dusty beauties

it's pitch black outside, the wind is howling, and the prospect of another snowstorm blowing in has me scouring through some summery tunes. it's a little known fact - even among my friends - that deep deep deep tucked away behind the obscure electronica and "difficult" music that burbles and twitches out of the living room speakers lurks some dusty beauty from the sixties and seventies.

motown and stax/volt always hovered in the sidelines of my musical listening. friends listened and sent me stuff and so i gradually acquired a taste for the sound but honestly, the sounds aren’t nearly as powerful without the site of the wicked syncopated dance moves, the big big bands and orchestras and the backup singers who snapped lockstep soulful hits and curves across the backdrop of the music so for now i offer you these lovely tunes.

let’s start with al jarreau as he grooves and soothes his way through a classic that i couldn’t imagine being done any better than this . . .


next up, al green and a crack rhythm section tear apart the classic “how do you mend a broken heart” . . . . .



i can’t miss with the staple singers “i’ll take you there” . . .



and back to al green “people get ready” . . .

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