Greetings! It’s your friend and selector, Marlon, again.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s joyous, crisply edited and well observed documentary about Sly Stone dropped in February on Hulu and Disney+.
SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)is a worthy follow-up to the Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul, and examines the life and lasting legacy of Sly & The Family Stone.
It was the inspiration of this playlist about the groundbreaking band led by the enigmatic and charismatic Sly Stone.
This wonderful film captures the Sly Stone’s rise, reign and subsequent fadeout, and as the subtitle suggests, sheds light on the unseen and often unspoken burden that comes with success for Black artists in America.
Here are songs from across Sly and The Family Stone’s ten studio albums, their live records, and a fraction of the hit songs that sample this legendary group.
From LL Cool J to Janet Jackson to Beastie Boys to Jungle Brothers, there are tracks included that are driven by grooves of Sly Stone.
Please enjoy this 100 song collection of essential tracks by and featuring Sly & The Family Stone.
And as always, stay safe, sane and kind. See you next month!!
In 1945, Lionel Hampton spotted a five year-old boogying so hard during his concert in Los Angeles, that the legendary the vibraphonist handed young Roy Ayers his first pair of mallets.
Roy Ayers went on to establish himself as a pioneer of jazz-funk and soul. He was hugely influential on the neo-soul and hiphop movement.
As a solo artist, Roy Ayers released dozens of albums over the years, dating as far back as 1963. His last release was in 2024.
Ayers’ biggest hits were “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” and “Running Away” with his group Roy Ayers Ubiquity.
Though over his decades-long career he collaborated with scores of musicians including the Roots, Guru, Fela Kuti and Rick James.
The musician’s songs have been sampled by everyone from Mary J. Blige and Common to Tyler the Creator and Kanye West.
There are 21 tracks that sample “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” alone.
According to Ayers: “Well, I have more sampled hits than anybody,” he said in a 2004 interview with Wax Poetics magazine. “I might not have more samples than James Brown, but I’ve had more sampled hits. Oh, man, and there’s a few I don’t know about.”
Happy Music Monday, you all. I’m back a week late, if you are counting. I have been thinking about the life and career of the utterly original Jimmy Scott.
His voice conveyed such vulnerability, and had such a haunting sound. Jimmy Scott’s life was filled with emotional and physical challenges.
When he was 13, he tragically lost his mother in a car accident, and about the same time he was diagnosed with Kallmann Syndrome. The rare hormonal disorder all-but prevented puberty in him.
Leaving him with a voice all his own.
Sometimes his singing credit was given to a female artist. This happened on Charlie Parker’s live version of “Embraceable You.”
Jimmy Scott saw his suffering as his salvation and was liberated by it. This tenacity lay at the core of his artistry: “All I needed was the courage to be me,” he said. “That courage took a lifetime to develop.”
Scott’s unique style and passion led him to become one of the most influential vocalists in history.
He inspired a diverse set of artists including Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Nancy Wilson, Elton John, David Bowie, Lou Reed and Madonna. I became a fan when he experienced a third-act resurgence in popularity.
Scott’s career had faded by the late 1960s. He’d returned to his hometown of Cleveland and worked as a hospital orderly, shipping clerk, and elevator operator.
In 1989, Scott sang at the funeral of his friend, songwriter Doc Pomus, the event reignited his career. He performed the song “Sycamore Trees” in the final episode of the original Twin Peaks television series in 1991, and sang backup on the Lou Reed song “Power and Glory” for the 1992 album Magic and Loss.
Scott would record several studio albums before his death in 2014. Much of the material in this collection is made-up of those wonderful recordings. Please enjoy.
Happy January Music Monday and MLK Day here at Good Black News!
It’s your friend and selector, your sonic chauffeur, your groove conductor, Marlon, back again.
I’m delighted to offer up this first of likely 12 GBN collections of the year. This is an “afroclectic” collection of tracks released in 2024.
It is more than half a day of excellent music to provide the soundtrack to your Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. (You might be like me, and also taking 10 minutes of meditation at 12 Pm PST, in honor of legendary filmmaker, David Lynch, on what would have been his 79th birthday, had he not passed away last week.)
I have done a few civil rights-centered playlists in honor of this day. Though here is celebration of Dr. King having “been to the mountain top”, featuring dozens of artists performing any number of genres and styles.
R&B, hip-hop, classical, jazz, reggae, afro-beat, and more examples are included in this 13-hour collection of music from 2024.
I have gathered some of music’s biggest names with marquee releases, like Beyoncé and Jon Batiste.
There are plenty of newcomers and underground darlings, including Victoria Monét, Raveena, tendai and so many others, staking their claim among those giants.
I’ve offered an avalanche of new songs from last year. Some are even posthumous recordings by Alice Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Prince.
