Soul and Jazz and Funk Latest

The UK's premier outdoor soul festival is back with us! This year's CAMPSOUL MUSIC FESTIVAL takes place between Saturday August 23rd and Monday 25th August at Grove Farms, Milton Hill, Oxfordshire.

As ever there's a star-studded line-up and hundreds of associated activities ... chill out areas, food stalls, records fairs, a healing area and lots and lots for the kids!

There's the usual s massive line up of star DJs and amongst the live attractions are Roy Ayers, The Haggis Horns, B-Funkt and new UK soul sensations Soulutions who'll play a live concert on the Sunday – 24th August. The duo will be celebrating the official release of their hit single 'Listen' which has stormed to the top of all credible UK soul charts.

Find out more about the festival @ www.campsoulfestival.com

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 July 2014 20:32

US soul man, ERIC ROBERSON is all set to release a new album, 'The Box', which, advance publicity reveals is set to be something of a departure for him. We're told the long player will feature more live instrumentation, including strings and horns and the album will also have a very specific theme - the boombox.

Eric says, "I was born and raised a hip hop kid with my sister's boombox by my side. No matter whether I'm wearing a tailored suit, top hat and brogues, that boombox mentality is still present. Musically that's what we are after on this album... that boom bap that's meant to get your heart rate up".

Guests on the long player include Blackstreet's Dave Hollister, King - a talented Los Angeles female vocal trio who have opened for Prince - and rapper Pharaoh Monch. Interestingly, Eric's father James also has a vocal cameo on the closing cut "Do The Same For Me".

ERIC ROBERSON'S 'The Box' will be released on Dome Records and August 11th.

Last Updated on Monday, 21 July 2014 18:51

The wonderfully named PIPPI DIMONTE is an Italian bassist who cites his chief influence as Jaco Pastorius. He's recently joined forces with drummer NICOLA BENETTI and guitarist ALESSANDRO DE LORENZI- collectively "The OVERCROWDED DUO" to share their love of jazz and funk. They work regularly in and around Bologna where audiences it seems demanded some records to take away from the gigs.

The trio duly obliged by going into the studio to record their first album – 'Morning Session'... named for the fact that the whole thing was recorded in just that – one morning session. However –without sounding niggardly, it's more an EP than an LP. 'Morning Session' boasts just 7 tracks and clocks in at a tad over 20 minutes! Signor Dimonte says he wanted the album to have the feel of a live show... to capture the "mood", as it were.

Still, if you're an addict of bass-heavy funk and sparse loose jazz, you may want to check it out. Most memorable cut is the opener 'Mama's Walk'. It is ultra-heavy on the bass, so if you want something a little more melodic try the closer 'Wooood part2' (the "o" s are intentional) – a foil to the free from of 'Wooood part 1'

Find out more @ www.pippidimonte.com

Last Updated on Monday, 21 July 2014 18:54

North Eastern England has recently revealed itself as a soul hotbed. First there was the Solutions duo, whose 'Listen' is shaping up as one of the year's top tracks; now there's a young singer songwriter called SAM DICKINSON who's just started to wow Geordie land before moving on to the rest of the country.

Sam has been crafting his soul-based music for four years and, crediting Jackie Wilson as his biggest influence, he's recently launched his debut album, 'The Stories That Occurred'.

The nine track LP has already charted on YouTube's top 40 while the single 'Lift Your Head' has featured on the ITunes soul chart. The song is a plaintive, acoustic ballad but the album boats all kind of other flavours – like the brassy 'Away From Me' and the bumpy 'How It Used To Be', while fans of the 80s electro thing will delight in the riff-heavy 'Don't Come Running Back'.

At the start of August, Sam is re-launching the album in a massive 37 track format. This will contain the original 9 cuts along with all kinds of mixes – including instrumentals, funk workouts and the obligatory house tweaks.... all interesting stuff.

Find out more @ www.samdickinsononline.com and if you're in the North East in the coming months, then Sam will be playing Newcastle's famous Hoochie Coochie Club on September 19th.

Last Updated on Saturday, 19 July 2014 13:25

Blues guitarist Johnny Winter has died at the age of 70. He died in Zurich on Wednesday July 16th, days after playing the Lovely Days Festival in Austria.

Born in Texas in 1944, Winter began his musical career as a clarinettist before moving on to the guitar. He developed a blues-based style that was heavily influenced by Muddy Waters. The Chess blues star went on to mentor Winters and the two regularly worked together.

In 1964 Winter worked with Mike Bloomfield and subsequently won a record deal with Columbia. His 1969 LP, 'The Progressive Blues Experiment' was hailed as new age blues classic. The album contained a tribute to Muddy Waters along with tracks like 'Rollin' And Tumblin'' and an energized cover of 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl'. Winter – instantly recognizable by his long white hair (he was born an albino) – went on to work with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. For a time he also worked with his brother, Edgar, but his career stuttered from time to time as he struggled with addiction problems.

The guitarist was due to release a new album in September and he recently commented that he just wanted to be remembered as "a good blues musician but you don't want to sound like anybody else. I hope I've done that. I don't think anybody else plays like me".

Last Updated on Saturday, 19 July 2014 13:25