A new generation is discovering soul music, which is a good thing. Along with country, the blues,
gospel and jazz, soul music is one of the bedrock genres of American music. But like so many art forms created by African-Americans and--in formative stages--largely supported by African-American audiences,some tricky dynamics come into play when soul music crossed into the mainstream and--most especially--when it is revived. Jazz and blues revivals have often tended to be spearheaded by White musicians, though there have been exceptions such as Wynton Marsalis in jazz and Robert Cray in blues. But whether or not the revival has been spearheaded by White musicians, the audiences for the revived style have tended to be overwhelmingly White. This has led to charges of "cultural banditry" on the one hand to simple lamentations that an art-form that originated as an expression of African-Americans isno longer dominantly supported by African-Americans, an ostensible loss of heritage and also a loss of profits! It should be noted that this situation is not limited to African-Americans. In Ireland, for instance,traditional Irish music had declined to a very small audience until The Chieftains, Planxty and The Bothy Band revived it--and an explosion of interest outside Ireland caused Irish folk in Ireland to look at it again. Most ethnic groups tend to take their traditional music for granted. But those other ethnic groups don't tend to have racism and a history of exploitation based on race in the mix. So it is different for African-American art forms.
The current soul revival, happily is not exclusively driven by White musicians or audiences. The
so-called neo-soul scene is dominated by African-American artists and audiences. But "neo-soul" tends
to look to r & b and funk of the Seventies. There is a parallel revival of soul music of the Sixties, taking
its cue from Motown, Stax and even "uptown" soul. The artists involved are not all White--folks such as
Ryan Shaw, Leela James, Tre & The Revelations and Karl Denson come to mind--but the audiences they play to end to be overwhelmingly White. What does that matter, you ask? Well, the cultural dynamics are different and that can affect the music.
Which brings us to the Eccentric Soul Revue, which has been touring; I caught the show at the Music Hall in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn last Friday night. The Revue, which his the brainchild ofthe folks at the Numero Group, a re-issue label that has specialized in obscure soul and r & b of The Sixties, is a nice idea. The concept is re-create the old soul revue format, whereby a band backs a
rotating line-up of singers, building up to a headliner, each artist doing two to six tunes, depending on his or her status. This edition of the Revue focused mainly on artists from the Twi-Night label of Chicago, and the Chicago scene generally. So you had such artists as the great Syl Johnson, who came out of the South as a blues musicians, then made R & B hits for Twi-night when he moved to Chicago and made some great records for the legendary Hi label out of Memphis, where he was often overshadowed by Al Green's tremendous run of hits; but it should be noted that it was Syl that had
the original hit version of Al Green's "Take Me To The River." Other artists on the bill included the sweet vocal group The Notations, who after their Twi-night stint made some modest-size hits for Curtis Mayfield's Cur-Tom label, the obscure Renaldo Domino, who never really broke out of the Chicago scene, for some reason a little-known female rapper out of Harlem--Missy Dee--who made one of the earliest female rap records, which was not a hit. They were all backed by the nearly all-White JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, which was fronted by a young African-American singer JC Brooks.
The first thing I noticed at The Music Hall was the crowd--it nearly filled the place with about
300 people, 95% White. It was hard to get a fix on who they were; about 10% looked like hard-core
R & B/soul lovers but the rest looked somewhat nondescript and I'd be surprised if most of them knew
the music of even one of the performers. So what were they all doing there on a Friday night in hip
Williamsburg? Somehow, somewhat, this Soul Revue concept had become a cool thing to see.
As JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound kicked off the music, I noted that they had the licks down.
Clearly they had listened to this music, probably loved it, and had worked hard at mastering it. They
clearly had a lot of respect for it. Too much respect, though. Every note was in place but it lacked
spontaneity, that free-flowing spirit that is the essence of soul--of virtually any great traditional music.
JC Brooks is an adequate but limited vocalist whose limitations showed when he dared to do "I've Been Loving You Too Long" in the style of Otis Redding. Missy Dee was a throw-away but Renaldo Domino was
entertaining, dress in a suit that he might have had since 1969. He was probably doing what he always
had done, but it came off as a recreation of something, solid enough, but uninspired. The crowd
cheered everything, indiscriminately. The Notations came on and laid down some nice, sweet harmony, ragged at times but with some genuine feeling. Only Syl Johnson, though was a little dangerous...
sponatneously dancing around, unbuttoning his shirt, leading the band, blowing a little harp and
overall delivering a set that was alive. His rendition of "Take Me To The River" was strong.
So, all in all, a pleasant evening. For most of the audience, this show--and others like them--will be what they know of live soul music. These are the folks carrying it on. But The Uptown Sound, worthy and committed though they may be, just don't deliver the true power and excitement of a great
soul band. And that's a shame. Revivalists can do better...the all-White Dap-King, fronted by African-American singer Sharon Jones, lay down a much more visceral sound. Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
takes the essence and updates it--not content to revive it. And there are other bands around that
can deliver the goods. Hopefully the folks at The Music Hall will come out to see them too!
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