Six years ago today Michael Jackson (1958-2009) shocked the world when he died of an overdose in his home. The world was left with an unfillable void.
Listen to everything Michael!
Continue to rest R.I.P. Legend. Icon. King of Pop!
AAMAM appreciates Michael!
Check out “Smooth Criminal” Live!
Hurry and read this, Prince might shut it down! (It’s all love! Happy Birthday, Prince!)
In 1987, amid the throes of “Reaganomics,” the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, gang violence, and the A.I.D.S. scare, musical genius and artist extraordinaire, Prince released his album Sign O’ The Times, which contained the single of the same name. Prince’s album addressed many carnal issues of mankind such as love, lust, contentious relationships, and androgyny. However, one song stood out as the social commentator to the happenings of the mid to late 80s—“Sign O’ The Times.” It placed the ills of American society front and center and challenged the listener to not turn away but to address them. The song reached #1 on the Billboard R&B charts and was couched there for several weeks.
According to Susan Rogers, Prince’s sound engineer, he wrote and recorded “Sign O’ The Times” all on a Sunday—his most productive writing day. The song was scheduled to appear on both his 1986 albums Dream Factory and Crystal Ball. However, both albums were famously shelved and songs were dispersed to other albums including the album Sign O’ The Times.
Prince’s social commentary reached beyond the city limits of Chanhassen, Minnesota to span the globe and resonate with an international audience who faced similar issue in their social and political spaces.
Happy AAMAM! And Happy Birthday Prince!
(Go listen to “Sign O’ The Times” in your Prince collection . . . you do have a Prince collection?)
Welcome to your iPod add.
Today I’m going to introduce you to that new soulful voice you’ve been looking for for some time now. He’s singer songwriter, Tony Momrelle! He has been laying down amazing groove oriented soul from across the pond for years. Sorry, your favorite terrestrial radio station may be clueless to who he is and thus will never air his talent in any rotation. Their loss! Momrelle is a talent who has for years been the lead vocalist for the flat out bad ass British band Incognito; a featured vocalist for the dance and smooth grooves group Reel People; as well as a backing vocalist for my girl, Sade. Yep!
Momerelle with Sade
Momrelle’s Extended Play (EP) titled Fly was release almost a year ago and is still kickin’ today. The standout tracks are the eponymous “Fly”–an up tempo jam with a James Brown “funky drummer” shuffle rhythm which opens up a vast space where Momrelle demonstrates bright flashes of the vocal stylings of Stevie Wonder. His lyrics are both simple and fantastically poetic. Upon listening to the song, SoulBounce writer Ivory, stated, “Hope and happiness seem just within reach on this joint” and imagined through the lyrics “getting away from it all could be so simple.” While his second track Spotlight spins a tale of meeting that special someone amid a crowd of people. This cut finds Momrelle’s voice settled deep in the soul aesthetic surrounded by a driving groove.
This is Tony Momrelle Ladies and Gentlemen! Take a listen and know this is the soulful voice you been looking for. Add some Momrelle to your iPod and you will thank me later!
Check out “Fly”
Check out “Spotlight”
Welcome back to your Sunday iPod add. It’s been a minute so let’s get to it! This year I have really made an effort only to listen to what I deem as good music. Music with lyrics that actually move beyond the sophomoric and say something or at the very least try to say something; music that sonically takes you on a ride by consciously utilizing verse, chorus, and bridge; musicians whom know how to employ most of the following: the turnaround, refrain, and tag; Oh and unique, sincere, and talented voices are indeed a necessity for creating good music. So for me listening to over the air radio is a poor option–at least in my neck of the woods. In this endeavor I have been relegated to listening to various Internet radio stations–which if you find the right station can be a dream come true.
Thus far I have found some amazing jazz, blues, 60s and 70s era stations, and even Latin jazz stations that kill. But what I have found myself gravitating to the most are so called underground neo soul music stations. In other words newly recorded soul music by individuals who strive to retain elements of authentic soul. A couple of stations use the terms contemporary soul and organic soul to help explain their content. However it’s all music with groove, feeling, and mature lyrics. Think Aretha, Marvin, Chaka, Stevie, Gladys, Donny and Roberta. Good music, right?
