EJ Flavors

Mad busy, but found time for this one. Pulling some tracks out of the vault.

Old School Wednesday - Make Your Mind Up.
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01 - Jermaine Stewart - Never In A Million Years
02 - Janet Jackson - Don't Stand Another Chance
03 - Vesta Williams - Something About You
04 - Klymaxx - All Turned Out
05 - S.O.S. Band - Two Time Lover
06 - Kathy Mathis - While I'm Dreaming
07 - Nu Shooz - Make Your Mind Up
08 - Brothers Johnson - Never Leave You Lonely
09 - Alexander O'Neal - What's Missing
10 - Barry White - It's Only Love Doing Its Thing
11 - Kiss the Sky - So Easy
12 - Mica Paris - Positivity
13 - Angela Bofill - You Could Come Take Me Home
14 - Herbie Hancock and Patrice Rushen - Give It All Your Heart

I reached back into the vaults and pulled out some that I had left on the sidelines during recent OSWs. Thierno did his thing by requesting tracks over the past 12 months that I had not known about, so tip your hast to him also.

Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com always keepin' you in the loop. Take it light.

After an unofficial hiatus, I'm back. Since I didn;t have much time, I decided to borrow fro the vibe 5 years ago (before the podcasting era) and present:

Old School Wednesday - Vibe.
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01 - Jeff Redd - You Called and Told Me
02 - Shanice - It's For You
03 - Portrait - You
04 - Heavy D & The Boyz - Somebody For Me
05 - Guy - Teddy's Jam
06 - Samuelle - So You Like What You See
07 - Soul for Real - Every Little Thing I Do
08 - Shai - The Place Where You Belong
09 - Zhane - Vibe
10 - Vanessa Williams - And My Heart Goes
11 - Groove Theory - Ride
12 - Jon B. - Bad Girl
13 - Soul II Soul - Love Come Through
14 - Mary J. Blige - Mary Jane (All Night Long)
15 - Ralph Tresvant - Sensitivity
16 - Monifah - You
17 - Tony Terry - Head Over Heels

I was feeling these tracks while I was at work today, and wasn't sure what I was going to do for old school since my mind was unable to put together a good list.... until Commander Bee hit me up and it all became quite clear. I enjoy every track on here, and I hope you do too. I'm especially partial to the Monifah, Shanice (put together by Michael Angelo and Eric from Portrait). Jon B...oh, this list could go on and on.Next week, Thierno's helpoing me throw down, so stay tuned.

Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com always keepin' you in the loop. Take it light.

Happy Valentines Day to you and your. Presenting:

Cupid's Hunt, 2010: Love Me On The One
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01 - Adriana Evans - Love Me On The One
02 - Lina - Waiting
03 - Soulpersona featuring Kia Bennett - Lifetime
04 - Darien - My Door
05 - kipper jones - Hey You!
06 - Musiq Soulchild - Sobeautiful
07 - Amp Fiddler - Unconditional Eyes
08 - Incognito - Labour of Love
09 - Jose James - Love Conversation (Ft. Jordana de Lovely)
10 - Sy Smith - Would All The People From Compton Please Leave?
11 - Natalie Williams - Psychedelic Love
12 - Loose Ends - Love Controversy, Pt. 1
13 - D'Influence - Dreams f_Julie Anne Evans
14 - Repercussions - A Gentle Kind Of Love
15 - Ivana Santilli with Glenn Lewis - If Ever I Fall (Part1)
16 - Esthero - Thank Heaven For You
17 - Morcheeba - Undress Me Now

Trying to fiind time to do this was a chakllenge. Doing the mix itself was a pure joy and I'm glad I was able to follow up like I wanted to. It would take me forever to talk about each track, but I will be trying to update as time permits. Special thanks to Todd Grundy for lighing a fire beneath me. Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com always keepin' you in the loop. Take it light.

It's a new year- time to keep it flowing. Presenting:

In Rotation, Volume 23 - January, 2010
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01 - Incognito - Out of the Blue (Original Full Mix) [link]
02 - Soulpersona - Freesias Late Night Fantasy Featuring Princess Freesia [myspace | facebook]
03 - Dezaray Dawn - Chameleon [site | myspace | facebook ]
04 - Carmen Rodgers - Heartless [myspace | facebook | facebook ]
05 - Ryan Leslie - Is It Real Love? [ site | myspace]
06 - Michael Olatuja - Speak (Feat. TY) [ site | twitter ]
07 - Deborah Jordan - Let Go [myspace | facebook ]
08 - Jose James - Lay You Down [ myspace | amazon ]
09 - Philip Clark - Granted (Groove 7 3am Eternal Mix) [ site | download ]
10 - Suncircle - If You Speak [ myspace ]
11 - Kenichiro Nishihara - Life (feat. Kissey Asplund) [ bama love soul | facebook ]
12 - Corinne Bailey Rae - Feels Like The First Time[ site ]
13 - Dreemtime - Happy For 5 [ site | myspace | facebook ]
14 - Sade - The Moon And The Sky [ site ]
15 - Foreign Exchange - Daykeeper [ site ]

Since I was a little tardy with some of the music from 2009, I needed to make up for lost time, so some of these tracks are from last year, but still enjoyable. Starting off with Incognito from the One Nation CD with a track that gave the acid jazz / hose vibe I desperately needed. Soulpersona, with arguably one of the finest albums of 2009, follows up with Princess Freesia's Freestyle.

