Fans of Nina Simone and torch singers of the Jazz era torch singers will fall in love with Lady Blackbird who revives the tradition with modern stylings. the LA-based singer has developed a following over the last few years and her debut album is sure to increase her number of admirers.
Category Archives: soul
Nightrider
Talented jazz guitarist Tom Misch is responsible for 2018’s Geography, a melodic and groovy album that shows off Misch’s abilities to the max. This year he teamed up with drummer Yussef Dayes to produce a looser, more improvisational album, which still benefits from a good ear for melody. It’s probably my favorite of the year, …
Sunset Years
The contemplation and acceptance of aging is a tricky business. Particularly if you make your living in an industry that is all about youth.Incredible as it may seem to me, Paul Weller, the angry man of The Jam and stylish angry young man of The Style Council, is now sixty-two.I can still remember standing in …
Here Comes the Sol
The wonderfully named London-based singer Cleo Sol is a contributor to the Sault collective, who have been topping many end of year music polls. Her debut solo effort ‘Rose in the Dark’ is a little reminiscent of Sade and sounds to me like the beginning of an amazing career.
Time for Peace is Now
Kanye West’s recent gospel album has thrown a bit of heat on the genre and ‘Time for Peace is Now’ a compilation of old school religious music recently received the honor of being best reissue on Pitchfork. This track is one I have been playing repeatedly, while marveling at how incredible it is that the …
The Folk Sound
The late Terry Callier is a difficult singer to define. You could describe his style as soul or maybe as blues, and if you go back far enough, folk. Once fiendishly difficult to get hold off and recently reissued The Folk Sound fo Terry Callier is an accomplished piece of work which pulls off the …
Love is a Hurtin’ Thing
Out there in America are dozens of artists like Gloria Ann Taylor, brilliant singers who for want of a defining album get forgotten by history. Luckily there are crate diggers who are constantly rediscovering lost classics and labels like Ubiquity and Jazzman who are prepared to compile and release the best of their …
Sunny
It’s always good to come across a version of a song you know but now is made new again by a different interpretation. Better still is to find what the original of a classic sounds like. Sunny, written by Bobby Hebb, is a song we all know. But when stripped down it becomes a far …
Wildheart
Miguel is one of the relatively recent crop of new r’n’b artists that have caused a revival of interest in the genre. Frank Ocean twisted it into territory unlikely to be visited by Teddy Pendergrass anytime soon on his ‘Channel Orange’ album, Miguel by contrast seemed to be more straight ahead in the mold …
Gregory Porter at Town Hall, NYC
It’s a long time since I enjoyed a concert as thoroughly as I enjoyed Gregory Porter at Town Hall. His charisma is undeniable and his voice is unsurpassable. He even found time in between blowing the roof off with the power of his voice to allow a fan to propose to his girlfriend. Something neither …
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