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 entire album’s worth of dynamite material. Retro R&B band Durand Jones & The Indications, and Private Space, is the name of the band and album respectively. They’ve got some strong ties to New York too as I learned when chatting up their three founding members: Durand Jones, Aaron Frazer, and Blake Rhein. Listen to the interview and see 2 live performances for WFUV here.

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 it) for her interpretation of Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight. Things Have Changed is devoted to the songs of Bob Dylan. Clearly this is a no-brainer; a can’t lose proposition.

Bettye spoke about the album (among other things) and performed two songs from it during a WFUV session that you can hear HERE via the WFUV site. While recording an introduction for that session, I heard myself refer to her as my favorite singer. I don’t remember having used that phrase before. As I digested the remark, I became more comfortable with it. Yes, Bettye Lavette IS my favorite singer!

And why not? Does she not dominate all the material that she interprets? Does she not bring guts and fire to the microphone every time she steps in front of it? Hell yes – as confirmed in The Bronx at WFUV as well as downtown at City Winery last year.

I first crossed paths with the Detroit-raised artist, who makes her home in New Jersey, about seven years ago when I had the opportunity to host a concert she was doing at Madison Square Park. At that point, she was on the road supporting her new album Thankful N’ Thoughtful. I had been duly impressed by her albums I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise from 2005 and 2010’s Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook but I had never seen her on stage. I was astounded with the way she transformed and fully inhabited familiar rock songs and was HOOKED. I copped the requisite photo op…
My next brush came in 2015 when Ms. Lavette played a residency at Cafe Carlyle around the time of the release of Worthy. I shot some video and was able to arrange an on-camera chat with her after the show to produce this television piece.

At the intimate Carlyle show after I had put down my camera to sit down and be free to connect with the music, I experienced a rare swelling of feeling elicited by the way her voice seemed to contain infinite amounts of passion, pain, toughness, and experience. Bettye Lavette is an extraordinary vocalist and a seasoned, intuitive entertainer utterly at home on stage. She put on an exhibition that night that I’ll never forget.

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 Steven Van Zandt and host a session in which he played a pair of songs from his new album Soulfire. Of course THAT

was super cool. One of the songs that he played was Down in Out in New York City originally recorded by James Brown for the Black Caesar soundtrack.

What a dynamite song and a testament to Little Steven’s great taste and eclectic knowledge that he would cover it. In our conversation, he spoke about his love of Blaxploitation film soundtracks and he got me thinking that they may constitute a subgenre unto themselves. Arguably this is true as the artists charged with scoring these films achieved the desired cinematic quality by incorporating more elements associated with jazz, like the vibraphone, than in the R&B that was their bread and butter. The results were sometimes fantastic and I had big fun doing this show. As my knowledge of Blaxploitation is not encyclopedic and as the number of great tunes from them is clearly finite in any case, I mixed in some tunes generally regarded as psychedelic soul and funk that called out across the decades as being worthy companions for the ones from soundtracks.

Here’s the playlist:

Little Steven – Down and Out in New York City

James Brown – People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul

Curtis Mayfield – Superfly

Roy Ayers – Coffy is the Color

Bobby Womack – Across 110^th Street

Dennis Coffey – Theme from Black Belt Jones

Lyn Collins – Mama Feelgood

Earth Wind & Fire – Sweet Sweetback’s Theme

Marvin Gaye – Trouble Man

The Undisputed Truth – Smiling Faces Sometimes

Shuggie Otis – Aht Uh Mi Hed

The Isley Brothers – Get Into Something

Isaac Hayes – Theme From Shaft

Swamp Dogg – Total Destruction of Your Mind

Willie Hutch – Theme from Foxy Brown

Funkadelic – One Nation Under a Groove

Jimi Hendrix (Band of Gypsys) – Who Knows

Stevie Wonder – Maybe Your Baby

Sly & The Family Stone – Sing a Simple Song

The Impressions – Three the Hard Way

The Temptations – Ball of Confusion

The Chambers Brothers – Time Has Come Today

Joe Simon – Theme from Cleopatra Jones

The Four Tops – Are You Man Enough?

Herbie Hancock – Actual Proof

Curtis Mayfield – Freddie’s Dead

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 to recently about his extraordinary father.  Here’s the trailer…

Friday, December 30 marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of Bert Berns and only now is he receiving the accolades and attention that he earned in his short life.  The Bronx native died at 38 but his body of work as well as his larger than life persona inspired a book (Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues by Joel Selvin published in 2014) and a jukebox musical with a book by Daniel Goldfarb as well as the documentary film co-directed by Brett Burns and Bob Sarles.  For his work as a songwriter and record producer, Bert was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year as well as given the Ahmet Ertegun Lifetime Achievement Award. 

