CD Reviews on projects by Funk Artists
Menahan Street Band The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band Daptone Menahan Street Band, an all-star Brooklyn collective featuring members of Budos Band, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and Charles Bradley’s backing band, deliver their first album in nearly a decade. The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band has already had three singles, the opening […]
Soul Box Good Stuff The band Soul Box is everything that the name implies. Simply put this band lays down some grooves that, uhm, well, are really great tunes to, ah… do it to. Soul Box has just released their second offering “Good Stuff” and yeah, you’re going to want to dig out the candles, […]
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe Gnomes and Badgers Seven Spheres Karl Denson’s star is rising. He will be replacing Bobby Keys on the upcoming Rolling Stones tour. He continues to back Lenny Kravitz and play with the Greyboy All-stars, but he’s long been a beacon in the jam scene with his Tiny Universe band, finding time […]
Vinyl Hampdin Red Armored Steve Wiest, the founding member of the jazz-rock collective Vinyl Hampdin, sums it up this way, “What would Chicago, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Tower of Power sound like if they started out today?” That’s a tantalizing question that probably describes the band’s approach better than this writer can. In any […]
The Isley Brothers “Groove with You…Live!” www.RealGoneMusic.com Originally recorded at Bearsville Sound Studio in Woodstock, NY from 1980 – this live set was buried until last year’s Record Store Day (2015) release as a limited edition vinyl LP. Around the same time it was also made available as a digital download titled “Wild in Woodstock,” […]
“All Things Must Pass” The rise and fall of Tower Records (96 minute DVD) www.MVDb2b.com – MVDvisual The death of Tower Records was a major blow for many of us who grew up purchasing vinyl LP’s, seven inch forty-fives and CD’, laser discs, and DVD’s. This triumphant and reflective DVD “All Things Must Pass,” is […]
The Meters “A Message from the Meters” The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Bros. Singles 1968-1977 (2CD’s) www.RealGoneMusic.com This wouldn’t be the first time a label released a two-disc set on The Meters. Previously (1995) Rhino issued “Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology” that covered forty-three songs. Roll forward to 2016: Real Gone Music has […]
Edgar Winter “The Definitive Collection” (2CD’s) www.RealGoneMusic.com Taken from eleven different albums Real Gone Music’s “The Definitive Collection” serves up thirty Edgar Winter tracks (previously released on Epic Records; from 1970 through 1980.) These thirty tunes are equally distributed on two-CD’s. Interesting factoid: It was none other than Clive Davis (then with CBS/Columbia/Epic) who offered […]
Laura Rain & The Caesars Gold LRC Records Laura Rain grew up in the Detroit suburbs. Her mother loved Funk and took Laura to see live music as often as possible. Her dad loved Opera. Rain started listening to Aretha Franklin when she was fifteen. Rain got started in the Detroit blues scene as a featured […]
Angela Easterling’s voice reminds me of Emmylou Harris. It has that same range and purity. Her new album, “Common Law Wife” finds her backed by some great Nashville musicians and proving that she is, indeed, “a bright new star on the horizon,” as the legendary Roger McGuinn recently proclaimed. Eaterling lives in the area of […]
Little Richard “Directly from My Heart: The Best of the Specialty & Vee-Jay Years” www.ConcordMusicGroup.com Little Richard was and will always be known as one of the originators of rock & roll. Richard successfully merged gospel with New Orleans R&B pounding it out at the piano with his signature wailing vocals. Numerous other R&B greats […]
– www.RaphaelWressnig.com The young Wressnig’s previous recording “Soul Gift” was successful, and if you enjoyed that disc you should definitely appreciate his latest “Soul Gumbo.” Veteran players (many from around The Big Easy) are featured: Walter “Wolfman” Washington, George Porter Jr., Larry Garner, Stanton Moore, with longtime Crescent City pianist Jon Cleary. Added to the […]
Through The Streets of the City New Orleans Brass Bands Smithsonian Folkways Recordings This is the newest album from Smithsonian Folkways’ African-American Legacy series. Included is a 34 page booklet authored by Dr. Michael White. He is a jazz music historian but also a clarinetist, composer, bandleader, producer and educator. He has six albums under his […]
Candi Staton Life Happens Beracah Records In 2013 Magnolia Home Entertainment released “Muscle Shoals” a documentary about Rick Hall’s Fame studios where the Muscle Shoals sound was born. Featured in that DVD was Candi Staton. Staton, who sang gospel as a teenager, had her solo career launched as a Southern soul singer. In 1970 she […]
A 2014 Musical Grab Bag of Jazz, Blues and Rocking Christmas Holiday Stocking Stuffers: Marilyn Scott “Get Christmas Started!” Prana Entertainment www.MarilynScott.com Scott digs deep for several well performed and way-back Christmas covers. For example not one but two Leon Russell Christmas covers that were actually released as A and B sides on a seven-inch […]
“Where the f*** this chicken come from ? I THOUGHT I ORDERED RIBS” – Morris Day “Chocolate (Live On SNL)” The year was 1990 when it was announced that Prince would be doing a sequel movie to “Purple Rain” called “Grafitti Bridge”. To make it even more official, Warner Bros. insisted on reuniting the original members […]