'R&B' Bands // p 3 of 4

of Montreal

Of Montreal is an American indie pop band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance between Barnes and a woman "of Montreal". The band is identified as part of the Elephant 6 collective. Throughout its existence, of Montreal's musical style has evolved considerably and drawn inspiration from 1960s psychedelic pop acts.

History

2013–present

On April 25, 2013, of Montreal posted an announcement on their Facebook page stating that a new album entitled Lousy with Sylvianbriar had been completed. The post went into detail about the album's conception, including that Barnes' writing occurred while on a "self imposed isolation experiment in San Francisco" in early 2013. She was influenced by Sylvia Plath, the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, and the Flying Burrito Brothers in her writing. The album was recorded with a new lineup of musicians, including Jojo Glidewell, Nicolas Dobbratz, Bennett Lewis, and Bob Parins, with Clayton Rychlik and Kevin Barnes as the only returning members. The album and subsequent tour also featured Rebecca Cash on vocals. Lousy with Sylvianbriar was released on October 8, 2013. On July 10, 2013, the band released the first single from the album, entitled "Fugitive Air." On July 31, 2013, they announced that they would be touring their new album in October and November. This tour featured the same musicians that performed on the album, instead of longtime band members such as Bryan Poole and Dottie Alexander.

By means of a Facebook post and a Kevin Barnes interview conducted by Stereogum.com, of Montreal's album Aureate Gloom was announced. The record was influenced by "the mid-to-late 1970s music scene in New York," including bands such as Talking Heads and Led Zeppelin. The album captures Barnes' emotions borne from her separation from her wife of 11 years and its aftermath. Barnes described the album as being "all over the place musically", lending to its reflection of her mindset during the time of its creation. The album was released March 3, 2015.

In August 2016, of Montreal released Innocence Reaches, which incorporated new, EDM-inspired sounds, as well as the progressive rock sounds of the previous two albums. For the tour following the album's release, bassist Davey Pierce returned to the band, replacing Bob Parins.

On January 13, 2017, of Montreal released a new EP by surprise, entitled Rune Husk. On March 9, 2018, the album White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood was released on Polyvinyl, with singer Barnes explaining that the sound was influenced by "extended dance mixes" from the 1980s.

The band released its sixteenth studio album, UR FUN, on January 17, 2020.

Of Montreal released its seventeenth studio album, I Feel Safe with You, Trash, on March 5, 2021.

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Otis Redding

Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. Redding's style of singing gained inspiration from the gospel music that preceded the genre. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s.

Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia, and at the age of 2, moved to Macon, Georgia. Redding quit school at age 15 to support his family, working with Little Richard's backing band, the Upsetters, and by performing in talent shows at the historic Douglass Theatre in Macon. In 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkins's band, the Pinetoppers, with whom he toured the Southern states as a singer and driver. An unscheduled appearance on a Stax recording session led to a contract and his first single, "These Arms of Mine", in 1962.

Stax released Redding's debut album, Pain in My Heart, two years later. Initially popular mainly with African-Americans, Redding later reached a wider American pop music audience. Along with his group, he first played small shows in the American South. He later performed at the popular Los Angeles night club Whisky a Go Go and toured Europe, performing in London, Paris and other major cities. He also performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

Shortly before his death in a plane crash, Redding wrote and recorded his iconic "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" with Steve Cropper. The song became the first posthumous number-one record on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. The album The Dock of the Bay was the first posthumous album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. Redding's premature death devastated Stax. Already on the verge of bankruptcy, the label soon discovered that the Atco division of Atlantic Records owned the rights to his entire song catalog.

Redding received many posthumous accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In addition to "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Respect" and "Try a Little Tenderness" are among his best-known songs.

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Parliament

Parliament is a funk band formed in the late 1960s by George Clinton as part of his Parliament-Funkadelic collective. Less rock-oriented than its sister act Funkadelic, Parliament drew on science-fiction and outlandish performances in their work. The band scored a number of Top 10 hits, including the million-selling 1975 single "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)," and Top 40 albums such as Mothership Connection (1975).

Parliament was originally the Parliaments, a doo-wop vocal group based at a Plainfield, New Jersey barbershop. The group was formed in the late 1950s and included George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas. Clinton was the group leader and manager. The group scored a hit single in 1967 with "(I Wanna) Testify" (co-written by Clinton) on Revilot Records. To capitalize on this chart success, Clinton formed a touring band, featuring teenage barbershop employee Billy Nelson on bass and his friend Eddie Hazel on guitar, with the lineup eventually rounded out by Tawl Ross on guitar, Tiki Fulwood on drums, and Mickey Atkins on organ.

