RECOMMENDED

If you’re between the ages of thirty and forty, you may have been conceived while your parents were listening to Canton, Ohio’s the O’Jays. Well, the O’Jays circa 1974. While the vocal troupe has recorded consistently since its inception during the waning moments of the sixties, last year releasing a Christmas-themed album, it was the disco age and efforts like the funk-cum-smoothed-out-dance-music on “Family Reunion” that marked the end of the group’s heyday. Surely, international touring helps keep up the band’s popularity. But if the O’Jays classic work is discussed, it’s the early seventies that are referenced. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Old Town School of Folk Music has been the stage for countless performances for its half-century existence, hosting concerts that run the gamut from Americana to folk-rock and world music and in the meantime giving lesser-known artists a chance to showcase their talents to appreciative audiences that might not be reached otherwise.

To celebrate this, the school is releasing a four-disc box set of recordings made during these shows—some made on the sound board and others captured during radio broadcasts. The full package includes as many as 127 songs that had to be individually cleared with each artist or their estates. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

Though labels have repeatedly attempted to bring this Italian pop singer and songwriter to mainstream audiences, Zucchero is still pretty much unknown stateside. However, he is considered a major superstar in Europe through his recorded canon and also because of his charitable efforts—for instance, he was the driving force behind the many Pavarotti & Friends shows that over the years brought together talents as diverse as B.B. King, Mariah Carey, Caetano Veloso, Liza Minnelli and Sting, to name a few. Read the rest of this entry »

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Musical quality is ensured when the rhythm section from Hepcat joins your group. At least, it’s been true for The Aggrolites, a SoCal quintet dedicated to vintage-sounding Jamaican music, swinging from rock steady derivations to latter-day Peter Tosh-styled rock-inflected compositions. Beginning life as a pick-up band serving at the pleasure of a variety of touring luminaries, Jesse Wagner and company founded the proper recording ensemble back in 2003 with an ode to skinhead dance music entitled “Dirty Reggae,” the name, perhaps, referring to the band’s penchant for American soul as much as Jamaican sounds. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

As a singer whose singles are as highly prized as his live performances, Lee Fields doesn’t boast the most sprawling back catalog of any vintage soul shouter. Instead, his recordings, slowly measured out over time, distill the steady advancement of a groove technician supremely engaged with wrenching the most emotion out of the minimal backing he’s associated with. Dishing out “Bewildered” in the late sixties, a song James Brown worked with almost a decade earlier, wasn’t a leap forward in the genre. Sharing a syncopated minimalism with the better-known vocalist followed for Fields. As much as any lone funky track can revel in a solitary musical idea, “She’s a Love Maker,” from Fields’ 1973 “Let’s Talk it Over” turns in a reasonably traditional backing track as the singer figures out one of his femme-conquests.

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Photo: Piper Ferguson

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Otis Redding might still be the most recognizable voice and face affiliated with Memphis’ Stax imprint, but there’s not another musician who better exemplifies the label’s sound than keyboardist Booker T. Jones. He, along with guitarist Steve Cropper, laid out the ground-work for later confluences of jazz, blues, funk and soul music as the main songwriters in Booker T. & the MG’s. Functioning as the Stax house band and backing up a wealth of singers, the MG’s slunk their way into the American consciousness for the better part of two decades. Read the rest of this entry »

Mavis Staples

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Saying goodbye to summer means a farewell to beaches, outdoor seating and, perhaps the saddest of all, festivals. Fear not! The Hideout is squeezing the last out of the festival fun with the return of its legendary block party after a two-year absence. Perhaps the most impressive element of the festival is the diversity of style of the artists. The ten-hour event is a variable platter of sound, and it all looks delicious.

Andrew Bird, the biggest name on the bill, will provide the intricate indie tunes he’s known for. Lofty soul calling your name? Mavis Staples and her syrupy low voice at your service. To take that one step further, Booker T. Jones will be around to inject some serious funk into said soul. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sure, the first Lettuce album was titled as a joke—“Outta Here.” The fact doesn’t lessen the music’s funky impact, though. Comprising a handful of players engaged with Soulive and any number of groove-related revival projects, Lettuce ranks as an enduring live act. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

The Rolling Stones, whether purposefully or just as a result of being lazy junkies, made use of more than a couple blues numbers, recasting the works as updated Brit-blues without paying or crediting the composers. Robert Johnson’s family eventually garnered a payday and Rev. Robert Wilkins collected a few dollars for “Prodigal Son,” which was a reworking of his “That’s No Way to Get Along.” Prior to the good Reverend getting the spirit, though, he was just a working bluesman, raising a family which included his son, John. Following a similar path as his father, the younger Wilkins began picking up on music before he was five years old. Acquiring a modicum of his father’s odd melodic ideas, most bizarrely wrought during the introduction to “I’ll Go With Her,” John gigged around eventually returning to the church and helmed Hunter’s Chapel, a congregation in Tate County, Mississippi. He’s been there for more than twenty years, but has still found the time to perform, making appearances at a wealth of blues festivals around the country. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

New Orleans-born Ledisi struggled to find her place in the music scene early in her career, but in recent years she has made a splash blending her straight-ahead jazz tendencies with neo-soul sensibilities.  She is equally comfortable as a lead vocalist with bands such as the Count Basie Orchestra (with whom she has appeared in several occasions), and as a bandleader.

On the title track of her latest disc “Pieces of Me,” she sings about a woman who has reached a certain point of her maturity and is finally able to put the pieces together. The arrangement is solid, based mostly on piano, percussion and vocals—keeping it simple to get the message across. The tune was co-written with Claude Kelly, a songwriter who has previously worked with the likes of “American Idol” alums Carrie Underwood and Fantasia.

On a live format, Ledisi exudes confidence and charisma. Her vocal chops—honed from an early age, when she began performing with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra—are pretty powerful. She leads an excellent backing group, which includes musicians of various backgrounds. (Ernest Barteldes)

June 17 at The Music Experience, 1959 1/2 E 73rd, (773)493-0154, 6:30pm.