HVW8 (or Heavyweight if you want to avoid acronyms) is a three man art collective hailing from Montreal/Canada. The approach of Gene Pendon, Tyler Gibney and Dan Buller towards their art is different from most painters. They like to paint live in front of other people and take away the mysterious nimbus of the creative process one normally never sees when a painting is created. “We approach things the same way a DJ would if he were remixing, but instead doing audio, we’re painting,” says Tyler Gibney. Their art “pays respect to the past, but it’s also fused with familiar aspects of hip-hop or drum ‘n’ bass. It’s like how producers sample old shit but then remix it for today.”
The compilation Music Is My Art is an extension of HVW8’s work showing their multifaceted musical influences of hip hop, soul, electronic and house with most of the tracks being exclusives.
Being not the biggest fan of hip hop (well, I’ve mentioned it on various occasions on this website) I rather skip these songs although I must admit that the underground feeling of Radio City’s The Hop does appeal to me. But there are more than enough fine songs that make this compilation worthwile. Take the soulful Blue Jay by Owusu And Hannibal for example, a tune somewhere between Amp Fiddler and Dwele.
Plantlife’s Your Love take us into P-Funk territory while John Arnold presents a tasty breakbeat/funk clone with Rise Up.
Blue Miles is a relaxed electro-soul inspired song with soothing vocals by Lindsay Caldwell.
Steve Spacek adds his vocal magic to Kingbread’s sparse instrumented modern soulsong It’s Alright, which wouldn’t be out of place on a Vikter Duplaix’ release.
Yam Who?, who are famous for their remixes for musicians like N’Dambi, Raphael Saadiq or Alison Crockett, team up with Christian Fontana to give us the great disco-funk inspired track Wrap U Up. With nearly nine minutes this is a sure dancefloor winner.
Osunlade’s Tambores Te Llaman is a future late night favourite with its percussion driven groove, trumpet and flute graced by spoken words. One of my favourite spoken words artist, Rich Medina, closes the album with Uptown.
Music Is My Art is an eclectic compilation and a cornucopia of good music and new artists for the musically open-minded listener.

Tracklisting of Music Is My Art: 1. Blade Spade - To Serve With Love/ 2. Radio City feat. Bajka - The Hop/ 3. Owusu and Hannibal - Blue Jay/ 4. Plantlife feat. Dena Deadly - Your Love/ 5. John Arnold w/Paul Randolph - Rise Up/ 6. Seiji - Bruqwah/ 7. DJ Language w/Lindsey Caldwell - Blue Miles/ 8. Kingsbread feat. Steve Spacek - It’s Alright/ 9. J-Boogie w/ Crown City Rockers - Higher/ 10. Ohmega Watts feat. Othello - Long Ago/ 11. Yam Who? Feat. Christian Fontana - Wrap You Up/ 12. Osunlade - Tambores Te Llaman/ 13. Rich Medina - Uptown | released 2005 Ubiquity Recordings

For more infos visit ubiquityrecords.com and hvw8.com.

[If you want to discuss this record, you can leave your comment below and also use the forum]

Just discovered this on the Underground Soul forum in someone’s signature…unfortunately Michael Penn is right when it comes to the mainstream market.

