D.A.R. - Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer EP, piano, clavinet, synths, guitar & programming. .......................................................................................... 5 time consecutive Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll Award winner Jeremy Pelt guests on trumpet.
Influences
Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, Thelonius Monk, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Prince, Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver, Paul Weller, Donny Hathaway, Brian Wilson, Lewis Taylor, Elliott Smith, David Ryan Harris, Jon Brion, the great American songbook
What if...
...we could traverse time? Go back to, say, 1976-’77 or so, and find a symbolic crossfade point? One between the timeless spirit of such soul music landmarks as “Songs In The Key Of Life”, or “All-N-All”, and the beginning strains of where R&B would eventually end up in the 80’s.
What if we could go back there to one such precise point? Not for the sake of mimicry. Not to re-hash the era, nor to futilely try to re-create (or fool ourselves into thinking we’re re-creating) the amazing ground many of those artists carved out for themselves. Not for the gimmicky purpose of being “retro” anything, and certainly not to STAY there, but instead, to use it as an emphatic point of departure. A place from which to begin a re-write to the script of American soul music’s recent past, predominantly disengaged present, and once again ambitious future? In fact, to create a “Parallel Universe”.
A world that feels and sounds like a totally new one, but is still based upon the same timeless roots we have recently let the overwhelming majority of our music and art become disconnected from. A world which shares the same kaleidoscopically creative past, and is blessed to be exposed to the influence of all the same glorious communicators, innovators and pioneers. (…From Negro spirituals, to Ragtime and Dixieland, to the Blues, to Swing, to Gospel, to Rock and Roll, to Bebop, to Motown and Funk …) A world fed by, and sharing the spirit of soul’s greats. And yet, one that from that radicle (as in the “root” of something) point onwards, heads left wherever this one went right; One that embraces the angular and dissonant at the precise moments when this one clung to the smooth and consonant (and vice versa).
My goal is simply to do my small part to make sure this Parallel Universe of Soul Music exists. To help make sure it somehow evolves as surely as each day passes.
Now of course, I know this theory/approach is not one that can be absolute. I don’t really desire to live in a vacuum totally devoid of the musical present. (After all, I cannot imagine what music would sound like without Prince’s work, for instance, being exactly what it has been.) But this is where my head is (musically) right now, and where it was for most of the recording of my upcoming full-length.
The Neo Soul Cafe, an established multi-media music and entertainment enterprise has announced the hosting of its 2nd annual “I Got Soul” Conference June 13 - 15 in Dallas, Texas. “Where Soul Meets the Biz” sets the tone to unite the culture and the masses over this three-day conference.
.....the NEW you????? Most of the time, you don't have to mention anything about that said device.....I already know what you're thinking! Nice songs, singing, and sound design. You should get Abe Laboriel or the guy touring with John Mayer to play drums on this. Talk to you soon!
Wsup "D"... doing yo thing... seven is completion... next year is YO year... WATCH.... hope things r going well wit u... Merry Christmas and have a GREAT new year..bruh
Hello DAR! Love "Misplaced". I look forward to hearing more of your music. Truly, thanks for introducing yourself to my music consciousness. I suppose you remind me of a familiar part of me. Peace and Love, CS
