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Neo-Soul, Page 3

L.A. Soul Music Festival Boasts Victorious First Year

Inaugural L.A. Soul Music Festival Provides Top Talent In A Casual Outdoor Atmosphere
Concert Reflections and Photographs by A. Scott Galloway
 
Southern California inaugurated another 3-Day outdoor summer music weekend event with “The L.A. Soul Music Festival” last week – a program targeting grown folks that love their soul music on the smooth, sexy and contemporary side. It took place on an under-utilized area of Griffith Park near the Gene Autry Western Museum, conveniently just off the 5 Freeway with plenty of blessedly free parking. Reasonably priced and punctually executed, each day of the festival from Friday to Sunday delivered 5 name acts between 6pm and 11pm with a DJ and emcee between each act keeping things lively and flowing.
 
Photo 1 Crowd
Crowd

Frank McComb | Soulmate: Another Love Story

Frank McComb - Another Love Story
 
Frank McComb | Soulmate: Another Love Story
by Peggy Oliver
 
When one decides to zone in on their deepest wishes to play music on a super serious level, the dedication and discipline immediately start kicking in, no matter what disappointments lied ahead. After observing his aunt play the piano, Frank McComb was signed up for piano lessons, even though it lasted just three hours.

Maxwell | blackSUMMERS’night

Maxwell - black SUMMERS' night
 
Maxwell | blackSUMMERS’night
Columbia Records
Review penned by Brent Faulkner
 
In the music world, seven years can be likened to an eternity. The changes that occur in such a period of time tend to be monumental. During Maxwell’s seven-year hiatus between 2009’s Grammy-winning LP BLACKsummers’night and current LP blackSUMMERS’night, R&B has changed considerably.

Kandace Springs Forward Like a Gazelle For The Long Run

Kandace Springs
Hotel Café’ (Hollywood)
Concert Reflections and Photographs by A. Scott Galloway
 
With no verbal introduction but instead a cool driving bass/drums groove that lures her to the stage like a lovely moth to a flame, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Kandace Springs stepped into the light a tall, confident and dazzling drink of something sparkling. Flashing a smile and striking a playful diva pose, she immediately sat down to her keyboard, politely introduces herself and where she’s from (Nashville, Tennessee), then commenced to getting’ busy, speaking of pending revolutions and the masses being far from ready.
 
“Why it gotta be like that, why it gotta be / Why it gotta be like that / Some dreams will live and some will die…”
 
Photo 1 (5)

Near-Perfect Playboy Jazz Festival Sunday Covers The Full Spectrum

38th Playboy Jazz Festival
Hollywood Bowl
Sunday June 12, 2016
Festival Reflections by A. Scott Galloway
 
Day 2 of the 38th “Playboy Jazz Festival” at the Hollywood Bowl was by far the more star-studded and highly anticipated of the weekend. Not only that, the cross section of artists provided a near-perfect representation of all the music that appropriately falls under the cornucopia of the art form – from New Orleans roots, Blues and Big Band to Latin, Funk-Rock, Contemporary and Ancient-Future takes.
 
Photo 1 - George Lopez (1)
George Lopez (Photo: Matthew Imaging)

12 year-old Joey Alexander Steals Day 1 of Playboy Jazz Festival

38th Playboy Jazz Festival
Hollywood Bowl
Saturday June 11, 2016
Festival Reflections by A. Scott Galloway
Photography by Matthew Imaging (except one)
 
Photo 1 - George Lopez
George Lopez
 
Though big names were lacking, big fun was in full regalia for the opening day of this year’s Playboy Jazz Festival, due in part to amiable host George Lopez. Mist in the midday and a light sprinkling of pre-summer rain baptized the early acts and audience. Poetically speaking, it gave the high-achieving students of the Beyond the Bell All-City Jazz Band of an early taste of dues they have to pay on their way to the top.

Silk | Quiet Storm

Silk - Quiet Storm
 
Silk | Quiet Storm
Shanachie Records
by Peggy Oliver
 
The R&B male vocal bands such as Jodeci, Dru Hill, Mint Condition and many more were dominating the charts in the nineties, emphatically reminding the ladies that the infatuation, romance and relationships were in huge supply. One of R&B’s solo crooners in that decade, Keith Sweat, discovered a group who stood toe-to toe with the aforementioned, whose harmonies absolutely aligned with their namesake.

Jaheim | Struggle Love

Jaheim - Struggle Love
 
Jaheim | Struggle Love
by Peggy Oliver
 
In the quest for artistic integrity of the highest degree, the absolute hit makers and music shakers usually develop a trademark body of work that fans can easily identify with. Since the day he handed a demo tape to producer Kay Gee (Naughty by Nature) at age seventeen, Jaheim already was prepared to wear his raw feelings on both sleeves, whether it’s the grown and sexy jams to striving for maturity in a relationship.

Jill Scott’s Absence From “Back Together” Video Opens Portal For Inspiring Interpretive Dance

Jill Scott – Back Together
(Blues Babe/Atlantic)
 
Jill Scott - Back Together video 1
 
Director: Alan Ferguson
 
A Video Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
 
At the introduction of this video for “Back Together,” Jill Scott’s third single from her album Woman, lead dancer Donna Michelle Vaughn (“The Lion King”) does something many of us have either done or felt like doing: have a mini nervous breakdown right out in public due to overwhelming frustration and grief over everything from chasing goals, paying bills and finding love to social issues of racism, injustice and street violence.

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