News & Updates — soul/funk

“New York is a great place for Latin music today." — Erica Ramos Enlace Funk No. 56, 2017 For some time now it seems that the new Latin sounds coming out of NYC have been in good health. The ‘Latin Resistance’ – made of sounds that were born in the city of New York – continues to occupy its share within the larger urban underground scene of genuine and authentic music made in the USA, offering quality surprises with bands and songs that deserve more exposure and success. At the head of the Latin Soul scene and the new boogaloo...

One of the leading lights of the hard bop era, trumpeter Lee Morgan broke onto the scene as a teen prodigy, playing with John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Hank Mobley and Art Blakey in the mid-to-late '50s. His driving style and clear, bold tone contributed all over the hard bop landscape, from funky to bluesy, and from more adventurous modal stuff to delicate standards. Throughout his short but steadily working career he played with Wayne Shorter, Elvin Jones, Charlie Persip, Grachan Moncur III, Andrew Hill, Benny Golson, Jackie McLean, Larry Young, Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Smith (The Sermon), Bobbi Humphrey and in...

Happy birthday to the Earl of Funk! Detroit native Earl Van Dyke spent a lot of time around the city's jazz cats, folks like Yusef Lateef, Barry Harris, Hank Jones and others. He met James Jamerson while touring with Lloyd Price, who convinced him to take a job with Motown, then an upstart label. He started at Motown in '62. He served as the keyboardist on many classic Motown hits for many of its biggest stars, like Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Four Tops, etc. He would open up Motown concerts with his own instrumental trio, usually playing alternate, instrumental versions...

I want to give some birthday love to one of my favorite figures from the '60s soul scene, the underrated Fontella Bass! Fontella is most remembered for a song that everyone knows but many people think is by Aretha Franklin! "Rescue Me" was a #1 hit in 1965 for Chess Records, their biggest seller since Chuck Berry's mid-'50s reign. Bass was denied songwriting credit, despite her contribution as a co-author. The tune has lasted forever and has been covered many, many times, as well as used in movies, ads, etc. The song was banned from radio by Clear Channel after...

Shout-out to the Bollywood film composer extraordinaire Rahul Dev Burman, born today in 1939. As someone who didn't grow up with Bollywood movies, my big ears found some of the wacky, funky, psychedelic soundtracks that seemed to annoy my Hindi friends. Often times the craziest tunes to my ears would be from R.D. Burman. His wife was the great singer Asha Bhosle, who often worked with him. He has been a popular presence in Hindi film music since the mid-'60s and continues to be popular long after his passing. Often a trendsetter in the industry, his soundtracks included Indian folk...