Pieces of a Dream – Soul Intent

Pieces of a Dream | Soul Intent
Heads Up International
by Terrill Hanna

There’s something about going back to the years ’81 – 83′, where some of the funkiest funk, old school R&B & Jazz music reigned supreme. Ah Man…! Just take a good look at our ‘Back In the Day’ page for starters & chill for a moment while you are there. It’s a no-brainer when keyboardist James Lloyd & Drummer Curtis Harmon reflected on that period of greatness, then configured & imagined the inspiration to go back to their original heritage, back to the blackboard-basics approach in re-creating pure music & said ‘enough is enough’ in the new release from Heads Up International “Back To Basics.” If that is the case studied, then it would generally mean ‘forget about radio played formatted music’ right? Does it mean to start from scratch & reminisce, reflect on how ‘we’ got to this point in our careers? Or is it time to change the game totally & break it on down to our loyal listeners & new ones about what Pieces Of A Dream is all about?

(By The Way, I’m diggin’ that brown leather jacket brah! – CD Cover -)

Track Listing:
~ Sway On
~ Vision Accomplished
~ Give U My Heart
~ Apt
~ Hindsight
~ Soul Intent
~ Step On It
~ Things Are Looking Up
~ D Fuse The Situation
~ Stand Up
~ Anywhere You Are

I don’t know. Because some of the tracks on the project STILL holds on to a format leaving the country in a hurry. I’m talking about tracks #1 thru #3. Sway On, Vision Accomplished & Give U My Heart. Hold on though. Please allow me not to rush too fast to judge. Something is different here. Its not the production, its the overwhelming scent of talent & togetherness that may seep out of the closed box of donuts. The creative instrumental OUTPUT into the solo bars & riffs coming straight from P.O.A.D. – and that players spell relief! I’m talking about collective points of James & Curtis often tapping into an uncharted territory of creativity. Escaping the compositions with originality & twisting the moment of listening into investigation & awe. Often making my observation reside into an area or playroom of patience, eagerly anticipating the next move. From there, the rest of the tracks flowed on…

Making for Hindsight to suddenly intoxicate the mood, fragrance of R&B & meld it into a musical channel of instrumental love & ambiance. Passion is written strictly for the forefront – mellowing out the crowd, the listener, the reader, the player. You know whats’ up.

The slap boogie beat & grooveline in Soul Intent (track) best describe the urban music flow James & Curtis had traveled together from over a vast 30 years + or so. Reaching into a eloquent, inspiration of soulful driven jazz fueling their passion & making up the landscape of what P.O.A.D. is all about. Still making me think back on the days when ‘Gman’ was riding alongside with them.

And click track 9. Its an instant flashback to a sound only old school players like myself could reminisce & have fun with in Things Are Looking Up. Didn’t that musical backdrop flashback to a little of Grovers’ Mister Magic? That’s Right!!

These cats have emerged, evolved, explored & are continuously energetic. Philadelphias’ brotherly love has sprinkled a great deal of grace on P.O.A.D. & I have, personally, followed this group from the LP to the CD. Year after year & so on. The Soul Intent was gratifying & encouraging, leaving me to ponder on the next generation of jazz instrumentalists. What James & Curtis creatively done here, could have & should have, been inspirational because of their longevity in music & not being pigeon holed into a certain musical format or genre. Being at peace with your skill & knowing when & how to identify your real gift for the game that made you successful, then come back to express those traits again always enlightens how we get there in the 1st place. And its written all over the Soul Intent album. Crafting many of those tracks I spoke of above into much better compositions then what was intended.

All it takes is a listen. My recommendation is a yes, go get it & its free of charge. And as my Big Brother from Chattanooga, TN often shared with me, They weren’t ‘Shuck-n-Jivin’.

Terrill Hanna
The Urban Music Scene