During a contractual dispute with Revilot, Clinton temporarily lost the rights to the name "The Parliaments", and signed the ensemble to Westbound Records as Funkadelic, which Clinton positioned as a funk-rock band featuring the five touring musicians with the five Parliaments singers as uncredited guests. With Funkadelic as a recording and touring entity in its own right, in 1970 Clinton relaunched the singing group, now known as Parliament, at first featuring the same ten members. Clinton was now the leader of two different acts, Parliament and Funkadelic, which featured the same members but were marketed as creating two different types of funk.

The Parliament album entitled Osmium was released on Invictus Records in 1970, and was later reissued on CD with non-album tracks as both Rhenium and First Thangs. Osmium featured a mostly psychedelic soul sound that was more similar to the Funkadelic albums of the period than to the later Parliament albums. The song "The Breakdown" was released separately as a single, and reached #30 on the R&B charts in 1971. Due to continuing contractual problems and the fact that Funkadelic releases were more successful at the time, Clinton temporarily abandoned the name Parliament (which he revived in 1974).

Following Osmium, the lineup of Parliament-Funkadelic began going through many changes and was expanded significantly, with the addition of important members such as keyboardist Bernie Worrell in 1970, singer/guitarist Garry Shider in 1971, and bassist Bootsy Collins (recruited from the James Brown backing band) in 1972. Dozens of singers and musicians would contribute to future Parliament-Funkadelic releases. Clinton relaunched Parliament in 1974 and signed the act to Casablanca Records. Parliament, now augmented by the Horny Horns (also recruited from James Brown's band) was positioned as a smoother R&B-based funk ensemble with intricate horn and vocal arrangements, and as a counterpoint to the guitar-based funk-rock of Funkadelic. By this point, Parliament and Funkadelic were touring as a combined entity known as Parliament-Funkadelic or simply P-Funk (which also became the catch-all term for George Clinton's rapidly growing stable of funk artists).

The album Up for the Down Stroke was released in 1974, with Chocolate City following in 1975. Both performed strongly on the Billboard R&B charts and were moderately successful on the Pop charts. Parliament began its period of greatest mainstream success with the concept album Mothership Connection (1975), the lyrics of which launched much of the P-Funk mythology. The subsequent albums The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976), Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome (1977), and Motor Booty Affair (1978) all reached high on both the R&B and Pop charts, while Funkadelic was also experiencing significant mainstream success. Parliament scored the #1 R&B singles "Flash Light" in 1977 and "Aqua Boogie" in 1978.

The rapidly expanding ensemble of musicians and singers in the Parliament-Funkadelic enterprise, as well as Clinton's problematic management practices, began to take their toll by the late 1970s. Original Parliaments members Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas, who had been with Clinton since the barbershop days in the late 1950s, departed acrimoniously in 1977, after disputes over Clinton's management. Other important group members like singer/guitarist Glenn Goins and drummer Jerome Brailey left Parliament-Funkadelic in 1978 after disputes over Clinton's management. Two further Parliament albums, Gloryhallastoopid (1979) and Trombipulation (1980) were less successful than the albums from the group's prime 1975-1978 period.

Parliament's 1978 release "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)" would go on to become one of the defining samples of the West Coast G-Funk movement. The song came to sampling prominence in the late '80s, appearing on tracks by King Tee ("Just Clowning"), Ice-T ("The Syndicate") and Fat Boys (“Get Down”), before finding a national audience on Ice Cube's 1990 release "Rollin' With Da Lench Mob". The song would go on to be sampled more than 12 additional times before the turn of the century by West Coast artists including Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, DJ Muggs, Tha Dogg Pound, and Warren G.

It found a national audience on Ice Cube's Bomb Squad-produced "Rollin’ With Da Lench Mob," and again on Cypress Hill’s "Psycobetabuckdown."

In the early 1980s, with legal difficulties arising from the multiple names used by multiple groups, as well as a shakeup at Casablanca Records, George Clinton dissolved Parliament and Funkadelic as recording and touring entities. However, many of the musicians in later versions of the two groups remained employed by Clinton. Clinton continued to release new albums regularly, sometimes under his own name and sometimes under the name George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars. The P-Funk All-Stars continued to record and tour into the 1990s and 2000s, and regularly perform classic Parliament songs.

