I'd like to meet:
Bob Davis: co-owner/creator (with his brother Mike) of the award winning Soul-Patrol.com website. He is also the web master/moderator/editor/radio program director of Soul-Patrol
Click Here and Check the Soul-Patrol Newsletter Archives for the any issues that you may have missed
Welcome To The Soul-Patrol Newsletter
This edition of the Soul-Patrol Newsletter is all about the "Soul-Patrol.com Best of 2006". As is our tradition we will give you our best of picks in the following categories: Live Performances, Classic Soul, Jazz, Funk, Rock n' Roll, Southern Soul/Blues, Nu Soul, Singles, Compilations, Books, DVD's. It's our way of honoring the very best of what we have reviewed during the course of the year 2006. It's also in effect our suggested "2006 Black Music Buying Guide" and it's our hope that you will take these artists into consideration when making your choices. (and you can expect some surprises).....
These selections aren't based on media hype, popularity, corporate policies, radio play lists, website visitors, or popular trends. The selections are based on one and only one factor and that is quality of content produced by the artist. That is because we think that is the only factor that the people reading this care about.
The links are all active. Please click on them to learn just why we selected the artist as one of "Soul-Patrol.com Best of 2006"
--Bob Davis
[email protected]
Soul-Patrol.com - Best of 2006
Live Performances
1. Jimi Hendrix Tribute Show - BB Kings, NYC
2. Family Stone - Carter Baron Amphitheatre, Washington DC
3. Ray Parker Jr - Carter Baron Amphitheatre, Washington DC
4. The Rebirth - World Cafe Live, Philadelphia
5. Candi Staton- World Cafe Live, Philadelphia
6. Archie Bell- Joe's Pub , NYC
7. Leon Ware - North By Northwest, Philadelphia
8. Hil St Soul - Grape Street Pub, Philadelphia
9. Michael Henderson - North By Northwest, Philadelphia
10. Chi-Lites, Ray Goodman & Brown, Escorts, Ollie Woodson, Manhattans, Peaches & Herb, Ted Mills Paradise Theater, Bronx NY
11. Poetic Notion Chorus Band and Soloists - Reinventing Laura Nyro- University of the Streets, NYC
12. Angela Johnson- Bluenote, NYC
Classic Soul
1. Billy Griffin - "Like Water" (Soul/Make Out)
2. Angel - "Where Have You Been?" (Soul/R&B/Beach)
3. Silk - "Always and Forever" (Classic Soul)
4. Temptations - "Reflections"
5. Lenny Welch - "It's All About Love" (Romantic Pop)
6. Natalie Cole - "Leavin" (Soul/Funk/Pop)
7. Persuaders - "Woman Made To Be Loved" (Classic Soul)
8. Chairmen of the Board - All In The Family (Southern Soul)
9. Gwen McCrae - "Gwen McCrae Sings TK" (Southern Soul-Funk-Disco-Jazz-Slow Jams-Kitchen Sink)
10. Aretha Franklin - "Live At Fillmore West (Deluxe Edition)" (Soul-Funk-Gospel)
Jazz
1. Paradise - "Jazz-Funk- Hip-HoPoetry" (Jazz/Funk/Spiritually)
2. Gladys Knight - "Before Me" (Jazz/Standards)
3. Christian Scott - "Rewind That" (Jazz-Fusion)
4. Paul Samuels - "Speak " (Straight No Chaser Jazz with a bite)
5. Diana Ross - "Blue" (Jazz/Standards)
6. Smokey Robinson - "Timeless Love" (Jazz/Standards)
7. Chip Shelton - "Peacetime" (Jazz)
8. Geri Allen - "Timeless Portraits And Dreams" (Standards/Spirituality)
9. Onaje Allan Gumbs: "Remember Their Innocence" (Straight No Chaser Jazz)