Anyway, in my search for good music I’ve come across some amazing artists who are skillful songwriters, musicians, and singers that I would like to share with you.
That being said let me introduce you to Latasha Lee & the Blackties. What an awesome band! Comparable to Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Lee and the Blackties are contemporary artists who combine both the musical precision of Motown and the gritty-ness of Stax with ease. Lead singer Lee, whom was born and bred in Corpus Christi, Texas, has a noticeably strong yet nimble voice. 
I was taken back on first listen because her voice emitted the timbre of the late Amy Winehouse. Blogger E. of Music Nerdery notice this fact a year ago and stated, “It’s almost uncanny to a certain extent. She’s not TRYING to sound like Amy…. she just… does.” Austin City Limits Music Fest web site also chimed in on Lee’s voice after a great performance at the event a few months ago, the site wrote Lee’s “soulful voice cuts cleanly and crisply through the genre clutter with a groove that slices directly to the heart with honest power.” Yep!
Certainly Latasha Lee & The Blackties, who have been together for a little over a year and a half and recently graced the stages of SXSW, are unpretentiously reviving classic 60s doo wop. Their self-titled album Latasha Lee & the Blackties is a pleasure to listen to, which you need to add to you iPod. It’s good music. I do believe you will thank me later.
José White Afro-Cuban violinist (1856)
The African-American musician has occupied a crucial space in American history. The African-American violinist is but one of these musicians. Since bondage, they have with their music, shown a preponderance of excellent artistry. The African-American violinist has navigated huge challenges in pursuit to education and training on a particular instrument that embodied the elite in European society. These violinists have over time, masterfully incorporated overwhelming ancient African rhythms and minor tones into European music theory. As such, the violinist has improvised a musical genre where one did not exist. They used music to carve out spaces of privilege and have certainly tasted tiny bits of liberty in an era of enslavement. Solomon Northup notes his peculiar status as a violinist while held captive in his 1853 narrative:
Alas! Had it not been for my beloved violin, I scarcely can conceive how I could have endured the long years of bondage. It introduced me to great houses–relieved me of many days’ of labor in the field–supplied me with conveniences for my cabin with pipes and tobacco and extra pairs of shoes, and oftentimes led me away from the presence of a hard master . . .(p.217)
With the drag of the bow across the vibrating string, the African-American violinist sonically opened a path that led Black bodies out of the perceived state of the primitive and into enlightening agents of sophisticated art.
African-American violinists and their musicianship have been present in the various epochs of African-American history from Black bodied violinist whom were present as slave ships traversed the Atlantic en rout to a new world with the likes of ship fiddler Joseph Antonio Emidy, who due to his grand musicianship suffered the same fate as Solomon Northup albeit more than 50 years earlier. (Emidy went on to teach and conduct chamber music in Brittan) to Jacques Constantin Deburque, who organized the Negro Philharmonic Society of New Orleans in the 1830s to Joseph Douglass, a herald virtuoso and grandson of the late great orator Frederick Douglass (who played some violin himself), toured the U.S. and Europe for over 30 years and became the “first violinist ever to record for Victor Talking Machine Company” to Stuff Smith, who is known for swinging his violin in the pop music genre in the first half of the 20th century. Collectively these African-American violinists have contributed to a continuum of violin music, which still rolls on today.
Dworkin
Black violinist such as Aaron Paul Dworkin; carry on the excellent artistry that has always accompanied them. Classically trained, Dworkin is one of the top violinists in the country. He was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship a.k.a. the “Genius Award” in 2005. His passion to pass on the art of classical music has led him to lend his talents to teaching the urban underprivileged, to serving on the National Arts Policy Commission, and mentoring youth in his own program the Sphinx Organization.
