In conjunction with radio42.com and rautemusik.fm jazz-not-jazz presents two hours of simply great music every Friday 19:00-21:00 UTC+1 (you don’t have to convert it for Germany…that’s Friday 13:00-15:00 in NYC, Friday 10:00-12:00 in San Francisco and Saturday 04:00-06:00 in Sydney). The links of the audio stream can be
found on radio42.com or rautemusik.fm (look for #Musik.Lounge there).

I hope you enjoyed the first part of The Struggle For Freedom, Jusitice and Equalitiy and are ready for the second part this Friday.
Again I think it’s best to let the music speak for itself so here’s just the playlist…and besides it’s warm and sunny out there so you certainly don’t want me to sit in front of my computer all day, do you?

O’Jays: Ship Ahoi
Tribe: What We Need
Max Roach: Driva’ Man (feat. Abbey Lincoln)
Monica Dillon: No
Maiuko: Different Wars
Blaze: Gonny Make It Work
Nina Simone: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack: Be Real Black For Me
McKoy Tyner: Hope
3 Generations Walking: Slavery
Will Downing: Come Together As One (Defenitive Club Mix)
Danny Madden: The Secret
Nick Holder: America Eats Its Young
Mike Grant: The Struggle Of My People (12″ version)
Carl Hancock Rux: Intro To Revolution (Roy Davis Jr Mix)
Cassio: Understand One Another (12″ version)
Ce Ce Rogers Someday (12″ version)

Evolution is of course the name of her CD. If you know jazz-not-jazz for a long time you know how impressed I was when I first heard her voice on the Organic Soul 3 compilation and then on a three track EP.
Watch this site for a review of Evolution coming soon and eventually an interview with Yewande as well. Meanwhile you can order her new CD and listen to some sound snippets at cdbaby.
By the way, on Yewande’s website there’s also a real media video of an inspiring performance of Rufus at Joe’s Pub.

If you haven’t got your copy of one of the most impressive soul albums in 2005 then go to your favourite record dealer tomorrow and buy Angela Johnson’s sophomore album Got To Let It Go. Meanwhile you can read what Angela has to say about her music.

Q: You’ve begun playing the piano at the tender age of four and at age nine you picked up the violin. With this resumé I’d rather expected that you would have tried to pursue a career as classical musician. What or who has influenced you to become a
singer/songwriter/producer?

Angela Johnson: I was brought up on Gospel and Soul/R&B long before I was introduced to classical music. The violin was a vehicle to get into school. I remember lots of times when I should have been practicing scales, I was at the piano writing songs. Becoming a songwriter was a natural progression for me. At the age of 4, I began making up songs. I’m not sure who I was influenced by other than my mother. I loved watching her play at the piano singing gospel.

Q: Please tell me how you met the other guys of Cooly’s Hot Box and how important was Cooly’s Hot Box for you to pursue your solo career?

Angela Johnson: Well, I met Christian and the rest of the crew in college. We were all music majors at the time. Cooly’s Hot Box definitely played an important role in my career. Not only in helping me to find my voice and talent as a writer and producer, but it helped me with my confidence on stage. I used to be terrified of being in front.

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Already released in 2001 Changamiré’s debut album Only Human is actually a little bit older but it hasn’t lost anything of its appeal and I just happened to discover it on the internet recently.
Changamiré doesn’t want to be pigeonholed hence she goes from jazz and torch songs to soul, pop and rock. All songs here are original compositions most of them written and produced by veteran musician Lincoln Ross. The whole album was executively produced by K.R. Fletcher, which is Changamiré’s real name.
The album starts with the lush strings of the title track Only Human, a fine torch song that evokes memories of days gone by and singers like Julie London. The wonderful string section can also be heard on It’s Over.
Other personal favourites include the midtempo soul of Ask Me How I Know and the soulful jazzy relaxed groove of 9 To 5, a song about the everyday working struggle to pay your bills.
Changamiré also gives us some food for thought with the beautiful ballad The Bag (“Do you really enjoy life/ That is ruled by strife?/ Can it ever be the way it was/ Before the damage was done?/ You don’t have to live your life/ Being on the run/ And living for a bag./ Life don’t come in no bag./ There is a solution to living for the bag.“) and the soul song The Key (”We’ve all been through so much/ And should reach out and touch someone/ Don’t let a soul be lost/ No matter what the cost/ It could happen to you or me/ How can we be so cold/ Strive to live as a family/ That’s the key“).
Songs like Days Go By, Together or When drift a little too much into pop-rock territory for my taste (something this album has in common with the Monique Debose album) but they show that Changamiré can easily handle different musical styles.
All in all a very pleasant debut record that makes me curious about the sophomore album Changamiré’s already working on with Lincoln Ross.