Finally the Original Soundtrack for Legends Of The Underground Mark de Clive-Lowe mentioned in his interview with jazz-not-jazz will be released on September 15th, 2005.
Legends Of The Underground is a theater production which combines dance, music and 3D animation in a live show. “It’s a trilogy and we did one part of the trilogy. They must have had about thirty dancers, European classical dancers, some breakers from Korea, jazz dancers from England, some Dutch kids and many other kinds,” Mark said in an interview with dancemusic.about.com. “They had all the dancers and then a 3D animation which was going out at the same time, and then our ridiculous cinematic afro- cosmic broken soundtracks going on.”
Seiji from Bugz In The Attic was asked to create a soundtrack for the performance and he in turn invited Mark de Clive-Lowe, Domu, Bembe Segue and Rasiyah to join him on the project. For fans of said musicians this must be a wild West London wet dream come true.
“It was the first time in a while for me that I was able to work on something where we had free reign to do whatever we wanted,” Mark de Clive-Lowe says. “No consideration for singles, DJs, radio play, anything - it was purely about creating sonic art that would help tell the story and inspire the dancers. I hear it as one of the great jazz fusion projects of our time - 2005’s answer to the classic jazz fusion of the 70s.”
The question is does this album work without the pyrotechnic dance show? Yes, it works very well on its own. Certainly the mainly instrumental tracks like Introduction, The Devine Room or The Gathering Part II will benefit when played on stage with the interaction of dancers and 3D animation. But the three full vocal songs The Gathering Part I, The Scrolls & The Gift and Paradise Garden make more than up for that. Especially Paradise Garden with inspiring vocal input by Bembé Segué and Rasiyah and additional musicians like Dave Okumu (guitar), Finn Peters (flute, sax) and Claus Toft (congas) is a great melange of broken beats, funk and jazz with nine minutes length of time; worth the album’s price alone. The Dark Room acts as a short introduction for Anarchite City, a raw, hard hitting techno/electro track. In fact, this one’s a little bit too noisy for my taste but judging it in the context it’s a fitting climax for this soundtrack.
Overall this album is a very interesting offer of what happens when musicians just let flow the creative juices.

Tracklisting of Original Soundtrack: 1. Introduction/ 2. The Divine Room/ 3. The Gathering Part I/ 4. The Gathering Part II/ 5. The Scrolls & The Gift/ 6. Paradise Garden/ 7. The Dark Room/ 8. Anarchite City | released 2005 Kindred Spirits

For more infos visit kindred-spirits.nl, rushhour.nl, bugzintheattic.net, markdeclivelowe.net and legendsoftheunderground.com.

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

I’m sure Shaun Escoffery needs no introduction to regular visitors of jazz-not-jazz because I’ve included reviews of his records and collaborations constantly over the years. See the reviews for his albums Shaun Escoffery and Soulonica and the reviews for the 12″ singles Let It Go and the Urban Vinyl EP and Shaun’s collaboration with Yolanda Charles here and here.
Finally Shaun is back under his own name on Oyster Music with the Move Into Soul EP. This time Shaun and producer Geoffrey Williams, both were also responsible for the famous Space Rider, decided to add their personal touch to some of soul music’s greatest songs. “It’s a dream project. I get to work with Shaun, which is a joy; I get to have a go at recreating some of my favourite tunes from masters such as Stevie, Marvin et al, and I get paid for it! I’m a lucky man,” says Geoffrey. “We’re not trying to please everyone, we’re doing what feels good & right to us. Hopefully you’ll like what comes out. It’s all an experiment and Shaun sounds amazing in all the tracks we’ve done so far.”
This EP is an appetizer for Shaun’s forthcoming Move Into Soul album. If the four songs on the EP are an indicator of what we can expect from the album than Shaun and Geoffrey will deliver a very strong album. We all know the songs and the original versions by Gladys Knight & The Pips/Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Timmy Thomas and Nina Simone (well, at least every soul music fan should know them…so if you don’t please do your homeworks) but it’s impressive to hear Shaun adding his own meaning to the songs while retaining the original spirits. I especially like the way I Heard It Through The Grapevine starts with an impressive intro of keys and strings that don’t reveal you’re listening to a cover version until Shaun starts singing. And it’s Shaun’s voice that can give you goose pimples by the way he sings the opening lines on Why Can’t We Live Together or by the way he re-interprets Feeling Good as a mellow soul song. Even if you don’t like the idea of remakes you should give this EP a try. Be prepared to hear something amazing.

Tracklisting of Move Into Soul: 1. I Heard It Through The Grapevine/ 2. A Change Is Gonna Come/ 3. Why Can’t We Live Together/ 4. Feeling Good | released 2005 Oyster Music

For more infos visit oystermusic.com and shaunescoffery.co.uk.

