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Cliff, daptone records, sharon jones — 0 comments

In Praise Of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

For me, it's impossible to even try to offer an impartial critique of the latest Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings release Give The People What They Want. It was supposed to come out last year and it's been keenly waited for, but the SJ faithful didn't care about that because the health of our beloved Sharon Jones came first when we learned about her battle with bile duct cancer. Now that she's on the mend with the album in shops and some heartening and on point live TV performances under her belt, it almost feels like we're getting back to normal, but it's not the case at all.

I also don't want to define Sharon Jones like that when her music with the Dap-Kings has been such a beacon of quality and righteousness these last 12 years since the release of 2002's Dap Dipping With Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. When I got onboard with 2007's 100 Days, 100 Nights, SJ&DK became a gateway drug that got me hooked on the rest of the Daptone Records ouevre, including but not limited to Charles Bradley, The Budos Band, Sugarman 3, and a reissue of the forgotten debut album from Buffalo's own Bob & Gene. The brand new vintage soul sounds coming out of Brooklyn embodied by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings was up to the minute yet instantly timeless, pulsatingly alive and thus profoundly invaluable.

There's also the fact that I've never been to a less than transcendent Daptone show, whether it's The Budos Band, Charles Bradley, or the Queen Bee Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, whose show at the Town Ballroom (with Charles Bradley opening) a quasi religious experience. If Charles Bradley set the room on fire with a mighty introduction to his art, Sharon Jones took us to church, shaking, twirling, and wringing every drop of soul from her performance before a rapt and transformed audience. That was a show unlike any other I'd been to, and an experience I long to have again.

That said, Give The People What The Want, like the albums that precede it and those of the great recording artists, utterly replaces what had come before to be the latest iteration of their art. Like their previous four studio albums, the meticulous curation and production of Daptone mastermind Bosco Mann (Gabriel Roth) and musicianship of the Dap-Kings works entirely in the service of Sharon's powerful and evocative vocals to such an extent that it seems offhandedly naturalistic like the best Stax and Muscle Shoals productions which are of course the standards for soul and pop music. Just another day at the office for the Daptone Records crew.

If I Learned The Hard Way was notable for a sense of hard bitten lessons learned, Give The People What They Want is all about defiance and soldiering on with your head up, and even though it was recorded before Sharon's health issues, these songs resonate triumphantly even though the songs are about dudes doing our heroine jive (as usual). But her dignity and strength never flags, and that feeling is infectious, and inspirational on a variety of levels. Songs like "People Don't Get What They Deserve," "Retreat!" and "We Get Along" are clarion calls for perseverance and grace during trying times... both in the personal and societal sense. Life isn't fair, and all we can do is "get along" and go with it the best we can, and that gritty and real sentiment is something one can appreciate within the context of the African American historical and cultural experience, and definitely draw strength from.

So while not groundbreaking or particularly forward looking, the new Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings album is still an essential and intensely valuable work that provides a snapshot of where that Brooklyn soul music outfit is at right now, and more importantly little bit of inspiration, wisdom, and hope for both listener (and artist) during these unsettled times. And maybe if we're lucky Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings will make a welcome return to Western New York. Keep your fingers crossed...

daptone records, listener's digest, mac, new musc, sharon jones — 0 comments

Listener's Digest: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "Retreat!"

I dont know how anyone could not like an act like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. The long time retro soul and funk act has been carrying the genre's torch for the last decade, delivering timeless cut after cut. With a new album, Give The People What They Want, on the way later this summer, the band has released the first tune from the forthcoming album. On "Retreat!," Jones' always passionate vocals have never sounded better, recalling the great soul singers of old, as the always reliable Dap-Kings provide their sturdy rhythm and horns. With the band's continued use of of analog over digital, this track could have easily been released 40 years back and still sound damn good. Give The People What They Want will be released on August 8th.

Buffalo NY, charles bradley, Cliff, Concert Review, daptone records, town ballroom — 0 comments

Concert Review: Charles Bradley with Little Barrie

Last night, the crowd at the Town Ballroom was treated to an incredible and memorable night of pure American music courtesy of the UK's Little Barrie and the "Screaming Eagle of Soul" and "Soul of America" Charles Bradley. We got it all last night: rock, soul, church, philosophy, and unstoppable mojo.

I'll admit it, I got a little panicked when I surveyed the thin crowd that was there for show opener Little Barrie. Was Buffalo gonna sleep on and thus let down Charles Bradley? I didn't think it was possible, and thankfully my fears were entirely unfounded. A mighty crowd was indeed there for Charles Bradley, and all was well... except for the fact that many people missed out on an exceptional opening set from Nottinghamshire, UK's Little Barrie. I know I'll probably catch some shit for going there but to hell with it- watching them I easily thought of (in no particular order) Cream, The Who, Sabbath, Zepp, and Paul Weller. And it's not like Little Barrie was specifically referencing any of those bands, far from it, rather their heavy, heavy duty r&b effortlessly channeled all of those legendary British bands, bands that frankly and implicitly fetishized American black culture and music (with the exception of Sabbath, who fetishized darkness and dark blues riffs).

Little Barrie was awesome, and I had no problem parting with $10 to get their cd at the merch table. In fact I did so with joy in my heart.

Of course, the crowd that was there (eventually) was there for Charles Bradley... and he did not disappoint. After a short soul interlude warm-up from his rainbow coalition Extraordinaires, the Man himself took the stage, crushed "Heartaches and Pain," the climax of his debut album No Time For Dreaming, and immediately established a connection with the audience that he maintained and built on throughout his blistering set. The Town Ballroom crowd reacted emphatically to the utter lack of artifice, the power of the music, and the fact that he was leaving it all on the stage, and that only drove Mister Bradley harder. I was curious to see how the Extraordinaires matched up with the Menahan Street Band / Dap-Kings who backed him last year when he opened for Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and was gratified to see that they were more than up to the task, bringing a sense of heft to the already mighty soul music of Charles Bradley.

Good news for Prince and Prince fans: when Prince is in his early 60's his sexy moves onstage will still work, judging from Charles Bradley's emergence as a sex god and the reaction that he got from the ladies in the audience. I didn't remember the whole sex god thing from his opening set last February, and being near the front I was more bemused than anything else, but the crowd behind me went nuts. Charles Bradley and his mojo could do no wrong, and he didn't, whether he was ripping up material off his debut album (No Time for Dreaming, on Daptone Records), the early Daptone single "This Love Ain't Big Enough For The Two Of Us" or Neil Young's "Heart of Gold." His life is in his music, his music is his life, and he nakedly gave us his all, plus some hard won wisdom about loving each other and this planet.

Exhibit A: