soul / rhythm and blues

Video Comentary

The world got their first look at rhythm-and-blues singer Nikko Smith in 2005 on Fox’s immensely popular American Idol. The young singer from Saint Louis (whose father is Cardinal great Ozzie Smith) sang classics on the program like Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” Ray Charles’s “Georgia on my Mind,” and the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back.” Smith made it to the third round of the semi-finals, and he is still making a name for himself as an independent artist. Smith will perform Thursday, August 25 at the Copper Dragon.

After the American Idol television season and the subsequent American Idol tour, Smith released his first full-length album, Revolution, in 2008. While Smith had nothing but good things to say about the show, it is refreshing to see the artist independently release his records, the most recent of which is Speakaz Blow Radio. While American Idol is watched by millions of viewers, the word independent isn’t usually kicked around with the TV music machine.

“Sometimes when you sign with a label, you don’t get freedom to do what you want to do,” Smith tells Nightlife. “Everybody’s got a direction for you. That’s why we wanted to do [Speakaz Blow Radio] independently-- so I could do what I want and how I wanted to do it.”

Recorded in his hometown, Speakaz Blow Radio encompasses the same spirit of rhythm-and-blues heavyweights as R. Kelly and Maxwell. For Smith, the creation of Speakaz Blow Radio, and his music in general, is something he’s always wanted to do.

“It’s like any other job, whether you’re a painter or a race-car driver,” Smith says. “It doesn’t seem like work if you love doing it. I always wanted to be an entertainer since I was young. I’d watch Purple Rain and Moonwalker all the time, so it never feels like work-- it’s fun. You can create a whole new world when you write and perform music. It gives you a window into other people’s lives.”

After Idol and the musical maelstrom surrounding it, Smith said he kept getting producers and execs who claimed they loved his music, but they would love it even more if he sounded like Usher. “Why would you want something that sounds like Usher when you already have Usher?” Smith asks.

Smith is also mindful that the mainstream-music industry isn’t interested in making quality full-length albums anymore, instead focusing attention on radio singles. Smith also cites rhythm-and-blues singer Donell Jones’s album Where I Wanna Be as a full-length that inspired him, among others.

“I like the old Snoop Dogg stuff where he’s telling stories, or L.L. Cool J. back in the day,” Smith says. “It was all about telling stories. Now it’s not so much like that anymore. We all want to kick it at the party and have a good time, but if you’ve got a story to go along that you’re willing to put out there, people will be more likely to like it and gravitate towards it and understand you as an artist.”

Smith says he’s a fan of all musical genres, and each performance illustrates his drive to hit every note and put on a great show. It’s only natural for this idol, who says he feels blessed to perform for people.

“A lot of people asked, after American Idol, if I was going to keep singing,” Smith says. “It kind of upset me, but at the same time I understood that people really don’t know me. With my season there were people like myself, Bo Bice, Carrie Underwood, Scott Savol, Anthony Fedorov, we were all singing before we got on the show. So it’s only natural for me to keep it going.”

Find out more at <http://NikkoSmith.com>.

who: Nikko Smith

what: soul, classic rock

where: Pinch Penny Pub Beer Garden / Copper Dragon Brewing Company

when: Friday, August 26

Video Comentary

The thirty-third annual Sunset Concert Series will kick off next week with the rhythm-and-blues / jazz / funk fusion of Space Capone. The band's eponymous frontman has made a name for himself in his adopted hometown of Nashville, Tennessee through improvisational and highly danceable live shows that combine soulful vocals with horns, guitars, synths, and percussion. Space Capone will perform Thursday, June 16 at 7 p.m. on the steps of SIU's Shryock Auditorium.

As a funk band in the country capital of the world, Space Capone is used to defying people's expectations. Along with the band itself, lead singer Aaron Winters assumes the name Space Capone and has crafted a stage persona that is equal parts Prince, George Clinton, and Beck-- the latter another funky white boy who must be green with envy at Capone's soaring falsetto.

