Another Long Night Out
Adept, emotive and exceptionally talented: these traits were recognizable about Brian Culbertson’s compositions and musicality when he was a 20-year-old college student back in the day at DePaul University (1994 to be exact), and if anything, his confidence and musicianship have matured over time. Some performers loathe going back into their earlier selections, especially when […]
Out of Obscurity, Pt. 1: From the Darkness
Fayth Hope is from Birmingham. Her EP, Out of Obscurity, Pt. 1: From the Darkness dropped in 2012, and the initial single, “Love Didn’t Mean a Thing” reached number on the “Morpheus Soul Show Top 5 Countdown” out of London. Londoners showed good taste on that one. “Love Didn’t Mean a Thing,” is a simmering […]
Help
She’s been one-half of the urban contemporary gospel duo Mary Mary for over a decade and a big sister to Tina all of her life, so the decision to record solo wasn’t one that Erica Atkins Campbell took lightly. Performing live shows on her own repping for Mary Mary was one thing, having to step […]
Euphoria (2014)
According to the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” But when fans of classically-created soul music remember the great voices that have been forever silenced in the last 25 years (Teddy Pendergrass, Ray Charles, Luther Vandoss, Barry White, Issac Hayes and Gerald Levert, […]
Rise of the Phoenix Mermaid
Natalie Stewart, the Londoner who music fans know as The Floacist, has strong views on the pressures faced by black musicians. Those pressures came into sharp relief in the period leading up to the dissolution of Floetry, the group that made Stewart and fellow singer and childhood friend Marsha Ambrosius, famous. Floetry, one of the few […]
Braveheart
In the nearly six years since Ashanti’s last CD, The Declaration, things in the game done changed: the label she called home for nearly a decade, Murder Inc/The Inc., released her from her recording contract. Instead of jumping back into the music biz, however, Ms. Douglas spent time in front of the cameras, cultivating acting credits […]
The Shedding
It has been a long while since singer/songwriter Rogiérs graced us with his liquid vocals. Seven years since the critically acclaimed Life Music: All of It poured the most sweeping of smooth soul around with rapturous arrangements and instrumentation that soothed and swayed on cuts like “Fa Sho,” “Come Into My World,” and “Come When […]
Beautiful Life
She’s long and rightly been considered the heir apparent to the legacy of Sarah Vaughn, one of her self-admitted long time heroines and influences. So, it isn’t surprising to find that Dianne Reeves shares similar trajectories with Vaughn in being an essential singer for any music aficionado to have in their catalog; but the catalog […]
The Truth (2014)
A personal awakening, a professional epiphany and an emotional precipice: if you’re lucky, you’ll arrive at those milestones one at a time. But if you’re like the rest of us, the seismic core shifts happen simultaneously and leave you reeling. If you’re relating to that sentiment, nodding your head and arm-waving as if it’s Praise […]
Lift Your Spirit
In the creative arts, the ideal is for an artist to constantly be challenging his or her growth, forging ahead in new and unanticipated directions, and pushing the envelope of expectations so that their legacy is one of constant creativity and evolution. Then there’s the reality for far too many who are stale and static, […]