10. Janis Siegel - "A Thousand Beautiful Things" (Jazz-Pop-Latin)
11. Steve Cole - "true" (Jazz/Funk)
12. Eric Person - "Reflections" (Jazz)
13. Gary Davis Band - "Playing My Dues" (Jazz-Funk-Soul)
14. Spirit of Life Ensemble - "A Little Oasis" (Straight No Chaser Jazz)
15. Ginetta's Vendetta - "La Dolce Vita" (Jazz/Funk/Pop)
Funk
1. Ray Parker Jr.- "I'm Free" (Soul/Jazz/Blues/Rock/Latin)
2. Charles Wright: "Finally Got It Wright" (Soul/Funk/Latin/Doo Wop)
3. SounDoctrine - Endurance (Jazz/Funk)
4. Rob and the Soul Brother - "Show Some Luv" (Jazz-Funk-Slow Jams)
5. Chico Hamilton - "6th Avenue Romp" (Everything Under The Sun)
6. The Rebirth - "This Journey In" (Kozmic Funk)
7. Seven Eleven: "Live In Paris" (Funk, Funk, Funk, Funk Me Up)
8. grosskopf File Under: G (Jazz-Funk)
9. Lee Ritenour - "Smoke 'N' Mirrors" (Jazz/Funk/World)
10. Tony Cook & The GA's - Brothers in the Groove (Stone Cold Funk/Southern Soul)
Rock n' Roll
1. Don Byron - "Do The Boomerang (The Music of Junior Walker)" (Supersonic Jazz/Funk/Rock)
2. Vernon Reid and Masque - "Other True Self" (Jazz/Funk/Progressive Rock)
3. King Curtis - "Live At Fillmore West (Deluxe Edition)" (Soul/Jazz/Funk/Gospel)
4. Digg Deep - "InDiggNation" (Soul/Funk/Rock/Rap/Expanding Minds)
5. Players - "From the Six Corners" (Funk/Soul/Jazz/Rock)
6. Bill Godwin's Ink Spots on Stage (Really Ancient Black Music)
Southern Soul & Blues
1. Booboo Davis - "Drew, Mississippi" (Traditional Blues/Revolutionary Hip Hop/Blues in Technicolor)
2. Candi Staton - "His Hands" (Soul/Blues/Country)
3. Trudy Lynn (w/Calvin Owens Blues Orchestra) - "I'm Still Here" (Jazz/Blues/Soul)
4. Billy Jones - "tha'Bluez " (Funk-Soul-Blues-Southern Soul)
5. Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band - "Master Of The Game" (Southern Soul/Blues)
6. Ms. Monique - Soul Sessions Chapter 1 (Soul/R&B/Southern Soul/Slow Jams/Southern Fried Erotica)
7. Linda Hopkins - "The Living Legend LIVE!" (Blues)
8. William Bell - "New Lease on Life" (Classic Soul/R&B/Southern Soul)
9. Ronnie Baker Brooks - "The Torch" (Blues/Funk)
10. Wendell B. - "Good Times" (R&B/Southern Soul)
Nu Soul
1. Gary Taylor - "Retro Blackness" (Soul/Jazz/Mind Expanding Afrocentric Kozmic Funk)
2. Jazzhole - "Poets Walk" (Soul/Jazz/Funk)
3. Maysa - "Sweet Classic Soul" (Soul)
4. Oktbrwrld - "The UpDown Sensation" (Soul/Funk/Jazz)
5. Hil St Soul - SOULdified (Soul/Jazz/Funk)
6. Traciana Graves - "Tales of a Prodigal Daughter" (Soul/World/Pop)
7. Eugene IV - "Starving Artist" (Conscious Hip-Hop-Soul)
8. Frank McComb - "The 1995 Bootleg" (Soul-Jazz-Funk)
9. Jason Miles: "What's Going On" (Songs of Marvin Gaye) (Jazz/Soul/Neo Soul)
10. TN'T - "Something Good" (Nu Soul/Funk/Rock/House/Slow Jams)
Singles
1. Matte' - "Hypmotized"
2. Rich Kidz - "Peace"
3. Chairman of the Board - "What's Up With That"
4. Lockboxx - "Rollerglow"
5. Carlton Smith - "Old School Fool"
6. Square Egg - "Whatever Happened to Crack"?"
7. Desi - "Golden Lady"
Compilations
1. Various Artists - "What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves" - (Raw Funk)
2. Various Artists - "Motortown Revue" (Classic Soul)
3. Various Artists - "One Kiss Can Lead To Another": Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found (Classic Soul/Classic Rock/Doo Wop)
