Bridging the Gap December 10, 2025

*Booker T & The MGs: "Fuquawi" (Melting Pot 1970) Amer. inst. R&B & soul combo formed in 1962 and was the 'house' band for Stax Records for over a decade. Booker T. Jones organ, Steve Cropper guit.

Al Jackson drums & Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass, he replaced Lewis Steinberg in 1963.

*Steve Cropper & Felix Cavaliere: "Full Moon Tonight" (Nudge It Up A Notch 2008) Amer. songwr. prod. Steve Cropper 10/21/41-12/3/25 & Amer. sing/songwr prod. Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals.

*Otis Redding: "Try A Little Tenderness" (Single 1966) Amer. soul sing/songwr & prod. Otis Redding died in a plane crash in 1967 at age 26. He was an influential soul & R&B icon who collaborated with Steve Cropper multiple times.

*Kylie Auldist: "Still Into You" (Just Say 2008) Samoan-Australian soul & funk vocalist. She began as lead singer for the Aussie funk band The Bamboos.

*Kinny: "One Fan Talking" (Can't Kill A Dame With Soul 2011) Caitlin Simpson is Canadian and is Indigenous Canadian, Jamaican, French & Swedish. She now lives and records in Norway as a solo artist & in collaboration with other world class artists.

*The Diplomats Of Solid Sound: "Lights Out" (...feat. The Diplomettes 2004) Funk & soul band from Iowa whose members are now scattered about the US. They convene to write & record periodically.

*David Nesselhauf: "Obedience" (Rituals-EP 2021) David Nesselhauf is the bassist for Diazpora, The Hamburg Spinners & Angels Of Libra as well as being a solo artist prod. comp. & multi-inst. playing afrokraut, krautrock, soul & jazz.

*De-Phazz: "Overjoked" (Luck You! 2025) German nu jazz lounge group led by multi-inst. comp. prod. Pit Baumgartner. De-Phazz spans many genres with silky smooth arrangements & gorgeous melodies.

*Club Des Belugas: "La Taillade" (Strange Things Beyond The Sunny Side 2019) Euro nu jazz band led by prod. musician Maxim Illion (Martin Kratzenstein) & prod. keys Kitty The Bill (Katrin Stoffel) defining the European nu jazz sound.

*Lucky Brown: "Scatterbrain" (Lucky Brown's Space Dream 2011) Amer. comp. trumpeter prod.  Joel Ricci plays his unique brand of funk & runs the Westsound Archive in Seattle Wa.

*Poets Of Rhythm: "Serengeti Stroke" (Anthology 1992-20032013) German funk band from Munich founded by guit. prod. Jan Weissenfeldt (The Whitefield Bros.) & multi-inst. prod. comp. Boris Geiger.

*The Quantic Soul Orchestra: "That Goose On My Grave" (Pushin On 2005) Live band founded by Eng. comp. prod. & DJ Will Holland (Quantic) to play his high energy funk output.

Quasamodo: "Tutti Booty" (Truth Be Told 2007) Quasamodo prod. Dimitris Nassios leads a collective of Greek musicians with one common goal: "Make Good Music!"

HOUR 2

*Malombo: "Sangoma" (S.E.V.A. Next Stop Soweto... ) Based in Pretoria So. Afr. Malombo is led by multi-insts. Philip Tabane & Duze Mahlabo. They have been a very influential group in their career.

*Hailu Mergia & The Walias: "Zengadyw Derekou" (Tezeta 1975) Hailu Mergia is an influential Ethio. organ & synth player. The Walias are a famous backing band founded by Mulatu Astatke.

*Mulatu Astatke: "Girl From Addis Ababa w/Ethiopian Quintet" (NY-Addis-London... 2009) Mulatu Astatke is one of the most influential figures in Ethiopian music. He is know as "the Father Of Ethiopian Jazz."

*The Neville Brothers: "Fire And Brimstone" (Yellow Moon 1989) Four brothers from N.O. playing soul & R&B sing. Aaron Neville, keys, vox Art Neville, horns & perc. Charles Neville & sing. Cyril Neville.

*Galactic: "Running Man" (Late For The Future 2000) Amer. jam band from N.O. La mixing hip hop, electro, world, blues, rock & jazz incorporating a more modern style to their sound.

*Dr. John: "Goin' Back To New Orleans" (Goin' Back To N.O. 1992) Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) was a legendary sing/songwr. playing blues, jazz, rock, boogie boogie & R&R. His Dr. John The Night Tripper persona embraced voodoo & N.O. culture.

*The Deadbeats: "Just Another Day" (Made In The Shade 2009) Brit. hip hop/downt prod. duo of Damian Stanley & Ged Day were part of the Nottingham DiY collective in the early 1990's.

*Bonobo: "Kong" (Black Sands 2010) Brit. musician prod. & DJ Simon Green is Bonobo. He explores electronic jazz & world music with organic instrumentation.

*Clutchy Hopkins: "Alla Oscar" (Walking Backwards 2008) The mysterious C Hopkins came to fame after his "tapes" were discovered in the So. Cal desert. Glad someone came across them.

*Crushed Velvet & The Velveteers: "Really Can't Get Over You feat. Yanick" (Love & Truth 2021)Multi-inst. prod. Alan Evans (Soulive) led project released on the Vintage League Music label. Evans said that CV&TV was his guitar persona outlet.

*Curtis Mayfield: "Future Shock" (Best Of...) Curtis Mayfield was an Amer. sing/songwr. prod. who began with The Impressions in the late 50s.

*Marvin Gaye: "What's Going On" (What's Going On 1971) Marvin Gaye was an Amer. sing/songwr. musician & social commenter who was shot & killed by his father in 1984.

*Anderson .Paak: "King James (Inst.)" (Ventura (Inst.) 2019) Amer. prod. & musician Anderson .Paak is a Grammy nominated artist who teamed up with Bruno Mars to form Silk Sonic in 2021.