The 20/20 Experience (2013)
Let’s face it, friends: aside from the steady stream of musical cameos (Madonna, 50 Cent, Timbaland), film and TV roles (Saturday Night Live, Shrek 3, The Social Network, Bad Teacher, Friends With Benefits, etc.), big business moves and last year’s marriage to actress Jessica Biel, one of the likely reasons for Justin Timberlake’s unhurried pace in recording a follow-up to his last CD, 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds, […]
Elevator Speech (2013)
With a lengthy resume that includes work with soul greats such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, and Lionel Richie, Preston Glass spent three decades writing, arranging, and producing exclusively for others. In 2006, he began releasing his own albums— frequently enlisting impressive supporting vocalists (e.g., Eddie Levert, LaToya London, and Keni Burke) to […]
Inspired (2013)
Golden-voiced Chris Jasper has long been a firm favorite of discerning soul fans. Having studied music composition at the famed Juilliard School of music, Jasper joined the ranks of the pioneering soul outfit, The Isley Brothers, making his first appearance on their 1969 breakthrough album, It’s Our Thing. This highly-influential album brought the group instant […]
Bless This House (2013)
Many prolific praise and worship leaders were raised up and taught by their parents through church activities. On the other hand, Kurt Carr took a slightly different avenue. Though he grew up with high morals, his family rarely set foot in church. When his family moved to another neighborhood, a teenage Carr decided to visit […]
Patiently Waiting (2013)
Joining a movement of emerging artists whose ambient music is more impressionistic and fluid than fixed and structured isa bright young twenty-two year old college student who apparently is a one-man production company all his own. Rippy Austin’s debut EP, Patiently Waiting, is lovely listening, but fans outside of hipster and electrosoul circles may want […]
Wonder Love Pt. 1 (2013)
Hurricane Katrina took the members of the band Water Seed far away from their New Orleans home. Although the group currently works out of Atlanta, the city of New Orleans never left their hearts or their music. That attachment to the city comes through in their interpretation of the Stevie Wonder classic “Don’t You Worry […]
Memphis (2013)
If you are musician who cuts an album at Royal Studios in Memphis, you are operating on hallowed ground. Al Green did some of his best work for Willie Mitchell’s Hi Records at Royal Studios. It is special when a performer such as Boz Scaggs, who is a legend in his own right, decides to […]
Lonely & Blue (2013)
The purchaser of Lonely and Blue, the new compilation of ballads by soul man Otis Redding, could be excused for thinking that Redding put these 12 songs on disc prior to his tragic death at a very young 26. The packaging had me fooled. The people at Concord Music Group created a CD cover that […]
Whisper (2013)
There is a reason why musicians continue busking. Beyond the money and the positive feedback they receive from passers by, there is that long-shot chance that they will be heard by somebody who knows somebody. That’s how it happened for Marion Meadows a long time ago. A television music composer heard Meadows playing his saxophone […]
Relentless (2013)
Funk is the most egalitarian of the musical genres that have emerged since the dawning of rock and roll. This is manifested in the relationship between vocalists and the members of the funk band. Musicians have pretty much been an afterthought in much of the public’s mind since Frank Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey’s band. That […]