Beyond the classical, contemporary African-American violinists are found in all genres of music further expanding and redefining the musical capabilities of the violin. Artists such as Obed Shelton, shares his musical praises in gospel, Ken Ford, Karen Briggs, and Regina Carter (she is a Genius Award winner, too [2006]) all smoothly bow in the jazz genre.
Regina Carter
Will B and Kev Marcus of Black Violin
Meanwhile several ‘Young Gifted and Black’ violinist are actively involved in a cultural and generational call and response as
they incorporate elements of R&B, soul, and hip-hop in their music. Musical groups such as Nothing But Strings and Stuff Smith inspired Black Violin as well as soloist Seth G, innovate genres of music by recalling overwhelming ancient African rhythms intertwined with classical delivery, which harkens back to the work of early African-American violinists. One soloist who has separated himself from the rest in terms of his use of minor tones and incorporating vocals is Marques Toliver. Toliver is able to ebb and flow through out all genres of music. Critics have lauded him as “too big and broad to fit into any one box.” Again improvising a new musical genre where one did not exist.
Marques Toliver
As a signpost of a sophisticated musician, the African-American violinist has traveled through time, bow in hand, continuously creating musical spaces to witness and musically recount the presence of Black bodies in America. Today they retain classic elements of music as well as rhythmically bow and pluck their strings in new genres of music demonstrating excellent artistry.
Please search the web for more African-American violinists. The above are just a few and they’re a are plenty.
Check these sources for more info:
http://www.oldhatrecords.com/cd1002.html
http://pragmaticobotsunite.com/?s=violinist
http://www.jazzbows.com/blackviolinlinks.html
JSYK
Ella and Dizzy, 1950. Photo by Herman Leonard
This is a great photo of Ella Fitzgerald experiencing a playfully embrace by the often-jovial Dizzy Gillespie while back stage in New York in 1950. The famous Jazz photographer Herman Leonard took the photo. Although at times Leonard talked his subjects into the perfect pose, this photo, however, captures that intimate moment when two legends of Jazz goof off as a way of quelling nervous tension before a performance.
The importance of a photo cannot be overstated. It is a wonderful medium in which we fully appreciate and place a critical amount of social, cultural, political, and economic value. It is through photos that we have the opportunity to peer into the past to see that an event did in fact happen. A photo helps us to keep memories alive and well; they help us to remember the moment. They also communicate a wonderful sentiment from the past to the present. If you are like me you can get lost in a photo wondering what it sounds like or smells like or what is just beyond the edges of the image.
In the case of photographer Herman Leonard he has had a lifetime of capturing the essence of the moment especially in the world of Jazz. Some of his photos are so iconic they conjure up the very definition of Jazz and the Jazz artist. Without his photos we would have no ideal how Sonny Stitt bends his body as he digs for that note or how tightly Sarah Vaughan closes her eyes before her improvisation or even how artists look as they goof off back stage before a performance.
Here’s to Jazz, the Jazz artist, and the photographer documenting Black music!
Enjoy your BMM!
Scott and Horne are setting the pace.
In the above photo are band leader/pianist/singer/actress Hazel Scott (23) and singer/actress Lena Horne (26). These talented beauties are posing for a quick photo op during the filming of the 1943 musical I Dood It! where they appeared and performed as themselves and not as written characters. It was Scott’s first film appearance!
These two sirens of song and screen paved the proverbial road for African-American women singers and entertainers in America.
Lena Horne and Hazel Scott were pioneers and standard bearers of Black beauty in the American mainstream. Their image on stage and under the bright lights was embraced by all and allowed them to ascend beyond Black genre cinema and entertainment during an era of perpetual Jim Crow and segregation . . . as long as they kept quiet about the state of race relations. However, Scott and Horne were unable to keep quiet. In there own way, they participated and held significant roles in the struggle for civil rights. For this, they were shunned and maligned by the very forces that once welcomed them into the arena of mass appeal.
Scott’s career suffered and never regained the heights it once held in the mid-century when she was falsely accused of being a Communist sympathizer. Meanwhile, Horne’s career stagnated as Hollywood distanced themselves from her as she continuously made alliances with outspoken leaders of the Civil Rights movement. Her career never soared as high as it should have.