The soundtrack to the film was released today on vinyl by Legacy Recordings.  The notes below on the track list were written by my friend (and a bit of a music biz legend in his own right) Bob Merlis…

1. Piece of My Heart – Erma Franklin – the original version of the song written and produced by Berns was recorded by Aretha Franklinâ€s older sister for Bangâ€s Shout subsidiary in 1967, shortly before Berns’ death at age 38. It went Top 10 on the R&B chart.

2. A Little Bit of Soap – The Jarmels  – one of the earliest hits written by Berns, a crossover hit in 1961 for Laurie Records and established its writer as a force to be reckoned with in the business. It has been covered many times since.

3. Tell Him – The Exciters –the first Top 5 record written by Berns.  Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, it was released by United Artists in 1962.  Itâ€s said that when Dusty Springfield heard the record she changed career directions.  Over the years it has been covered by Linda Ronstadt, Sonny and Cher and Kenny Loggins.

4. Twist and Shout – The Isley Brothers – written and produced by Berns, was originally recorded by The Top Notes whose Phil Spector-produced version did not chart.  The Isleys†version, released on Scepterâ€s Wand subsidiary went to #2 on the R&B chart in 1962. The Beatles covered it the following year and reached #2 on the pop charts and became one of the bandâ€s signature songs.  In the film, Paul McCartney says, “People thought we wrote it.”

5. Cry Baby – Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters – Co-written and co-produced by Berns with Jerry Ragovoy, the record was released on United Artists in 1963 and went to #1 on the R&B chart and #4 on the Hot 100.  Its gospel-inflected mid-song narration is notable and innovative.

6. Show Me Your Monkey – Kenny Hamber  – While it didnâ€t chart, this track was written and produced by Berns and released on the Atlantic-distributed De Jac label.  It underscores the strong Latin influence heard in many of Berns†productions.

7. Baby, Please Don’t Go – Them – produced by Berns when he went to London in 1964 to work with British artists.  The record, released by (British) Decca went to #10 in the UK with lead vocals provided by a 19-year-old Van Morrison.  Jimmy Page, then a session player, provided the rhythm guitar parts.

8. You May Be Holding My Baby – The Pussycats – Written and produced by Berns in 1964 and released on his own (pre-Bang) Keetch label, named after his pet Siamese cat.  It represents intention, later fulfilled with Bang, to control his own destiny as songwriter, producer and label chief.

9. Everybody Needs Somebody to Love  – Solomon Burke  – Berns co-wrote (with Jerry Wexler and Burke) the song and produced it for Atlanticâ€s soul standard-bearer in 1964.  Wilson Pickett, the Rolling Stones and The Blues Brothers successfully covered it thereafter.

10. Here Comes The Night – Them – A classic, written by Berns that was earlier recorded by Lulu.  The version by Them (featuring Van Morrison) was released in 1965, going to #2 in the UK and hitting the US Top 25.  Jimmy Page participated in the sessions for the song that has become a standard over the years.

11. I Want Candy – The Strangeloves  – Released on Bang in 1965, the songâ€s title is derived from Terry Southernâ€s risqué bestseller Candy.   It was written by Berns and the bandâ€s Richard Gottherer, Bob Feldman and Jerry Goldstein. The record went to #11 and has since been successfully covered by Bow Wow Wow whose 1982 version has become an enduring new wave classic

12. Are You Lonely For Me Baby – Freddie Scott   – Released on Shout and written and produced by Berns, it went to #1 on the R&B chart the year of Berns†death (1967) and stayed there for four weeks.  Back up vocals were performed by Cissy Houston and the Sweet Inspirations. It has been covered by artists ranging from Al Green, Otis Redding & Carla Thomas to the Grateful Dead and Steve Marriott.

13. Mr. Success – Bobby Harris – was one of the first releases on Shout, an obscure B-side to an even more obscure song called “Sticky Sticky.”   The strong influence of Berns†idol Sam Cooke is on display in the lead vocal performance.  It never charted, but remains an important example of the autobiographical nature of Berns†work as the stress of his success accumulated to take his life within a year of the Bobby Harris session that included Cissy Houston and the Sweet Inspirations on background vocals.  

14. Chick-A-Boom – Van Morrison – was the artistâ€s debut solo single and released on Bang in 1967.  Co-written by Berns and the artist, it highlights Latin cadences so favored by Berns throughout his career.

15. Hang On Sloopy – The McCoys – Released on Bang in 1965, it went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Top 100.  It was co-written by Berns (with Wes Farrell) and originally recorded as “My Girl Sloopy” by the Vibrations.  The McCoys†mega-hit was produced by Feldman, Goldstein and Gottherer (a/k/a The Strangeloves). The song has gone on to become a staple of the Ohio State Universityâ€s marching band which has performed the song at OSU football games for more than 50 years.  The official website of OSUâ€s athletics department is “Hang On Sloopy.”