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

Although Geoffrey Williams had already released four albums under his own name and wrote and prodcuced for artists like Michael Jackson, Shaun Escoffery, Valerie Etienne or Charlotte he’s still an artist that has yet to be discovered by most people. Hopefully his new single release Somewhere On A Beach and his production for Shaun Escoffery’s new album due soon on Oyster Music will help him to get wider recognition.
In its original version Somewhere On A Beach is already a deep and summer flavoured uptempo song but it’s Phil Asher’s Restless Soul Mix that’s the winner here for me. With additional keys by Mark de Clive-Lowe and guitar by Chris Franck this is destined to become a late summer favourite amongst DJs who like it soulful and deep.

Tracklisting of Somewhere On A Beach: 1. Phil Asher’s Restless Soul Mix/ 2. Original/ 3. Restless Soul Instrumental | released 2005 Oyster Music

For more infos visit oystermusic.com and geoffreywilliamsmusic.com.

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

Judging from Si*Se’s new 12″ single More Shine it is really a pity that I’ve missed their self-titled debut album on Luaka Bop in 2003. Their music is very interesting combining hip-hop beats with Latin rhythms, electronic music and soul. More Shine in its album version is an inspiring midtempo song with warm keys, captivating strings and on top Carol C’s smooth and soulful voice. Carol C’s and Justin Filmer’s remix on the flipside adds lots of percussion to the song making it more suitable for dancefloors and giving it a stimulating Latin twist. The Ursula 1000 Remix, finally, turns More Shine into a downtempo winner. Watch out for Si*Se’s album More Shine released on September 27th.

Tracklisting of More Shine: 1. Album Version/ 2. Instrumental/ 3. A Capella/ 4. Carol C./Justin Filmer Remix/ 5. Ursula 1000 Remix | released 2005 Fuerte Records

For more infos visit fuertegroup.com and giantstep.net.

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

Courtesy of Jon Freer from mosoul.co.uk here are seven reviews (sorry no cover shots or tracklistings this time):

Martin Brew – Remixes EP (Fat City)

Fat City’s sole artist on their roster gets a hefty kick up the backside from Platinum Pied Piper Waajeed and electro daddy Greg Wilson. Wilson has really comes up with the goods here, turning “Galactico” from a first division Discoid floorfiller into championship winning highlight of the night material. Greg manages this with his use of clearly thinking beats, FX rays and a neat groove carved out by playful keys and a sturdy bass. Waajeed provides two eccentric takes on “Mean Old Devil”, a vocal and instrumental version, which both move along in a similar fashion, thanks to drunken keys, hopping drums and a laugh-inducing bass.

Bakura – Remixes EP (Especial)

After what seems like an age getting his album revisited by an all star cast, DJ Mitsu The Beats gets his chance as reconstructor, providing a couple of reinterpretations for the productive Domu’s Bakura project. Mitsu tackles “Thinking About”, where happy go lucky keys, all smiles bass and gurgling synths back sliced singing on the voiced remix. His instrumental rerub gives more weight to the beats and bass, whilst Domu himself can’t resist giving “Bada” the subby space bass treatment. Recloose touches up “Lately”, where ska-type brass pushing, nervy strings and anticipating vocals are blown out the water by a West London influenced bassline.

Hajime Yoshizawa – Music From The Edge Of The Earth Sampler (Especial)

“Music From The Edge Of The Earth” is to be Hajime’s third longplayer and the sampler shows his love for jazz inflected music from across the spectrum. “Keep It Movin’” watches ostentatious strings and cosmonautic keys team up behind Face’s strength-giving vocals. “Waltz For Jason” gives the sax player named in the title free reign over supporting keys and jumbled percussion. “Behind The Sunshine” contains bright and breezy guitar work, and blissed vocals, which could only be the product of Hajime teaming up with Chris Frank and Nina Miranda, who provided the melody and vocals for Yoshizawa’s magical “I Am With You” a couple of years ago. Lastly, Vanessa Freeman joins for “Sweet Way”, where flashy synths and pushy keys back her positive vocals.

