When soul jazz was born in the late 1950s/early 1960s, it provided a pathway for the funky, window-rattling grooves of contemporary soul and R&B to infuse the muscular hard bop of the day. For the ...

The jazz musician was known for helping to pioneer the soul jazz sound and his 1969 recording of the protest song "Compared to What" Sadie Bell was a digital news writer on the music team at PEOPLE.

1:15 p.m. March 7, 2025: A previous version of this story said Roy Ayers died Wednesday. He died Tuesday. Roy Ayers, the “King of Neo Soul” who was born and raised on Vernon Avenue just south of ...

Chandra Currelley is an actress and singer, who is known for her work with director and writer Tyler Perry, as she’s played many roles in a number of productions and stage plays. On July 28 and 29, ...

Soul jazz successfully combined the sophistication of jazz improvisation with the danceable rhythms and messages of the Black popular music of the time. Artists performing that style in its formative ...

The consistency of impressive quality in the worlds of jazz and blues in Nashville allows fans to enjoy great music year-round. The amount of noteworthy events makes it impossible to cite everything ...

Les McCann, a legendary soul-jazz pianist and singer whose work was often sampled by hip-hop producers, has died. McCann’s manager told NBC News he died Friday at a Los Angeles-area hospital after ...

Few are the folks who could cast a literal shadow over the iconic Hammond B-3 organ, nicknamed "the Beast" by many of the jazz musicians who have helmed the hefty 425-pound instrument. But Reuben ...

In the week leading up to this year’s Iowa City Jazz Fest, The Daily Iowan spoke with Damani Phillips, a local jazz saxophonist and associate professor of African-American studies at the University of ...

A 19-year-old Labor Day tradition for Charleston is just around the corner. For almost two decades, the Lowcountry Jazz Festival has delivered some of the biggest soul-jazz and smooth-jazz performers ...

(ThyBlackMan.com) George Benson’s music has a way of wrapping around you — like a smooth breeze on a late summer evening or the sound of someone you trust speaking truth with melody. Whether he’s ...

As a songwriter who strives to write with unflinching honesty, I try to present exactly who I am with all my inspirations, history, experiences, and influences on display. Both based in London, the ...