16. Cry To Me – Freddie Scott – Written by Berns and first recorded by Solomon Burke on Atlantic in 1961, it was released on Shout! in 1967. 

17. Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison – the artistâ€s signature song was a Bang single that established Morrison and is offered here in its original stereo mix. It hit the top 10 in 1967 and has been re-recorded by Morrison many times over the years.

18. Am I Grooving You – Freddie Scott – written and produced by Berns and released on Shout, it hit the charts in 1967 and was the follow up to Scottâ€s “Cry To Me.”

19. Heart Be Still – Lorraine Ellison – masterpiece of symphonic soul, it was written and produced by Berns and Jerry Ragovoy.  It was Berns†idea to take the gospel classic “Peace Be Still” and turn it into a love song. It was one of the very last productions before Berns†untimely death on the penultimate day of 1967.

20. Piece of My Heart– Big Brother & The Holding Company â€“ a cover of the Erma Franklin song featuring Janis Joplinâ€s lead vocal, itâ€s the best-known and most successful version, recorded and released in 1968; Berns never got to hear it.

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, Taj Mahal with his daughter Deva Mahal, Living Colour, Allen Stone, Bettye Lavette, Ceelo Green, Naomi Shelton, G. Love, Richard Thompson, Ruthie Foster, Ron Pope, Don Bryant, Sam Moore, and Ledisi.

Tickets are available.

As is the tradition, a live rehearsal show will happen at City Winery the night before.  The concert on Sunday night is sold out but you can add your name to a wait list.

The concert has produced some memorable moments in the past.  David Byrne and Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Prince, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, The Who, REM, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell have all been feted and a handful of the honorees have turned up at the shows.  As Michael Dorf recalled while I was chatting with the Knitting Factory and City Winery founder last week, Elton John and Bernie Taupin enjoyed their songs while sitting together in a box overlooking the stage but did not perform. Bruce Springsteen not only made a cameo but did two songs for an encore after his music was  presented in 2007.  David Byrne showed his characteristic flair by appearing in a white tux leading a marching band down the center aisle before taking the stage to put a punctuation mark on the 2015 show.  Last year’s concert for David Bowie expanded to two nights, with a second show at Radio City Music Hall, following the artist’s death in January.  It was an emotional celebration of his legacy that gave artists and fans alike an opportunity to gather and share the loss while immersed in the music that endures.  

Will Aretha put in an appearance?  Who can tell!  In any case, Carnegie Hall is the place to be next Monday and these music education programs will all benefit: Grammy in the Schools, Young Audiences New York, Church Street School of Music and Art, The Orchestra Now, The Center for Arts Education, Little Kids Rock, D’Addario Foundation, Sonic Arts For All, and Midori & Friends.

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 considered himself a blues singer and looked up to artists like OV Wright.  As the years went by he told me he turned into a soul singer; the fundamental difference being an effort to make the songs pleasing to God.  All the time he was waiting for a band that was in step with his phrasing and his style.  As Fields tells it, he waited forty years for The Expressions.  A string of dynamite albums has followed since they found each other beginning with Problems in 2002 with the latest being Special Night.  

The Expressions are a fluid outfit who were the house band at Truth and Soul Records and are now the house band at Big Crown Records.  Both labels were co-founded by Leon Michels who plays sax and keys  as well as bass and guitar and is an exquisite horn arranger and producer.  Long time allies and co-conspirators of Michels are the formidable rhythm section of Nick Movshon on bass and Homer Steinweiss on drums who anchor The Expressions.  The three are all members of The Arcs with Dan Auerbach and have together or individually, put their stamp on recordings by Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse, and Charles Bradley.  

Another guy who will be familiar to you if you’ve spent time with Daptone Records’ liner notes is Thomas Brenneck (also a member of Budos Band) on guitar.  Brenneck, along with Michels, Movshon, and Steinweiss who are all members of the El Michels Affair and Menahan Street Band, pooled resources and opened Diamond Mine Studios in Long Island City where Special Night was recorded.  These guys have been around the block a few times and have asserted more and more control over the process of creating recorded music.  Fields has nothing but the highest of praise for his collaborators when it comes to their musicality and their prowess in the recording studio and it’s clear they enjoy a high level of trust.

This Saturday night at Irving Plaza, catch Lee Fields and The Exprssions with two of his labelmates on Big Crown records supporting: Lady Wray and Paul and the Tall Trees.

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 the form of the most essential material, remastered of course, from the giant of minimalism.  The set is well-timed as his 80th birthday two months ago and his selection as the Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall for the 216-2017 season has stimulated interest in his work.  That’s hardly to suggest interest was waning, he has only grown in stature since Music For 18 Musicians hit in 1978.  This three disc includes that masterpiece alongside 1980’s Violin Phase/Music For A Large Ensemble/Octet as well as 1982’s Tehillim plus the original essays written by the composer upon the release of each.