Manoo & Francois A – Traffic EP (Buzzin’ Fly)

Ben Watt’s Buzzin’ Fly imprint keep to their tradition of releasing top quality yet broadly appealing House, with this fat EP from the Lyon based duo Manoo and Francois A. A rump shaking bassline, flinching string stabs and absent minded keys guarantee that the “Traffic” will increase on the dancefloor when this record is dropped. “The Deep” offers hypnotic synths sweeps, which hoover up the mess made by an out of sorts bassline and half-baked keys.

Louie Vega feat. Raul Midon – Cerca De Mi (Wagon Cookin’ Remixes)(Lovemonk)

Brazilian based chefs and musical concoctors with a love of Latiny House delights, Wagon Cookin’ were a logical choice to give “Cerca De Mi” a new garnishing. The ‘Contingo Mix’ sees Roy Ayers style jazzzz vibraphone work lie across groovacious guitars and steady drumming. Patted down beats, flute yelps and sweetened vocals meet on the Wagon Cookin’ ‘Mix’, whilst their Dub is a tougher affair, with an obese slurping bass and delusional synthified brass action.

Robert Strauss – Empire Strikes Back EP (Freerange)

This EP has plucked some of the choice moments from Strauss’ full length CD debut and given them a 12″ vinyl outing. “Empire Strikes Back” sees Brassmunk and Chris Rouse provide a sweet vocal duet over a rattling bass, lifted synths and non-stop dancing keys. Middlefield provide an exclusive refit of the title cut, where the beats and vocals are cut with a pair of shears, as sireny synthetics and a frowning bass ride the new terrain. “Ouija” is a pat/tap percussive piece, with unhappy brass, flowery synths and West London style spoken vocals, whilst “Miracles” places sunshine keys over rough guitar work and lazy beats.

Slam feat. Dot Allison – Kill The Pain (Soma)

Ontario based Marc Houle gives “Kill The Pain” a twisted teched out treatment. Precise beats, devastating keys and giddy synths do the work on both Houle’s impressive vocal and dub rehashes. The angelically stringed original comes in both vocal and instrumental form, whilst the oddly percussed Smoke dub of “Bright Lights Fading” also makes an appearance.

Juliet Kelly sings “I’ve got a secret, I’m gonna share it” on the album’s opener Secret. Right now Juliet Kelly and her music may be the biggest secret to most jazz listeners, not to readers of this website of course. They will remember my interview with Juliet and my review for her debut album in which I’ve predicted that “Aphrodite’s Child really sounds like a very promising start.” Well, I wasn’t wrong. Juliet’s sophomore album Delicious Chemistry shows her growth as singer and songwriter and sees her surpassing herself. Delicious Chemistry has a more coherent sound and feeling than its predecessor. While Aphrodite’s Child includes two cover versions Juliet relies solely on her own strength as songwriter this time and recorded eleven original compositions. Plus she replaced the piano in the classic jazz trio setting of piano, bass and drums, she used on her debut, with Carl Orr on guitar and included much more guest musicians than on her debut. Thus Delicious Chemistry broadens the boundaries of jazz music with its earthier and sometimes folksy sound which fits perfectly to Juliet’s rich voice and her introspective and at times sad lyrics. While Aphrodite’s Child saw Juliet celebrating the joy of love on songs like Love Can Change Your Life or When You Believe In Love this time we hear her reflecting on the dark and bitter side of love. The title track, Delicious Chemistry, finds her yearning for someone who’s a little bit reluctant to commit to her. The bowed bass by regular band member Tom Barlow emphazises the longing to good effect.
One of my favourite song is Alone Again, a song which finds Juliet lamenting about being left alone and trying to get her life back on track (”Alone again/ Waking each morning/ When the cold hand of fear grabs and twists you inside/ This pain will end, Someday there’ll be laughter again“). Listen carefully to Roger Beaujolais’ fine performance on vibes here.
Another musically and lyrically deep song comes with Searching For Clues, a great song with Kate Williams on piano and Omar Puente on violin, that sees Juliet questioning her life so far and looking for a meaning (”It’s been so long since my direction was clear/ Now all the signs disappeared/ Right at the start, felt I was guided/ But now it’s dark, Blue skies have turned to grey/ When will I truly fins my way“).
Letting You Go seems like the sequel to Delicious Chemistry with Juliet’s discarding the longed-for-lover she has waited for too long. Seb Rochford’s drum solo corresponds flawlessly to the vocalist’s inner strife on this track.
There’s also Juliet’s look on the spiritual side of life on the slow and soulful Unicorn Dreams or Parallel Universe.
Maybe the most traditional jazz song on this album is Juliet’s tribute to the late Nina Simone, Black Rose, which features Omar Puente on violin and Courtney Pine on saxophone.
Actually all eleven songs on offer are stunning and Juliet’s singing is always heartfelt and inspiring. In a nutshell Delicious Chemistry is one of the most innovative, personal and moving jazz records I have heard in ages.