Parliament reformed in January 2018 and released the song "I'm Gon Make U Sick O'Me", which features the rapper Scarface. This was the first new Parliament release in 38 years. Clinton also announced the title of a new Parliament album, Medicaid Fraud Dogg, which was released on May 22, 2018. Most of the 23 tracks on the album were written by Clinton in collaboration with his son, Tracey Lewis. Guest musicians on the album include former long-time James Brown collaborators Fred Wesley and Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis.

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Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth For Christ Choir

Thomas Lee Barrett, Jr. (born January 13, 1944), better known professionally as Pastor T.L. Barrett and Rev. T.L. Barrett, is an American Pentecostal preacher and gospel musician. Barrett is a preacher on Chicago's South Side who released gospel albums in the 1970s; as a musician, he was largely unknown outside of Chicago until a resurgence in interest in his music occurred in the 2010s.

In the 1970s, Barrett's congregation included many noteworthy Chicago-area musicians, such as Maurice White and Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire, Donny Hathaway, and Phil Cohran. Barrett, recording as Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir, released the album Like a Ship (Without a Sail) in 1971. The Youth for Christ Choir, led by Barrett, was an approximately 40-member ensemble of children ages 12 to 19, which grew out of his Tuesday night weekly choir meetings. The album featured instrumental contributions from Phil Upchurch, Gene Barge, Charles Pittman, and Richard Evans (of Rotary Connection). It was reissued by Light in the Attic Records in 2010 to critical acclaim and praise from musicians such as Jim James and Colin Greenwood. Barrett also released several further albums of music over the course of the 1970s, as well as discs of sermons; he also recorded as Rev. T.L. Barrett.

In 2016, Kanye West sampled the song "Father I Stretch My Hands", from Barrett's 1976 album Do Not Pass Me By, in the song "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1" and "Pt. 2" from the album The Life of Pablo.

In 2016, Barrett's music was used in an Under Armour commercial directed by Harmony Korine and on the soundtrack to the film Barry. and in the 2017 Almeida Theatre (London) production of Martin Crimp's "The Treatment".

In 2019, Barrett's song "Nobody Knows", from the 1971 album 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)', was used in an AT&T commercial titled "Roll Up Your Sleeves". It was also used in a trailer to Corpus Christi.

Also in 2019, English musician Richard Ashcroft covered live the song 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)' and released it as a streaming single (labeled as 'Just Like A Ship'). The song was covered during a live session at the Chris Evans Breakfast Show.

The following year, Barrett's recording of 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)' was featured in the Netflix documentary, Crip Camp.

In 2020, Barrett’s song “Like a Ship” was sampled by electronic music Duo The Knocks in their song “All About You” featuring Foster The People.

In June 2021, Barrett's song "Like a Ship" was used on closing credits of Season 1 Episode 9 of HBO "HACKS".

The song "Nobody Knows", from the 1971 album 'Like a Ship (Without a Sail)', has been sampled numerous times, including on rapper Copywrite's song "Trouble" from the album "Choose your own adventure: Murderland" and DJ Khaled's album Grateful.

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Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq (/səˈdiːk/; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné!. In addition to his solo and group career, he has also produced songs for such artists as Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend.

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Rhye

Rhye is an R&B musical project of Canadian singer Mike Milosh. It originally consisted of him and Danish instrumentalist Robin Hannibal. They released the singles "Open" and "The Fall" online without much detail, which led to speculation about the band. Their debut album, Woman, was released on March 4, 2013. In June 2013, the album was longlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. In 2017, it was reported that Robin Hannibal was no longer a member of Rhye and that the project had evolved into a music collective led by Milosh and focused around the associated live band. Their second album, Blood, was released on February 2, 2018, and was largely written, produced, and performed by Milosh.

In 2018, Rhye began an international tour to promote the album Blood.

Members

• Michael Milosh was born in Toronto, Canada, and is an electronic musician and vocalist. He is a classically trained cellist. He moved to Berlin, Germany to pursue music as a vocalist and a producer. Professionally using the name Milosh, he signed with the record label Plug Research and released two albums, You Make Me Feel (2004), and Meme (2006). He also contributed the track "Then It Happened" to the Ghostly International/Williams Street album Ghostly Swim, which was released in 2008.
• Robin Hannibal (born Robin Braun) was a member of the Danish duo Quadron together with Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj. They were also signed to the Plug Research label and released a self-titled album in July 2009. Hannibal was also part of a Danish electronica collective called Boom Clap Bachelors, who in early 2008 released the album Just Before Your Lips. He has collaborated with other artists such as Nobody Beats the Beats, Clemens, Jokeren, and L.O.C.. Hannibal also launched two projects, Owusu & Hannibal and Parallel Dance Ensemble, and contributed to Szjerdene's "Lead the Way" and to Leon Ware's "Orchids for the Sun". In 2011, Quadron collaborated with American DJ and record producer Kaskade on the song "Waste Love" off his album Fire & Ice.