Dezarray Dawn, who I've had the pleasure of meeting, delivers a great song off of her EP entitled Chameleon. The full album comes out the spring/summer of this year, so stay tuned for its release. I am also anticipating Carmen Rodgers' CD Intermission: The Bitter Suite which is also forthcoming. The first single, Heartless, is a great track.

Ryan Leslie's Is It Real? (a track that I slept on, admittedly), is followed up by Michael Olatuja's Speak! with spoken rhythm ("I don't rap no more, I just speak.") is followed by a track from Deborah Jordan's CD The Light (another awesome CD) with the sublime track Let Go. Jose James' Lay You Done from the forthcoming Blackmagic CD is followed by a track from Phillip Clark entitled aGranted with a superb mix by Groove 7. The vibe continues with Suncircle's When You Speak. This is one of my fasvorite tracks from Reborn.

Kissey Asplund's voice spices up the next track from Kenichiro Nishihara, Life. Corinne Basiley Rae's Feels Like The First Time is then followed up by the nice downtempo track Happy For 5 by Dreemtime's New York Lounge Funk. Sade's track The Moon And The Sky isd then followed by my favorite track from 2009 (and very deserving of their Grammy nomination) from Foreign Exchange entitled Daykeeper, a pefect tracl to end this rotation with.

It's been a little while since I've been able to do this, primarily because of work (we all know how that is), and Old School Wednesdays. I'll make a valiant attempt to do this once a month. Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com always keepin' you in the loop. Take it light.

As time approaches for airing the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, the R&B nominations have gaining new ground for being not only tried and true to tradition, but also not afraid to extend the boundaries of the R&B realm into both traditional and alternative styles.     While the year, in my humble opinion, was fairly weak in the R&B sector, I am very glad to see that my trepidation was  appeased by some really great nominations- even by some acts I was not familiar with.

Mainstays like Beyonce are surrounded by both independent and upstarting artists, like Melanie Fiona and Master P on one end and Maxwell, Anthony Hamilton, and Charlie Wilson on the other.  A lot has been mentioned about Maxwell's return to the airwaves, which makes him a strong contender in the R&B category.  It's also refreshing to see independent artists like Musiq Soulchild, India.Arie, Lalah Hathaway, and Ledisi as nominees.  Acts which are relatively new in this sector- Master P, Melanie Fiona, and Jasmin Sullivan provide a balancing act between themselves and the seasoned nominees.  

Although there seems to be a quite a bit of  debate on the above nominations, discussions regarding the Traditional R&B category.  Ann Nesby and Calvin Richardson have double nominations, but  Beyonce and  Anthony Hamilton are also nominees in this category, demonstrating their versatility, which makes those nominations interesting. 

Although there are duplicate nominations in most of the categories, which can make the nominations appear to be somewhat concentrated on a core of artists, The Urban/Alternative stands out in it's dedication to independent artists and concentrates not only on soul, but jazz as well, which makes it invigorating. India.Arie and Dobert Gnahorsa, who represent two nations, and Robert Glasper and Bilal, representing both the jazz consortium and the neo-soiul= vibe make this a very dynamic category.  To put icing on the proverbial cake, Tonex, Eric Roberson and The Foreign Exhange make this category even more intriguing, in particular since they are very strong independent artists.

In retrospect, at the onset of 2009, it seemed that R&B would not have a very strong year.  I'm very glad to say that my mind has been changed for the better. Hats off to 2009, and good luck to all the nominees.

Me? No - this time, it's all about Shae Shae and Mark AKA Tony.

Old School Wednesday - I Like.
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01 - Fonda Rae - Over Like a Fat Rat
02 - Shalamar - The Second Time Around
03 - Tom Browne - Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)
04 - Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me
05 - Whodini - Five Minutes Of Funk
06 - Guy - I Like
07 - Tevin Campbell - Goodbye
08 - Al B. Sure - Nite and Day
09 - The System - Don't Disturb This Groove
10 - Cherrelle & Alexander O'Neal - Saturday Love
11 - Tony! Toni! Tone! - It Never Rains in Southern California
12 - Rufus - Stay
13 - Troop - All I Do Is Think Of You
14 - Isley Brothers - Spend The Night
15 - Luther Vandross - A House Is Not A Home

Back in the fall of 2009, there was a very interesting vibe going in Twitter thanks to Blip.fm. Shae Shae was playing the DJ that day and was listening to tracks like Saturday Love and Whodini. When she played Saturday Love, it prompted Mark and I to comment on these tracks. and to not suggest more. Thus. this list was conceived. I honestly believe that this is one of the easiest OSWs I have been able to put together in quite some time. With Mark suggesting Whodini and Fonda Rae, and with Shael Shae suggesting Cherrelle it made everything easy, which is definitely a good thing.

Got requests? Send an email to ejflavors at gmail dot com. For those who'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, enter this link manually into iTunes. Also, please be sure to check out on Flowink.com always keepin' you in the loop. Take it light.