"I definitely don't mind getting compared to Prince, but people have this urge to make us something simple and to give us a label," Capone recently told Nightlife. "I just want to say to them, 'Stop talking about it and just listen!' Anyone who wouldn't give us a shot because of what someone else wrote isn't in this for the right reasons."

Originally from Indiana, Capone moved to Nashville years ago, having already adopted a steady diet of funk, jazz, soul, and rhythm and blues. And while the city remains most famous for its country stars, Capone said the funk scene is burgeoning and that the regional distinctiveness of their sound has allowed them more exposure.

"It's not a novelty act. It's just me," he said. "But I do think that we've benefited from the fact that we're more different in Nashville than we might be in New York or L.A. In Nashville, there are a lot of people who are so sick of the whole woe-is-me, singer / songwriter kind of country. There aren't many shows to dance to in Nashville, and most of them are techno, house, and trance, so a lot of people come to our shows not really knowing what to expect.

"I get to see the shock on peoples' faces when we first start playing," Capone said with a laugh. "A lot of people seem to think that they have to decide really quickly whether they like something or not, but I think it takes longer with us, because there's a little period of surprise first."

And when the surprise ends, the dancing begins. Space Capone's two full-length albums-- 2008's Volume I: Transformation and 2010's Volume II: Arrival, Arousal-- reveal a deceptively mature approach to songwriting that juxtaposes complex jazz syncopations and horn progressions with lyrics like "She's got me feeling how I look, which is very, very sexy." (Also, from a ridiculously catchy posterior tribute called "Booty": "With an ass like that, it's be a sin to dance all alone.")

"Rick James was never serious, and you don't have to be if the songs are strong enough," Capone said. "Some of my peers in Nashville will go to shows, and it's a room full of people with their arms crossed, not smiling, not dancing, not looking like they're having fun at all. That vibe, it's gotta change! And I'm going to need some help with that."

This refreshing lack of pretension allows Space Capone to take accessible, commercial songs like "Booty" and "I Just Wanna Dance"-- two of the band's singles that both have excellent videos available online-- and transform them into freewheeling improvisational whirlwinds live.

"The live shows are always jazzier and the albums are always poppier," he explained. "You take a lot of performers, like a [Lady] Gaga, and their goal with the live show is to recreate the album. We don't want to do that. The live shows are all improvisation, completely on the spot. We have a couple links in each song that can go in different directions, and I'll yell out one of them when we're playing live, and then the trumpet player and the horns just look at each other and start making faces to figure out who's going to take the next solo."

Capone-- who has spent the first weeks of June in the studio in Nashville working on his third full-length release-- also said that he has to resist the impulse to overload the recordings with all the tricks the band has in their live arsenal.

"I was just having a conversation with my producer about this yesterday.... and he said that you have to leave some of it behind for the live show, so you can give people something new," Capone said. "If there's no third harmony on the album, then they can sing it in their car, or be surprised by a new horn line at the live show."

Sunset Concert attendees may also be surprised at how comfortable Space Capone is in an open outdoor setting-- but even if the whole city of Carbondale comes to the show, it still won't be close to their biggest crowd. The band was one of the winners of the 2010 Road to Bonnaroo contest and was rewarded with a spot on the epic festival's lineup.

"I love playing outside, and we've never had a problem getting our sound out outdoors," Capone said. "Some of our best shows have been at festivals, definitely, and I like playing on larger stages."

When asked about the band's experience playing in front of tens of thousands of people, Capone laughed. "Bonnaroo was... hectic. It's a refugee camp, but the people aren't refugees. We were all ready to pass out at the end of it, so we knew it was good."

Since the festival last year, the group has focused on stage choreography, modernizing their sound within Nashville's burgeoning funk scene-- and sax solos.

"I love sax solos!" Capone enthused. "I love them and I want to bring them back. I've also been consciously trying to make our sound newer. So many people comment that we sound like we're from the seventies or eighties, and there's a lot to like about that, but I also want the band to have a sort of technology to it. I want to experiment more with effects like Autotune, not for the lead but for the background vocals.

