Category Archives: Feeding The Music Jones

Stop the Presses! Did Maxwell Tweet the Track List for The New Album?

27 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones, Music News, Upcoming Album Releases

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Update: The press conference went down in NYC yesterday and Butta of SoulBounce was front and center. Check out her flicks from the event.

Get ready to send some hateration and holleration her way because yes, she did meet him up close and personal!

Of course you know she has live video. Check it out!

On Saturday afternoon, while most everyone was out playing in the sunshine, very quietly, without pretense, Maxwell tweeted what appears to be the tracklist for his upcoming album, Black Summer’s Night. You should already know it will be in stores on July 7th. But I, my friends, shall be getting a sneak peek at the Essence Music Festival. Hate on haters! 🙂

According to his tweets, on Friday,  he was headed to master the album. Then the next day he just randomly tweeted several titles in a row. I was confused until I saw “Pretty Wings.” It had to be the track list!

  1. Phoenix Rise
  2. Playing Possum
  3. Help Somebody
  4. Fistful of Tears
  5. Stop the World
  6. Love You
  7. Pretty Wings
  8. Cold
  9. Bad Habits

TOO Short and sweet, yet intriguing!

For those skeptical susies out there, I can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that it really is Maxwell tweeting. Can’t say how but Viv wouldn’t steer you wrong.

So it looks like we may be able to give our collective side eyes a much-needed rest. I think it will really happen this time. Looks like we will have a lot of little Maxie’s, Baracks, Michelles, Sashas and Malias making their debuts April 2010!

Stay tuned to SoulBounce (Did they catch swine flu on Spring Break or something? Nova does have a love jones for bacon. Just sayin.) to eventually get up close and personal coverage of the press conference for the album going down at Sony tomorrow.

Also, the video for “Pretty Wings” is completed and will be streamed here.

Note: I can’t confirm that this is the order the tracks will appear on the album. I’m just listing in the order he tweeted. I personally don’t care if  it went  B, C, A, F, D. Just as long as I see something on July 7th. Mmkay?

It’s Essensual That You See Omar in Concert

23 Thursday Apr 2009

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones, Let's Rock: Concert Reviews

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You know it ain’t nothing but a thang for me to travel up and down the East Coast to see Omar perform. When the “godfather of British soul,” comes stateside, I come a-running. I was hanging with some people before the show and one asked, “Do you really have to go to this show?” After my head stopped spinning around on my neck I basically said, “Nothing but death can keep me from it.”

It was my first time actually seeing him perform in DC. I’ve driven to Philly and even down to Raleigh, NC. DC shows Omar major love. The venue was packed and people were pressed to be as close as they could to absorb the energy from Omar and the band.

You can see from my cheese-eating grin up there that the set was outstanding as usual.He performed about ten songs, a few of them from his latest album, Sing If You Want It. However, most of the sets featured classic tunes like “There’s Nothing Like This,” “Little Boy,” “Essensual,”  “This Is Not a Love Song,” the Roy Ayers cover, “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” and the William Devaughn cover of “Be Thankful (For What You Got). He would have been up there all night if he would have performed the tracks folks were calling out from the crowd. His repertoire is just that deep.

Here are a few videos from the show. As always, the entire show is on the You Tube channel for your viewing pleasure.

My theme song, “Music,” (I live for the music too, Omar)

Little Boy

Essensual

No word on when Omar will release a follow up to Sing If You Want It, but if you’re feenin for new flavor, head over to his official website and listen to a snippet of a new track, “When You Touch.” Love it. I can see the crowd dancing with wild abandon when he starts performing this one at shows.

Meeting him afterwards, I told him how I had traveled far and wide to see him perform and that he needed to come stateside more often. He was genuinely grateful for the support and promised to do so. So if and when he comes to your area, it’s essensual that you have your face in the place.

Underrated Soul Singer Spotlight: Debórah Bond

21 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones, Underrated Artist Spotlights

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I vividly remember the first time I saw DC-based songstress Debórah Bond perform live. It was back around 2004 and I was just starting to sporadically attend live shows. I was at a spot called Takoma Station and she performed several songs from her debut album, Day After. I was so enraptured by her performance that I immediately copped her album after the show, something I rarely did back then, and got her to sign it. As we chatted and I shared how much I enjoyed the show, I noticed her warm and genuine energy as she wrote a simple note thanking me for supporting the music.

Now, some five years later,  in anticipation of the release of her second album (of original material), I truly have a platform where I can tell the hundreds of people that stop through here daily to support the music of this underrated female soul singer.

The Connecticut native  cites her early musical influences as The Eurythmics, Janet and Michael Jackson (no Tito?), and Loose Ends. She studied the vocal stylings of Anita Baker, Sade and and Chaka Khan and their spirits are very much present in her live performances. 

With her band, Third Logic, she released DayAfter in 2003.  AfterDay followed three years later, which was an album mixed by DJ Stylus and featuring a cast of uber talented producers. From what I can hear, this is a must own. I should have copped it when I saw it at Moods Music.

Deborah has shared the stage with acclaimed artists such as Julie Dexter, Dwele, Mint Condition, Rahsaan Patterson, Ledisi and Omar. In other words, artists that wouldn’t allow no mess on their stage so you know she is the truth!

Still don’t believe me? Check out some video of some live performances.

Recently, here in DC, she warmed up the crowd before Omar took the stage (review coming this week). Check out her cover of Soul II Soul’s“Keep On Movin.'”

