Be Easy

I was reading an article about Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings on WERS, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Jones is appearing in a Denzel Washington movie (The Great Debaters) and has done work on the soundtrack.

This soundtrack is soulful, if not quite as funktastic as most of Sharon Jones' music. In general, the music tends to lean more into blues, bluegrass, jazz, and gospel territory than towards heavy soul, R&B, and funk. Some of the music really reminds me of Chicago (the musical, not the band), while other tracks are absolutely Robert Johnson influenced. The Staple Singers are also a big influence. What's most interesting and exciting about this soundtrack, is the fact that the performers are mostly contemporary, and all wonderfully talented in their diverse musical fields.

Alvin "Youngblood" Hart is a contemporary blues man (a "prisoner of hope" to quote Cornell West) who plays a mean, blues guitar and has been known to cover Led Zeppelin (who stole most of their sound from blues men in the first place.) On his many albums he bounces from straight-up acoustic, guitar blues to crackling electric rock songs to country swing. This is a musician who truly loves music, and this love is obvious no matter what he's playing. On The Great Debaters soundtrack, Alvin appears eleven times. He channels James Brown on "My Soul Is A Witness", shows his blues roots on "I've Got Blood In My Eyes For You" (which must have the coolest name of any song, ever), and harmonizes on "Two Eyes".

Sharon Jones has already been given a detailed portrait in this blog, along with her lovely Dap-Kings. David Berger, on the other hand, has never even been mentioned in this blog, a sad oversight on my part. David Berger leads David Berger and the Sultans of Swing, the jazz orchestra that truly reminds me of Chicago. "Delta Serenade" and "Rock N Rye" are pure concrete jungle jazz, the kind of horn swinging, party tunes that would make King Louis shout.

You can listen to parts of the album on iTunes, and watch the movie when it's released on Christmas.