Tracklisting of Only Human: 1. Only Human/ 2. The Key/ 3. Ask Me How I Know/ 4. Days Go By/ 5. 9 To 5/ 6. Together/ 7. When/ 8. It’s Over/ 9. The Bag/ 10. Ask Me How I Know (Remix featuring Mista Forty) | released 2001 by K.R. Fletcher

For more infos visit whensunnygetsblue.com and cdbaby.com.

[If you want to discuss the Changamiré’s music, you can leave your comment below and also use the forum]

Congratulations George Clinton!
After a legal battle that lasted 12 years or maybe 15 years George Clinton finally has total control of his old Funkadelic records Hardcore Jollies, One Nation Under A Groove, Uncle Jam Wants You and The Electric Spanking Of War Babies.

In conjunction with Jon Freer from mosoul.co.uk jazz-not-jazz proudly presents two reviews from Jon and we will hopefully feature some more in the weeks to come.

Tru Thoughts continue their cheap-priced series with another choice serving of leftfield beats and soul-kissed offerings. Those familiar with the label will already know the drill, and for those that don’t, “Shapes” is a good place to start. The QSO’s pleading “Something That’s Real” goes to Bboy school and comes out in one piece, as Alice’s vocals drip soul over Nappa’s fattened beats and Life’s raping. “Do It” by UK Soul Goddess Alice Russell and Unforscene calls on love giving synths and a sprawling sax to persuade the listener to follow their desires. The most remarkable track on this CD is Scandinavian Disco don Prins Thomas’ Edit of Quantic’s “Mishaps Happening”, where the beats are given go faster stripes and guitars are seen through rose-tinted spectacles. Great value!

Tracklisting of Shapes Red: 1. Tm Juke - Knee Deep Feat. Alice Russell (Nostalgia 77 Treatment)/ 2. Kinny & Horne - Why Me/ 3. The Quantic Soul Orchestra - Something That’s Real (Nappa Mix Feat. Life & Mr. Thing)/ 4. Alice Russell - Do It Feat. Unforscene/ 5. Jumbonics - Slinger/ 6. Nirobi & Barakas - Partridge/ 7. Flevans - The Notion Feat. Sweet Laredo/ 8. Diesler - El Coco/ 9. Quantic - Mishaps Happening (Prins Thomas Edit)/ 10. Jumbonics - Jezebel (Diesler Remix)/ 11. Hint - The Tremmuh/ 12. Nostalgia 77 - The Hope Suite (Part 1) | released 2005 by Tru Thoughts

(for more infos visit tru-thoughts.co.uk)

The established Yellow imprint picks up the clutch of 12’s they put out under the ‘artofdisco’ banner and shoves them altogether onto one CD. There are some really cringeworthy vocal efforts, which appear alongside a heap of fine bassy belters and cuts where the artists have obviously taken a dip in an acid bath. Freeform Five call on Carolyn Harding to provide invigorating vocals on the dignified string laden “Strength”. The Tiefshwarz rub of DJTal’s “Digital Love” pits floor-pulling beats against polite keys and an all-powerful bassline. The Mighty Bop give us “Strip Tease”, where a drawn out drum solo gives way to an elasticated guitar groove and strange shape making synths. “Art Of Disco” ain’t a ‘disco’ affair in the Salsoul way, but does use this flamboyant form of music as its base.