"We're a totally different live band than we were the last time we were in Carbondale," he added. (They were one of the many Sunset Concert rain casualties in 2009.) "We're going to have three synths this time. We've really been doing a lot with synth bass lately, and last time we had no synths."

Capone estimated an eight- or nine-person lineup for the Sunset Concert. Core players Capone, Neal Dahlgren (lead guitar), Sam Farkus (guitar), Drew Wilson (bass), and Mikey Martel (horns) will be joined by drums, synths, and backup singers.

Capone also said that the band hopes the show will be a launching point for a fan base in Southern Illinois. "I really want to be playing in Carbondale more often," Capone mused. "We're so close, and I hear a lot about what a great music scene you guys have. So I'm starting a campaign right now for Space Capone to play at the Hangar 9. Give us your support and help us make this happen!"

For more about Space Capone, log on to <http://www.SpaceCapone.com>.

The 2011 Sunset Concert series is sponsored by the city of Carbondale, the Carbondale Park District, the SIU Student Center, and the SIU Student Programming Council. While glass bottles, pets, and kegs are prohibited, the concerts are free and open to everyone.

who: Space Capone

what: Sunset Concert Series (funk, rhythm and blues)

where: Steps of Shryock Auditorium

when: Thursday, June 16

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Video Comentary

Musical royalty will sojourn Thursday, April 7 to the Copper Dragon in the form of Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk. A deliciously funky New Orleans-based band that consists of keyboardist and front man Ivan Neville, guitarist Ian Neville, bassists Nick Daniels and Tony Hall, and drummer Raymond Webber, Dumpstaphunk is a continuing musical animal in the long line of the New Orleans-based Neville family.

As the Meters, Cyril Neville and Art Neville (father to Dumpstaphunk guitarist Ian) made some of the coolest funk music ever, with iconic licks like “Cissy Strut” and “Look-Ka Py Py.” Cyril and Art, along with brothers Aaron and Dumpstaphunk frontman Ivan continued the tradition as the soulful Neville Brothers since 1976.

As much as music has played a central role in the lives of those in the Neville family, the brood itself is just as much an iconic New Orleans institution. Borrowing much from the classic Meters, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk is about as raw and rambunctious as New Orleans, only these Nevilles substitute brass with a heavy dose of jam-infused funk rock and a slight wisp of psychedelia.

“We are definitely torch-bearers of New Orleans funk,” guitarist Ian Neville tells Nightlife. “People expect the bands out of New Orleans to have a certain edge and flavor and a raw funkiness to it, and [Dumpstaphunk] exhibits all that, and you can’t find that everywhere. We’re definitely straight-up funk. We branch out into other areas and genres, but if we usually start a groove, it’s gonna start on the funky side and [we see] where it ends up.”

Ivan Neville began Dumpstaphunk more or less on a whim in 2003. Set to perform at that year’s annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Neville needed a backing band. He found partners in Ian, Daniels, Hall, and Webber, and Dumpstaphunk was born. The five men are a veritable treasure trove of life and experience who have performed with the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards’s X-Pensive Winos, Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, and recent Carbondale visitors the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Last year, Dumpstaphunk released Everybody Wants Sum, which was recorded during various studio sessions between tours. It was a great time for the young Ian Neville, who found the collaboration with bandmates the key. “I like when we all get in the studio, because you never know what’s going to come out,” he says. “All the songs on [Everybody Wants Sum], for the most part, were the result of us being together and playing off of each other. Someone might show up with part of an idea and someone else throws another angle on it. You do that a couple times and you got a couple cool songs. That’s the creative process I like.”

Such a familial and collaborative atmosphere certainly spawns great jams, and Neville says Dumpstaphunk is the kind of band for which the jam crowd is looking.

When asked to cite some early music memories that inspired him, the young Neville references spending his childhood in New Orleans jazz clubs, in addition to never missing the Crescent City’s real famed annual festival: “I got a twenty-nine for twenty-nine-year record for Jazz Fest going on, which most people can’t say that,” he says.

