Classic song, wonderful interpretation, beautiful video. Check it out.

I've finally posted pictures on my Flickr site. This first set is composed entirely of pictures made on my Treo 650 camera phone.

The 2/14 show was one of my favorite performances. Citizen Cupcake continues to be a great venue the band and me. It's intimate yet casual and Andrea and her staff are the best. Not to mention the food and desserts rock!

James Knox showed up once again with his image-maker and captured some lovely moments. Cut and paste this link into your browser for the slide show. http://www.flickr.com/photos/in2jazz/sets/72157594542228395/

Derek

I went into a bookstore today and in the center of the store was a display table crowded with books by and about peoples of the African diaspora. Significantly missing, (at least from my perspective), were books that speak specifically to the gay, lesbian, transgender, SGL, experience and books of poetry. the one exception of course being James Baldwin.

Here are a few titles that I think would have been appropriate in the spirit of Black History Month:

Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn by David Hajdu
The Fabulous Sylvester by Joshua Gamson
Soul Make A Path Through Shouting by Cyrus Cassells
Go The Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Fiction
Soldier by June Jordan
Just to name a few.


Also, Check out new up and coming voices like, Tim'm West, Marvin K. White, G. Winston James, Alphonso Morgan.

I challenge all who read this to come up with your own list and either send it to me or post it somewhere online between now and February 28th.

Happy Reading,

Derek

Artist: Derek Lassiter
CD/EP: Witness

By Todd Beemis (Indie-Music.com)

Like the lost child of James Brown's Black Caesar soundtrack, Derek Lassiter brings us an EP of dark soul -- the kind of moody, haunting soul that is the lesser known sibling of vastly more popular approaches to the genre such as much of Green, Paul or Womack's music.

"Hunger," the opening track, positively pulses with the throbs of its eponymous condition. It's the kind of song you expect to be in a blacksploitation film or -- at the risk of being redundant -- something by Tarantino. It's one of the most rich and satisfying soul songs I've come across in some time.

Other work on the record unapologetically adopts African rhythms, such as the background chanting and drumming on "I'll Grow." But instead of sounding like some kind of two-dimensional cultural homage, Lassiter works in a jazzy piano and the lowest registers of a piano keyboard sounding out that dark brooding which infuses this entire EP.

"Victor (I Am Waiting)" brings a crisp small-gospel handclap-and-choir sound and "Keep Me" closes the EP with Lassiter's excellent voice front and center in an almost Harold Arlenesque ballad.

Short and sweet, Lassiter's Witness is ultimately asking us to acknowledge the coming not of a new messiah but instead a new musical offering by an obvious talent ... and you very well may want to witness this talent yourself.