History

In 2010, Hannibal was working on some Quadron material and got tipped off about Milosh's work through their common record label. He contacted Milosh, who was at the time living in Berlin, and asked him to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark to meet him. The two musicians spent a week together in the studio recording three tracks for their first collaboration.

Eventually, Hannibal moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career there. As it happened, Milosh had also gone to the States independently. Based on their earlier cooperation in Denmark, the two agreed to continue working together, forming the duo Rhye, initially as an internet-based mystery, posting several singles online, but without providing any background information or contact details. Their online postings for "Open" and "The Fall", both romantic soul-pop numbers, garnered attention and a following. The songs were accompanied by sensual and high-quality shot videos.

There was great interest as well as speculation amongst music journalists and reviewers about the group's identity. Discussions also ensued about Milosh's high and sigh-like contralto androgynous vocals. His voice and the band's instrumentation are likened to those of British-Nigerian singer Sade and The xx.

In 2013, the band released its debut album, Woman.

During their 2014 tour, Rhye sold a poster printed for the Boston show containing cryptic text in Wingdings that read "Who is Rhye. Edward Bernays."

In 2017, Rhye collaborated with Bonobo on a track called "Break Apart" from his album Migration.

In June 2017, Rhye released the split single featuring the songs "Please" and "Summer Days".

In 2018, Rhye released their second album Blood, to largely positive critical feedback. The cover art for the album features Milosh's naked girlfriend (a different woman from the one on the cover of Woman).

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Ruth Brown

Ruth Alston Brown (née Weston, January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes known as the "Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean". For these contributions, Atlantic became known as "the house that Ruth built" (alluding to the popular nickname for the old Yankee Stadium). Brown was a 1993 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Following a resurgence that began in the mid-1970s and peaked in the 1980s, Brown used her influence to press for musicians' rights regarding royalties and contracts; these efforts led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Her performances in the Broadway musical Black and Blue earned Brown a Tony Award, and the original cast recording won a Grammy Award. Brown was a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. In 2017, Brown was inducted into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. She is also the aunt to legendary hip hop MC Rakim.

Early life

Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Brown was the eldest of seven siblings. She attended I. C. Norcom High School, which was then legally segregated. Brown's father was a dockhand. He also directed the local church choir at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, but the young Ruth showed more interest in singing at USO shows and nightclubs, rebelling against her father. She was inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington.

In 1945, aged 17, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with the trumpeter Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs. She then spent a month with Lucky Millinder's orchestra.

Early Career

Ruth Brown performs at the Mambo Club in Wichita, Kansas, 1957
Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at the Crystal Caverns, a nightclub in Washington, D.C., and soon became her manager. Willis Conover, the future Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act with Duke Ellington and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Brown was unable to audition as planned because of a car crash, which resulted in a nine-month stay in the hospital. She signed with Atlantic Records from her hospital bed.

In 1948, Ertegun and Abramson drove from New York City to Washington, D.C., to hear Brown sing. Her repertoire was mostly popular ballads, but Ertegun convinced her to switch to rhythm and blues.

In her first audition, in 1949, she sang "So Long", which became a hit. This was followed by "Teardrops from My Eyes" in 1950. Written by Rudy Toombs, it was the first upbeat major hit for Brown. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950 and released in October, it was Billboard's R&B number one for 11 weeks. The hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm", and within a few months, she became the acknowledged queen of R&B.

She followed up this hit with "I'll Wait for You" (1951), "I Know" (1951), "5-10-15 Hours" (1953), "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1953), "Oh What a Dream" (1954), "Mambo Baby" (1954), and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960), some of which were credited to Ruth Brown and the Rhythm Makers. Between 1949 and 1955, her records stayed on the R&B chart for a total of 149 weeks; she would go on to score 21 Top 10 hits altogether, including five that landed at number one. Brown ranked No. 1 on The Billboard 1954 Disk Jockey Poll for Favorite R&B Artists.

