During my years DJing in various Berlin clubs, one of the songs in my soul/disco sets was “Saturday”, an energetic disco club anthem, very polished and thick, sung by Norma Jean Wright, a background singer who worked for Luther Vandross, Sister Sledge, Randy Crawford, Aretha Franklin, Will Downing, and a lot more. It wasn’t as…
In the latest “Late Night Tales” episode, one of my favorite soul singers and songwriters and musicians, Jordan Rakei, is in charge of compiling a bluer than blue set of 17 songs on double-vinyl. Jordan has assembled some tracks from friends and label mates, like Alfa Mist, Snowpoet, Fink, Joe Armon-Jones, or Bill Laurance. And…
Incognito mastermind Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick and influential DJ and Brownswood label head Gilles Peterson got together for this Brit Funk project Str4ta, recalling the early 80s when bands like Freeez, Touchdown (remember “Ease Your Mind” from 1981?: delicious!), Hi Tension, Light Of The World, or Atmosfear made maves not only in the UK, but overseas…
About the song “Here It Comes” from the new album “Music” by Benny Sings (Tim van Berkestijn), the Dutch artist says: “The lyrics are about me as a young boy, living on the streets in Dordrecht with my skate crew, and feeling life presenting itself, and feeling excited about it. A time full of hope…
This is going back to the good old days when a new LP was always a major attraction, especially in the case of Gatefold LPs. Credits and lyrics printed on two pages, instantly making it a premium product. And the content correlates. UK-based singer Myles Sanko, who was born in Ghana before moving to Cambridge,…
During a period when The Guardian asks if you should get rid of your CDs and a phenomenal resurgence in sales of vinyl nobody expected, I have come across dozens of reasons in the past month why CDs are dead. Three of those reasons for not hanging on to my CD collection: Number One: the…
If you need your vocal jazz pure and hip, look no further than “Old Friends”, the new album by singer Mark Winkler and longtime friend, pianist David Benoit. Having known each other for 37 years now, you might think that they are using some sort of safety net for their joint collaboration (they have worked…
So everyone is talking about the debut of London-born singer Arlo Parks these days. I have to admit that I didn’t really become interested in her at first because the press release states that Billie Eilish is a fan. So what? Seriously, why is there such a hype about Billie Eilish? I just don’t get…
Our Record of the Year artist Jarrod Lawson has released another single from his world-class “Be The Change” LP: “Love Isn’t Always Enough”. In my review of the album in late October, I mentioned the fact that “gracefully opulent” ballads like this aren’t made anymore. To further enhance Jarrod’s deeply moving soul balladeering, the new…
After two albums with Durand Jones & The Indications, vocalist and drummer Aaron Frazer has just released his debut album, produced by Dan Auerbach, frontman of The Black Keys. One of the rare treats of this album is that it actually works from start to finish. I mean, you can really listen through both sides…