There is much more that you should know about the lives of these two pacesetting women. If you want to know more on the amazing musical genius of Hazel Scott before she posed for the above photo, her marriage to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and later her ‘exiled’ time in Paris, you have to read pianist and biographer Karen Chilton’s book Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Cafe Society to Hollywood to HUAC. Equally, as well, if you want to know more about Lena Horne’s life, her controversial marriage, her struggle to stay embedded in entertainment, and how she used and resented her beauty, you really need to read James Gavin’s book Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne.
In the end, both Scott and Horne defined the very definition of Black beauty and sophistication in the public as necessary requirements for crossover appeal, which still exist today (See Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Hudson).
Black beauty and Black music telling its story since day one in America!
Enjoy the remaining days of BMM!
Take a look at Scott and Horne’s kick ass scene:
BFFs Prince and Sheila E share a moment
Prince and Sheila E., BFFs if there ever was a pair! The above photo was taken in Oakland, California during Prince’s Welcome 2 America tour. On this night of the tour, Sheila E. opened for Prince. The picture captures the moment as she finished her hit song “Glamorous Life” and Prince walked on stage to congratulate her. She immediately grabbed and hugged her BFF. They then shared a laugh.
Inseparable and certainly joined at the hip for almost 3 decades, Prince and Sheila E. have collaborated to create some of the most memorable music from the mid to late 80s.
According to Alex Hahn’s book Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, Prince Rogers Nelson and Sheila Escovedo met in 1978, while Sheila was touring with her father, the magnificent timbalero Pete Escovedo. They met back stage and Prince prophetically proclaimed they would one day make music together. Soon Prince and Sheila began to jam together and share musical ideas. Prince began to produce Sheila as an artist and bestowed upon her the moniker Sheila E. Their first recorded collaboration took place just a few years later when a reluctant Sheila sang background on Prince’s big hit “Let’s Go Crazy”. Hahn suggests Sheila, up to this point, saw herself as an instrumentalist and in no way a singer. Prince was able to instill in her the confidence to sing. The newly minted BFFs began their productive and legendary collaboration. Prince produced Sheila E’s albums The Glamorous Life (‘84), Romance 1600 (‘85), and Sheila E. (‘87). During the same period Sheila shared her drumming and percussion talents on Prince’s albums, Purple Rain (‘84), Around The World in a Day (‘85), Parade (‘86), and Sign O’ The Times (‘87). Sheila E.’s ability to play complex Jazz and Latin rhythms added a new dimension to Prince’s recordings and live sound.
Prince and Sheila E. have over the decades forged an unbreakable music bond that is filled with love, respect, honor, and support for one other. When you see one of the BFFs perform the other is no doubt not too far away.
Prince and Sheila E.’s friendship fused musical cousins R&B, Funk, Rock, Blues, and Latin Jazz together in a way that allowed it to soar far beyond rigid musical genres, which were intended to keep the masses in their respected cultural places. Their music was multi-genre and multicultural; simply put, they used Black music to bring people together.
Happy BMM!
Welcome to Black Music Month (BMM) on Justsoulyouknow. All month long I will be posting photos that are both historic and iconic as well as cool and awesome. Every other day or so, I will feature an amazing photo then give a little detail about that photo or the individuals contained in the photo. I intend to connect you to the amazing history of Black Music as well as demonstrate why Black Music maters.
Patti wasn’t the first to kick off her shoes and sing a verse!
