Incognito and recording with musical genius Stevie Wonder, it’s downright criminal that more ears aren’t tuned in to the lovely and lilting sounds of Maysa Leak.A singer and songwriter blessed with an expressive, silk-infused alto, the Baltimore native soothes and regales practically […]
Feeling You: The 60s (2015)
When disco roared like a raging fire, there probably wasn’t a band that dominated the stratosphere of pop in the late 1970s like KC & the Sunshine Band. Sure Chic came close, but the Miami-based funky bunch led by the songwriting frontman Harry Wayne Casey pulled off six Top Ten hits, five of them shooting […]
Hot For Your Love Tonight (2015)
Those who know the history of the three man funk/disco band known as Tortured Soul will break into song and dance upon hearing Hot For Your Love Tonight, a record that pulsates with fun, funk and wit. Those fans who know about the band’s recent history will be just as likely to break into tears […]
VII (Seven) (2015)
The artistic direction that Conya Doss has taken throughout her career as one of the leading figures in the indie soul movement is guided by her two other major vocations as teacher and mother. If Doss made a conscious decision not to pursue the kind of pop-oriented music, with its frequent diversions into parental warning […]
Bundino (2015)
Bunny Sigler’s musical career extends from the first generation of rock and roll all the way up to Jay-Z, so the Philadelphia native has performed everything from doo-wop to hip-hop. Sigler uses all of those influences on his latest album, the traditional, risky, and sometimes slightly risqué Bundino. Sigler definitely carries multiple identities and he […]
Sumthin’ Like This (2015)
On 2008’s Going Out Tonight, the German-Danish production duo of Cool Million brought back the effortlessly sophisticated grooves of early-1980s R&B dance classics with a modern-day polish. Featuring both newcomers and established (yet often overlooked) vocalists, CM gave inherently soulful artists an outlet to share their fresh melodies and lyrics alongside organic synth-funk grooves boasting […]
