Here’s unearthed new proof of Ray Charles’ still-underrated creativity, unerring rhythmic ear and undeniable moxie as a jazz musician.

Mofro’s humid grooves, chicken-fried rhythms and finger-licking riffs might lure you to the table, but it’s JJ Grey’s rib-sticking, story-building lyrics that fill you up. This concert CD adds crackling new life to both elements of their new-classic back-porch soul You May Also Like: No related posts.

Stevie Wonder will be honored this month as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, during a benefit concert to be held Nov. 11 in Hollywood. We’d like to add to that resume line: Messenger of Funk, Sweet Soul and Pure Unfettered Get Down. You May Also Like: No related posts.

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton may have begun his journey as part of the traditionalists in the early-1990s Young Lions movement, but he couldn’t have emerged any further afield. You May Also Like: Nicholas Payton – ‘Smoke Sessions’ (2021)

Rufus Thomas, R&B scamp and known ass-shaker about town, was the ripe old age of 53 when this single was released. He hadn’t lost one bit of arm-flapping gusto. Yet, “Do The Funky Chicken” still came out of nowhere. Thomas’s label, Memphis-based Stax, had recently severed ties with Atlantic Records,Read More

As much as I wanted to argue with the smaller ambitions of Ramsey Lewis’ Taking Another Look,’ in the end, it was simply too ingratiating.

by Mark Saleski MTV Unplugged. It was an interesting show (heck, it was an interesting network, back when the ‘M’ actually stood for “music”). Can an artist/band deal with going ‘naked,’ the protective cover of studio sheen stripped away? You May Also Like: How the Isley Brothers Made Seals andRead More

No major artist has or will ever claim to be more of a 1970s-styled musical chameleon than Lenny Kravitz, since his whole career has been about simulating the analog sounds and feel of that decade You May Also Like: The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’: Greatest of AllRead More

Tribute records are a tricky things; star-studded tribute projects even more so. It takes a strong unifying voice, some central character beyond the featured composer, to save them from sounding like choppy compilations. Steve Cropper, on today’s 429 Records release Dedicated, is that voice. Co-founder of Booker T and theRead More

Keb Mo isn’t that kid playing the old blues on the old steel guitar anymore. Instead he often comes off on his new album The Reflection like a pillowy-smooth 1970s-era singer-songwriter You May Also Like: Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ – Tajmo (2017)