Stokley is going back and getting it with a vengeance after his solo introduction with Sankofa
Through a massively busy career as a session musician for Sounds of Blackness and Johnny Gill, amongst many others, then easing into a solo spotlight, Stokley is a consummate, multi-tasking musician.
Indie neo-soul stylist Carmen Rodgers teaches us the wonders of humanity behind relationships with Hello Human, Volume 1, her first project in six years
Every opportunity for an artist to wear the heart on the sleeve allows them to go as deep as they desire. From her debut CD in 2004, Free, Carmen Rodgers exercises her songwriting rights to create fascinating journals of the complexity behind relationships.
KEM
Love Always Wins
(Motown)
An Album Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Singer/songwriter KEM (Kim Williams) returns with his first album in 6 years since Promise to Love in 2014. As one of Black music’s preeminent love troubadours, the artist continues his richly textured pledges of the heart in a set that fans will surely find well worth the wait.
Ledisi plays The Wild Card on her glorious, independent return to the studio in four years
By Peggy Oliver
Sometimes the multi-Grammy nominations, acclaim for an outstanding body of work and major label status should be an automatic in a stable career path.
Brandy | B7
by Brent Faulkner
There is only one Brandy Norwood, period. The Grammy-winning, mononymous R&B singer, who started in the game as a teen, possesses an expressive, timeless voice that’s truly distinct from everybody else.
Playboy Jazz Festival Celebrates 40th Anniversary at The Hollywood Bowl
by A. Scott Galloway
Under clear blue skies, 80-degree temps with a sweet breeze blowin’ on both days, the “Playboy Jazz Festival” celebrated its 40th anniversary with days split almost squarely between World Music leaning on Saturday and Jazz on Sunday.
Saturday June 9 began with the traditional Los Angeles County High School For The Arts Jazz of promising young students followed by Columbian party band Monsieur Perine’. Things got really interesting when blind 17 year-old organ prodigy Matthew Whitaker and his trio wowed the crowd with the passionate and eclectic set list of his original “Play it Back,” the `60s pop hit “More Today Than Yesterday” by Spiral Staircase made famous on the jazz side by Charles Earland, the Brazilian gem “Mais Que Nada,” John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” and the finale of a dual medley of Earth Wind and Fire’s “In the Stone/September” with Stevie Wonder’s “As/I Wish” – what a prodigious talent and people-pleaser.
Matthew Whitaker
MeShell NdegeOcello
Ventriloquism
(Naïve)
A Record Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
The greatest test of an artist that records an entire album of covers is if they coax the listener familiar with the originals into fresh hopefully deeper appreciation of the material.
Sy Smith Blossoms into Full Singer/Songwriter Bloom on “Sometimes a Rose…”
A Record Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Sy Smith has been a work in progress as a most valuable session and touring singer for others, and a developing artist in her own right with four acclaimed albums behind her. Her latest, Sometimes a Rose Will Grow in Concrete, is her first since 2012, its title foreshadowing that a sister has been through some things but come out the other side steeped in artistry, ancestry and ‘Les Fleur de la Corazon.’
Maysa | Love Is A Battlefield
Shanachie Entertainment
by Peggy Oliver
Since her instantly recognizable voice graced the British Soul/Jazz outfit Incognito and Stevie Wonder’s Wonderlove, Maysa Leak continues to energize her own career by recording idyllic vocal treats for faithful international audiences.
Soul Basement featuring Jay Nemor | What We Leave Behind
by Peggy Oliver
The embodiment of music, when a vocalist or musician so emphatically chooses, can express how we can observe the world around us and what we take from those experiences in life. The latest work from Soul Basement entitled, What We Leave Behind, crafts a journal that reflects personal retrospectives that speaks to several issues.