I CMTCftTAINMENT
fatti LaBelle Teams With Big Daddy Kane
the heels of last year’s best
ing holiday album This Christ
Patti LaBelle, the queen of
■ and soul, has iust completed
! newest album for MCA Rec
a, Buntin'. Due for release in
jaS^October, Burnin' features a
n’ assortment of solo sizzlers
'spectacular duets, including
»l!aborations with rapper Big
Dadfty Kane, pop supersta? Mi
chael Bolton, the velvet-voided Lu
ther Vandross, soul sister Gladys
fcnight and, for the first time in 15
years, a reunion with Nona Hen
dryx and Sarah Dash, Patti’s for
mer partners in the ground-break
lag musical group LaBelle.
'"Between recording, acting and
{darning up with same good pals in
tie music world, the diva extraor
dinaire has certainly had her
fiands full. As summer gives way
to fall, Patti has just completed
shooting the video for “Super
woman,” a smash team-up with
Gladys Knight and Dionne War
wick, and is in the midst of taping
new episodes of the NBC-TV hit
series “A Different World,* repris
ing her role as Dwayne Wayne’s
mom, Adele. In the past season,
Patti made several appearances on
that program, starred in a special
production of the Truman Capote/
Harold Arlen musical “House of
Flowers,” joined Bob Hope as he
welcomed home the troops from
Kuwait, and returned to her
church roots in the critically ac
claimed PBS special “Going Home
to Gospel with Patti LaBelle.”
In addition to working double
time on her own new album, Patti
took time to record duets with
some of her best friends in the
business, including Ronnie Milsap
and Michael Bolton, and joined her
“Sisters in the Name of Love” co
stars, Gladys Knight and Dionne
Warwick, to record “Superwoman”
for Knight’s new album.
On a more personal but equally
important note, Patti served as the
My Tune
by
Obataiye B. Akinwole
I' --
*; It’s a small world after all. Re
cently I talked with a co-worker
Who made my day. It seems that
While traveling through North
parolina some years ago he hap
pened upon a radio station that
:ked his socks off.” The sta
tion was WAFR-FM, a now-de
ftmct African-American public ra
dio station in Durham that was
devoted entirely to the preserva
tion of African-American music
^mostly jazz), literature, and
thought.
*] Before WAFR, I remember the
perfect for the listeners as they
niehed through stores and offices.
No one ever heard the music but it
Was always there. It’s almost like
listening to the radio these days.
The same monotony is played hour
after hour, day after day. That is
why at the age of 10, I bought jazz
$bums when my friends were buy
ing Motown. But then I bought
Motown also. You should ask my
wife how I feel about Gladys
knight and the Pips. I liked Euro
pean classics and enjoyed listening
to the music of other cultures of
the world. You see, I liked music
then and I like it now.
I’ve often wondered why Afri
can-American musicians are ap
preciated more in Europe and the
rest of the world than in America.
Hiven European classics are appre
ciated more elsewhere than here,
the reason is that most other cul
tures are brought up on a diet of
Variety. One should always appre
piped-in music of the ’60s. It was
date one’s own. But, appreciation
of oneself begets appreciation of
others. Even radio stations in
other countries play all types of
music. Michael Jackson, John Col
trane, and Quincy Jones are as
famous in the rest of the world as
they should be here. It is not un
usual to hear a Bud Powell piece
followed by Chopin followed by
James Brown in Europe. Music is
more universal. Have you ever no
ticed that our African brothers and
sisters learn several languages
and/or dialects? For the most part,
rap is an American thing. It is in
teresting to note that record execu
tives spend billions of dollars pro
moting non-musirians while the
likes of Gene Harris and Ray
Brown play clubs across the coun
try to make a living. I cannot say
that rap has no redeeming value,
but I will say that our priorities
are misplaced.
Real musitians don’t play pack
aged music. They feel. Music to
them is more than cramming 20
years of work into three minutes of
nothing. Their music has passion.
When Horace Silver released
“Peace,” we all felt the prayer. Of
course his music has structure.
Probably more structure than
most music as we know it.
So, what do we have today?
Songs that repeat the melody
1,000 times. We can handle more
than that, can’t we? Our attention
spans are long enough to manage
more complex musical thoughts,
aren’t they? You make the call the
next time you listen to good music.
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PATTILABELLE
spokeswoman for the National
Cancer Institute to help alert
women to the importance of early
breast cancer detection. Worl«ng
to defeat breast cancer, which
claimed the lives of Patti’s mother
Po’ Broke And Lonely
Create “The Sex Is On”
Summer’s here, and "The Sex is
On”—at least if you’re Ruthless/
Epic recording artists Po’, Broke
and Lonely, creators of “The Sex
is On,” an irresistible new single
from the best-selling Deep Cover
soundtrack. It’s the third track
from Deep Cover, which has al
ready spun off Shabba Ranks' top
10 R&B smash, “Mr. Loverman,”
and the anthemic rap title hit
“Deep Cover” by Dr. Dre and
Snoop Doggy Dogg.
"The Sex is On” is also included
on Po’, Broke and Lonely’s Ruth
less/Epic debut album, No Money,
No Honey. The album was pro
duced by group member Chris
“The Glove” Taylor for Underglove
Ltd., with Ruthless Records’ Dr.
Dre and Eric “Eazy-E” Wright as
executive producers. No Money, No
Honey also includes top-shelf Po,
Broke and Lonely originals like
“Your Eyes,” “9 Litres of Love,”
and “No Money, No Honey,” as
well as the L.A.-based group’s pas
sionate updates of black love-man
classics by Barry White (“I’m
Gonna Love You Just a Little
More, Baby”) and Stevie Wonder
(“All in Love is Fair”).
