#Durand Jones

[bandcampsnoop]

4/16/24.

Dead Oceans just announced "Into The Blue" the new full-length album from Aaron Frazer - a solo soul artist who also serves as the drummer for Durand Jones.

"Introducing" has been worn out around my house since 2021. We just can't get enough. In fact, Aaron Frazer (Brooklyn, New York) opened the door to Holy Hive and various Big Crown Records artists.

But it has also made me open to listening to a lot of older soul. For example, last December Vampisoul reissued Marie Queenie Lyons "Soul Fever" - originally on James Brown's Deluxe label.

[music-crush]

Happy birthday, Durand Jones!

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

News/Announcements: Bumbershoot Festival 2023 Lineup and Tickets

News/Announcements: Bumbershoot Festival 2023 Lineup and Tickets @bumbershoot @bumbershoot2023 @VisitSeattle @seattlecenter @grandstandhq

Summer festival season is right around the corner. It’ll be sooner than you think! And of course, that means festival announcements. So let’s get to it! The 50th edition of Bumbershoot: Seattle’s Arts & Music Festival will take place at the Seattle Center September 2, 2023 – September 3, 2023. Yesterday, festival organizers announced the daily lineups for this year’s edition, as well as a…

[alvertesongdiary]

Durand Jones - Lord Have Mercy

Oh my Mama couldn’t tell me ‘bout the feeling I feel At 9:49 on a Sunday mornin’ still, Gran’s all dressed up and she’s headed to church But I’m in bed tired from last night’s work So Lord please, have mercy on me

Some lady’s down the street tellin’ people the news But what they don’t really know is that she haven’t a clue ‘Round the way and up above, some folks flyin’ high See sad smiles in their eyes they ain’t doin’ fine Oh Lord please, have mercy on me

Hey can you see me in those sad smiling eyes Can you see me in those sad smiling eyes Mama can you hear me in those sad smiling eyes Oh Mama can you hear me, in those sad smiling eyes

Oh my Mama couldn’t tell me ‘bout the feeling I feel But the Love—let’s me know, yeah let’s me know

So Lord please, have mercy on me

09/05/2023

[psilocybinaut]

Man i wish I wasn't such a sap for love songs

[longlistshort]

Durand Jones- That Feeling

Every month I listen to the majority of bands/singers/musicians/artists who are playing in Los Angeles and select some for a monthly playlist. It includes a variety of genres and usually newer work by the artist.

The song above is from Durand Jones' 2023 album, Wait Til I Get Over.

Below is the playlist for May.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Durand Jones & Kara Jackson Live Show Review: 5/9, Lincoln Hall, Chicago

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Even if you’re familiar with the retro stylings of Durand Jones & The Indications, Wait Til I Get Over (Dead Oceans) is a reintroduction. The solo debut for Jones is inspired by his roots in Hillaryville, Louisiana, a town established as part of reparations to previously enslaved Black folks, and it sees him grappling with his biographical history while gaining a greater sense of self. Contextualized in the duality of the South--the beauty of the landscapes and the simultaneous institutional racism that’s devastated it--Jones’ record traverses a swath of Black music, from soul and rock and roll to R&B and gospel. With spoken word interludes, hymnals, prayers, and laments, all backed by guitar, bass, keys, and drums, he’s provided a contemporary classic.

Playing his first solo show in Chicago on Tuesday at Lincoln Hall, Jones brought many of the album’s players with him, including drummer Ben Lumsdaine, guitarist Drake Ritter, keyboardist Matt Romy, and bassist Glenn Myers. They gave all the songs on Wait Til I Get Over the “Lord Have Mercy” treatment. On that first single from the record, Jones sings, “Can you see me in those sad, smiling eyes?” emphasizing the further contradictions within himself, his desire to overcome by keeping on. Similarly, it was the celebratory aspects of the music that shone live, the raw guitars and slinky bass and Jones’ dancing. He let out cathartic James Brown-level screams during “I Want You”, a described prayer for music written during a stint working at a science lab before music was his full-time employment. Though the orchestral flourishes on the studio versions of songs like “Gerri Marie” and “That Feeling” give them a cinematic feel, the songs didn’t lack drama on Tuesday. The moment Jones walked out on stage, clad in a fitted blue suit with white stripes, a saxophone in one hand and a drink in the other, you knew you were in for a show.