Tracklisting of Delicious Chemistry: 1. Secret/ 2. Delicious Chemistry/ 3. I Wish You Love/ 4. Unicorn Dream/ 5. Alone Again/ 6. Behind Her Smile/ 7. Parallel Universe/ 8. Searching For Clues/ 9. Letting You Go/ 10. Guardian Angel/ 11. Black Rose | released 2005 Chantiko/Juliet Kelly

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

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

A few days ago I told you what a good debut album Get Away by the Soul Movement is. Since they are a relatively new founded band a few questions arose that were gladly answered by the band’s spokesperson Luke Bass. So keep on reading the jazz-not-jazz interview and learn more about the Soul Movement.

Q: Please tell me how and why the Soul Movement was founded. Which musical vision do the members of the band share?

Luke Bass: Singer Sunta Africa had just released a neo-soul album and her producer was looking for a band to back her for live shows. Among the musicians recruited was a local young talented guitar/flute player Sarah G. As well as learning tracks off Sunta’s album the band began to write their own material. After playing a local club, the group, then named Sunta Africa and the Nu Life band, caught the eye of a local producer/bassist Luke Bass. After about a month of jamming at Red White and Black Studios, Luke introduced the band to a very handsome horn player who also proved to be a talented MC and keyboard player ( Afro Dz Ak). Encompassing a wide array of musical backrounds and tastes, members of Soul Movement share a vision of a positive creative soul vibe.

Q: How would you describe your sound and who has influenced you?

Luke Bass: We like to consider it non-commercial music with mass appeal. We can be decribed as : urban R&B, positive soul, diverse, groove, neo-alternative, like pink lemonade: cool, smooth and refreshing, and funky soul hop. Our influences include Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Sublime, Sade, Common, Herbie Mann, and Lauryn Hill…these lists could go on and on.

