Playlist: WWOZ DJ Soul Sister

In a city known for its legendary music scene, New Orleans community-based radio station WWOZ serves as an institution in itself. It is highly regarded as one of the best stations in the country, and its disc jockeys continuing play a fresh selection of jazz, R&B, funk, and soul.

 DJ Soul Sister, known worldwide as the “queen of rare groove,” has hosted her "Soul Power" show on WWOZ FM and "right on party situations" for nearly two decades in her native New Orleans. One of the longest-running live DJ artists in New Orleans, the veteran radio programmer and host of the longest-running rare groove radio show in the U.S., vinyl collector, crate digger, party promoter and tastemaker is highly regarded and respected not only in her hometown, but around the globe.

We recently asked DJ Soul Sister to curate a playlist for Girls on Your Turntable and here is her selection.  

 

DJ Soul Sister’s “Bold Soul Sisters” Playlist Part 1

A playlist of rare groove, funk, disco, and other vintage soulful music by fierce women artists that you may or may not have heard of before.

1. "Smoke Signals" - Brides of Funkenstein, 1980
   I’m partial to this song because I’m a huge P-Funk head, and my cousin Dawn Silva happens to be one of the Brides. Even if none of the above were true, this group should always be included in the conversation about Funk music. The women of P-Funk’s most successful spinoff, outside of Bootsy’s Rubber Band and aside from sister group Parlet, provided the background (and foreground) vocal sweetening on Parliament-Funkadelic’s greatest jams. I can’t even imagine songs like “Flash Light” and “(not just) Knee Deep” without their voices.
   
    
   
   
    
2.   “So In Tune With You” – Kellee Patterson, 1979    
   Gary, Indiana-born Kellee Patterson was always winning – whether it was local youth talent competitions alongside fellow music-loving neighbors Michael Jackson and his brothers or winning beauty pageants. She enjoyed a prolific recording career in the mid- to late 1970s, and opened for entertainers like Johnny Carson. Rare groove enthusiasts swear by her 1976 LP Kellee. That one’s amazing but, lately, I can’t get enough of this winning dancefloor cut from her 1979 release, All the Things You Are.
   
   
    
3.  “Sister Funk” – Gloria Williams, 1973  
   I don’t know much about Ms. Williams except that she lays down some serious grit on this 7” hunk of funk. Her vocal delivery is oddly somewhere between the Ohio Players and Playboy Magazine. I can’t get enough.
       
4.  “Love Shock” – Kitty & the Haywoods, 1977 
   Speaking of the Ohio Players, they produced one album by the family group from Chicago consisting of well-seasoned session vocalists who sang with Leroy Hutson and other renowned soul artists. This cut, the title track, is a Funk monster , and the rest of the album focuses on plenty of lovely mellow cuts, which are equally nicety.
   


5. “Number One” – Patrice Rushen, 1982  
   I’ve focused a lot on female vocalists in this list, so now it’s time to spotlight an instrumentalist, considered to be number one amongst her peers. Considered one of the world’s top jazz pianists, she hit the ground running as an in-demand session player on sides by Sonny Rollins and Eddie Henderson, and released her debut album in 1974. She switched to R&B, Funk, and dance music in the late 1970s, keeping her soulful jazz edge and winning over pop fans in the process. This instrumental cut from her top selling album Straight from the Heart (containing the hit “Forget Me Nots”) is a perfect example of how jazz grooves can work on the dance floor. 

 

Check out event promoter, soulful dj artist, and music writer Melissa A. Weber aka DJ Soul Sister on the web at facebook.com/djsoulsister, or listen to her weekly “Soul Power” show, the longest running rare groove radio program in the U.S., every Saturday night from 8-10pm Central Standard Time on WWOZ in New Orleans, streaming live at wwoz.org.

 

New Joni Mitchell interview from CBC

This is the first new interview I have seen with Joni Mitchell in awhile. So excited to watch. Thank you CBC for making it available online!

The Girls in the Band, cont.

Earlier this week, we featured our interview with "The Girls in the Band" director Judy Chaikin.

One of the most recognizable women featured in the film is the legendary Marian McPartland, who is perhaps best known as the long-time host of NPR's Piano Jazz.  For those not familiar with the show, check it out immediately.  The weekly broadcasts provide a wealth of rich interviews and duets with Ms. McPartland and her guests.  She is no longer taping new shows, but NPR still airs the program each week pulling from its deep archive.

