News & Updates — soul/funk

Happy birthday to the recently-passed keyboardist/songwriter/producer Leon Haywood, the man behind that G-Funk staple "I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You". He came from Houston and was playing piano as a young child. He put together his first professional band in the '50s, playing locally while also backing Guitar Slim. In the early '60s he moved to Los Angeles, where he played in a band with saxophonist Big Jay McNeely, and backing Sam Cooke in his band until Cooke's death. He continued working as a session musician with Dyke & The Blazers, among others. He had a few minor soul...

Review by DJ Bongohead There’s a lot of pretenders out there when it comes to contemporary instrumental Afro-funk and Afro-Latin inspired music, but when a band knows their stuff, well, as Fela Kuti used to say, “Who no know go know,” and one thing I know: Jungle Fire is 100% legit, pura candela, mofongo funk. If the percussion section can’t turn on a dime or do tight breaks, if the brass is limp or out of tune, if the bass has no tumbao, if the players don’t know their roots or let the orishas take them, well then don’t bother...

Curtis Ousley aka King Curtis, the versatile saxophonist/songwriter/arranger/producer, is a huge figure in '60s R&B. From Fort Worth TX, he was schoolmates with fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He played early with Lionel Hampton and cut sessions with The Coasters, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Nat Adderley, LaVern Baker and others. In '65 he had his biggest hit "Memphis Soul Stew" and became musical director for Aretha Franklin. Later he recorded with John Lennon. His life was cut short in tragic fashion when he was stabbed to death on the steps to his apartment. (In the picture above you can see Jimi...

James D. Yancey aka Jay Dee aka J Dilla is one of a long lineage of Detroit musical geniuses. Both a producer and a rapper, he started Slum Village in '96, produced The Pharcyde, worked with Common, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, De La Soul, Janet Jackson, The Roots and many others, including producing, beatmaking, rapping and remixing. His partnership with Madlib produced the classic Champion Sound album. He is an indie rap icon, more popular in death than ever. (Not sure who did the very cool profile above, but respect!) My personal favorite is his collage-album Donuts, here:

Good news! Dave Noonan's new island-jazz ensemble is playing their third ever concert this Saturday at The Root Cellar, our Greenfield MA home base venue. We had the group for their debut concert as part of our Peace & Rhythm Presents weekly series last summer/fall and the results, musically and crowd-wise, have been quite pleasing for the first two shows. This group is a collection of some of the finest musicians in the region and their blend of Ernest Ranglin-inspired jazz, Marvin Gaye-inspired soul and roots reggae is quite a flavorful recipe. This time out they present a special Bob...