First up is this amazing photo of Mahalia Jackson and Dean Martin sharing a good hearty laugh together. Life Magazine’s Allen Grant took this photo on Oct 1, 1958 during rehearsals for Bing Crosby’s new T.V. show called The Bing Crosby Show: Presented by Oldsmobile. During the time of this photo Mahalia Jackson was at the top of her game. She had just recorded her latest gospel album titled Live at Newport ’58, where she was part of the first ever Gospel Showcase of the Newport show. Her album was released in early ’59 and would later be consistently touted as one of the greatest live gospel albums ever recorded. Jackson was riding high on her new found fame as a singer/actor on the silver screen as well. Her performance in the film St Louis Blues, where she beautifully sang and acted, garnered great reviews from critics. Her appearance on the Bing Crosby’s show, which brought her image directly into the living rooms of America, was risky and bold. America was in the midst of an epic battle, which involved African Americans attempt to gain inclusion in American society while powerful whites labored to hold onto a segregated America. Jackson’s appearance threatened the national sponsorship of the show because America had yet to fully embrace an integrated performance on TV. However, as history has informed us, it was in part though the power of Black music that the civil rights struggle changed minds and freed a nation.
Check out the result of their rehearsal below:
Ok, it’s been over a week since Beyonce sang the Star Spangled Banner on the Capital steps in celebration of the historical second inauguration of President Barack Obama. The following day of the event it was revealed that she lip-synched her performance on such a momentous occasion, which set off a firestorm of commentary and opinions that ranged from it being the best performance of her life to so what! Well, the following is my commentary and opinion of her performance and most likely not the last public discharge on the happening before Beyonce’s next performance: the Superbowl Halftime Show.
So what is it that I have to say that has not already been said? Well I hope to put into context the reason Beyonce decided to lip sync the tune and the reason we were all talking about it.
First let me say that to me her performance was not surprising. During her live performance, I thought it was just good. It wasn’t spectacular or all that! Just good. I’ve heard better. The next day, when I heard she might have lip-synched her performance I thought, “Ok, I’m not surprised.” Please understand the Star Spangled Banner is a relatively easy song to sing. I can sing it (albeit it may not be pleasing to your ears). Its melody, which has it’s origins in an 1800 century English social club was composed no doubt while inebriated, is catchy and memorable which is why you can hum along when you forget Francis Scott Key’s words, which he scribed almost a century later. Although it is an easy song to sing, what makes its performance special lies in the ability of the singer. Here is the reason why shower singers or alone-in-the-car singers like me will never be asked to sing the song in public. The song’s simple melody provides plenty of space for the gifted singer to seemingly perform vocal miracles at will. Not many can do this. Able gifted singers are free to explore the boundaries of their gift with this song. The ability to perform at this level is what makes it an amazing anthem and exciting to listen to, especially when sung by someone who is indeed capable. Enter Bey.
Let me be clear here, I’m not hating on her, she is simply neither capable nor gifted enough to perform the song in a spectacular manner. And for that matter a lot of folks are not either. Bey’s vocal prowess is limited. She lacks the range and power needed to create a memorable performance. A few articles, penned in her defense last week, announced she was one of the greatest singers of all time. Ha, this is laughable. Her mentors are still around, right? She possesses nowhere near the vocal talent of Patti, Chaka, Gladys, Anita, and certainly not Aretha. These truly gifted singers at Bey’s age were unrivaled in their talent. Bey, to no fault of her own, does not have what it takes in terms of her physical voice to match any performance of her mentors.
Aretha at around Bey’s age, 30.
Even in comparison to her contemporaries such as Ledisi, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and I’ll throw in the untouchable and seasoned Rachelle Ferrell just to f**k with the curve, she falls extremely short of the mark.
What Bey did was not unprecedented. That day the choir, not the soloist, lip-synched to a prerecorded track. Also in 2009, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the violinist Itzhak Perlman “string-synched” their performance because string instruments are notoriously temperamental in cold weather. They did this because they had no physical control over their instrument . . . like Bey.
Ok knowing this about her lack of ability, it’s great she did in fact lip sync her performance. Can you imagine what it might have sounded like?