Here are two songs from her album DayAfter.

“Love’s Been Waiting”

Recently released official video for her hit song, “See You in My Dreams.” You may have seen this one on BETJ.

 Find out more about Debórah and her upcoming project at her official website. Meanwhile, support her past projects and those of other underrated artists that appear on this site and those right over there —-> on the blogroll.

photo credit: Debórah on Facebook.

Rewind Selector: Raheem Devaughn Performing at Bilal Show

15 Wednesday Apr 2009

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones, Let's Rock: Concert Reviews

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You’ll be seeing a lot of “rewind selectors” here in the coming weeks as I’ve discovered a ton of concert videos that I never uploaded to the You Tube channel and shared with you.

As you know, I spent Valentine’s night stanning for Bilal. He rolled solo that night, sans his back up singers. Raheem Devaughnwas in the house and all too happy to rock with “one of the most talented muhfuckers in the game.”

He helped Bilalout on backing vocals for a few songs and then took the stage and freestyled over “White Turns to Grey,” the panty-dropper on his lost album, Love for Sale.

Rah, you’re doing it right here. Cut the crap and get back on task. And did I hear mention of he and Bilal on tour? Well, we would need to get an album from Bilal first of course. Imagine that. 0_O

I wasn’t in the mood to play Mata Hari that night so I actually obeyed the no recording rule for the most part. Besides, I’m a lover not a fighter at heart. Other than capturing Raheem, I only pulled the camera out to get the end of what turned out to be the last song. Sound problems on the venue’s janky system brought about an abrupt end to “Make Me Over,” which Bilal soulfully mixed with “Planet Rock.”

Stay tuned for a mini-review with video of Omar in concert. If you’re in DC and missed this one for no good reason, I don’t really get you.

Also get ready to go inside the artist’s studio with Erik Rico. You don’t want to miss this cat preaching the gospel of industry rule number 4080.

Jazz 101: Become an True Aficionado

13 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones

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Last week, I put out the call and it was answered big time.

As a jazz music virgin of sorts, I asked the connoisseurs to introduce me to the pivotal artists, songs, and albums that define this thing we call “jazz.”

The knowledge-dropping started in the comments with outstanding suggestions from two people whose musical acumen I have come to deeply respect and admire, DJ Stylus and T Grundy of Rhythms in Black Satin.

T Grundy took the discussion to a broader audience on Twitter, where folks have been weighed in all last week with the music that has been integral to their journey as true jazz fans. He then went on to create the first of two Jazz 101 podcasts, which was the perfect writing soundtrack for this piece.

Along with excellent commentary and suggestions on what it is to know and love jazz, he created a masterful mix that I have since listened to twice. I have now moved Oliver Nelson, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Nancy Wilson, and Herbie Hancock to the top of my list of jazz artists I need to study.

I particularly appreciated his suggestion of one way to get started with jazz appreciation is to choose your favorite instrument and then start listening to and collecting the music of the seminal artists who play that instrument.

Here are his personal favorites:

  • Trumpet: Miles Davis [more]
  • Saxophone: John Coltrane [more]
  • Guitar: Wes Montgomery [more]
  • Vibraphone: Lionel Hampton [more]
  • Big Band: Count Basie [more]
  • Drums: Max Roach [more]
  • Keyboards: Duke Ellington & Herbie Hancock [more]

Since my first loves are the guitar, sax and the drums, I’ll definitely be looking into the music by the artists he suggests. However, in terms of where I’ll start the next time I go digging (which I think I’ll do for my upcoming birthday), it will definitely be with albums by John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Every single Trane  and Miles song or collaboration I hear resonates with me deeply and thus represents a gaping hole in my music collection.

I’ll be sure to share my acqusitions here.

Meanwhile for those not on Twitter, let me share some of the fruits of our discussion. Here are some tracks mentioned that should be added to any “Jazz 101 Starter Kit”:

  • Thelonius Monk: “Blue Monk”
  • Wayne Shorter: “Juju”
  • Freddie Hubbard: “Open Sesame”
  • Billie Holiday: “Strange Fruit”
  • Louis Armstrong: “I Cover the Waterfront” 
  • Charlie Bird Parker: “The Bird” 
  • Lester Young: “D.B. Blues” and “These Foolish Things”
  • Ramsey Lewis: “The In Crowd”
  • Charles Earland “More Today Than Yesterday”
  • Cannonball Adderley“Somethin Else”
  • Andy Bey “Tuesdays in Chinatown” and “Shades of Bey”
  • McCoy Tyner “What the World Needs Now”
  • Blossom Dearie “My Gentleman Friend”

Other artists mentioned were Bob James , Ornette Coleman, and Jackie McClean.

So if you’re looking for musicians and songs to get you started, take a listen to the ones listed here and those included on the RIBS Jazz 101 podcast.  Need to research discographies for some of the artists listed here, visit the Jazz discography website before you go digging. You can also look up jazz standards, or the most well-known (to some!) songs within the genre.

I know jazz isn’t everyone’s “thing” so I appreciate those of you kept an open mind and read this post anyway. I’ve talked before about how I’m going to start spending more time with the classics in order to become an more informed “music critic.” I want to be able to recognize the influences as I enjoy a lot of the jazz fusion and subgenres  that are more popular today.  While you’re rocking to Brand New Heavies, Jazzanova, Lalah Hathaway, or The Roots, what you’re hearing can likely be traced back to a sound created by someone right up there.

Get into this!