4. Various Artists - "Jazz Vocalists: Hear and Now" (Vocal Jazz)
5. Roberta Flack - "The Very Best of Roberta Flack" (Classic Soul/Pop)
6. Various Artists - "Brunswick Records Top 40 R&B Singles - 1966 - 1975"
7. Holland Dozier, Holland - "Heaven Must have Sent You" (Classic Soul)
8. Marvin Gaye - "Gold" (Classic Soul)
9. Donna Summer - "Gold" (Soul/Rock/Disco/Funk)
10. Various Artists - "Southern Fried Funk" (Funk)
Books
1. Erik Greene - "Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story From His Family's Perspective"
2. Jay Warner - On This Day In Black Music History
3. Bill Carpenter - "Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia"
4. Jerry Lawson, Abraham J. Santiago, and Steven J. Dunham - "Acappella Street Corner Vocal Groups"
5. Kevin Harewood - "Make Your Move!!!"
6. Evan Ginzburg - "Apartment 4B,Like In Brooklyn"
DVD's
1. James Brown - The Man, The Music and the Message
2. Billy Cobham - Culturemix: New Morning Paris Concert
3. Marvin Gaye - The Real Thing In Performance"
4. Teddy Pendergrass - "Teddy Live In 79"
5. Mandrill - "Live At Montreux - 2002"
6. Chi-Lites - "Live"
7. 5th Dimension Traveling Sunshine Show
8. Muddy Waters "Classic Concerts"
9. Dance Party: "The Teenarama Story"
10. 25 Strong
As always we will be making presentations of these awards at the 2007 Soul-Patrol Convention which will be held this year in Philadelphia in May/2007 Memorial Day Weekend, in partnership with the Philadelphia Black Heritage Festival, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and Clark Park. Watch the Soul-Patrol Newsletter for more details about the 2007 Convention!
A Few Closing Thoughts About 2006 & Black Music
There are two places where you can view the Soul-Patrol.com Best of 2006 online:
- http://www.soul-patrol.com/newsletter/2006/news12/best2006.h tml
- http://www.soul-patrol.com /
I urge you to not only check out the list, but also to support the artists who are there. Many of these artists are quite subversive. They are indeed trying to make a difference.
It's important to the future of OUR music. It may be even more important to the future of OUR culture.
It's ironic that at the very moment that I am about to make this announcement, I just got an email from Soul-Patrol's 2005 Funk Artist of the year, NADIR/DISTORTED SOUL about a totally unrelated matter. It served as a very useful reminder of how I will remember the year 2006 from an overall musical perspective.
He's got a new tag line for his emails. I read it and it made me smile. You may agree or disagree with his opinion. But at least he has one and he feels a responsibility to inform just as much as he does to entertain. It reminded me of something important about the year 2006 and Black Music...
People label Soul-Patrol as "old school". And their correct, however they don't know why they are correct.
They are correct because at Soul-Patrol.com we believe that music can change the world and make everyone's lives better. We know that is a true statement. We know it's true, because we are "old enough" to remember a time when music did exactly that. Music changed the way we thought about the world on a global basis and changed the way we related to other people on an individual basis. Artists were PASSIONATE about this regardless of if the subject matter was "global" or personal"...
It didn't matter if it was....
"IT'S NOT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD...YOU'RE THE ONE"
--Little Sister
Or
"I'VE GOT A LOVE JONES FORRRRR YOUUUUUU"
--Brighter Shades of Darkness
...These artists were all about educating us to become better people!!!
- NADIR/DISTORTED SOUL is "old school".
- NADIR/DISTORTED SOUL is trying to make a difference in this world. Thru SLAMMIN music combined with INTELLIGENT discourse.
- That type of PASSION is a part of what has been missing in the commercial music sector over the past 20 years or so. Because it has been missing, we have suffered as individuals and our society has suffered. And our future is now in doubt.
However there is hope!
In 2006 one of the key trends has been a return to the type of passionate artists who have the potential to influence the way we think and with that, the potential to change our society for the good. Certainly this is an "underground phenomena", and has a long way to go before it reaches the "mainstream".
I see and hear this in music Soul-Patrol.com reviewed in 2006 by artists like:
PARADISE, CARLTON SMITH, HIL ST SOUL, LEON WARE, POETIC NOTION CHORUS BAND, ANGEL, BILLY GRIFFIN, SILK, CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD, LENNY WELCH, CHIP SHELTON, FAMILY STONE, CHRISTIAN SCOTT, PAUL SAMUELS, GERRI ALLEN, ONAJE ALLAN GUMBS, SPIRIT OF LIFE ENSEMBLE, CHARLES WRIGHT, DON BYRON, BOOBOO DAVIS, BILLY JONES "BLUZ", MS MONIQUE, GARY TAYLOR, EUGENE IV, JASON MILES, RICH KIDZ, SQUARE EGG.