Brown played many racially segregated dances in the southern states, where she toured extensively and was immensely popular. She claimed that a writer had once summed up her popularity by saying, "In the South Ruth Brown is better known than Coca-Cola."

Brown performed at the famed tenth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 20, 1954. She performed along with The Flairs, Count Basie and his Orchestra, Lamp Lighters, Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, Christine Kittrell, and Perez Prado and his Orchestra.

Her first pop hit came with "Lucky Lips", a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and recorded in 1957. The single reached number 6 on the R&B chart and number 25 on the U.S. pop chart. The 1958 follow-up was "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'", written by Bobby Darin and Mann Curtis. It reached number 7 on the R&B chart and number 24 on the pop chart.

She had further hits with "I Don't Know" in 1959 and "Don't Deceive Me" in 1960, which were more successful on the R&B chart than on the pop chart. During the 1960s, Brown faded from public view and lived as a housewife and mother.

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Scone Cash Players

The Scone Cash Players are on a mission...

The Scone Cash Players arrive with force and fury. It is a mission to bring the purist, most soulful, dynamic and funky organ music to the people of the world. During a breakout performance at the Funky Sole Weekender in Los Angeles alongside Lee Fields & The Expressions, Breakestra, The Monophonics and Jungle Fire they were propelled on to the international scene. Incredible tours followed to Brazil, New York City, California, Midwest US as well as hometown shows in Miami. The Scone Cash Players are eager for more. There was an unforgettable performance at the Miami Downtown Jazz Fest. Brooklyn Vegan choose to premier "Blast Furnace! LP" and "Scone Cold Christmas 7" Single and Video. Scone Cash Players were chosen in the top ten Funk 45's by Flea Market Funk, as well as "Top Vinyl LP and 7" single by Nostalgia King of the year.

Adam Scone draws from his vast experience working with soul legends The Sugarman Three, Lee Fields, Naomi Shelton & Sharon Jones. He has also backed up Jazz and Boogaloo legends Lou Donaldson, Melvin Sparks and Ben Dixon. Over the years he has appeared on over 50 recordings. It is this unique experience that fuels the hard driving soul psychedelia that is certain to make any audience jump up and get into it.

Where is the bass player? That is Scone playing the bass with the deepest pocket around. The tradition of organ low end is of paramount importance in this band. The left foot mixed with left hand bass truly are the nastiest and funkiest sound in town. Adam Scone is steeped in the organ bass tradition of fellow players and mentors Dr. Lonnie Smith, Dr. Jack McDuff, Big John Patton and Jimmy Smith.

Scone learned the ropes traveling the world with various Daptone recording artists. He has brought the organ business at the worlds top music festivals including Bonnaroo, Glastonbury, North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival & the Monterey Jazz Festival. He has also brought the business in many seedy lounges all across the US, Europe, South and Central America, Africa and the Middle East. Scone has manipulated the plastic keys and thrown Leslie switches at iconic NYC venues such as The Village Vanguard, The Blue Note, The Apollo Theater, The Bowery Ballroom and many others. In addition, you can see and hear him playing organ in the recently released Daptone Records concert film “Living on Soul!” Do you want to do the Boogaloo? Enjoy the Scone Cash Players.

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Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs such as "I Put a Spell on You", he sometimes used macabre props onstage, making him an early pioneer of shock rock.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Hawkins studied classical piano as a child and learned guitar in his twenties. His initial goal was to become an opera singer (Hawkins cited Paul Robeson as his musical idol in interviews), but when his initial ambitions failed, he began his career as a conventional blues singer and pianist.

He joined the US Army in 1944, and entertained troops as part of his service. After leaving the Army, he returned to music and boxing. Hawkins was an avid and formidable boxer. In 1949, he was the middleweight boxing champion of Alaska. In 1951, he joined guitarist Tiny Grimes' band, and was subsequently featured on some of Grimes' recordings. When Hawkins became a solo performer, he often performed in a stylish wardrobe of leopard skins, red leather, and wild hats.

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Son Little

hat is the new magic of music? If you trace the path of a plan back to its beginnings, what do you find? Is it a tree, growing from seed with deep roots planted in fertile soil, branches arcing out in all directions? Or a spark in the dark, an electrical charge? Is it a waterway, with swirling currents raging to create a river? Or is it a snowflake, falling from on high and dropping down to earth with a singular splash?

