The Dap Kings are:
Homer Steinweiss: Drums
Binky Griptite: Guitar
Bugaloo Velez: Congas
Dave Guy: Trumpet
Tommy 'TNT' Brenneck: Guitar
Bosco Mann: Bass
Neal Sugarman: Tenor sax
Ian Hendrickson-Smith: Baritone sax
Editor's Info:
Sharon Jones was born Sheron Lafaye Jones in Augusta, Georgia on May 4th 1956. Her mother moved to Brooklyn soon thereafter, however Jones was sent down south for a few months every year to stay with her family. As a child, she and her brothers would imitate the songs and dances of James Brown, who shared their hometown. Like many rhythm and blues entertainers, she began performing in church at a very young age where her voice would find a lifelong home and inspiration. As a teenager in the early nineteen seventies, she began singing outside of the church in talent shows and with local funk groups. Later she would make her living with a combination of sporadic session work as a mostly anonymous voice on various dance records (sometimes credited as Lafaye Jones), singing with wedding bands, and a handful of day jobs which included stints as both a prison guard at New York's notorious Riker's Island, and an armored car guard for Wells Fargo Bank. In 1996 she was called in to sing back-up at a Desco Records studio session for 70's soul legend Lee Fields.
Desco was a small independent specializing in traditional funk and soul pressed exclusively to wax. Co-owners and producers Phillip Lehman and Bosco �Bass' Mann had called Jones in on a tip from a sax player who was seeing her at the time. As the other two girls never showed up for the session, Jones cut all the background parts for the session herself, and proceeded to cut the impromptu prison rap over Switchblade, which had originally been intended for a man. Ironically, that rant (slowed down to make it sound like a man) would be her first outing as a featured artist on a record. Though she was at first skeptical of the 21 year-old jewish kid egging her on from the other side of the glass, a common love and respect for Soul music soon created a trust and friendship between Jones and Mann which would lead them both to a fruitful career.
Amy Winehouse swoją płytą "Back To Black" udowodniła, że moda na brzmienie retro-soul może przynieść sukces komercyjny. I tylko się cieszyć z faktu rosnącego zainteresowania współczesnymi wykonawcami, którzy rozkochani w płytach z wytwórni Motown z lat 60-tych i 70-tych prowadzą twórczy międzypokoleniowy dialog.
Wymieńmy tylko kilku: Beyonce, Nicole Willis, Erykah Badu, Sharon Jones, Alice Russell, Duffy, Solange. Wszyscy wymienieni artyści to jazda obowiązkowa dla fanów tej muzyki.
Chyba najmniej znana pozostaje Sharon Jones, dziwne to chociażby dlatego, że Sharon Jones i jej zespół The Dap-Kings pojawili się na bestsellerowym krążku Amy Winehouse.
Sharon Jones z werwą i niezwykłym entuzjazmem wtyka nos w archiwa czrnej muzyki, trudno nie odnieść wrażenia, że to właśnie ona należy do wąskiego grona artystów, którzy przejęli schedę po legendach muzyki soul, jak Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Aretha Franklin.
Wokalistka świadomie ucieka od nowinek technologicznych, jakich dziś pełno w nagraniach innych soulowych głosów. Nie jest to jednak tylko poza, popiera to iście atomową energią, charyzmą scenicznego zwierzęcia. Jej potężny głos powoduje, że świat wydaje się dużo lepszy niż w rzeczywistości, i to bez farmakologicznych wspomagaczy!
autor: Paweł Matuła