Category Archives: Soul

Isaac Hayes – Hot Buttered Soul

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I miss Isaac Hayes. He made outstanding contributions to soul music. He first achieved success as songwriting partner with David Porter and as record producer of several of Sam & Dave’s big hits, “Hold On I’m Comin“, “Soul Man”, and “I Thank You” on Stax Records. He is well-known for his musical score for the film Shaft (1971). For the “Theme from Shaft“, he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972.

My favorite solo album by Isaac Hayes is Hot Buttered Soul. This album is straight ahead soul delivery. What I love about the album is that it is complementary . By this I mean that Isaac Hayes a great songwriter in his own right pays tribute to the songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David with the extended “Walk On By”. Then he ends the recording with an 18+ minute rendition of Jimmy Webb‘s “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”. We so love Jimmy Webb’s songs.

Check out the superb groove that Isaac Hayes on piano establishes with The Bar-Kays on ”Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic”. Tasty Wah-Wah playing going on. You will not be able to sit still for that one trust me. ;)

Hot Buttered Soul is a landmark soul gem that you must listen to in its entirety to gain the full appreciation.

God bless you Isaac Hayes you make the music of our heart soulfully complete :)

Track Listing

Side One
  1. “Walk On By” (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 12:03
  2. “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic” (Isaac Hayes, Alvertis Isbell) – 9:38
Side Two
  1. “One Woman” (Charles Chalmers, Sandra Rhodes) – 5:10
  2. “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” (Jimmy Webb) – 18:42
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Jessie Ware Is Everywhere

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Jessie Ware is everywhere. The word ingenue comes to mind when I hear her sing. Her début album Devotion a top seller in 2012 is being re-released on April 15th with the addition of four bonus tracks including two previously unheard cuts – ‘Imagine It Was Us’ and ‘Wildest Moments – Feat. A$AP Rocky’.

Is there a track on the album you’re proudest of?

I think maybe “Running“. It came right at the end of the album, and maybe that was when I was at my most relaxed and content and confident, so it became I easier to write. I feel so proud of that song: it sounds like everything that I wanted to achieve, with the references to old soul and dance, and the groove and electronic feel.

Expect more hype to follow when Jessie Ware invades America next month for concert dates in the New York Area and two appearances at Coachella.

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Thinking About Buddy Miles

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I saw a video of Buddy Miles on my Web page side bar and clicked on the YouTube video to watch the performance.

This is how I remember Buddy Miles best. Giving off that great soul vibe, singing his heart out for his fans. Notice he is wearing a Fillmore East staff shirt ;)

 

The band shown in this video was who I saw him play with in December of 1970. I loved that he was playing with Charlie Karp and David Hull from Westport, Ct. The word of mouth on these local musicians was that they were stellar and that proved to be true.  They are featured in this Helsinki 1971 broadcast television video.

We will miss you, Don Cornelius

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I was very sorry to learn that Don Cornelius died. He was so instrumental to soul music, popular dance, and cultural achievement.

So many great artists graced his Soul Train center stage. Here he is introducing the Jackson 5 in a classic moment of music history.

“Wishing you love, peace and soul”

Rest in Peace, Don Cornelius.

Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Christine OhlmanI like artists who are in earnest when they perform their craft. Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez are such artists. If you are looking for that gritty blues sound that shouts to your soul I urge to listen to the Bee Hive Queen and her band.

I first saw Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez a few years back outdoors in Meriden, Ct. at the Daffodil Festival. They were the opening act for Eric Burdon and the Animals on April 26, 2008. I liked their set and their sound.

I have noticed they have been hard at work in the last three years. They have three live dates scheduled for CT so far. Their first Connecticut concert is scheduled for January 28, 2012 at The Maple Tree Cafe in Simsbury, Ct. They also have a club date closer to my home in New Haven at Cafe Nine on February 25, 2012. The third date is later in the year at Bridge Street Live in Collinsville on June 16, 2012.

Her day job is vocalist for the Saturday Night Live Band. I really appreciate Christine Ohlman’s role as a music scholar. She makes a strong contribution to the music selected and played on SNL.

Her latest studio recording is The Deep End released in 2010. Ohlman recruited a stellar group of artists to contribute to that CD, including Marshall Crenshaw, Dion DiMucci and Ian Hunter as duet partners, as well as an all-star list of accompanists: G.E. Smith, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel from the Del-Lords, NRBQ veteran Big Al Anderson, Catherine Russell, and the Asbury Juke Horns (Chris Anderson and Neal Pawley).

There is also LIVE HIVE, Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez’s premier concert DVD, recorded January,16  2011. It was filmed right down the street from where I live.

Live Hive contains 17 tracks plus bonus interview segments, the electronic press kit for The Deep End, and the video for “Love Make You Do Stupid Things.”

Tower of Power

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Thursday night my wife and I will attend our 30th concert of the year. We continue to happily do our part as loyal patrons of the arts. The concert features the double bill of Tower of Power with special guests Average White Band. An event that James Taylor would call a “churning urn of burning funk.”

The Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport, CT is the location for this event. This will be our third show at the Klein this season. It is also our sixth event with The Fairfield Theatre Company as member participants. FTC continues to offer engaging live music options for its patrons, which we are thankful to enjoy. :)

Tower of Power Proof

Tower of Power is another great product of the San Francisco Bay area from the late 60′s. Bands like The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Big Brother, Journey and others all helped to define the “San Francisco Sound.” Tower of Power has been a band I have wanted to see to complete that list (having seen all the others mentioned…).

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Otis Redding – 70 Years On

Posted on by Musicofourheart
Cover of "The Very Best of Otis Redding"

Cover of The Very Best of Otis Redding

Otis Redding is back in the limelight, deservedly so, due to the overnight Internet success of the new music collaboration by Jay-Z and Kayne West, “Otis”. They sample Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness” which empowers them both underneath to rap with great aplomb.

Otis Redding

The renewed interest in Otis Redding, the King of Soul prompted me to purchase The Very Best of Otis Redding on Apple iTunes. I lacked an essential Otis Redding digital recording in my music collection. The soulful mastery Otis Redding possess’ is perfectly matched against the backdrop of the Memphis Stax/Volt sound.

I noticed that the city of Macon, Georgia will be honoring their former citizen Otis Redding with a three-day 70th Anniversary celebration September 9-11 of this year. September 9th will be Otis Redding Day. I’d like to attend this event, if possible…

My personal favorite live recording of Otis Redding’s is when he performed his stellar set at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The electricity and energy of his performance for the love crowd brought down the house that night.

Steve Cropper – Dedicated (Due 8/9/11)

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Steve Cropper will have a new recording coming out on August 9th, 2011 on the 429 Records Label. Its entitled, Dedicated and it is a tribute to the R&B/Doo Wop Act, The 5 Royales who gave us such hits as “Dedicated to the One I Love” , “Think”, and “30 Second Lover”.

File:Think5Royales.jpg

Dedicated features reworked versions of The Five Royales most enduring songs, and includes duets with Lucinda Williams, Bettye LaVette, John Popper and Sharon Jones. There is also plenty of guest star collaboration with B.B. King, Brian May and Steve

“We grew up on their music. ‘Think’ had some great funky licks. I used the same licks in the Mar-Keys. Pauling’s sound was funky, gutsy. He would alternate lead and rhythm, which is something I always did.”  - Steve Cropper

Dedicated: A Salute To The 5 Royales

Amazon is accepting Pre-Orders Here.

Steve Cropper is known as the preeminent soul guitarist, and has also been an A & R man, engineer, producer, as well as a songwriting partner of Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, dozens of other others and founding member of  both Booker T. and the MG’s and The Mar-Keys, Cropper was literally involved in almost every record issued by Stax Records from the fall of 1961 through year-end 1970.

The 429 Records Label has a great roster of artists that includes many new recordings by The New York Dolls, Bruce Hornsby, Robbie Robertson, Dr. John, Jackie Greene, Marshall Crenshaw, and many others….

Gil Scott-Heron, Winter in America

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Mourning the late, great Gil Scott-Heron this morning, adding my Sunday prayers to the blessing of the ascension of his soul.

Gil Scott-Heron was insightful and visionary. He saw the world through a very introspective lens he admirably shared with us through the vision of his poetry and music. I especially loved his collaborative efforts with Brian Jackson. They were very in tune with the ecology. When I was a weekend disk jockey at Fairfield University on WVOF-FM 1974-1975 I played the Gil Scott-Heron/Brian Jackson recording Winter In America often on my show. I leaned heavily on ”H²Ogate Blues”, as I was very anti-Nixon as a liberal Democrat who worked on the McGovern campaign.

WinterInAmerica_digipack_outside.jpg

When Gil Scott-Heron re-released Winter In Americain 1998  it contained four bonus tracks, three of which were live recordings. Posted out of deep respect for our environmental poet is “Winter In America“, recorded live at the Wax Museum in 1982.

It has been a season collectively of frozen aspirations, frozen hopes – Gil Scott Heron, Winter in America

Peace Go With You, Brother.

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The Modern Muse of Rickie Lee Jones

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I first learned of Rickie Lee Jones at a Warner\Elektra\Asylum party held at their sales office in Connecticut one evening in 1979.  When I walked in there she was on the large video screen singing this song and  I was immediately hooked on her bohemian cool.

Rickie Lee Jones’s modern muse is calling me again as I listen with a renewed sense of purpose to her auspicious body of work. I am taken with her mystical voice as it swirls thoughtful sensibilities about my head.  I have gained an appreciation for Balm in Gilead her latest studio recording (2009).

Rickie Lee Jones chose Stockholm as the location for  her live concert filming. I sense a warm energy surrounding this performance. The unique setting is the historic and regal Berns Salonger, built in 1862.  It is an impressive setting amidst massive crystal chandeliers, gilded walls, and paintings of Swedish royalty.  Live in Stockholm is available for pre-order here.