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With nine albums under her belt Nnenna Freelon has an impressive oeuvre since her first self-titled album was released in 1992 by Columbia. But it wasn’t until 1998 that I discovered Nnenna and her music when I bought a copy of her fifth album, Maiden Voyage, and soon I began to buy her back catalogue and all the records that followed. So you may argue that I may be a little bit biased when it comes to Nnenna but if you listen to her music and especially to her new album Blueprint Of A Lady and her Stevie Wonder tribute Tales Of Wonder you will discover her great talent to take a song and tranform it into something new and making it her own. What was already impressive on Tales Of Wonder finds its sequel on the new tribute album to the unforgotten Billie Holiday.
This album evolved from a larger multimedia project she did with Ronald K. Brown and his NYC-based ensemble, Evidence , entitled Blueprint of a Lady: The Once and Future Life of Billie Holiday. “I was having dinner with Ron and telling him how much I loved and admired Billie Holiday and talking about my dreams of doing a tribute to her. His concept was more along the lines of expressing through the body the impact she had on all of us. That project became a three-part collaboration of live band, dancers and video, with each of us expressing our own interpretation of what it means to be an artist, to tell your own story,” says Freelon. “It was an experimental venture with Billie as touchstone. We all pulled our inspiration from her.”
So you think you know all the cover songs on Blueprint and this is just another cover album? Well, think again and just listen to Nnenna’s version of I Didn’t Know What Time It Was for example. With trumpets, saxophones and lots of percussion this tune is turned into a vivid latin jazz song.
One of my favourite songs is Don’t Explain. The cello solo at the song’s beginning and ending gives it a great sad feeling.
God Bless The Child sees its inspiring resurrection as soul jazz tune with Nnenna ad-libbing at the beginning.
The always haunting Strange Fruit is sung in a medley with the Latin inspired Willow Weep For Me while All Of Me is recorded with a reggae beat.
Left Alone is a song Billie Holiday had written with Mal Waldron but actually she has never ever recorded it. In 1961 Abbey Lincoln did the first vocal version of this tune. Nnenna’s version is a fine slow jazz version giving Brandon McCune room for showing his piano skills. And it’s Brandon who accompanies as sole musician Nnenna on her moving performance of Balm In Gilead.
With more captivating songs like Them There Eyes, Lover Man or Nnenna’s own Only You Will Know this is an impressive album that lets you forget that you’ve heard most of the songs dozen times before. What’s so inspiring about Blueprint Of A Lady is that all the songs just seem to flow naturally out of Nnenna and her musicians. There’s nothing exerted about it like someone trying to sound originally by hook or by crook.

Tracklisting of Blueprint of a Lady - Sketches of Billie Holiday: 1. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was/ 2. What a Little Moonlight Can Do/ 3. Don’t Explain/ 4. God Bless the Child/ 5. Strange Fruit/6. Willow Weep for Me/ 7. Balm in Gilead/ 8. Them There Eyes/ 9. Only You Will Know/ 10. You’ve Changed/ 11. Now or Never/ 12. Lover Man/ 13. Left Alone/ 14. Little Brown Bird (Interlude)/ 15. All of Me | released 2005 Concord Jazz

For more infos visit nnenna.com and concordrecords.com.

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

Unfortunately the rautemusik.fm audio stream is still not working so there won’t be a jazz-not-jazz radio show this Friday. Rautemusik’s information politics aren’t the best and they simply blame it on massive hardware failures. But there are rumours that they’re just looking for a new sponsor. Let’s just hope the best!

There are times when I really love this website. Not only does it provide me with a possibility to tell the world about quality music but from time to time it also gives me the chance to get in contact with musicians or bands I’m a fervent fan of for many years. Take Gary Hines and his mighty Sounds Of Blackness for example. I love them since I’ve first listened to the 12″ single Optimistic. The recent release of the new SOB’s album Unity was a legitimate reason to ask Gary a few questions.

Q: Please tell me the story and motivation behind the new album Unity.

Gary Hines: Sounds of Blackness has always had a world -view perspective on life. We are committed to do our part to remedy and rectify the rampant war, hunger, hate and divisivemness in the world today by issuing a clariion call for “UNITY”. “UNITY” is Sounds of Blackness contribtion to the movement for worldwide peace, love and harmony.

Q: How did you team up with producer LaSalle Gabriel ?

Gary Hines: Sounds of Blackness has worked with LaSalle Gabriel on and off for several years - primarily as a guitarist. When his record label, SLR had a distribution slot for a project, he contacted us and the rest is history.