Keith Jarrett’s A Multitude Of Angels also provides illuminating liner notes (newly penned) from the artist himself to accompany the stunning collection of music contained on the four CDs.  These 1996 concerts came at a difficult time personally for the Allentown, PA born artist who, at that point, had already been an important pianist across jazz and classical lines for three decades.  The performances are all the more remarkable knowing that he was suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which would keep him away from playing for the next two years.

The video collection is a no-brainer for fans of Depeche Mode with an impressive roster of directors allowing their disparate imaginations and visual sensibilities to complement, comment on, and amplify the songs of Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher.  

Queen Greatest Hits, The Wonder Of You by Elvis Presley with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Otis Redding’s Live at the Whisky A Go Go are all available on vinyl.  Whereas the Queen collection of course is for the entry level appreciator of Freddie and the fellas, the Presley and Redding sets are aimed at the fan that wants to get somewhere they haven’t been before with the considerable material that’s already available from the the king and the big O.

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 No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on HBO. And in the personal sphere, she just got married about six weeks ago!

She was ten feet tall on the Apollo stage last Tuesday evening. Surprisingly, as Scott has been an R&B force since the release of her outstanding 2000 debut Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, she had never played the Harlem haunt before. Plans for a booking were hatched a few times in the past but things never came together. “After tonight, I’m happy it never worked out ten years ago or even two years ago.” Shortly after walking on, she purred, “It’s my first time and I feel like I’m on fire.”

Scott is touring behind her latest studio album Woman, her fifth, that was released last year. She explained she felt she needed to go through a certain amount of growth, and growth is often painful, before applying the term to herself. After the birth of a child and the end of a relationship she thought would last, she emerged clear-eyed and triumphant.

The Woman album came on the heels of Golden Moments, a retrospective that gives a good sampling of her first decade and a half of recording which is only one arrow in this woman’s quiver. She started as a poet and remains one. She’s also portrayed the second wife of James Brown in Get On Up and as Big Mama Thorton in Hounddog among many other roles on film and TV. As made plain by the mad catalog of her former jobs revealed in our conversation, she earned her success and it positions her well for the future. “Anything that is worth having is worth working for and that remains true…which is good, I like that.”

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 her life story, it was a thrill to meet Sharon Jones in February of 2014. The occasion was her return to the stage after being forced by cancer to take a break from performing. We spoke a few hours prior to the curtain going up at the Beacon Theater. While shooting a little video of the concert, I noticed some other cameras. What I know now is that Barbara Kopple was in the final stages of filming her documentary that was released on Friday: Miss Sharon Jones.

I sat down again with the indomitable vocalist this week as well as the acclaimed filmmaker at the NY1 studios in Chelsea Market. Sadly the circumstances were not as favorable as our last meeting. While celebrating being cancer free 29 months ago, this time Jones was enduring more treatments but powering through to do press for the new movie. She’s as tough as they come as the flick makes plain. It’s got to be an inspiration to families dealing with cancer not to mention aspiring musicians, New Yorkers, and well anybody with a heart and ears. It also gives fans a chance to be a fly on the wall at Daptone Studios in Brooklyn and get to know better amazing figures like Gabriel Roth, Binky Griptite, and Dapettes Saun and Starr.

Miss Sharon Jones is at the IFC Center in the West Village this week and the soundtrack album will be out later this month. The latter includes a rousing new autobiographical ditty she wrote called I’m Still Here. It traces from her birth in North Augusta, South Carolina to the Civil Rights Era and through her unforgettable gig on Rikers Island as a prison guard and her current sparring with the big C.

Here’s a flashback to the conversation from 2014…

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 native who first achieved notoriety with Goodie Mob and tattooed himself forever on to pop’s collective brain via his work with Danger Mouse in Gnarls Barkley. His most recent album is about six months in the rearview mirror. Heart Blanche featured CeeLo sharing songwriting credits with everyone from Elton John and Bernie Taupin to Solomon Burke and included a tribute to great comedians including John Belushi and Richard Pryor and named for Robin Williams.

This was the inaugural voyage of the Circle Live Concert Series aboard the Circle Line. It continues tonight – June 14, 2016 – with none other than Maceo Parker who inducted Prince on to the Apollo Walk Of Fame yesterday.

CeeLo has gone on the record as saying he’s keen to do another Gnarls Barkley record. In his immediate future, he’ll continue his Love Train, part two, tour. He’s got a date in Brooklyn as part of a pretty amazing lineup at this year’s Afropunk Festival in late August.

CeeLo’s resume includes one of the most memorable episodes of the long running American Dad animated sitcom in which he was the voice of a strong-willed hot tub so I had to ask him if he was planning on dipping a toe in The Hudson River…