Tag Archives: Rodney Lee

New Jody Watley Music Celebration. UK Radio Special Podcast.

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The Jody Watley “Still A Thrill” Radio Celebration from The Wayne Boucaud Show, UK Black in 3D is now available on Mixcloud as a podcast. Listen again or for the first time!

Wayne did an excellent job on curating a few classics and a host of deep cuts and collaborations beyond the commercial realm with snippets of vintage interviews sharing pearls of wisdom, goals and determination with a desire to always be me and never confined to expectations or narrow vision. You’ll enjoy the entire show..and be reminded that there is still quality music being made – soul, jazz, funk and you can still mix them up into a delicious musical brew with the classics, under the radar gems.

It’s been such a great year of music for me solo (the Top 10 Smooth Jazz ‘Waiting In Vain’ and with SRL (Soul Revolution Love), “The Passion”, “The Mood” Alex Di Cio’ mixes coming with massive UK radio support; and the announcement of my first UK Tour in over 20 years. It means the most to have it be fueled by what’s new while celebrating what’s past.

Get your groove on, and tell a friend.

Jody Watley Saturday Night Experience. Club Classic

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In an ongoing music journey, it was cool to come across this review from September 2001 DJ Magazine for the single “Saturday Night Experience.” The single was lifted from an import released I recorded for Japan “Jody Watley Presents The Saturday Night Experience Vol. 1” – at that time I was ready to step away completely from music – instead stepping away from commercial minded music and all that goes with it. Quality has never waned, when popularity may have.

Most artists will say they don’t read reviews or are not big on reviews – but will admit that it’s a good feeling when you read a really positive one like this where the writer really gets in the music at hand.  This was another music pivot for me and began my exploration and shift into underground club electronic fused with nu skool jazz, drum and bass and other ambient sounds. I listened to single to Giant Step, purveyors of quality eclectic and soulful music offerings  through my Avitone imprint established in 1996 – also with a mantra of fueling quality music.

Shout out to longtime collaborator and music director/keyboardist in my band Rodney Lee (we wrote and produced the original together)..Ron Trent, and Blaze – still love these..available at iTunes and various digital outlets.

Listen:
Ron Trent Vocal Mix – http://youtu.be/jAYZdAy9t-o (available on 2003’s critically acclaimed ‘Midnight Lounge’ album)
Original: https://soundcloud.com/jodywatley/saturday-night-experience-original-mix —Shelter Mix — http://youtu.be/TZsbDOmkTUk

 

Jody Watley ‘Paradise’: A Modern Disco Fusion

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“Jody Watley’s R&B has always been progressive and the arc of Paradise is no different from Watley’s past endeavors―somewhat. This time, Watley exchanges the electronically charged rhythm and blues from her last three records with a classic / contemporary fusion of disco.

Understand, this isn’t your little brother’s hipster disco, nor is it just a retroactive 70s redux. “PARADISE” melds elements of the aforementioned disco genre from today and yesterday. “ Quentin Harrison, QH Blend 2014

NEW Wattage. Episode 11

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Flipping The Script.

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As a live performer, it’s important for me to be like a kaleidoscope and show different sides.  Reinterpreting some of my songs keeps things fresh for me as well as the audience; it’s fun to flip the script and be creatively fearless. Of course, there’s always a risk that fans won’t get it, but I’d hate to be that type of artist afraid to try new things and look at your songs in a different light from time to time.

In collaborations, it’s great to be able to say – let’s do something that is….and have the ability to pull it off whatever ‘it’ is. “..Orchestral, dramatic and haunting – Ryuichi Sakamoto as inspiration meets Jody Watley ” as conveyed to my longtime collaborator, co-producer, music director and keyboardist Rodney Lee just felt right and he nailed it, coming back with “–like this?!”  My spoken word lyrics to this new arrangement of “When A Man Loves A Woman” was one of the many highlights of my Saturday night experience at Yoshi’s Oakland. I can’t wait to perform it again!