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Carleen Anderson is no stranger to readers of jazz-not-jazz and I’m sure everybody has a different story how and when he has discovered her. Like many, I first heard Carleen as the voice of the Young Disciples, then one of the best acts on the young Talkin Loud label. But it wasn’t until the Young Disciples had released their Move On EP with the epic versions of All I Have In Me and Freedom that I’ve actually bought my first record with Carleen on vocals. But from then on I was hooked on Carleen’s voice and her music and I hardly missed any new release. With her three solo efforts True Spirit, Blessed Burden (both released on Circa) and the independently released Alberta’s Granddaughter Carleen has courageously broadened her musical spectrum. While she may have lost me on a few songs of her previous albums I was nevertheless impressed that she doesn’t compromise as an artists and as she says of herself takes the road less travelled, continuously.
Carleen’s new album Soul Providence finds her re-discovering her soul roots and is a dream come true for people like me, who especially liked Carleen’s soul songs in her discography.
“This album represents the mature me,” says Carleen, “the woman who survived the disappointments with a passionate smile of joyful restitution.” It’s this maturity, celebration of survival and being content with oneself and the found inner peace that makes Soul Providence a classic and timeless soul album with Carleen’s personal and meaningful self-penned lyrics and it’s organic orchestration.
With sixteen strong tracks there’s enough for continuous listening pleasure and food for thought. Just let me pick a few of my favourite songs so far.
Careful is Carleen’s interpretation of the commandment Do unto others as you would have them do to you (Luke 6:31) and her plea for real humanity amongst people that comes in the shape of a beautiful midtempo soul song.
My Door Is Open with its horn section is a great uptempo funky song that finds Carleen in voluptuous territory.
Another highlight is Sweetness that starts more acoustic with congas, sparse keys and then takes you all the way to the gospel choir thanks to Tracey Riggan, Louise Fellingham and Detroy Hutchinson on backing vocals.
Salvation Is Free finally finds Carleen playing piano again on this thoughtful ballad.
I can virtually recommend every single song on Soul Providence whether it be the introspective A Different Me, the uplifting Gotta Believe In The Future or the two duets Wanna Be Where You Are (with Paul Weller, this is a cover of the Leon Ware and T-Boy Ross tune made famous by the Jackson Five) and Parting The Water (with Jocelyn Brown).
To sum it up, Soul Providence shows an impressive development of Carleen Anderson as a musical artists and it is her best album so far.

Tracklisting of Soul Providence: 1. Soul Stream Intro/ 2. A Different Me/ 3. Gotts Believe In The Future/ 4. Whose Business/ 5. Wanna Be Where You Are (feat. Paul Weller)/ 6. Careful/ 7. My Door Is Open/ 8. All In My Mind/ 9. Sweetness/ 10. Parting The Waters (feat. Jocelyn Brown)/ 11. Just Like Me/ 12. Little Wouldn’t I Do/ 13. The Preacher’s Prayer/ 14. Salvation Is Free/ 15. Soul Stream Outro/ 16. Onwards & Forwards | released September 12th, 2005 Orange Room Music/Dome Records

For more infos visit carleenanderson.net, domerecords.co.uk orangeroommusic.co.uk and True Spirit.

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

Oh my gosh, that was the fastest response I have had to my interview questions so far. Within a few hours after I’ve written my review for Believe and mailed the questions to Alison David she’ve sent me the answers. Kudos to her for being so fast!

Q: How does it feel to have finally your own CD after endless years of guest appearances on other people’s records?

Alison David: Well, it’s not the album I imagined. It is in fact just a collection of my favourite recordings up until the date that I was thinking of giving up, at least my approach to, music. The CD was put in to be manufactured by some teenage boys on a school business scheme called the Young Enterprise scheme. It is an international charity organisation set up to help teach kids business skills. The boys saw my music as a way to make a profit and they have; albeit a little one. Tired of having to suffer for my art and feeling the ‘album of my dreams’ to be always a little out of my reach, I realised I was keeping to myself what I had intended to share and got on with it. Now I have an album and no pressure on me to hone down my sound. I’m quite happy with it, it’s like a history book of my 10 year dance with music making.

