Currently browsing

April 2019

Amazing Grace: Aretha Brings The Mountaintop Down to South Central L.A.


 
Amazing Grace is Aretha Franklin’s Regally Rousing Cinematic Hallelujah
 
A Film Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
 
There’s something powerfully unique about seeing footage of music you’ve only been able to listen to for decades. The first example that comes to mind is the black and white video of Les McCann & Eddie Harris’ 1969 set at the Montreux Jazz Festival that, for years, was only heard as their Atlantic Records album Swiss Movement.

Chaka Khan | Hello Happiness


 
Chaka Khan | Hello Happiness
Island Records
by Darnell Meyers-Johnson
 
It seems fitting that Chaka Khan’s first album in over a decade was released during Black History Month. Her voice provided the soundtrack for black culture since her 1973 debut with the funk band Rufus. Her lone female presence and soaring vocals became the band’s trademark, eventually leading to a solo career with the 1978 hit “I’m Every Woman”.

Hide