The Hip Hop Anthropologist

  "Q" was in a class by himself. In addition to all the well-deserved accolades, he was also a talented pianist before taking up trumpet and becoming a respected trumpeter in his own right prior to writing, composing and producing, before finding his lane, arranging. His lush instrumentals were notable for their signature orchestration, which had a classical music flavor seeminglessly woven with jazz sensibilities. Like many "naturals," he got his start while still in high school. He went to the "woodshed" mastering his craft with some of the very best "Big Band" leaders in the business before carving out his own niche. Frank Sinatra said he had never seen an arranger score a song a quickly as "Q." Sinatra collaborations with "Q" stand the test of time as some of the best selling albums in the waning genre. His foray into pop with Michael Jackson are the stuff of legends propelling the star to superstardom. Little know fact is...

What defines NeoSoul? The question has not been clearly answered. But Neosoul is what the name implies: Neo meaning "new" plus soul music. If we start from that simple proposition instead of what some fans and aficionados and even industry insiders post, we have to define soul music, before we can even get to NeoSoul.  According to Wikipedia, "Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African-American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues." Now that we have that out of the way, we can begin to talk about the evolution of NeoSoul, or "new" soul music that started being produced and recorded in the mid-to-late sixties. Who were the top five major Black musical talents or influences in the mid-sixties: Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and  Marvin Gaye. All of these artists had careers that spanned decades and, mor...