Wise Up Ghost (with Elvis Costello)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and The Roots are always looking for the next frontier to drop their sounds on. Besides their own studio albums, the versatile Philly-based band has already committed their labor of love on full-length records for Al Green, Betty Wright, John Legend and Booker T. Jones. Because of the banner they wear for […]
The Morning After: A Musical Love Journey (2013)
Imagine living a life filled with the beauty of Europe, Asia and Africa, one of romantic intrigue and memories of a musically enriching career that started as a young musician tutored by the finest teachers in jazz. Najee is one who has lived this enviable dream for over twenty-five years. From playing with giants like […]
My Brother’s Keeper
If you made it through your formative adult years without hearing raspy adlibs like “Yeaaaaaaaah” or “HOO yeah!,” chances are you missed out on the 90s heyday of Jodeci. Hailing from both Viginia and North Carolina, two pairs of brothers—Donald & Dalvin DeGrate and Cedric & Joel Hailey, respectively— channeled their church-cultivated vocals and musical […]
Moment of Truth
There are some artists who woo you right from the start and forever after you want them to win. Artists like Carl Thomas and John Legend immediately come to mind, both boasting definitive album debuts – and all releasing subsequent outputs that rarely quite managed to recapture their debut’s elusive magic, no matter how good […]
We Need to Go Back: The Unissued Warner Bros. Masters (2013)
Elegance and variety have always been essential ingredients in Dionne Warwick’s one-of-a-kind vocal delivery. Regardless of the genre in which she sings, there’s a clear sophistication in her phrasing and a seemingly boundless scale of notes and dynamics in the interpretation of each melody she envelops. These qualities have been demonstrated time and time again […]
Greater Than Before
A decade ago, a young minister started a choir in his grandparents’ basement in Chicago, Illinois, backed by plenty of prayer, faith and fasting. In two short years of ministry, Dexter Walker & Zion Movement’s spiritual devotion and exceptional anointing led to a live concert recording – in front of over 2,000 people at that. […]
The Essential Bill Withers
Bill Withers – The Essential Bill Withers Back in the early 1980s when I was a teenager, there was this teen drama TV program that came on the Chicago PBS affiliate. I can’t remember the show’s name (and I searched), but I do remember the theme song – Bill Withers’ “The Best You Can.” The […]
Higher!
There will be a temptation to go right to hits included on the Sly and the Family Stone box set Higher! To be fair, most people who buy Higher! won’t stop at “Stand!,” but more on that later. Still, it’s an understandable instinct to go straight to the hits because those hits display Sly and […]
Love in Flying Colors
“I think this one is going to be über up your alley.” For a contrarian critic, more ominous words were never spoken. That they came from the management of the Grammy-nominated, North Carolina-based electro-soul collective, The Foreign Exchange (+FE), only gave me further pause. Considering I’d never given a project from +FE a negative review […]
Famous
I sometimes wonder what problem a singer is trying to hide when he issues an overproduced record: Is it a weak singing voice? Or uninspired and unimaginative lyrics? Well, Marques Houston doesn’t appear to be trying to obscure either of those issues with the technological excess on Famous, his latest CD. There is certainly nothing wrong with Houston’s vocals. He […]