When speaking with Ms. Chaikin, we discussed the reoccurring notion that women's jazz groups are often perceived as mere novelty acts, and their members are nottaken seriously as musicians.  "Now's The Time",  recorded in 1977, will rest any lingering doubts that skeptics may be holding on to.

The session, which features the all-women ensemble of Mary Osborne (guitar), Marian McPartland (piano), Vi Redd (saxophone), Lynn Milano (bass), and Dottie Dodgion (drums), is an incredibly hip and swinging collection of jazz standards.  The recordings demonstrate mastery of each instrument, and the improvised solos do not hold anything back.  They are as melodically innovative and forceful as their male counterparts. 

The album was recorded live at the Monticello Room in Rochester, New York on June 30, 1977.  The set begins with "Now's the Time",  a blues standard written by Charlie Parker.  It is a natural choice for the opening tune, as the swinging upbeat tempo calls the audience to attention and lets them know what is in store for the next hour to come.  But I can't help but wonder if this song selection was just a coincidence, or if "Now's the Time!" is a call for listeners to wake up an take note of these women.  By 1977, the women's liberation movement was well underway and feminists around the country were actively demanding equality in the home and workplace.  Why not equality on the center stage of the jazz club as well?  These five women certainly prove there is no reason why this should not be the case. Take a listen and you will surely agree! 

The Girls in the Band: An Interview with director Judy Chaikin

"The Girls in the Band", a documentary film that captures the stories of female jazz musicians from the 1930s to present time, will be playing in Los Angeles this weekend.  Click here for details and ticket information. 

I recently spoke with director Judy Chaikin after the film's New York City debut at the Lincoln Center.  In the interview, Ms. Chaikin discusses her inspiration for the film, and how her own views of women musicianship evolved throughout its making.

Read full interview after the jump.

Kate Wolf

Whenever I drive through California this time of year, I am always reminded of the line from Kate Wolf's song "Here in California":

Here in California fruit hangs heavy on the vines
There's no gold I thought I'd warn you
And the hills turn brown in the summertime

Kate Wolf was a noted Bay Area folk singer in the late '70s and '80s, whose life was tragically cut short from leukemia at the young age of 44.  She is remembered every summer at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival, which will take place June 28-30 in Laytonville, CA. 

For those interested in hearing more of Ms. Wolf's music, I recommend starting with her album, "An Evening in Austin", which captures the essence of her songwriting through the live performance.

Kennedy Center to End Women in Jazz Festival

This weekend is the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  The festival, which is the largest of its kind, has always brought attention to and highlighted today's top female jazz musicians.  But this is all to change next year.

It was recently announced that this will be the last year of female-only programming, with the Kennedy Center citing that the emphasis on women was too limiting.

Have we reached a level of equality in jazz that the festival has lost its necessity?  Festival host Dee Dee Bridgewater is not so sure.  She is quoted in the Washington Post, "I don’t understand where that is coming from. I don’t see the need to move away from it, and I know plenty of women who need that space to show their music."

What are your thoughts?  Read the full article in the Washington Post here.

Essential Listening #1: Lucinda Williams "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"

My first selection for Essential Listening for your Girls Turntable is "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" by Lucinda Williams.

Much has been written about the album's history, in which Ms. Williams infamously battled in the studio with various producers and label executives for six year to find the right sound and capture her artistic vision for the recordings.  Her persistence paid off, and when the album was eventually released in 1998, it was lauded with critical praise, earning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

But for those who did not know its history, one might assume it was recorded in a single late night session.  A group of musicians jamming together after a long summer day in a crowded room filled with smoke.  Bourbon and cold beer fueling the night.  At least this is the picture that comes to my mind.  Each track comes together in such an effortless fashion, it's hard for me to disassociate the Southern juke joint imagery conveyed throughout the songs with the recording session itself.  On par with the literary work of Flannery O'Connor and other Southern Gothic writers that have influenced her writing, Ms. Williams' album establishes a sense of tone and place that is inescapable after even one listen. 



Individually, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" is marked by several songs that stand out as significant contributions to the canon of work we now call Americana.  (A genre arguably created in an attempt to categorize Ms. Williams, who falls on the peripheral far beyond the comfort zone of today's pop-driven country music.)



Listen to the entire album on Spotify.