'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.

Recent columns

• 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.

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  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.

• Jazz-pop bassist Marcus Miller's joyful noise

  April 3, 2008

  Marcus Miller is in a happy space these days, and the jazz-pop bassist didn't even have to tell me so. Just listen to his new album, simply titled Marcus. Practically every note glows.

• Shirley Brown has always been singer enough

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  Honey, you sound like kinfolk."

• Amp Fiddler struts his stuff on album

  March 20, 2008

  I was completely in the dark about Amp Fiddler.

• A look at two compilation CDs

  March 13, 2008

  On the playlist this week, I check out two new compilations: one from an early muse for the Neptunes, the other from the architects of the Philly Soul sound.

• Throwback Ryan Shaw has got them covered

  March 6, 2008

  I remember standing in the sun - sipping my overpriced, overly sweetened lemonade - and thinking, "I want to like him, but I just don't know."

• Subtle but solid pop from Landon Pigg

  February 28, 2008

  It's not a sound I'm usually drawn to -- that guitar-driven, sensitive-guy pop-rock you hear during reflective moments on Scrubs or Grey's Anatomy.

• Thoughtful Hil St. Soul deserves attention

  March 4, 2004

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