Tracklisting of Art Of Disco: 1. Carolyn Harding/Freeform 5 - Strength/ 2. Blackjoy - Crumble Dub/ 3. Martino - 4:00am In The Morning (Putsch ‘79 remix)/ 4. Djtal - Digital World (Tiefschwarz remix)/ 5. Bang Bang - Shoot The Model (Teen remix edited by Shield)/ 6. Vince - Superworld/ 7. Alexander Robotnick - Dance Boy Dance (2003 version)/ 8. Bob Sinclair - Who Needs Sleep Tonight 2002 (feat Olgalyn Jolly)/ 9. Vince - Superworld (DJ T remix)/ 10. N & W - Randomizer/ 11. Blackjoy - Moustache/ 12. The Mighty Bop - Strip Tease/ 13. N & W - Analogue Acid/ 14. Massive Titties - The Sound/ 15. Accident In Paradise - Don’t Be Late/ 16. Bob Sinclair - Jeunesse Doree | released 2005 by Yellow Productions

(for more infos visit yellowproductions.net)

Nadir’s not your average musician. A fact all who have heard his recent album Distorted Soul 2.0 will surely confirm. And he’s one of the few artists out there that dare to have a political opinion and isn’t afraid about telling everybody. So it’s only naturally that his interview with jazz-not-jazz goes into political issues as well. But read for yourself:

Q: How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard of Nadir before?

Nadir: The music I create is called Distorted Soul. It is soul music that incorporates elements of hip-hop, rock, funk, folk, gospel and the blues. I really don’t like comparisons to other artists, but that seems to be the easiest way for people to think about it, so I would say a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone with ?uestlove from The Roots on drums. Or halfway between D’Angelo and Lenny Kravitz.

Q: Who has influenced your sound and made you want to become a musician?

Nadir: I come from a musical family. My mother plays piano in church and encouraged/forced me to sing in the choir at a very early age and I loved it. My brother played bass guitar and trumpet. Because I wanted to be like him, those were the first two musical instruments I picked up. I also have several cousins who are great musicians. One was in a band with Chuckii Booker and later played drums for Barry White. On two different trips to Los Angeles I got to hang out at rehearsals for both groups, and that made a deep impression on me.
In high school (age 14 or so) I became very serious about music. That’s around the time I started listening to Miles Davis, Prince, Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Clarke, The Time, Cameo, and many others and decided this is what I wanted to do with my life.

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In conjunction with radio42.com and rautemusik.fm jazz-not-jazz presents two hours of simply great music every Friday 19:00-21:00 UTC+1 (you don’t have to convert it for Germany…that’s Friday 13:00-15:00 in NYC, Friday 10:00-12:00 in San Francisco and Saturday 04:00-06:00 in Sydney). The links of the audio stream can be found on radio42.com or rautemusik.fm (look for #Musik.Lounge there).

Inspired from the Donny Hathaway and the Midnight Band songs from the last show this Friday you’ll hear part I of a three part series called The Struggle For Freedom, Jusitice and Equalitiy. There are some old chestnuts amongst the songs like Stevie’s Living For The City or Joe Smooth’s Promised Land but for me they fit into the context very well. This time I spare you lengthy comments on each song just listen to the lyrics and you’ll know what I mean. So here’s just the playlist:

Fertile Ground: Rise/Freedom
Donny Hathaway: To Be Young, Gifted And Black
Curtis Mayfield: Right On For The Darkness
Midnight Band: The Liberation Song
Stevie Wonder: Living For The City
Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes: Wake Up Everybody
Kofy Brown: A Day In The Life
Courtney Buchanan: R U Conscious (Soul Mix)
Leena Conquest: Boundaries (Full Length)
Terry Callier: Sierra Leone
McKoy: Fight (original 12″ version)
Young Disciples: Freedom (Free For All Mix)
Roy Ayers: Black Family
Me’shell NdegeOcello: Shoot’n Up And Gett’n High
Blaze: We All Must Live Together (12″ version)
Paris Brightledge: Learn To Love
Mr. Fingers: Can You Feel It (Spoken Words by Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Joe Smooth: Promised Land

only a mere two and a half hours until you can hear some good music online…

Dear friends of the good groove…finally here’s the contest that gives you the chance to win a copy of Defected In The House Eivissa 05 as already mentioned here.

In conjunction with Defected Records jazz-not-jazz.com will give away five copies of the CD.
All you have to do is send me the right answer to the following question and please include your full name and address for a valid entry.

What was Defected’s 100th release? (Yes, you have to name the whole lengthy name of the artist plus the title)

Sorry, folks…we already got five winners.

