Quality Time Picks
First class jazzy soul and indie soul
favourites of the moment: Ledisi,
Norman Connors, Ronny Jordan, Club 1600
featuring Maysa, Will Downing, Vinx &
Alyson Williams, Calvin Romance, Derick
Hughes, Frank McComb...
The Soul Scale Frank McComb, L.J. Reynolds and
Temptations are the major new
release CD's of the spring 2000. Carl
Thomas and Al Jarreau
get rather favourable comments as well,
while the latest CD's by En Vogue
and Joe are
more disappointing..
Archive Material / Reissues
UK label Westside continues their
reissues of Walter Jackson albums.
Another UK label Expansion has decided to
reprint the ultra-rare Al Johnson
-produced sweet soul item Positive
Change from 1978. Dramatics
has re-released their recent material
with a new title If You Come Back to
Me.
Jazz-Funk
Guitar heroes George Benson and
Ronny Jordan have their
new and highly acclaimed albums out. Gene
Dunlap is back with another
Avenue Jazz release, Maceo Parker
asks us to Dial M-A-C-E-O
and producer Rex Rideout has
released his own project by the title Club
1600.
THE DRAMATICS STORY - Part 3
(1974-1982) The Dramatics story
continues and covers the chart
single-filled late 70s and early 80s
albums on ABC and MCA. 8 pages including
the comments by the group members
themselves, and a full discography.
Essential for any serious Dramatics fan.
Deep Heikki Suosalo continues
his solid Deep Soul column by introducing
some new names: Bryan Austin,
Pree and Jackie Neal.
James Holvay follows the classic
style of Curtis Mayfield
in an admirable fashion, and Dells
and Delfonics have
released new material on the revived Volt
label. A wealth of other deep / Indie
soul reviews complete the column.
Billy Paul - Song Stylist Supreme
The legandary Philly song stylist Billy
Paul is our cover star this issue, and
Billy gave an exclusive 3-page interview
to our mag. Billy comments his classic
Philly album releases and tells about his
own label Phillysounds.com, on which he
plans to release his next album.
Upfront Soul
The new millennium has started in a
promising way when it comes to new soul
releases: new indie soul CD's by artists
like Calvin Romance, Ledisi and
Derick Hughes are all
first-rate soul material. Another indie
release by Freda Simone
is worth checking out, too, but the
latest comeback effort by Cameo
is truly miserable.