It’s Under The Stars, babe … A quasi-weekly column that presents new music releases, upcoming shows, opinions, and other adjacent items. We keep moving with the changes and thinking outside the margins.
Let’s go find the love within …
OAKLAND INTERFAITH GOSPEL CHOIR AT GAMH, DECEMBER 24
Within various cultures, some traditions must be followed for each new holiday season.
The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir’s yearly presentation of dual shows on Christmas eve at the Great American Music Hall is a San Francisco tradition and long-standing, bandwidth-widening custom for the GAMH-Slim’s family.
This renowned performance choir, led by the upbeat Terrance Kelly, has appeared in award-winning works by Tramaine Hawkins, MC Hammer, and Linda Ronstadt in addition to performing at the San Francisco opening of the National LGBTQ Center for the Arts. We are fortunate to have this top-notch organization, which “weaves together a family of more than 55 singers from a wide range of faiths, races, and cultures,” according to the group’s artist bio, in our midst.
With the current state of the world, there is a high demand for uplifting joy. Feed your soul this holiday season.
Grab tickets here.
BOBBY CALDWELL, CAT IN THE HAT and BOBBY CALDWELL (BE WITH RECORDS)
Arrangements, sequencing, accompaniment, and otherworldly chord progressions: these are just a few of the elements that come to mind when reflecting on the artistry of Bobby Caldwell, who unfortunately passed away in March. Our dear friends at Be With Records, located in Manchester, UK, have reissued two incredible albums by this multi-hyphenate—who was doing his thing back when people didn’t even use that term. In those days, it was all about making ends meet and doing whatever was necessary to get the job done. Bobby Caldwell had—how can I put it—a “diverse fan base,” simply because he got it right.
When you listen to Mr. Caldwell, you hear him state his case for off-base loving: too much, not enough, or with the wrong person. He presents the human condition in the way it arrives in life. You find yourself rooting for this vocalist who always caught up in a sitch, with the killer musical accompaniment.
With these two albums, he covers rock, disco, AOR, ballads, and things you can’t even identify, with a natural aplomb: Effortless deep soul, cozy-type inventive jazz accents, and sometimes even improvisation on those funky Steely Dan-esque hybrids.
And let’s just put it out there: Benny Sings was created by Caldwell’s musical persona and bundling of genres.
Cat In The Hat was released in 1980 and maneuvers through the changing ways that R&B was being explored and marketed at the time. It’s a fascinating pursuit of how to groove, and Caldwell keeps it moving, trouble-free. You can focus on “Open Your Eyes,” which was sampled by J Dilla and Common, but don’t shortchange your plethora of options here. Hat is pretty much a no-skips event. Soul slappers, burnished grooves, even that wafty, Barry-Gibb-meets-Quincy-Jones-type production on “I Don’t Wan’t To Lose Your Love“—dude is controlling the bag.
What You Won’t Do For Love, his debut record from 1977, has a sticky disco residue to it. Recorded during the genre’s heyday, Caldwell captures mellow bump-and-roll moments with proper horn embellishments while supervising hustling frippery with less acuity.
“My Flame” has that cool-down moment that was sampled by Notorious B.I.G. for “Sky’s The Limit.” But the entire track warrants multiple plays. There is even a brief interlude, “Kalimba Song,” that makes use of the thumb piano, a popular heat check by Earth Wind & Fire back in the day, which Caldwell turns into his own “Brazilian Rhyme.”
But hey … “What You Won’t Do for Love” spits cold game AND pays the rent, even today.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in a pharmacy in The Marina, a CVS near the UCSF campus, or on the dance floor at Sweater Funk. It comes on. Even when the bar doesn’t want your money anymore, the dance floor is just swaying as one like nobody has to work in nine hours.
Just pop it on your cans, headphones, earpods, whatever … and listen to Bobby cook.
The Fender Rhodes, Bobby telling you “I search to find a love within,” as the bass plucks in between, the horns weaving in and out—Mr. Caldwell pouring out his damn heart.
When he recorded this album, the A&R team from the label told him something was missing. So he wrote and recorded the biggest hit of his career in two days.
Pulled it from out of the ether.
So yeah, just rock with those last two minutes of the song, where those strings sound like the ocean waves slowly rolling onto the beach.
That’s genius.
Nope, I’m sorry—that’s getting it right.
Pick up the remastered gems here.
SOL BLUME MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES THREE-DAY EXPANSION & 2024 DATES
If you’re looking for more soul at the Sol Blume Festival this spring, the bundling has begun!
This R&B, hip-hop, and soul music festival was founded by Sacramento-based promoter ENT Legends and began and began as a one-day event at Cesar Chavez Plaza in Sacramento many years ago. It has since evolved and is now expanding to a three-day holiday-of-sorts. Last year’s festival brought a record-setting 46,000 attendees, who enjoyed performances by heavy-hitting R&B songstresses Jorja Smith, Jhené Aiko, Summer Walker, and Jazmine Sullivan. This year, Sol Blume will take over Discovery Park from Friday, May 3 to Sunday, May 5.
A new lineup will be announced early next year. Be sure to lock in your tickets here.
THE HELLTONES, MEDUSA
There it is! I missed it the last time, its presence lurking just under my bloodshot eyes.
The new album Medusa comes from Oakland’s surf-soul rock and roll six-piece, The Helltones, who skip, hop, mix, and arrange wiry textures into a hearth, similar to the beloved Detroit Cobras. That’s why it hits familiar. Medusa takes you through a wide range of influences: rockabilly, mellow sunset blues, and jazzy tones matched up with a pluck of country twang, with spectral punk AF moments scattered in between. Boy howdy! The Helltones don’t just tackle it, they conquer the quagmire of psychedelic surf, soulful Americana, and retro rhythm and blues—or as I like to say, they time-trip because they actually have the acuity to execute it.
Medusa takes what could be an ordinary brash ‘n’ blooze vinyl experience into something a bit odd-good and dramatic.
“Medusa,” recorded at Santo in Oakland, is a compelling listen and the perfect pairing with Sunday afternoons outside on the deck, sipping on that dark red Bloody Mary.
Get a taste here.
