Soul, Funk and Jazz

I have been actively exploring soul, r&b, hip-hop, funk and jazz music for almost a decade now.

My introduction to these genres was accidental, as are most things in life. My dad played classic rock for me growing up, while my sister played r&b. My mom, on the other hand, would just play Hindi oldies on AIR FM 106.4.

Back in the days, I was a big fan of HIT 95 FM in Delhi, and I would listen to it during my commute to school. RJ Sarthak would play music by Sade and Marvin Gaye on Thursdays, and I fell in love. It took me three weeks to record that snippet from the radio and Soundhound it, but the effort was worth it. At home, I would have Sweetest Taboo by Sade on repeat.

I continued to (painstakingly) search for similar music through YouTube. The rec engine wasn’t great back then, so I didn’t make much headway. I would occasionally use Apple Genius to attempt to make playlists, but it wasn’t a very useful feature, truth to be told.

In NUS, I discovered Spotify. Gone were the days of painfully ripping mp3s and googling their album art; I could listen to my favourite songs for free. And even better, Spotify had an auto play feature which would play music they thought I would like.

And that’s how I found the first of the greats; the Isley Brothers.

Soul

The Isley Brothers were my gateway to more and more soul music. I loved Between the Sheets so much, and was surprised to find out that the hip-hop I listened to so much sampled a lot of their music. The guitar riff in Voyage to Atlantis is inspired to say the very least; the first time I heard it, I was confident that it was Hendrix playing the guitar. My hunch was sorta confirmed - Ernie Isley (the guitarist for the Isley Brothers) actually played with Hendrix when he’d stayed with the Isleys for a bit in the 70s.

I sank deeper into the genre, finding more artists to love; I became a regular consumer of the Motown and Philly soul label. In 2016, I was so happy to get into the University of Michigan for exchange - now I finally had an excuse to visit the Motown museum at Detroit woot woot!

Al Green, Minnie Ripperton, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, The Stylistics, Curtis Mayfield, Leon Ware (who I chanced upon recently; seems like he produced the entire I Want You album for Marvin Gaye), Teddy Pendergrass… the list is (17 hours) long, and it seems never ending.

Is there a song sweeter than Let’s Stay Together?

Neo-soul

After discovering soul, I thought I’d legit reached nirvana; my search for good music was complete and I could not fathom liking any other genre. Enter: Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite. The smoothest album since Between the Sheets by the Isleys, I couldn’t get enough of Sumthin’ Sumthin’ and Reunion. The entire production was a concept album; describing the journey of a relationship, its highs and its lows. I admit that I don’t pay much attention to the lyrics of a song - I prefer the rhythm, the melody, the bass. But this album had me intrigued.

On a side note, the music video for Sumthin’ Sumthin’ is completely whack and it just adds to my (already massive) crush on Maxwell.

Neo-soul is like if soul and r&B had a baby - it’s smooth, sensual but also distinctive from its parent genres.

I listened to Erykah Badu and Bilal next from the same era, and quickly became a fan. I continue on my neo-soul journey with newer artists like Tom Misch, Moonchild, Raveena and Snoh Aalegra (her NPR rendition of I Want You Around brings me close to tears).

You can listen to my neo-soul playlist on Spotify, too!

Quiet Storm

How can I forget the OG, the gorgeous Sade? Her beauty and her voice are both ageless and timeless; you can pick up listening at any point in any of her albums, and it’ll be like you never left. It’s almost like she’s a Smooth Operator, ya know.

The quiet storm name originates from Smokey Robinson’s song of the same name - this amazingly talented man gave birth to an entirely new genre of musical programming. What a legend.

To me, quiet storm is a precursor to neo-soul - it has all the sensuality but is free from the r&b, as the lyrics seem to be sweeter and the rhythm fades more into the background, bringing the melody into focus.

Funk

Listening to funk was like taking a step backwards in time; of course I’d listened to Stevie Wonder growing up, but disco and funk were never really my thing, till now. Maybe my listening patterns have changed, but I absolutely LOVE funk now. Give me more Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis productions - The SOS Band, Loose Ends, Kool and the Gang are some of my favourite bands of this genre.

Jazz

I have a funny little anecdote to share.

In 2018, I was sitting with an Italian friend at NUS who was very into jazz, so much so that he had John Coltrane as his wallpaper. I wanted to annoy him so I asked him (quite innocently) if that man on his computer was Jay Z. It was like I committed some cardinal sin; dude got up, left the table and didn’t come back for 15 minutes. It’s a miracle that we are still friends to this day. But I digress.

I do like jazz, but not to the extent that I listen to it everyday. I can digest some John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Steve Kuhn on a semi-regular basis. Steve Kuhn depresses me though, idk why. I don’t think I have the ear for jazz (yet); maybe I should try learning the saxophone HAHA.

I enjoy nu jazz more, and have an entire vibes playlist for it.