So, why was this a scandal if others have in essence faked their performance as well? It’s the expectation created by the event. We the people expect the best when it comes to such events like the Presidential inauguration. For decades the best and most significant/impact-ful singers, poets, writers, and politicians were gathered together to help set the tone of the up coming Presidency. With this type of talent we the people expect the best. Bey’s lip synching performance was not the best for the American people. Of course her fans beg to differ or simply shrug it off and say, “so!” Along with the fact that most Americans hold high expectations of all portions of the inauguration we also expected the best from Bey, which would have been a live, sincere, and authentic performance. However, when it comes to the singing talent of Bey, I feel most of the world has been duped into believing what she is not. I believe we have confused her ability to entertain with the ability to sing. These are two very different things. Let’s not get it twisted, Bey is not a singer and never has been a singer. As mentioned, she is not physically capable of sangin’. What I mean by this is I doubt she can belt out any tune in my living room sans a mic with enough power, conviction, skill, or emotion to move me. Please realize this, I refer to my vocal luminaries to guide me in the direction of a person who is truly gifted in voice. [a few of my vocal luminaries in terms of women are of course Patti, Chaka, Aretha, Rachelle, but also Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Mahalia Jackson, Whitney Houston, and again Jennifer Hudson . . .] I recognize and embrace those singers who match my vocal luminaries and move me. I will never embrace anyone who falls short of this high bar as a singer. Why would I accept anything less or mediocre? Bey can indeed hold a tune, but so can many others. Bey is mediocre. Rather than a singer I define her as an extremely successful entertainer. She possesses many abilities to entertain her fans and even me. An entertainer does it all to appeal to a mass audience. She can hold a tune, dance, and act. Bey is an entertainer! I like entertainers; I like being entertained. Ben Vereen and Sammy Davis, Jr. were entertainers who were also in the top ten of the list in all those categories that define an entertainer. They could sing, dance, and act on a high level.
Davis acting his ass off in the film “A Man Called Adam” click here
Unlike Vereen and Davis, I believe Bey being mediocre in all of these is still able to dupe the American public into thinking she is a singer on a high level. She is not the best singer, she is not the best dancer, and she is not the best actor by any stretch of the imagination. Today’s entertainer does it all and is categorized wrongly as a singer. And it is because of this wrongly placed moniker Bey, an entertainer, was chosen and expected to do the work of a singer at the Presidential inauguration. I believe this was made a scandal because we expected Bey to be that amazing singer and she failed us.
Furthermore, I believe Bey knows she can’t sing on that level. According to all the reports and articles, Bey at the last minute decided to lip sync her performance. Why? Was she nervous? Did she forget the words? I think not! She has sung the Star Spangled Banner many times before both live and lip-synched. I believe she did not feel capable of creating a memorable performance with her knowingly limited skill. I can imagine her saying to H.O.V.A., “I know I’m not going to be able to sing anything better than what I did in the studio yesterday not to mention I have not practiced with the Marine Band.” She lacked the ability and with this lacked the confidence to even try. In so many words she had no guts, no courage, no gumption . . . in essence no Balls! This is completely expected when you don’t believe in your own talent. Bey demonstrated pure fear. Any stellar singer worth anything would have marched out on the steps of the Capital and did the damn thang! Four years ago Aretha Franklin sang her ass off in colder weather and very little warm up time. In an interview about her spectacular performance she commented that she wished she had more time to warm up because her performance would have been better . . . Balls! Oh and she also commented she wanted to give this historical occasion an atmosphere of authenticity. However when you are unsure of you own instrument or lack the ability you will fold like a wet noodle. Luckily Bey recorded a stand in the day before and tagged out of the task.
With all this being said I feel Bey’s credibility, as a singer is unchanged in my mind. I didn’t expect her to do anything more. Hell, if anything it should have been better, after all, she recorded in near perfect conditions in a studio the day before. In the end, I hope you can understand the context of Bey’s performance or lack there of. She is a physically limited singer, which she is fully aware of who lacks the self-confidence to perform on the grandest of stages all while an audience who has been duped into believing she is a singer who can create something amazing!
Oh, the scandal!
This coming Sunday when you are watching the Superbowl Halftime Show remember you are watching an entertainer and not a singer, so don’t expect to be amazed much by her vocal performance. However you will be greatly entertained.
Just SOul You Know 