Dumpstaphunk will play a few shows in the South after cruising to Carbondale, including five shows at home in the Big Easy. Whether you follow the music of the Neville family, or prefer the Ü ber-funk sounds of Parliament or a retro class act like Curtis Mayfield, Dumpstaphunk is the kinda funk you wanna find.

“With this band, at this point, we’re pretty much family, for better or worse,” Neville says. “All the stuff that basically goes along with being family-- we argue and fight, almost ready to kill each other, then we’ll turn around and have a good show. We’re all tight like that.”

Learn more at <http://www.dumpstaphunk.com>.

who: Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk

what: N’Awlins funk

where: Copper Dragon Brewing Company

when: Thursday, April 7 w/ Soul Glo

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Video Comentary

If there is something that Larry Dillard wants to achieve while he is on stage, he wants to make sure everyone in attendance has the opportunity to let the good times roll.

"I would like to make music that makes you feel good," Dillard said. "I wanted to make feel-good music that anyone could listen to."

Dillard and his Blues Therapy group will celebrate the release of Dillard's sophomore effort, Drink That Wine, with a CD release party Saturday, January 15 at 6 p.m. at Kite Hill Vineyards and Winery, in the venue's new conference center.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Admission includes a copy of the band's latest album, one glass of a Kite Hill house wine, and several appetizers.

During his four decades as a musician, Dillard studied music at Western Kentucky University and played in Martin "Big Larry" Allbritton's band.

Similar to the sessions for last year's Blues Therapy, Dillard worked with Shadi Frick of Low Key Productions. Frick performed several roles on Drink That Wine, from producing and engineering to playing horns and bass to helping with the arrangements. Other musicians on the disc include Chad Minier, Mark Moreno, Jack Hammond, and Matt Linsin.

"We have both live-sounding songs and songs we layered with overdubs and special effects," Dillard beamed. "We have everything you could possibly need right here."

While there is something to be said about catching a band's raw, energetic live performances on a digital recorder, Dillard said that the studio provides a unique opportunity for the band to see how deep their creative ideas actually were.

"Going into the studio can be a real art form," Dillard explained. "You can almost treat it like another member of the band. You can go in and overdub and overdub just like the Beatles did, so that is what we decided to do.... We got it down to a real science."

The musicians and the process created the sound for which he was looking-- mostly. Sometimes songs took unexpected directions.

"We have one song on the album that I originally wrote [as] a bluegrass song," Dillard said. "But then we got to playing it and it turned into more of a ska-like number. It's crazy."

Dillard and his Blues Therapy bandmates blend a mesh of many genres, from blues to jazz, Latin, and funk.

"We pull from all kinds [of music]," he said. "There is some southern rock and rhythm and blues in there. You name it."

Working the local music scene circuit has helped Dillard rediscover a lost art form that he did not realize he had in his arsenal. Dillard said he has written more original material since he began gigging regularly, and he plans to continue writing in the future.

"I was glad to know that I could still do it," he said. "It was rewarding to me that I still had the skill."

Dillard constructed the title track as an homage to the various spots on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trial. He namechecks many of those businesses in the lyrics. But recent scuffles between venues and performance-rights societies like ASCAP and BMI over playing copyrighted material or cover songs has resulted in many businesses foregoing live music altogether, Dillard said.

"It's really sad," he said. "There are only two places on that list in the song that have live music anymore."

Dillard said he tries to draw on real-life experiences for his songs.

"Life inspires me," he said. "It inspires me in everything that I do. It is important to realize that it is not necessarily the blues, but Blues Therapy. That is what can get you through the bad times. Not being able to play a note, and then a musician is born."

For more information about Dillard, search for him on Facebook. To preview songs from Drink That Wine, visit the MP3 section of <http://www.CarbondaleRocks.com>.

who: Blues Therapy

what: CD release party

where: Kite Hill Vineyards and Winery

when: Saturday, January 15

Video Comentary

Some people get it at a young age, and Rob Jones is one of those people.

"Ever since I could walk," said Jones, when asked when he wanted to become a professional musician. "It's something I always wanted to do."

