I LOVE (AHMAD JAMAL'S) MUSIC

April 16, 2023

(I've said this in the past but I don't want artists dying to be only time I actually write new content. I guess I don't spend enough time giving flowers to...

THE MAGIC NUMBER WAS PLUG TWO

February 13, 2023

"Give the flowers to the living" (or, in this case, daisies I suppose). I'm appreciative to URB Magazine for many reasons, not the least of which is that...

THE CUTTING ROOM: "FAREWELL, MY FRIEND" (SOUL SIDES STRAY #12)

January 27, 2023

I recently published my first freelance piece for 2023, a Los Angeles Times profile of Thes One and how he put together, Farewell, My Friend, a beautiful...

FIFTEEN FAVORITES FOR 2022 (Soul Sides Stray #11)

December 31, 2022

For reasons that I don't fully understand — and you don't need me to try to figure out here — 2022 marked a definite dip in the amount of both new and old...

THAT HENDOO HOODOO MAGIC: AL HIRT's MUSICAL MIRACLE (Soul Sides Stray #1

December 30, 2022

Al Hirt: Harlem Hendoo (Soul In The Horn, RCA Victor, 1967) "Harlem Hendoo" is nothing short of a miracle of a song. When most of us first heard it looped on...

Flame On: Rusty Bryant's "Fire Eater" (7" version) (Soul Sides Stray #9)

July 31, 2022

Rusty Bryant: Fire Eater (7", Prestige, 1971) 7" single edits of album songs were a necessary concession to the technological limits of record-making. Back...

Sweet As a Kiss: Cannonball and KMD (The Soul Sides Stray, #8)

July 24, 2022

Cannonball Adderley: Virgo: For Pam (Love, Sex, and the Zodiac, Fantasy, 1974) KMD: Black Bastards! (Black Bastards, Readyrock, 2000) The sad fate of KMD's...

#7 - Soul Sides Stray: The Dilla Time Issue

April 30, 2022

Last week, I had the privilege of being in conversation with Dan Charnas about his new book, detailing the life, career, and afterlife of James "J Dilla"...

Soul Sides Stray #6: Remembering Betty Davis, 1945-2022

February 24, 2022

Betty Davis passed away the other week at age 77 and as many of my readers likely know, I have spent many years in awe of her and her music and had the...

Joe Cruz and the Cruzettes' "Love Song"

September 4, 2021

Joe Cruz and the Cruzettes: Love Song, on At The Hyatt Regency Hotel (Villar, 1973) Though I have a small collection of Filipinx-related records, I freely...

The Soul Sides Stray, Issue 4: DERRICK LARA'S "HELLO STRANGER"

August 28, 2021

Derrick Lara: Hello Stranger (Masai, 1982?) In my humble opinion, Barbara Lewis’s 1963 hit, “Hello Stranger” is one of the best jukebox singles of all time....

The Soul Sides Stray: Admin's "Step Into Light" (2021)

August 26, 2021

Admin: Step Into Light (white label, 2021) I moved up to the Bay Area in the early '90s when the acid jazz scene was popping off there but alas, I never took...

The Soul Sides Stray, Issue 02: Skye's "Ain't No Need" (Anada, 1976)

August 16, 2021

Skye: Ain't No Need (Unity Edit) (Anada, 1976) This is a revisit of sorts though I haven't written about the Skye single since 2008. It's a disco 45 where...

The Soul Sides Stray, Issue 01: The Nairobi Sisters' "Promised Land"

August 15, 2021

First off, welcome to The Soul Sides Stray, a test run for creating a Soul-Sides.com newsletter. My old email subscription service (Feedburner) recently went...