News & Updates — soul!

The great Cuban conguero and bandleader Mongo Santamaría brought some spice to the American popular music scene. He had been bandleader for the prestigious Tropicana house band in Havana in the '40s before coming to NYC in 1950. He was the composer of "Afro Blue" and had a huge hit with Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man". In addition to his own groovy ensembles, he played with Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Perez Prado, Fania All Stars, Willie Bobo, Dizzy Gillespie and others. It's always a pleasure to hear his Afro-Cuban arrangements of popular soul tunes, as well as his Orisha-guided rumbas. He...

Here's a birthday shout to Jimmy "Chank" Nolen, the "chicken scratch" guitar player with the James Brown band, and a crucial part of his sound. He came from Oklahoma City, first playing the violin before switching to guitar, inspired by T Bone Walker. He then went to Los Angeles in the mid-'50s and cut some tunes as a leader before joining the Johnny Otis band in '57. In fact, Nolen's "chicken scratch" sound can be heard on Otis' seminal "Willie & the Hand Jive" from '58. He brought the sound to J.B. in '65, just in time to contribute to...

Born today, one of the kings of soul music, Marvin Gaye. Is there anyone in the world who doesn't like his music?

Today is the birthday of one of my very favorites!! The poet/vocalist/songwriter/novelist Gil Scott-Heron was one of the great lyricists of all time, combining the personal and political, and as a vocalist he would weave his stories into the fantastic soul-jazz tunes he cooked up with Brian Jackson. The music contained elements of blues, jazz, Latin and funk, and he has been justly considered a precursor to hip-hop, with GSH's "rapping" delivery and socio-political consciousness. He was inspired by a performance he saw by the Last Poets and released Small Talk At 125th & Lennox in 1970. He started working...

The soulful blues guitarist with Cherokee/Choctaw roots, Lowell Fulson, was as great a representative of West Coast blues as there ever has been. Born in Oklahoma, he hit California in the mid-'40s and formed a band that employed youngsters Ray Charles & Stanley Turrentine. He cut records for Aladdin, Swing Time, Checker, Jewel, Kent, Bullseye and more in his long career. He was the composer of the standard "Three O'clock Blues" (1948), "Reconsider Baby" (1954) (recorded by Elvis in '60) and the awesomely funky "Tramp" ('67) which was covered by Otis Redding & Carla Thomas, Salt N' Pepa, The Mohawks...