For Son Little, the genesis of a musical idea — the magic — remains largely a mystery. But his kinetic ability to summon that energy all the same, to command it, hold onto it, and set it in motion, is the stuff of alchemy.

“The magic is this well I can draw from; you can’t necessarily see it, you just have to believe that it’s there,” he says. “If you believe, then you can reach your hand down in there and get it wet. But if you don’t feel like it’s there, it won’t be.”

Son Little, the singer and songwriter born Aaron Livingston, is the easygoing musical alchemist of our time. He is a conjurer, and much like those of his heroes Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix, his songs are deconstructions of the diaspora of American R & B. Deftly he weaves different eras of the sound — blues, soul, gospel, rock and roll — through his own unique vision, never forced, always smooth, each note a tributary on the flowing river of rhythm and blues. The currents empty into an estuary, and into this well water Son dips his bucket — trusting innately in the magic’s existence. And now, with his second full-length album, New Magic, he has delivered a profound statement, a cohesive creation that captures the diverse spirit of American music in a fresh and modern way.

On the heels of his 2015 self-titled debut and the 5-song EP, Songs I Forgot, that came before it, Son Little found his reach steadily growing. His song “Lay Down” had been played over seven million times on Spotify, he had toured the world with artists as diverse as Leon Bridges, Kelis, Mumford & Sons, and Shakey Graves in addition to his own headlining runs, and also became a Grammy Award winning producer, earning a 2016 Best Roots Performance award for his work on Mavis Staples’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean.” But in the midst of all this success, so too did he find that the window for writing new songs was shrinking. Where his previous releases had been culled from various eras and scattered sessions early in his career, he now craved an opportunity to sit and write a new album in a distinct, unified direction, one that would establish his place in the world of black music. The only problems were: when, and how?

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Stevie Wonder

Dubbed “Little Stevie Wonder” by Motown’s Berry Gordy, he was signed to the label when he was only 12 years old and was just 13 when the live recording “Fingertips (Part 2)” hit no. 1 pop and R&B. Playing harmonica, drums and keyboards, as well as singing, the boy who had been blind from infancy proved aptly named. While still a teenager--dropping the “Little” from his stage name--he earned seven top 10 pop singles, including “For Once In My Life,” “My Cherie Amour,” “Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday,” “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” and “I Was Made To Love Her.”

By age 20, he was self-sufficient in the studio, writing, playing every instrument and serving as his own producer, including for such hits as “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” and “If You Really Love Me.” He broadened his vision from pure pop to the socially conscious. He began exploring exotic musical ideas incorporating gospel, rock, jazz, reggae, and African and Latin American rhythms, and pioneered the use of synthesizers. Turning 21 in 1971, Stevie holed up in a New York studio and refused to sign with Motown until he was given autonomy to record as he please. Motown agreed and the groundbreaking Music Of My Mind was released followed the next year. Later that year came Talking Book, which boasted the no. 1 pop and R&B hits “Superstition” and “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.” Innervisions, featuring the Top 10 hit “Higher Ground,” “Don’t You Worry ’Bout A Thing” and the epic “Living For The City,” was a landmark LP that became the his first of three consecutive Grammy® Albums of the Year.

While the record was riding high, Wonder was in a near-fatal accident. He recovered to record another deeply felt album, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, in 1974, that featured the no. 1 pop “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” (with the Jackson 5 on background vocals) and no. 1 R&B “Boogie On Reggae Woman.”

Songs In The Key Of Life was an instant no. 1 album, the first by an American artist to debut at the top spot, where it remained for an incredible 14 weeks. It was highlighted by the no. 1 pop and R&B hits “I Wish” and “Sir Duke.” By the late seventies, Wonder was also leading the way in New Age instrumental music with the soundtrack album Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants, which featured the ballad hit “Send One Your Love.” He won 15 Grammys in just four years.

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The Flying Stars of Brooklyn, NY

Aaron Frazer of Durand Jones & The Indications. Aaron’s super sweet, silvery falsetto was featured on “Is It Any Wonder?” on The Indications’ debut LP, but Aaron steps out here with some lowdown gospel soul with some help from friends including Eli Paperboy Reed.