There’s new tracks from quiet-for-a-minute artists like Sade, Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu. Please enjoy the globe-trotting and genre-hoping collection. See ya next month!
Each year, we’ve updated our popular holiday music song mix by adding a selection of new releases and new discoveries, and though we’re a little late this year, better late than never.
Now reaching over 45 hours long, it’s intended to be a mainstream background for your Christmas season – like those radio stations that turn holiday music 24/7 – except that all the music is done by Black artists (with an occasional duet with a soulful ally).
The big new Black holiday release this year comes from Jennifer Hudson (from her album The Gift of Love), but there are also new yule tunes from Mary J. Blige, Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir, H.E.R., and other American Idol vets like Ruben Studdard and Jordin Sparks, modern jazz master Robert Glasper featuring Wicked superstar Cynthia Erivo, ‘it’ girls Coco Jones and Saweetie.
Broadway stars Norm Lewis and Ariana DeBose are also represented, along with veteran Black Brits Rebecca Ferguson, Craig David and Deniece Pearson (of Five Star fame), Tower of Power, Eric Roberson and gospel stars Anthony Evans, Jonathan McReynolds, Naomi Raine, BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans.
Being your groove chauffeur at GBN is the closest I’ll ever come to having a blog or column. In the years I’ve pecked write-ups for these Music Monday playlists, I have often discovered new tracks and artists in an attempt to be comprehensive in my collections.
I have more than once received wonderful additions and suggestions to my playlists. I’ve taken them all, too. I have also advocated for the broader appreciation of various artists here.
With the announcement of his passing I was struck by how little I knew about that talented artist. I had never seen or read an interview with Frankie Beverly. Never seen a tabloid headline about his drug use, trashing hotels, affairs, or his violent temper. I’d never seen him glad-handing on a late-night or daytime talk show.
Frankie Beverly, in my experience, spoke through his music only. For all I knew, Frankie Beverly could have been a benevolent celestial being who came to Earth to commune with a people in need of his message of joy, passion, and hope. He could have been an ebony immortal, like those of Tananarive Due’s books, who shared his insight of the human heart and soul gained through the centuries he had walked the earth.
That is how warm and enigmatic our dear brotha, Frankie Beverly, was to me. The native of Philadelphia and California transplant never gained the crossover success of Marvin Gaye, Al Green or Maurice White. Though as Essence magazine declared back in 2017: “There isn’t a cookout, not a wedding or family reunion in Black America where you won’t hear” him and Maze.
Frankie Beverly (via Flickr)
That has been true for nearly 50 years. It was Marvin Gaye that suggested to Beverly that he change the name of his band from Raw Soul to Maze. He helped get them signed too, which led to nine albums that all were certified gold.
Here is what I’ll offer as a quintessential collection of Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly. Please enjoy. Dig what New York Times writer, Ben Ratliff, had to say about the voice of Beverly:
“His voice was half-scorched, and some of the usual traces of Donny Hathaway and Sam Cooke weren’t coming through. But he managed by keeping it in the middle register and by adding small vocal gestures to the rhythm cycles — percussive uh-uhs and dibba-dibbas, gospel grunts.”
Frankie Beverly spent a lifetime singing about joy and desire. Though he dealt in reality, as well as the perils of hurting those around him. See you all next month.
And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.
Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Editor’s Note: Marlon’s piece on the late, great Frankie Beverly was lovingly crafted by him days ago and scheduled to post today. Last night’s untimely passing of musical legend Tito Jackson and the legacy he left behind will be addressed by GBN in the very near future.
Happy Music Monday, you all! Once again it’s your friend and selector, Marlon West, with another collection for listening and, this time, voting pleasure.
That is unless you are the kind of voter more inclined towards the guy that inspires a playlist featuring Kid Rock and Ted Nugent. Though if you were, I doubt you would be here on GOOD BLACK NEWS.
So, if you are like me, Vice President Kamala Harris’ and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s campaign and the excitement around it is welcome good news.
While some dismiss these heady days as a “sugar rush” and “media honeymoon”, Senior Editor and Correspondent for NPR News, Ron Elving, likened it to what Wall Street brokers call a “relief rally”.
This is coming after months of democrats being in the throes of ill-ease after President Biden’s debate performance. Weeks of record-breaking fundraising and huge rallies, has made for a decidedly more hopeful mood. One that I hope is here to stay.
To that end, here is a collection of tracks inspired by these more heady days to take us through the election season. Some of these songs are taken from the playlist for Harris/Walz rallies, like Mary J. Blige’s “Work That”, Leon Bridges’ “Smooth Sailing’ and, of course, Beyoncé‘s “Freedom”.
While others just seem quite timely again, including Billy Paul’s “Am I Black Enough For You”, The Staple Singers “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)”, and Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under A Groove”.
