the EAR 2.0

Title: Third World Child
Published/distributed: Hollywood, CA: Capitol Records, © 1987
Publisher number: CLT-46778
Performer: Johnny Clegg & Savuka
Archive Call Number: ARLP 5261

Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of selected reviews written by students in the course series Ethnomusicology 20A-B-C: Musical Cultures of the World.

Third World Child is Johnny Clegg and Savuka’s first album, the album that won Johnny Clegg international acclaim.  More »

April 1st, 2009 | by UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive | Category: Recording Reviews | Comments (1)

Let Me Take You There
Published/distributed: Los Angeles: Keycan Records, © 2008
Publisher number: 88450104256
Performer: Cheryl Keyes
Archive Call Number: ARCD 7175

SEE ALSO EARcast no. 1: An Interview with Cheryl Keyes

In 1975, Smokey Robinson released an elegiac album and song entitled “A Quiet Storm” that became the basis for a new radio format by that name and which in turn influenced the development of a number of later styles of African American music such as smooth jazz and neo-soul. Targeted to a largely black, urban and adult audience, Quiet Storm music tends towards lush orchestrations, slower tempos, intimate themes, and impassioned yet restrained performances from instrumentalists and vocal stylists who draw from rhythm and blues, gospel, soul and jazz. Typically programmed in late-night time slots, these formats still thrive at a number of local and college-oriented radio stations in urban pockets across the country. The music appeals as much to lovers as to quiet evenings of personal reflection and welcome solitude, tends to be more sensual than sexual and is often as spiritual as it is soothing.

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December 12th, 2008 | by UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive | Tags: Billie Holiday, Dianne Reeves, flute, jazz, Moog, multi-tracking, neo-soul, piano, Quiet Storm, R&B (Rhythm & Blues), Sarah Vaughan, smooth jazz, synthesizer, UCLA Ethnomusicology Department | Category: Recording Reviews | Comments (2)