- Nadir/Distorted Soul did it in 2005.
- The artists above did it in 2006.
- Nothing makes me happier than seeing more artists accepting and embracing this responsibility
They intentionally and passionately set out to: MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!
And in the society we live in today, that is indeed an "act of subversion" on the part of these artists...
On Soul-Patrol.com , these are the kind of artists we are looking for because we want to help them to make a difference. We know that the "status quo" needs to change and we want to be of some assistance in facilitating that change.
I am not suggesting that this needs to be the primary goal of each and every artist, but I think that at least a few of them need to create music that has enough of an impact on the listener to make them think about things that go beyond the immediate content of the song, either on a personal level or on a global level?
In 2006 the bad news is that we have lost many great artists from the past and it makes us ponder what the future holds. The good news is that there are emerging artists who along with some of the remaining "old headz" from the past who are on a mission to help us to "remember what we thought we forgot"!!!
My sincere hope is that when we look back, 20 years from now, 2006 will be seen as a "watershed year" in BLACK MUSIC because of this.
Anyhow, I have rambled enough about this, here is Nadir's "email tagline"...
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have neither recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
I am looking forward to 2007...
--Bob Davis
[email protected]
As always we will be making presentations of these awards at the 2007 Soul-Patrol Convention which will be held this year in Philadelphia in May/2007 Memorial Day Weekend, in partnership with the Philadelphia Black Heritage Festival, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and Clark Park. Watch the Soul-Patrol Newsletter for more details about the 2007 Convention!
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Bob Davis
[email protected]
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Over the years Soul-Patrol has received many awards from both Educational and Entertainment entities, all over the all over the world: Soul-Patrol has been recognized by entities such as Encyclopedia Britannica for excellence. It's listed as "required reading" in the history department course outlines at the Universities of Wisconsin and Indiana.
Bob Davis is frequently sought out for his opinions, commentaries and advice by organizations such as the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, Rhythm & Blues Foundation, Future of Music Coalition, Black Rock Coalition, West Coast Doo Wop Society, SistaFactory, Universal Music, Rhino Music, Wake Forrest University, Arizona Republic, Orlando Sentinel, Pittsburgh Courier, Rolling Out, Cleveland Scene and others.
Bob Davis has provided commentaries for XM-Radio, American Urban Radio Network (AURN), along with a host of radio stations across the United States and Europe.
Bob headed the Prodigy Online Service music department (1999 - 2003) & is currently the editor for the African American History/Culture & the R&B Music directories for a major search engine. He consults with independent artists/labels and small businesses on Internet strategy and technology deployment.
Soul-Patrol is the ONLY African American 100 percent (content and technology infrastructure) owned/operated Internet resource of its kind. It's the ..1 destination for Soul Music on the Internet, according to the rankings of the Google and Yahoo Search Engines. Soul-Patrol also produces local events in NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC/Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Columbus. It also produces, a major offline Black music/culture event, the "Soul-Patrol East Coast Convention", benefiting the "Open Up My Heart Foundation".
Bob has interviewed a diverse set of artists from the world of Jazz, Rock, R&B, etc. such as Paul Simon, Bobby Womack, Sly & Family Stone, Delfonics, Stylistics, Eric Clapton, Berry Gordy, Harvey Fuqua, John Mellencamp, Rick James, John Sebastian, Mary Wilson, O'jays, Earth Wind and Fire, Kid Rock, Dells, Candi Staton, Mandrill, Paul Shaffer, George Clinton, Stanley Clarke, Bo Diddley, Vernon Reid, ZZ Top, Chuck D, Gil Scott-Heron, Aerosmith Billy Paul, Emotions, Isaac Hayes, Bernie Worrell, Neville Bros, Ray Charles and others.
Recent Press Coverage on Soul-Patrol.com Billboard Magazine: http://www.billboard.com/bb/tangledweb/article_display.jsp?v nu_content_id=1000800309
Cleveland Scene Magazine: http://music.clevescene.com/Issues/2005-04-06/music/aroundhe ar.html
Pittsburgh Courier: http://newpittsburghcourier.com/?article=11610
Black Men In America: http://www.blackmeninamerica.com/feature.htm
Bob Davis born in Brooklyn, NY, is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (Political Science & Economics - 1979) and currently resides in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and daughter.
