Charlie Hall Merges Football and the Holidays with the Philly Specials By Jay S. Jacobs Charlie Hall had his share of adventures long before he became the producer and one of the driving forces of the Philly Specials – a popular musical group made up of three Philadelphia Eagles star offensive linemen, the recently retired … Continue reading
LUTHER: NEVER TOO MUCH (2024) Featuring Carlos Alomar, Fonzi Thornton, Robin Clark, Jamie Foxx, Mariah Carey, Richard Marx, Patti LaBelle, Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack, Nile Rodgers, Clive Davis, Lisa Fischer, Ava Cherry, Cheryl Lynn, Valerie Simpson, Marcus Miller, Nat Adderley Jr., Jocelyn Brown and archival footage of Aretha Franklin, David Bowie and Luther Vandross. Directed … Continue reading
Bill Nicoletti Reminding the World of the Philly Sound By Jay S. Jacobs Bill Nicoletti grew up steeped in the sound of Philadelphia. His hometown was one of the hubs of popular music – and in particular for soul music – for much of the 1960s and 1970s. It changed his life, both as a … Continue reading
Various Artists – The Best of Bond… James Bond (Verve) The music behind James Bond has always been part of the allure of the super-spy, a loungy, seductive musical canon tailor-made to naked women dancing in silhouette behind the opening credits – vaguely suggesting danger and the good life. As the Bond film series approaches its 50th anniversary, … Continue reading
Labelle – Back to Now (Verve) You wouldn’t normally expect there to be that much expectation for the reunion of a band which broke up about 30 years ago after doing six mostly-ignored and long-forgotten albums on three labels – all of which spawned a total of only one hit single. Of course, that one hit single in … Continue reading
Nikka Costa – World Café Live – Philadelphia PA – October 21, 2008 At Nikka Costa’s new tour they were selling t-shirts with a lightning bolt and 70s-styled fat fonts which read “The return of the funky white bitch.” After watching Costa stalk the boards for nearly two hours all I can say is “Hallelujah! … Continue reading
mutlu LIVIN’ ON PHILLY SOUL by Jay S. Jacobs On a recent afternoon in the up-and-coming Philadelphia neighborhood of Northern Liberties, Mutlu Onoral and I are sitting in a little sandwich shop. We’d originally planned on hitting a trendily seedy local Spanish joint called Bar Ferdinand, but it was too late for lunch and too … Continue reading
SEMI-PRO (2008) Starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin, Maura Tierney, Will Arnett, Andy Richter, David Koechner, Rob Corddry, Andrew Daly, Matt Walsh, Jackie Earle Haley and Patti LaBelle. Screenplay by Scot Armstrong. Directed by Kent Alterman. Distributed by New Line Pictures. 90 minutes. Rated R. I want my money back. Not only that, but … Continue reading
Various Artists-So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross (J Records) After the tragic death earlier this year of one of the greatest soul voices of his generation, it is nice to see a tribute to this consummate artist and spine-tingly good singer who pretty much defined the quiet storm and smooth jazz genres. The lineup … Continue reading
Michael McDonald – The Ultimate Collection (Warner Brothers/Rhino) It makes perfect sense, somehow, that the cover of this album has a near black and white closeup of Michael McDonald. The only color that really grabs you in the shockingly limpid blue pool of the singer’s eyes (and I type that with a staunch record of heterosexuality, to … Continue reading
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