Neo-Soul

Unless you were living under a rock this past November, surely you heard the buzz surrounding the “Blue Eyed Soul” segment of the Soul Train Awards Show that featured legends such as Bobby Caldwell, Vanilla Ice, Dave Koz and Jon B.  The segment couldn’t have been timed more appropriately with …

Bay area native Cava Menzies hails from a long line of musical talents; her grandmother, a pioneer in the New York Jazz scene as a dancer at the Cotton Club, her father, Eddie Henderson, an accomplished jazz trumpeter and early member of the Herbie Hancock sextet, and her mother a …

At 25 years old, Jon Batiste has already received a number of accolades including the “Movado Future Legend” award, and the “Steinway Performing Artist” award. His style balances virtuosity and openness and is gaining worldwide acclaim. His band, Stay Human, is creating a unique grassroots movement that encourages accessibility and …

At the outset, let me admit my appreciation for Robert Glasper’s Black Radio 2. Ostensibly, the album serves as a continuation of the artist’s postmodern movement through sound. So, if you liked the first as much as I did, you, too, will certainly enjoy his latest serving. I do believe, …

Jerald Daemyon is an American electrical violinist born in Detroit, Michigan. Daemyon rose to fame in the mid-90’s with his debut album, Thinking About You. The big-sounding Thinking About You was released independently on Jerald’s own label Jazzestra Records, before making its way around the urban radio market in the …

Singer Alicia Olatuja’s mix of jazz, classical, gospel and pop brought national recognition for her performance at the Presidential Inauguration ceremony. It’s the “breath taking” voice of a classically trained, mezzo-soprano who has drawn the most critically acclaim notice since the inauguration. Originally from St. Louis Missouri, Olatuja is a …

Talk to any Atlantan of a certain age and they inevitably wax nostalgic about the mid-to-late 1990s – with good reason.  The city was simmering with soulful possibilities, creative verve overflowed and iconoclasts seemed to dwell on every block.   Jason Orr tapped into this energy and created the preeminent showcase …

In the beginning there was jazz. A deviation from the conservative pathway of European musical tropes, jazz was America’s original counterculture. Largely defined by the ingenuity of its artist, it found structure in a lack thereof, improvisation its blueprint. With such an inherent flexibility, jazz engaged many a strange bedfellow, …

It’s easy to take Alice Russell for granted. I realized that about halfway through her recent set at Yoshi’s in San Francisco, California. It was around this time that while fully engaged, I was growing comfortable within this auditory space. I was enjoying myself, of course, but my mind was …

Music saw singer/songwriter/producer, KEM, through the darkest moments in his life as a child, which is where his love of music began. After high school, his life took a downward turn, and he eventually found himself in and out of drug rehabilitation centers and homeless shelters. Music was his solace …

(the) avant-garde soulful Pianist/DJ/Producer delivers his lifetime of journeys to different musical ports in a concise package, seamlessly… transporting not just in genre but in emotion and spirit.” – Huffington Post I’m a half-Japanese, half-New Zealander musician, based in Los Angeles since 2008 after spending a decade in London. That’s …

Jazz was the first music Randy Brecker heard in his home, and says “bebop is at the root of everything.” While growing up in Philadelphia, he was exposed to a plethora of musical styles. Brecker relocated to New York in 1966, during what he calls “an exciting time!” He was …