Show Ten

Show #10 - We're 1% of the way there!

Setlist:

1. Booker T. & The MG's - Green Onions
2. Emeli Sande - Heaven
3. Destiny's Child - Bills, Bills, Bills
4. Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Where Is The Love?
5. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
6. Jackson Sisters - I Believe In Miracles
7. Carleen Anderson - Mama Said
8. Al Green - Tired Of Being Alone
9. Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
10. Subteraneans - Taurus Woman

Show Nine

Show #9 - for your listening pleasure

Setlist:

1. Minnie Ripperton - Lovin' You
2. Maxwell - Lifetime
3. The Temptations - Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
4. Repercussions - Promise Me Nothing
5. Young Disciples - Apparently Nothin'
6. Beyonce & Jay-Z - Crazy In Love
7. Stevie Wonder - Living For The City
8. Guru - Trust Me
9. Mary J. Blige - Real Love
10. Slide Five - Up & Out

Show Eight

Show #8 - Let me know what you think

Setlist:

1. Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Satisfy
2. The Miracles - Shop Around
3. New Mastersounds - One Note Brown
4. Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour
5. Reel People - Outta Love
6. Incognito - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
7. Nate James - Set The Tone
8. Jhelisa - Friendly Pressure
9. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia
10. Les Nubians - Demain

Show Seven

Show #7 - Soulicious

Setlist:

1. Ms Dynamite - Dy-Na-Mi-Tee
2. Jill Scott - Gettin' In The Way
3. Luther Vandross & Janet Jackson - Best Things In Life Are Free
4. Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy
5. Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours
6. Eugene McDaniels - Lovin' Man
7. Urban Species - Brother
8. Zap Mama - Bandy Bandy
9. Joy Denalane - Change
10. Ray Charles - Hit The Road Jack

Requests

So thanks everyone for the positive feedback - I'm glad you're enjoying the music as much as I am in putting it together.
We've had a few requests which I'm hoping to include in the next couple of shows:
Greg emailed in the following list:

Machine Gun - Commodores
Rush - Freak Power
Think I'll Call It Morning - Gil Scott Heron
Ordinary Joe - Terry Callier
To Zion - Lauren Hill


Some top tunes there - A seriously funky Commodores instrumental, one of many awesome tracks from the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album, and one of Terry Callier's signature tracks, rounded off with Rush from Freakpower's Drive Thru-Booty album and a Gil Scott- Heron classic.
Tom has also been in touch, also offering us a track from Terry Callier (You Goin' Miss Your Candyman) and Listen from Urban Species. Do you two know each other??!!

Keep the requests coming in!!!!!

Show Six

Show #6 - for your listening pleasure

Setlist:

1. Roy Ayers - Sugar
2. Cee Lo Green - Cry Baby
3. Betty Wright - Shoorah Shoorah
4. The Crusaders - Street Life
5. Terry Callier - You Goin' Miss Your Candyman
6. The Brand New Heavies - Sometimes
7. Raw Stylus - Pushing Against The Flow
8. Curtis Mayfield - We Got To Have Peace
9. Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind
10. Bill Withers - Grandma's Hands

Show Five

You want more?

Show #5 is absolutely funktastic

Setlist:

1. Beverley Knight - Shoulda Woulda Coulda
2. Kool & The Gang - Celebration
3. Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way
4. Raul Midon - Sittin' In The Middle
5. James Brown - This Is A Man's World
6. Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street
7. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes
8. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
9. Anthony David - Words
10. John Legend - No Other Love

Show Four

We're on a roll!
Here is Show #4

Setlist:

1. Diana Ross & The Supremes - Baby Love
2. Amp Fiddler - Superficial
3. Otis Reading - I've Been Loving You Too Long
4. Snowboy - Lucky Fellow
5. Aretha Franklin - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
6. Michael Franti & Spearhead - Positive
7. Angie Stone & James Ingram - My People
8. Gil Scott-Heron - Johannesburg
9. Gabrielle - Dreams
10. Jackie Wilson - (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher

Show Three

Show Three is here!!!

Setlist:

1. Average White Band - Pick Up The Pieces
2. Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own
3. Curtis Mayfield - Power To The People
4. The New Mastersounds - Your Love Is Mine
5. Omar - Your Loss, My Gain
6. Marlena Shaw - Woman Of The Ghetto (Live)
7. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tracks Of My Tears
8. Maysa - Higher Love
9. Roy Ayers - Searchin'
10. Erykah Badu - On & On

We've added a way to submit your favourite tracks - if I think they're good enough, they'll go in!