Further, sharing the stories behind the album, both in the rollout to the release of Wait Til I Get Over and Tuesday night, proved therapeutic for Jones, who has been citing James Baldwin’s belief in “strength in vulnerability.” That includes both the blue-eyed doo wop of “Sadie” and “That Feeling”, the latter of which was not only the first breakup song Jones has ever written but his first love song written to another man, effectively his coming out as bisexual. During the middle of “Some Day We’ll All Be Free”, essentially a Donny Hathaway cover with a verse from rapper Skypp injected in middle, Jones cited another vanguard of Black art, Nina Simone. “To be free is to live without fear,” he quoted over the band’s percussive funk, later declaring, “Love will win.” It’s the same sense of radical optimism that permeates a song like “See It Through”, existing alongside the doubts and sorrow, and the very ethos of Wait Til I Get Over. Towards the end of the show, Jones admitted that he almost had to cancel the tour; a bout with food poisoning led to 3 ER trips and a lost voice. But with patience and belief, Jones has used the spirit of the album and seemingly every show to move one step closer to where he needs to go, personally and communally. 

Oak Park’s Kara Jackson has also released a hell of a debut, Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? (September); like Jones’, her set acted more as an introduction of a newfound voice than a faithful recreation of her released songs. Playing acoustically, Jackson sang a few new tunes in a short set, plus two from her 2019 EP A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart and Karen Dalton’s “Right, Wrong or Ready”. The latter showcased a few of the talents that would extend throughout the set: Jackson’s smoky, controlled, octave-leaping voice, her dexterous finger-picked guitar playing, her effective tempo changes. But the songs from Why Does The Earth were the true indicators of her poetry. At multiple times, the audience howled with laughter at Jackson’s directness. “Every man thinks I’m his fuckin’ mother,” she sang on “therapy”. “And if seeing you naked wasn’t such a bargain / It would be a home run,” she quipped on “no fun/party” right as her dress strap inadvertently fell, an admitted possible cosmic wink. Of course, “dickhead blues”, whose very announcement garnered the most cheers to an audience clearly already familiar with Jackson, was the highlight. The crowd wowed at how her wordplay and delivery followed along with her guitars during lines like, “My dilemma is always a dickhead / Who’s drunk on the daily news / Like coyotes in culottes / Clawin’ for coffee in open-toed shoes.”

I admit that I can’t wait to hear what Jackson’s new songs sound like with a full band, should she decide to play with one. On the album, she collaborated with Chicago wunderkinds KAINA, NNAMDÏ, and Sen Morimoto, whose lush, shimmering instrumentation alongside Jodi’s slide guitar gives many of the album’s songs a borderline theatrical feel, the furthest thing from Tuesday’s stark arrangements. Jackson was never going to play 7-minute epics like “free” and “rat” in a short opening set, nor the heartbreaking title track of her new album, an ode to romantic and platonic love, inspired by the death of a dear friend in high school. “I’ve buried old and young / I’ve watched them lower a saint / We’re only waiting our turn / Call that living?” she sings. Its wistfulness would not have been the best way to prime a crowd for Jones’ life-affirming songs, which Jackson undoubtedly knew. What she does have in common with Jones is the sheer ability to punch you in the gut, with a one-liner, bluesy guitar lick, or an octave change. Inevitably and deservedly, in due time, they’ll both be headlining bigger stages and reaching more people with the power of their stories.

[robmoro]

RobMoro TV | Durand Jones - 'That Feeling'

Durand Jones has released a track from his solo debut with the wistful ‘That Feeling’. The album has been in the works for more than ten years. Depicting elements and memories of subjective and artistic characteristics of his past, present and hereafter. “Wait Til I Get Over” is Jones expressing the most intimate deposition of himself. The track is a souvenir of a key turning point artist’s…

[bandcampsnoop]

9/7/23.

Aaron Frazer (Brooklyn, New York) is back. Colemine Records is releasing a new 7" with a new song - "Bring You A Ring" - by Aaron Frazer. The flip side has a song from his debut LP "Introducing".

Honestly, there are few records I listened to as much as "Introducing" in the last few years. It's one of the few artists that every single person in my life, including me, absolutely loves. The voice and the groove never fail to put everyone in the best of moods.

We posted about Frazer's excellent collaboration with The Harlem Gospel Travelers. We've also posted about his work with Durand Jones. And finally, I put Holy Hive in the same category as Frazer's work.

If you're so inclined, there is a limited heart-shaped version of this single.

[blaylists]

everyone adores you (at least I do)

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

News/Announcements: Newport Jazz Festival Announces Exciting Additions to 2023 Lineup

News/Announcements: Newport Jazz Festival Announces Exciting Additions to 2023 Lineup @NewportJazzFest @grandstandhq @FortAdamsTrust

Summer Festival season is coming, y’all! And that means festival announcements. So let’s get to it, right?  Newport Jazz Festival will be returning to Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park for its 69th edition. This year’s edition will continue the festival’s long-held tradition of hosting once in a lifetime performances that can only come as a result of Newport’s unique alchemy of intimacy and…

[r-acicularis]