Q: You’ve been a guest singer on many songs. Which of these session works has influenced your music style and maybe the way you write/sing a song today.

Alison David: I guess they all have.
Some of the bands have influenced my music business skills, I’d say Ashley Beedle was the best for that. He split things down the middle always. Some bands have shown me how never to work…
As far as sound is concerned, I remembered how much fun it is to get people dancing and really rock out when I played with Freeland. Also The Egg gigs I’ve performed resound in my memory, because it’s so fun to make people high. Most of my musical influences come from bands I haven’t had the pleasure of playing with yet. Mellow’s sound was very lovely to work
with also.
There’s so much more to making music than the sound itself and the bands I’ve collaborated with have shown me things like how to tour, studio skills, picking a band, how to share the stage well, on stage sound, marketing,…the list goes on.

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I first noticed Alison David as the singer/co-writer (together with Ashley Beedle & Marc Woolford of Black Science Orchestra fame) in 1999 when her voice graced the feel-good-song Sunshine on Afro Art. Numerous appearances as featured vocalist followed like on Feel Alright by the Problem Kids or Runaway Love by Reset. In 2000 Alison finally released her first solo record, The Last Look EP on Bitasweet Records. Skip a few years were she collaborated with the likes of Adam Freeland or Orin Walters and Mark De Clive-Lowe on Now Or Never and she finally has released her own full length album.
Like you may have guessed from Alison’s numerous guest appearences she isn’t limited to a certain music genre. In fact, her debut Believe is hard to pigeonhole and that’s what makes it so interesting. Alison takes you on a discovery tour into her musical world with her own blend of acoustic soul, neo soul, electro, downtempo, breakbeat and her personal lyrics.
Soul music fans will instantly like the folk-soul of I’m Gonna Find U (Bedroom Version), which finds Alison yearning for her soulmate accompanied by acoustic guitar. On The Way is another fine example that shows how much an acoustic song (again just a guitar and Alison’s voice) with thought provoking lyrics suits Alison. She also knows how to impress with just a piano on All We Really Want.
My God can best described as Alison’s interpretation of neo soul. With warm keys and Alison delivering a fine vocal performance this is one of my favourite songs on this album.
Another winner for soul music lovers is the groovy and hypnotic Keep Shining Like A Star.
Other inspiring songs include the jazz-breakbeat hybrid groove of 1 Last Look, the funky Really Doesn’t Matter with its hip-hop influenced beats or Alison’s collaboration with De Clive-Lowe and Dolby, the driving Respect 2 Hold On.
I must admit there are a few song that needed repeated listenings to get into like the downtempo Dreams Come True, which was also released as a single with remixes by the Afronaughts, Through The Rain or Til The End Of Time. But then these songs just show how versatile Alison’s music is and thus fit perfectly into the concept of the album Believe.
All in all a very promising and musical diverse debut album by Alison David with many strong songs.

Tracklisting of Believe: 1. All We Really Want/ 2. Through The Rain/ 3. I’m Gonna Find U (Bedroom Version)/ 4. Dreams Come True/ 5. Really Doesn’t Matter/ 6. On The Way/ 7. My God/ 8. Respect 2 Hold On/ 9. Til The End Of Time/ 10. Keep Shining Like A Star/ 11. 1 Last Look | released 2004 Alison David/No Limit

For more infos visit alisondavid.com and nolimit.org.uk.

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

Look forward to a review of Juliet Kelly’s new album Delicious Chemistry coming soon on jazz-not-jazz. The album features original compositions by Juliet and was recorded with Seb Rochford (drums), Tom Barlow (bass), Carl Orr (guitar), Omar Puente (violin), Kate Williams (piano), Byron Wallen (trumpet), Roger Beaujolais (vibes) and Courtney Pine (sax).
In the meantime you can listen to sound snippets on Juliet’s website or on cdbaby. Also check out my interview with Juliet from early 2005.