With Governor Walz dedicating a highway to “The Purple One”, there are more than a few Prince tracks thrown in as well.
Happy Music Monday, y’all. If you haven’t already, please dig Jamila Wignot’s new documentary “Stax: Soulsville U.S.A.”, currently streaming on Max.
The four-part film tells the story of Stax Records, the iconic R&B label, from its late-1950s beginnings to its 1975 demise.
In its prime the label featured stars like Rufus Thomas and Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave, and Otis Redding, as well as the ace house band of Booker T. and the MGs.
Stax was a colorblind oasis of racial harmony in an otherwise fiercely segregated South. Stax has been eclipsed by Motown, with many of their hits mistakenly thought to be output from that Detroit Mecca, even though the comparative grittier Memphis studio had a sound all its own.
Look no further than Carla Thomas and Otis Redding’s “Tramp” to hear just how much their most popular artist was unapologetically “straight from the Georgia woods.”
Stax Records is critical to American music history as one of the most popular music record labels of all time.
In 15 years, Stax put more than 160 songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts. Please enjoy this 4 hours of essential Stax music featuring Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays,Johnnie Taylor, Shirley Brown, The Staple Singers and so many more.
I’m starting off straight up corny by saying I’ve been a “transparent soul” with anyone who’d listen to me about my anticipation of WILLOW’s sixth and latest solo LP, which finally dropped May 3rd.
My owning of my corniness, turns out, totally vibes with the messages about the freedom to express & accept your feelings, warts and all, coursing throughout the #greatalbum “empathogen” (2024).
Not only do I absolutely love how WILLOW wrestles lyrically (and musically) with Big Ideas such as existence, ego, anxiety, pain, self-sabotage, fear and love, she does so in such soul-felt, sophisticated & surprising ways, I have to compliment the precise production by WILLOW and her fellow producers Chris Greatti, Eddie Benjamin and Jon Batiste.
There are myriad sounds, echo effects and vocal arrangements involved in each track, even the stripped down ones, but none ever feel overdone — just purposeful and fresh. It’s as if WILLOW threw her hands into the cosmic river of music, tapped into its source, and allowed it to flow freely through her.
There’s a lot going on technically in the music I can’t speak on with any authority (e.g. the multiple time signatures, turnarounds, uncommon verse/chorus structures) but what I can talk about is how it hits the ears and how it feels — free, unexpected, relatable, or, in one word — embracing.
WILLOW is clearly a student of music and draws on varied influences (her IG post of her working her voice out to Ella Fitzgerald’s legendary scat on “How High The Moon” blew my mind a few months ago and still lives rent free in what’s left of my head), but right now she’s reminding me most of the great Esperanza Spalding, particularly during her “Emily’s D+Evolution” (2016) jazz/pop/rock era.
WILLOW’s own pop/rock/punk/soul explorations from the past few years also inform her current jazz/funk/fusion present (and hopefully future).
The singles released from the LP, “symptom of life” and “bigfeelings”, are the best ambassadors for this tight 12-song offering which literally begins with what sounds like an off-mic Jon Batiste screeching, as if being born, “I love everything!”
(BTW, could Batiste be on more of a roll? He also co-produces and co-writes “Ameriican Requiem”, the opening track on COWBOY CARTER. If I’m an artist, I’m thinkin get this man to help kick off my LP, stat, cuz greatness will surely follow!)
After Batiste, we hear steady rimshots underneath WILLOW’s “ah oo ah ah” breaths until she sings “I live my life” — and I didn’t conjure my previous cosmic music river metaphor out of nowhere as WILLOW then sings “I trust this river to carry me / home” in this mystifyingly captivating LP opener titled “home”.
Thanks to our Editor-In-Chief, Lori Lakin Hutcherson, for reminding me that it April is Jazz Appreciation Month. So, to that end, I’ve assembled this collection of new and recent Jazz releases.
Most of these track have been released in 2024. None of them is older than five years old. These tracks encompass a wide range of styles and showcase the creativity and artistry of today’s jazz musicians.
This collection features rom compelling compositions to virtuosic performances, by the likes of Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y, Marlon Simon, Lawrence Fields, Kandace Springs and so many others.
Jazz is a most truly American art form, its soulful and rich roots go back to the 1890s. Jazz Appreciation Month (fondly known as “JAM“) was created at Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2001.
According to their website, “to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz for the entire month of April. JAM is intended to stimulate and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz – to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and more.” Works for me!!
The roots of jazz can be found in the blues and that is true of this playlist too. The journey of jazz started in the deep south along back roads, spread to nearly every city in America and eventually the world.
The variety and richness of jazz is on full display on with this collection. Enjoy JAM!
