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.
CeCe Winans | Let Them Fall in Love
by Peggy Oliver
Imagine a multi-award winning gospel artist in the studio, one half of a well-respected brother/sister duo and a member of an extremely famous musical family, with her son mapping the direction of the latest recording session. This is a recent true life scenario between CeCe Winans and her son Alvin Love III, whose conceptual words of wisdom was effectively a beneficial move for this praise and worship icon who has blazed the contemporary urban gospel charts with her brother, BeBe Winans, and with her own solo career.
Bell Biv DeVoe, Three Stripes
(Entertainment One)
Review written by Brent Faulkner
The 1990s was a time when urban music was flourishing. R&B was hot – particularly New Jack Swing. Hip-hop itself was becoming a massive force. Bell Biv Devoe hail from the glorious 90s, laying claim to one gargantuan, multiplatinum album (Poison) and two gold albums (Hootie Mack most notably).
A Very McCrary Christmas
The McCrary Foundation Choir
(Indi-Genius Music Group)
A Record Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
With the goal being to create a Christmas album for all the generation within your household, the world famous McCrary family of vocalists, musicians, songwriters, arrangers and record producers (Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Chaka Khan) glowingly succeed in their mission with a richly inspired and diversified 12-song collection of original and traditional offerings.
Merry Christmas from Andra Day
Andra Day
(Warner Bros.)
A Record Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Andra Day has much to feel blessed for with the embrace of her 2015 debut album Cheers to the Fall, opening dates with Lenny Kravitz and a Grammy nomination.
Kenny Lattimore | A Kenny Lattimore Christmas
by Peggy Oliver
There are a lot of hit-making R&B vocalists who can effortlessly deliver the soulful goods. Yet when it comes to performing a holiday project that stretches across several genres, there are fewer who can successful step out of their comfort zone.
Bob Baldwin
The Gift of Christmas
(City Sketches)
A Record Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Keyboardist/Producer Bob Baldwin eases us into the 2016 holiday season with some much needed aural relief via his 10 song offering, The Gift of Christmas. The CD opens with a pleasant jaunt through Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas” then lifts off into space for a celestially reharmonized sojourn through Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time is Here.”
Joe | #MyNameIsJoeThomas
by Peggy Oliver
From the day he exercised his passion for music, Joe Thomas was bound and determined to build a name for himself, even though the rise to hit making greatness was slow in coming. The sparks did not immediately fly in the industry when his first single, “I’m In Luv,” hit the streets.
Charles Bradley | Changes
Daptone Records
by Peggy Oliver
For a particular singer who was living the hard knocks life as captured in the 2012 documentary entitled Soul of America, Charles Bradley always expressed himself without any qualms. Known for many seasons as a James Brown impersonator from the mid-nineties, this surefire survivor of his past surroundings who outright bore his soul musically struck a wonderful chord with the powers that be at Daptone Records, a revivalist label that first brought us Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Lee Fields, amongst others.
Marc Antoine | Laguna Beach
by Peggy Oliver
Since he started making a dent in the contemporary jazz market as the R&R elected Best New Artist of The Year, Marc Antoine’s special brand of Spanish-injected stylistic melodies accented by his classical training and pop music background provided an incredibly unique voice and an international impact.