With more and more musicians going the independent road and releasing their music with no major labels involved you can hear more often what the artists’ real music sounds like and that is often a fusion of various styles that combines funk, soul and rock that can’t be pigeonholed. Take Yewande for example or Shayna Steele, Monique Debose or Nadir.
Nadir, pronounced Nay-deer, was born Curtis McFarlin but changed his name to Jonah Nadir Omowale. Nadir is Arabic meaning rare and unique and Omowale is Yoruba for child who has returned home. He started making music in Nashville, TN, but moved to Detroit, MI, in 1999 to boost his musical career and to do something other than country.
And something other is what we get on Distorted Soul 2.0. The music is always hand-made with real drums, guitars, rhodes, piano etc. and all songs were written or co-written by Nadir who also produced/co-produced the songs. There’s the vigorous funk-rock of Slave or Daddy’s Cane, the earthy soul of Fortune & Fantasy or SoulMate (two of my favourites songs here), or the midtempo funk of Sanctified. But Nadir can get smooth too with the slow groover All Over You or the impressive afro-brazilian influenced Queen Of Sheba.
Although can hear influences by Sly Stone, Lenny Kravitz, Isley Brothers, Tony Toni Tone and others in Nadir’s music he has really developed a sound and style of his own and Distorted Soul 2.0 is very different from what I’ve heard in a long time and that’s what makes this album special. With Nadir’s ability to fuse different music styles this album may not appeal to you at first listening and it may be a nightmare to any major label’s promotion department, who don’t know how to handle quality and multifaceted music, but don’t let that be your loss.

Tracklisting of Distorted Soul 2.0: 1. Prelude to Revolution/ 2. Slave/ 3. Daddy’s Cane/ 4. All Over You/ 5. Sanctified/ 6. Conspiracy (featuring Rev)/ 7. Leave It Alone/ 8. Evolution Is Revolution (featuring Iayaalis)/ 9. Fortune & Fantasy/ 10. The Low Road/ 11. SoulMate/ 12. Superstar (revisited)/ 13. Can’t Leave It Alone/ 14. Queen of Sheba/ 15. The Revolution is Now | released 2005 by Eclipse America Productions

For more infos visit distortedsoul.com and cdbaby.com and read an interview with Nadir here.

[If you want to discuss the Nadir’s music, you can leave your comment below and also use the forum]

As already mentioned here you’ll soon have the opportunity to listen to some of the records featured on this site. In conjunction with radio42.com and rautemusik.fm jazz-not-jazz presents two hours of simply great music every Friday 19:00-21:00 UTC+1 (you don’t have to convert it for Germany…and it would be Friday 13:00-15:00 in NYC, Friday 10:00-12:00 in San Francisco and Saturday 04:00-06:00 in Sydney). The links for the audio stream can be found on radio42.com or rautemusik.fm (look for #Musik.Lounge there).

And here’s the playlist with a few comments on each song because I’ve decided to do some talking between songs only on special occasions and this time it wasn’t one *grin*.

1. Fay Victor: Zootoon (from Darker Than Blue)

Since I have Fay Victor’s Darker Than Blue album in my collection Zootoon has become one of my all-time favourites (but please don’t ask me about the other thousand songs on this list). Simply a great original jazz by Fay and Jochem van Dijk and Fay’s voice is just impressive.

2. Teena Marie: I’m Gonna Have My Cake (And Eat It Too) (from Wild and Peaceful)

There are only a few ‘white’ singers that have made a lasting impression on me. One of them is Teena Marie. While I was disappointed with her recent La Dona album I still love every single one of her previous albums. From her debut album from 1979 comes this jazz song. One of the rare occasions where we can enjoy Teena on a straight jazz tune (Sunny Skies being the other opportunity).

3. Lois Deloatch: Reflection (from Closure)

An original composition by Lois from her second album and what a fine, timeless jazz tune it is. If you like this tune then you certainly want to check out the album.

4. Joanna Pascale: Give Me The Simple Life (from When Lights Are Low)

Talking about ‘white’ singers who impressed me…here’s another one. Joanna Pascale really knows how to handle a jazz song and has the rare gift to breathe new life into standards and covers like on this update of a Julie London song. Yeah, the best things are the simple ones, that’s why this website is so reduced to the necessary stuff *grin*.

5. Juliet Kelly Alive & Free (from Aphrodite’s Child)

Juliet is another female jazz singer who released a great album made of mainly originals a few years ago that somehow hadn’t the success it deserves. Hopefully this will change with Juliet’s new album that will contain self-written material only.