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The Olympians

In 2008 while Olympic athletes competed half a world away in Beijing, Toby Pazner (Lee Fields & The Expressions, El Michels Affair) and a group of some of New York City's most sought after musicians were locked in Pazner’s bedroom in Brooklyn with a Tascam 388 tape machine, recording what would be the first 45 by a group he would fatefully call The Olympians. Both this and a follow-up 45 would be released on now defunct Truth & Soul Records. However, it was not until a night years later while on tour with a band in the Greek Islands that Pazner’s true vision would come to him…

After playing the famous Acropolis in Athens and swimming in the Aegean Sea, Pazner dreamed he was visited by a toga-clad, curly-haired figure who told him to travel back across the great sea to his home and build a "Temple of Sound". In this temple he was to retell the great tales of Ancient Greece through the immortal language of music. When he awoke, he tried to dismiss the strange dream, but each night the the vision would return to him, and each night he would proclaim his duty more forcefully, until he could no longer deny the calling.

Panzer returned to New York City with a singular focus on completing an album he now saw as his destiny. He immediately commenced building his “Temple of Sound” from the floor up, acquiring the best microphones, tape machines and recording equipment he could lay his hands on. As a member of the Daptone Family, it was not difficult for him to call in favors from some of the world’s greatest musicians to help him bring his vision to life. For years they played alongside him as he relentlessly toiled toward his ends, crafting lush arrangements of strings, harp, vibes, guitar and a plethora of keyboards, all laced by blazing horns. Finally in the Spring of 2016, The Olympians was wholly manifested.

Pazner shared the the fruit of his long venture with long time friends and co-owners of Daptone Records Gabriel Roth and Neal Sugarman who jumped at the opportunity to release it. From the cascading harps which open the Sirens of Jupiter to the driving horn coda of Sagittarius By Moonlight, The Olympians deliver a new sound all of it’s own: an ancient dream of far away Greece painted out in lush cinematic arrangements over the tough rhythm sounds that have become synonymous with the Daptone Stable of Musicians.

Featuring the talents of Aaron Johnson (Antibalas), Dave Guy (Tonight Show Band, The Dap-Kings,) Leon Michels (The Arcs, Lee Fields, El Michels Affair,) Nicholas Movshon (The Arcs, Lee Fields, El Michels Affair,) Homer Steinweiss (The Dap-Kings, The Arcs), Michael Leonhart (Musical Director for Steely Dan), Neal Sugarman (The Dap-Kings, Sugarman 3), Evan Pazner (Lee Fields), and the maniacal wizardry of Toby Pazner.

^{Source daptonerecords.com}

Tiana Major9 & Earthgang

Tiana Major9 & Earthgang Deliver Enchanting 'Collide' Performance at 2019 Billboard Women in Music

Tiana Major9 is one to watch in 2020, and she made that clear with a breathtaking performance at Billboard's 2019 Women in Music ceremony.

She was introduced by President of Motown Records Ethiopia Habtemariam, who remembered when Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas approached her, asking for an "incredible soundtrack" for the film. The soundtrack, and Major9's contribution, Habtemariam noted are "an accompaniment to a triggering and provoking film that allows you see us, love us, understand us."

Tiana Major9 and her collaborator Earthgang wrote "Collide" specifically for Queen & Slim, and the duo delivered a smooth, intimate performance of the tune. Their chemistry was flowing strong, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes as they sang the touching chorus. It was a beautiful representation of the "black love story" Habtemariam praised Queen & Slim for being.

by Rania Aniftos

^{Source billboard.com}

Tower of Power

Oakland, California music legends Tower of Power - the most dynamic and distinctive band of survivors in Soul Music – is roaring into its unprecedented 50th anniversary with a dynamic new disc of all new material that finds them as energized and inspired as ever. A labor of love, definitively titled Soul Side of Town, this package is charged with 14 filler-free songs. In the spirit of their enduring theme song “Oakland Stroke” – the bookending intro and outro “East Bay” shine a light on elemental instrumental ingredients within the band’s signature sound. This astounding and historical release (available June 1, 2018 in digital, vinyl, streaming & CD configurations) inaugurates Tower of Power’s fresh affiliation with Mack Avenue Records, a Detroit-based company renowned for its award-winning dedication to top-tier Jazz that is now extending its support to Soul and Funk giants, Tower of Power: a band so one-of-a-kind, it’s an institution.

