Rollicking tunes for July Fourth barbecue

July 3, 2008

For a fun, soulful outdoor barbecue, there are several things you must have. Of course, there's the food: potato salad, baked beans, ribs. (And whoever is manning the grill better know what he's doing.) You must have beer and liquor for the adults, Kool-Aid or Capri Sun pouches for the kids. But if you want to keep the barbecue from sinking into lame territory, you must also have music - plenty of good, upbeat jams.

Recent columns

• Maze still gives us 'happy feelin's'

  June 26, 2008

  The song could be the unofficial anthem of modern black America. If there's a house party, barbeque, family reunion or nightclub packed mostly with African-Americans age 30 and older, the joint really jumps when somebody throws on "Before I Let Go" by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.

• From R&B to jazz, music for mature listeners

  June 19, 2008

  Iconsidered calling this week's playlist "music for the grown and sexy," but that tag is tired and overused. Yet it's an adequate description of the recently released CDs I've been spinning at home and in the car. The styles range from adventurous vocal jazz to hip-hop-laced modern R&B -- mature music you definitely won't hear on commercial pop and urban radio.

• Lalah Hathaway finds herself in 'Portrait'

  June 5, 2008

  Lalah Hathaway wanted crab cakes. So while the Los Angeles-based soul singer was in town recently doing promotional work, we got together for dinner at a friendly, down-home joint in Linthicum.

• A little old, a little new and a few remixes

  May 22, 2008

  My playlist this week is typically eclectic, as I check out CDs old and new. From spirited jazz to progressive disco, these albums have been among my favorites in the past two weeks.

• '70s legend Bobby Womack is still singing strong

  May 15, 2008

  At card parties that my family and neighbors threw during the Arkansas summers nights of my childhood, there was one artist whose music always solicited shouts throughout the room: Bobby Womack.

• Kanye West's tantrums just keep getting stronger

  May 8, 2008

  I'm so over Kanye West and his eggshell ego. The rapper-producer was the subject of entertainment blogs last week after he threw yet another public diva fit. What ticked him off this time? A review -- a good one.

• Three reissues that stand the test of time

  May 1, 2008

  Major labels still generate big bucks mining old gems in the vaults. Every month in the ton of mail I receive, there are probably just as many reissues as new releases. This week, I check out three reissues -- two genre-busting albums and one oft-sampled jazz-funk set that finally sees the light of the digital age.

• A kaleidoscope of fresh female voices

  April 24, 2008

  I've always been partial to female artists.

• Dianne Reeves' soulful new journey

  April 17, 2008

  All of her beautiful dreads are gone, so I almost didn't recognize Dianne Reeves.

• Dionne Warwick replants her gospel roots

  April 10, 2008

  Growing up, all I knew of Dionne Warwick was that she brought a touch of class to Solid Gold, the hopelessly cheesy '80s music variety show my sisters and I watched every Saturday. As the elegant, stylishly coiffed host, she sang the hits of the day. I remember radio stations in 1985 that seemed to play "That's What Friends Are For," her smash charity single with Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder, to no end.

• Thoughtful Hil St. Soul deserves attention

  March 4, 2004

  Around 1996, the phrase "neo-soul" got folks all excited.