Jones just unleashed his latest solo record, Kicked. The original album consists of classy, inspirational acoustic soul, gospel, and rock, equally blended with as much heart as song simplicity and delivery.

"It's very revealing," said Jones, who has been playing professionally for the past ten years. "I hope it thrills [the audience]. There are songs about everything, songs about relationships, songs about love, and some songs about how everything just goes on."

Kicked is the accumulation of a year's worth of work in the studio. Jones explained that much of the mastering and recording work on the album was sporadic because "real life gets in the way," but he is very proud of what resulted from the persistence and seeing the entire process through to fruition.

"It's exactly what I wanted," he said. "I couldn't ask for anything else."

Very little instrumentation is featured on Jones's album, and what little is there is meant only to uplift and play secondary roles to Jones's voice and lyrics. Brent Stewart supplied guitars, percussion, and harmonica, while Andrew Staff laid down the bass. Tom Miller played shakers, and Jessica Pease sang background vocals.

Stewart, who also provided background vocals, recorded all of the song tracks in his home studio, with the exception of "Breathe," which Jones recorded at Misunderstudio in Murphysboro. Mike Lescelius at Misunderstudio mastered the whole album, and Dave Clark provided the album cover art and design.

Many musicians are influenced by other artists, and Jones is no exception. Jones said he has an eclectic taste in musical influences, which include Prince, Ryan Adams, Sting, Seal, John Mayer, and Charles Peacock. In addition, many of the songs on the record are based on Jones's faith, which he said is a very important element in his life.

Jones said his recent choice of music heavily influenced the outcome of his record. He said he was listening to a lot of Jeffrey Gaines at the time he was recording Kicked and, as a result, the makeup of the songs followed suit.

"We all borrow from somebody musically," he said. "I try to make a better song than I have before, a more well-rounded song. I looked at music as an artist. You can learn from any style, and it's still you in the long run."

He likes songwriters and songs with meaning, elements he likes to incorporate into his own songwriting techniques.

"Some songs have different meaning to someone," he said. "It means something different to you than it does to me. And that's okay."

Kicked was meant to be a personal, deep, and simple record that showcases Jones's musical abilities in their purest form. He says he achieved exactly what he set out to achieve.

"It's raw and honest," Jones said of the album's outcome. "No smoke and mirrors, just me, my voice, and my acoustic guitar. It's a very organic sound."

In addition to pursuing a solo songwriting and performance career, Jones is also involved in a band called the Dregs. The group— whose self-deprecating name means "scum of the Earth"— features Jones on keyboards, James Brown on guitar and bass, Joe Thomas on guitar, and Paul West on drums. The Dregs combine old-school country and rock elements with various other genres, and are set to play Sunday, October 24 at Key West.

Jones described the band as a combination of many different musicians who are not thought to share much common ground. Most listeners would not expect to hear a live band play back to back many of the songs from a Dregs setlist. Jones credits the band's diverse musical diet as the reason why the band is able to play many different forms of music.

"We are all over the place," Jones said. "We play some Willie Nelson, Prince, and even a Kings of Leon song. Anything you could imagine."

Coming up next for Jones is a slew of shows that he hopes will help garner more interest in his songwriting talents. In January, Jones is set to play the legendary Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee. Many established songwriters first got their feet wet at the Bluebird, including Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley, and Kenny Chesney. All of these artists played the café 's open-mic night before they became big stars.

Jones said he is very excited to soon grace the same stage that these artists performed on and get his chance to perform to the Music City crowd.

"It's incredibly exciting," he said. "I can't wait to play there."

Jones said he hopes his music resonates with listeners. Today's society is harsh enough without having something musical to which to relate, he continues.

"It's a broken world, and I just hope to give a glimmer of hope to someone," he said. "Hopefully it speaks to you."

Copies of Kicked are on sale at Jones and Dregs performances, or by emailing Jones directly at <RobJones44@rocketmail.com>.

who: Rob Jones / Dregs

what: acoustic soul / variety

where: Key West

when: Sunday, October 24