The song “Witchoo” explodes right out of the speakers. It’s undeniable and a no-brainer pick for one of my top ten songs of the year. (And now that it’s October I better start pondering what the other nine are.) It turns out the band behind the song have crafted an […]
R&B
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Bettye Lavette put on a typically thrilling show at The Iridium last night. She highlighted songs from her most recent album Things Have Changed which is up for Best Americana (Americana?) Album Grammy later this month. She has also been nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance (that sounds more like […]
Last Friday I had the opportunity to guest host Rita Houston’s Whole Wide World free form radio show on WFUV. As is my habit when I fill in on the WWW, I cooked up a theme that would be enjoyable to explore. Last fall, it was my pleasure to interview […]
Bang! The Bert Berns Story is now available on iTunes and Apple Music. It is one of the best music documentaries I’ve ever seen and I watch an absurd amount of music documentaries! The film, narrated by Steven Zan Vandt is the vision of Bert’s son Brett Berns who I spoke […]
Antibalas will be the house band and twenty artists will perform the songs of Aretha Franklin on Monday, March 6th at Carnegie Hall in the 14th annual tribute concert to benefit music education programs. Here’s the lineup: Melissa Etheridge, Kenny Loggins, Ann Wilson, Todd Rundgren, Sarah Dash, Glen Hansard, Rhiannon Giddens, […]
Lee Fields & The Expressions’ Special Night – Album Out Now, Irving Plaza Show this Saturday 1/7/17 Lee Fields released his first single in 1969. The North Carolina native followed his voice to New York City as a young man and settled in New Jersey to raise a family. He […]
Gift Ideas: Reich, Jarrett, Elvis, Queen, Depeche Mode & Otis – December 13, 2016 Countdown to Santa’s arrival is a mere twelve days! Here’s a grab bag of goodies across genres to stimulate your giving gland… The ECM Recordings from Steve Reich offers a kind of Reich 101 course in […]
Jill Scott Owns Apollo Debut After Earning It – August 9, 2016 Jill Scott is absolutely radiant these days. She’s killing it on stage with an amazing band as she emphatically showed at New York City’s most historic uptown theater. In the acting domain, she’s the #1 Lady at the […]
New Documentary Film: Miss Sharon Jones – playing this week in NYC “Her spirit is driven by music, and this was always her source of inspiration to continue onwards, despite the odds. Sharon makes you believe in anything.” – Barbara Kopple As a lover of her music as well as […]
CeeLo Parties Aboard Circle Line In New York Harbor; June 7, 2016 A hootenanny with CeeLo on a boat was a brilliant way to usher in the summer of ’16! It was a beautiful night to take in the skyline views and shake bones to the sounds of the Atlanta […]
Charles Bradley Celebrates New Album At The Beacon 3-23-16 When I interviewed Charles for the first time three years ago, he opened up to the extent that not only do I feel like I really know him but I feel like he’s a friend. He’s an amazing character. As Graham […]
You might not necessarily find Bilal’s recordings in the Jazz section of your favorite record store (or on iTunes or on this website!) but as the astonishing singer explains, he’s got a deep connection to the form. Jazz was a natural topic for conversation as Bilal was playing at The […]
Smoking hot R&B is what Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats deliver on their self-titled debut album out on Stax Records. Yes, this band is worthy of rebooting the legendary record label. The 8 man outfit crowded into WFUV’s Studio A and duly burned it down! Click HERE for the […]
It was a brilliant week at WFUV radio where a pair of Juniors – both amazing guitar players – stopped by for conversations with me and to lay down live versions of songs found on recently released albums. Follow the links to hear the chats and enjoy video of the […]
When I spoke with Jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove the other day, I asked him about R&B phenom D’Angelo. Here’s what he said about the man and working on D’Angelo’s Black Messiah. D’Angelo is playing Carnegie Hall on October 1, 2015 with other artists “Celebrating the Music of Bill Withers”.
If you’re a Sharon Jones fan, you know Saun & Starr as her backing singers The Dapettes. Now, it’s time to know them at the front of the stage! Their new album on Daptone Records Look Closer is out and the dynamite duo celebrated with a show at Lincoln Center…
We lost R&B legend Percy Sledge this week at the age of 74. It was an honor to chat with him in the fall of 2013 when he was doing some interviews surrounding a documentary about Muscle Shoals. Here’s the story of truly one of the greatest songs of all […]
The young dancehall/reggae artist Kranium went from Montego Bay, Jamaica to Florida to Queens, New York, and from Queens to worldwide fame behind his smash Nobody Has to Know…
Bettye Lavette made me cry more than once during the opening show of her run at The Carlyle. She is among the very highest echelon of vocalists – a masterful interpreter who fully inhabits each song she sings. The show Wednesday January the 28th served as an album release party […]
2014 holiday season gift ideas include plenty of memoirs & biographies to read and documentaries & performances to watch…
The Super Soul Revue last Thursday through Saturday at The Apollo was an excellent reminder at the tremendous talent found on Daptone Records. As I’ve been spending some time recently with the outstanding Burnt Offering by The Budos Band, I was keen to capture a taste of their performance and […]
Robert Randolph & The Family Band were back at it last night at the Brooklyn Bowl. Their annual residency is up there with turkey and pumpkin pie in the delights of late November. Here’s a look at Randolph wailing on pedal steel and a flashback to our conversation from last […]
What a showman – What a band! Gedeon Luke and The People really killed it at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday night.
Bilal went a long time without putting out a new album (he explains why in this interview) but now the record company hurdles have been cleared and he is free to not only play a great show like he did the other night at Stage 48 but also record dynamite new […]