As always, the songs on Tower of Power’s Soul Side of Town were primarily composed by the hitmaking team of founding members Emilio Castillo (Detroit-born on 2nd tenor sax) and Stephen “Doc” Kupka (Los Angeles-born on baritone sax) who also hold down the world famous 5-man Tower of Power Horns. For the special occasion of Tower of Power’s 50th anniversary, leader Emilio Castillo brought in a most-astute choice in co-producer, Joe Vannelli: an all-around production/engineering/keyboard master best known for the jazz-tinged Soul-Rock Grammy-winning work he performed behind the scenes with his international superstar brother, Gino Vannelli. Also insuring that the sound blasts powerful and clear from your speakers is the presence of mastering engineer Bernie Grundman in the mix. Along with the legendary rhythm section drums and bass lock of David Garibaldi and Francis Rocco Prestia, respectively, these decorated veterans have custom-crafted a hair-raising audio experience that longtime fans, music connoisseurs and a new generation of listeners will groove to for years to come.

In keeping with Tower of Power’s golden canon of classics, the new material picks up the torch in all of the time-tested styles fans respect and love. In line with hiply intricate, cranial-crushing funk classics such as “Down to the Nightclub” and “Soul Vaccination” are new jams “Do You Like That” and “On the Soul Side of Town.” In the tradition of heart-stopping balladry like their biggest chart hits “You’re Still a Young Man” and “So Very Hard to Go” are new love songs like “Let it Go” (Bruno Mars will want to cover this one) and “Can’t Stop Thinking About You.” Along the firing-on-all-cylinders line of instrumental anomalies such as “Squib Cakes,” “Walking Up Hip Street” and “Ebony Jam” are burnin’ offerings “Butter-Fried” and “After Hours.” Following up positivity primers such as “Knock Yourself Out,” “You’ve Got to Funkifize” and “Credit” are new spirit lifters “Selah,” “Love Must Be Patient and Kind” and “Do it With Soul,” along with T.O.P.’s singular approach to Pop-Rock on “When Love Takes Control.”

Along with veteran members Castillo, Kupka, Garibaldi and Prestia, T.O.P. consists of guitarist Jerry Cortez, Hammond B3 organist/keyboardist Roger Smith, 1st tenor saxophonist Tom Politzer, and trumpeters Adolfo Acosta and Sal Cracchiolo. Soul Side of Town is also blessed with not one but two lead singers: outgoing Ray Greene (now in Santana) and incoming Marcus Scott (boldly introduced on several selections, including “Hanging with My Baby”). The 10-piece Tower of Power band is prepared to throw down next year with a celebratory tour that will include sweet spots around the globe.

Since its formation in Oakland, California in 1968, Tower of Power has forged a reputation as a crack band of high achieving musicians fluent in all realms of Soul, Rock and Pop music with a sophistication and punch like that of a Jazz big band. From their first album East Bay Grease (1970) on Rock impresario Bill Graham’s San Francisco Records label (distributed by Atlantic), the interracial band became pillars and signatures of The Bay Area Music Scene that included pioneering like-minded bands such as Sly & The Family Stone, Cold Blood, Graham Central Station, The Pointer Sisters and The Sons of Champlin plus rock-oriented outfits such as Santana, Betty Davis and Journey. Beginning with their sophomore release, Tower of Power came to prominence with a string of acclaimed albums on Warner Bros. Records: Bump City (1972), Tower of Power (1973), Back to Oakland (1974), Urban Renewal (1974), In the Slot (1975) and Live and in Living Color (1976). A move to Columbia Records resulted in three more major label releases and their last top-charting hit, “You Ought To Be Havin’ Fun.” Including all studio albums, live albums and rarities anthologies, T.O.P. has 24 previous releases in its burgeoning catalog.

Along with T.O.P.’s classic recordings, the 5-piece Tower of Power Horns – known for its power packed punch and fullness with two trumpets, two tenor saxophones plus a baritone sax on the bottom – became much in demand for studio sessions and live gigs. Among the hundreds of artists they have blessed with their presence are Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Graham Central Station, Elton John, Little Feat, Billy Preston, John Lee Hooker, Coke Escovedo, Jose Feliciano, Al Kooper, Sammy Hagar, Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Jermaine Jackson, Harvey Mason, Lenny White, The Brothers Johnson, The Meters, Lee Oskar, Dionne Warwick, Melissa Manchester, Bobby Caldwell, Heart, Rick James, Santana, Smokey Robinson, Huey Lewis & The News, Toto, Paul Shaffer, Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville, Spyro Gyra, Terence Trent D’Arby, Luther Vandross, Candy Dulfer, Aerosmith, Phish, John Hiatt, Neil Diamond, P.Diddy, Bill Wyman, Eiko Shuri…and TV’s The Simpsons (Sing The Blues).

^{Source TowerOfPower.com}