Show Two

Now we're getting the hang of it, here is show #2.

Setlist:

1. Fertile Ground - Take Me Higher
2. Isley Brothers - Summer Breeze
3. Aloe Blacc - Loving You Is Killing Me
4. Incognito - Always There
5. The Four Tops - Standing In The Shadows Of Love
6. Donny Hathaway - The Ghetto
7. Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke
8. Al Green - Let's Stay Together
9. Jamiroquai - Too Young To Die
10. Jill Scott & Common - 8 Minutes To Sunrise

How about some feedback people?!
Share, like, comment and enjoy xx

Show One

Ok, here we go, the first show is now available for your listening pleasure.

Setlist:

1. Bill Withers - Use Me
2. Macy Gray - I Try
3. The Emotions - Best Of My Love
4. Earth, Wind & Fire - Shining Star
5. The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There
6. The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
7. The Brand New Heavies - Dream On Dreamer
8. Johnny 'Guitar' Watson - Superman Lover
9. Lauryn Hill - All My Time
10. Aaron Neville - Hercules

Choices, choices, choices

I want to add some further explanation behind my choices:
Before my list even sees the light of day, I'm already expecting to be accused of compiling my best 1000 Jazz-Funk & Soul tracks, as opposed to the best 1000.
Well, I may have missed a trick here or there, and I'm willing to be put right if I've made a glaring omission, but I'm quietly confident that my list will stand up to a rigourous level of scrutiny.
Having said all this, I must at this point admit to some of my biases; there are certain labels and artists that are pet loves of mine, and other ones that don't even get a look in, even if they have achieved significant levels popularity.

a) Motown shades it over Stax.

b) Loads of Stevie, Bill Withers, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Roy Ayers and Gil Scott-Heron.

c) The British Acid Jazz scene of the 1990's features heavily.

d) There is not one track from Tina Turner.

e) No covers - unless better than the original.

Compiling the list

So, it's been a dream of mine to share my love of jazz-funk and soul music with others. I have 25,000 carefully selected songs in my media player, the vast majority of which fall into this genre of music. 

In addition to my passion for music, I have to admit to being a bit of a slave to tech. With a tablet, a smartphone, a bluetooth speaker, a bluetooth connection to my pc and a bluetooth connection to my amplifier, I can stream my music whenever, and to wherever, I want.

A third passion of mine is sharing. Put simply, sharing with others is a better way to live. I want to share with others my musical discoveries, the highlights of a lifetime of endeavouring to separate the wheat from the chaff (I'm afraid a couple of disco tunes managed to slip through the net!)

I've never really been into podcasts, having never been a subscriber to anything, but after a little bit of research, I reckon this is as good a way as any to share my musical snapshots - and it's very simple for both myself, and the listener. If I understand correctly, a couple of clicks will enable you to download the first podcast, and all subsequent podcasts will automatically download to your device of choice.

So I'm currently consolidating my music into the very best 1000 jazz-funk and soul tracks - ever! It's a labour of love, and so far it's progressing pretty well.

In terms of my criteria, well they are very subjective. There are tracks here that could be described as jazz, funk, soul, rnb, fusion, rap, hip-hop, dub, dance, disco, acid jazz, nu jazz, nu soul, neo soul, house, electronic, electronica, lo-fi, blues and pop (at least that is what the genre column in itunes is telling me!). Defining the boundaries of this genre is about as scientific as predicting the future by studying the entrails of a goat. Needless to say, Amy Winehouse makes it in, but Adele doesn't.

Another observation, is that I have a significant number of both live tracks and remixes in my collection. Some of which are actually better than the original versions. However, to keep things simple, and in the hope that the sound quality remains high and consistent, I've kept these to a bare minimum.

The plan, when I'm finished compiling my list, is to release a ten-track podcast every week for the next couple of years. There'll be no annoying talking, either over or between tracks, no adverts and certainly no tracks cut before their natural conclusion.

I'll put a setlist on my blog together with a link to each new podcast.

All that is left for me to say is enjoy the music, enjoy the journey, and your comments are always welcome.