Soul Strutter: 07/07/22

Thursday, 7 July 2022

Miki Howard [2022] - Throw It Away [Justice Records]

Alicia Michelle 'Miki' Howard was Born in Chicago, IL, in 1960 to two well-known gospel singers, Clay Graham (Pilgrim Jubiliees) and Josephine Howard (The Caravans).

In her teens she moved to L.A. with her mother and was spotted by Side Effect's Augie Johnson in a teen beauty contest when she was 16 and was later to join Side Effect in 1978 to replace Sylvia St. James. She had a relationship with Johnson and they had a child together.

Whilst with Side Effect she also did backing vocals for Wayne Henderson, Roy Ayers and Stanley Turrentine, amongst others, and in 1985 decided to go solo and secured a contract with Atlantic. Her debut album "Come Share My Love" was released in 1986 and she had her first hit single with the title track.

She has continued to record albums in every decade since, with 3 in each of the 80s, 90s, 00s and her last in 2015, although since the 90s most of the albums consisted mainly of cover versions and many of them of jazz standards. It is, therefore, no great surprise that her latest single ,"Throw It Away" (released 4 Jul 2022), is reminiscent of a something you might expect to hear in a smokey jazz club.

It's a song written and recorded by Abby Lincoln in 1980 and featured on her "Painted Lady" album, but I have to say it sounds a lot older and she recorded from the 50s so perhaps it was an old song even in 1980? She re-recorded it in 2007 and Miki's version is more in line with that version than the 1980 original which Miki has updated further.

It is obviously a bit of a jazz standard as SecondHandSongs lists 89 versions of it! Just about the only name I recognise on the list is Cassandra Wilson who did it in 2003.

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Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Soul Jazz
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Justice Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	04/07/2022
Key/BPM:	2A/58
Price:	£1

Tayy [2022] - Loyal For Life [Self Released]

Tayy (Taylor Palomar-Barajas) from Phoenix, AZ, released her latest single "Loyal For Life" on 13 Jun 2022.

She started out in Romeoville, IL, and created her first song "Never Look Back" before moving to Arizona where she converted to neo soul/R&B and has now released around eight singles since 2018.

I had this drafted and ready to post on 16 Jun but decided not to post it in the end as I felt that her vocals were a little weak in places. However, Franklin Sinclair played it as a breaker on last week's Global Soul Chart show and thinks it's a potential biggie, so who am I to contradict? So, as we're getting to that time of the week when new releases dry up before the Friday onslaught, you can decide for yourself.

UPDATE: Apologies the links to both audio and on Amazon cover added a couple of weeks ago now seem to be dead .. so now updated! I wonder if it was withdrawn and then reissued?

I've just been informed that the sample used is from Busta Rhymes feat. Mariah Carey "I Know What You Want" which was a #3 pop hit in UK in 2003. (Thanks to Leigh 'The Flava' Taylor)

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Details

Rating:	7.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul / Blue-Eyed
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	13/06/2022
Key/BPM:	8B/86
Price:	£1

Neela [2022] - Tease [Neelam Music]

Neela (Neelam Khare) is a singer/songwriter, dancer and actress and yet another artists from Toronto!

She debuted in 2018 with a dance oriented four track EP "Lovers In Danger" from which "Tripped Up" was the lead single.

Her latest single is "Tease" which is from a forthcoming album "Exposed".

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Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Neelam Music / Self Released
Cat No:	None
Date:	25/05/2022
Key/BPM:	2A/73
Price:	£1

Gina Sedman [2022] - I Love [Gico Music]

The first single from Gina Sedman since "Prodigal" last Sep. is "I Love" released on 4 Jul 2022.

Prior to her marriage to DJ Andrew (DJ Prone) Stedman in recent years she was Gina Carey.

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Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Gico Music
Cat No:	None
Date:	04/07/2022
Key/BPM:	9B/90
Price:	£1

Quinze [2022] - Valentine [Animama Prod] (Full Album)

Arno Quinze is an independent artist from Paris who was first inspired by soul music via his father's record collection. He made his first recorded appearance in 1998 on an album by French New Jack artist Hasheem.

He independently released his first album "Girlfriend" in 2006 and followed it in 2010 with "Oublions". These were both sung in French. His third album, "Back to Soul", in 2013 had a retro theme harking back to the Motown and Stax heyday. "Multicolor" arrived in 2020 and his latest "Valentine" on 24 Jun 2022.

A couple of tracks worth highlighting in particular include "Just a Minute" and "Lost In your Eyes".

His last single was a very quick cover of Silk Sonic's "Leave The Door Open" released at the the end of April 2021, barely a month after Silk Sonic's original. It's not a bad version so I've also included it below.

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Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	New Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Digital
Label:	Animama Prod
Cat No:	None
Date:	24/06/2022
Price:	£6.93