6. Carmen Lundy: Better Days (from Self Portrait)

Self Portrait was actually my first Carmen Lundy album. And what a revelation it was to hear her for the first time. I’ve soon purchased Good Morning Kiss and Moment To Moment and from then every new record. Unfortunately I’ve never saw a copy of her Night And Day album for CBS/Sony. So anyone who has a copy of it, please contact me! Better Days was written by Carmen herself and is simply excellent and one of the songs that can give you hope when you think nothing’s gonna work out the way you want.

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Just in case you’ve missed something last month, here are some highlights that were featured this May on jazz-not-jazz:

Do I really need this record after I’ve already bought the Keep Hope Alive album on King Street last year? I hear you say. Well, firstly congratulations on your good taste in music and secondly, yes, you will need this re-release on SuSu Records. The reason is that it’s more than a simple re-release. SuSu Records has licensed this record for a UK release and added a bonus disc which includes new remixes and previuosly unreleased songs. And everybody who’ve missed Blaze’s Underground Dance Artists United For Life (UDAUFL) project last year will need it anyway since the original disc still sounds great and the mission of UDAUFL to raise awareness of AIDS and supporting lifebeat.org will always be a worthwhile objective.
With this intention in mind Keep Hope Alive comes along as an update of 25 Years Later, the first Blaze (concept) album from 1990 on Motown.
While Blaze (then Chris Herbert, Kevin Hedge and Josh Milan) took care of the lead vocals themselves on 25 Years Later they invited the crème de la crème of house music singers to join them on Keep Hope Alive. The result is so much more than the average, formatted four-to-the-floor house track. Here we get modern uptempo soul sung by Barbara Tucker, Kenny Bobien, Arnold Jarvis, Joi Cardwell and others and every song has the potential to be released as a single. Like mentioned above you could’ve heard this already last year when Keep Hope Alive was released by King Street. But if you’ve missed this album then you shouldn’t hesitate now, because on the second disc you get two new songs (Stephanie Cooke’s What Makes The World Go Round and Blaze’s own Not Far Away) plus remixes like the Shrine Vocal Mix of the title song with Dawn Tallman on lead vocals. If that’s not enough for you then look for an 8 track vinyl release with more remixes including the Roots Extended Mix of Not Far Away and a Bobby & Stevie and James Radcliff remix of A Wonderful Place with Bah Samba’s Julian Bendall on keys and Nathan Haines on flute and sax.
2005 will hopefully the year of Blaze anyway with this great record, Most Precious Love becoming the hit it deserves to be in the Dennis Ferrer remix (included here on the second disc and also available on a 12″/CD-single) and the Soulheaven Presents Blaze album due on Defected.

Tracklisting of Keep Hope Alive:
Disc: 1
1. UDAUFL - Keep Hope Alive (Intro)/ 2. Kenny Bobien - Hiya Luv/ 3. Barbara Tucker - Most Precious Love/ 4. Ultra Naté - A Wonderful Place/ 5. Arnold Jarvis - Make The Time/ 6. UDAUFL - Keep Hope Alive (Interlude)/ 7. Byron Stingily/ 8. Joi Cardwell - Be Yourself/ 9. Blaze - We Are One/ 10. UDAUFL - Keep Hope Alive/ 11. UDAUFL - Keep Hope Alive (Outro)/
Disc: 2
1. UDAUFL ft. Dawn Tallman - Keep Hope Alive (Shrine Vocal Mix)/ 2. Blaze - Not Far Away (Shrine Vocal Mix)/ 3. Stephanie Cooke - What Makes The World Go Round/ 4. Ultra Naté - A Wonderful Place (Fanatix Remix)/ 5. Barbara Tucker - Most Precious Love (DF’s Future 3000 Mix)/ 6. Kenny Bobien - Hiya Luv (London Calling Remix)/ 7. Byron Stingily - Spread Love (Koki’s Saturday Night Fever Dub Mix)/ 8. Arnold Jarvis - Make The Time (Extended Mix)
released 2005 by SuSu Records

For more infos visit susumusic.com and kingstreetsounds.com.

[If you want to discuss the Blaze’s music, you can leave your comment below and also use the forum]