After several years of sometimes
hard-won music business experi
ence, Chris Taylor met Michael
Lynn Stephens and formed an
R&B group called Exile. "Although
we continued to write songs,”
Chris say8, “we never had a vocal
ist capable of really fitting into our
groove.” Chris was producing
tracks for a local rapper when he
met R.C. (Ruben Cruz Monge), a
promising but unpolished singer.
“Originally R.C. was going to be
a solo artist, but with so many
male soloists out there, he
might’ve gotten lost in the shuffle.
I suggested he join my group in
stead.” Chris, Michael and R.C.
made a great creative combination
when they began writing and cut
ting demos together. In the sum
mer of 1990, they met Dr. Dre of
Ruthless records at a party. A mu
tual friend told Dre about Po,
Broke and Lonely; he asked to
hear their demos, liked what he
head, and promptly offered a deal.
Four months later, No Money, No
Honey was finished. “PBL is to
tally self-contained,” says Chris
proudly, “and we believe our music
can please almost anyone.”
and three sisters, is a cause to
which the caring singer is very
much dedicated. She also contin
ues to serve as national spokes
woman for the Black Health Re
search Foundation, an organiza
tion dedicated to battling prema
ture death among African-Ameri
cans.
Perhaps more than any other
artist in the history of popular
music, the distinctive Patti La
Belle has been true to herself in
every varied phase of her musical
career. In the 1960s, she led the
superstar “girl group” Patti La
Belle and the Bluebells; in the
’70s, she was the driving force of
rock’s first all-female band, La
Belle; and in the ’80s, her talent as
a solo artist dominated the music
scene. Patti LaBelle has had nu
merous hits, from “Down the
Aisle” and “Danny Boy” with the
Bluebells, to “Lady Marmalade”
and “The Revolution Will Not Be
Televised” with LaBelle, to her
solo triumphs, “New Attitude,”
“Stir It Up* and “On My Own."
LaBelle’s shimmering talent can
be consistently counted on, but itfs
difficult to predict what she, with
her passion for fashion, will wear
next or what she will do with her
remarkably versatile, flamboyant
hair.
And it’s virtually impossible to
imagine what spoken-from-the
heart musings she will utter, be*
cause no matter what she's
doing—an SRO tour like the re*
cent Michelob Class Act Tour, a
television special such as the an
nual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day
Parade, a top-drawer movie like A
Soldier’s Story or the USA cable
dramatization of the Delta Air
lines crash, “Fire and Rain," or
championing adoption, another of
her favorite causes (she was re
cently honored by the National
Adoption Center)—fans can al
ways depend on Patti LaBelle to
be unabashedly Patti: caring,
good-natured, straightforward.
SOULFUL SINGERS-Eddie and Gerald Levert, the soulful singers who topped
music charts with their ballad “Baby Hold Onto Me,” are discussing whether or
not their first recorded father and son duet wM be their last
Lil Louis Speaks Of ‘Justifiable Pride’
In Long-Awaited New Album
“I had to be sure that 1 loved ev
ery song on this album, and I do.”
Epic recording artist Lil Louis is
speaking with justifiable pride
about his long-awaited new album,
Journey with the Lonely. Refusing
to bow to commercial trends in
dance music, the Chicago-born,
New York-based producer/song
writer/singer has steadfastly fol
lowed his own creative path. The
result: the No. 1 club smash, “Club
Lonely,” and a richly diverse al
bum unique in dance music by vir
tue of its eclecticism, simplicity
and soul.
“I don’t really consider this
house music,” says Louis. “People
resdly listen to the messages Fm
trying to portray. The people that
buy my music understand where
Fm coming from. The last album
[1990’s From The Mind of Lil
Louie] sold as much by word of
mouth as by marketing.”
Much of Louis’ inspiration for
his new songs came “in the middle
of the night,” he explains. “I keep
a little cheap five-dollar recorder
by my bed, wherever I am. At 4 or
5 a.m., m wake up with a song in
my head and just hum it into the
recorder.
“‘Club Lonely* actually came to
me in a restaurant in New York. I
was watching all the people in
there, their different expressions,
and it seemed to me that most of
them weren’t really happy. You
could feel the tension there, like
I’d felt so many times in clubs, of
people trying to escape or to find
what they didn’t have in their
lives.”
The 10 songs which comprise
Journey with the Lonely were all
written, arranged, produced and
mixed by Ldl Louis; an 11th bonus
track, the 7:22 “Jazzmen,” is in
cluded on compact discs only.
“Over 60 percent of this album
was played on acoustic instru
ments,” Louis avers. "There’s none
of that synthesized, computerized
feel. Even programming the drum
tracks, I used real drum sounds. I
programmed with swing, not just a
letter-perfect beat.”
Journey with the Lonely features
an entirely new cast of supporting
personnel, with the exception of
lead guitarist Peter Black, who
also played on From the Mind...
Joi Caldwell is Journey’s principal
female lead, and Louis calls her
“an angelic voice. Of all the sing
ers I auditioned in New York, Joi
had the most soul—She was not
just another screamer.” Also fea
tured are Stephanie McKay, who
takes the lead on “You’re My Rea
son”; and Barbara Tucker, whom
Louis first heard when she was
touring with Dee-Lite.
Louis’ strong jazz leanings—
most evident on “Du U Luv Me,”
with its indigo-blue trumpet
breaks—come from his father,
Bobby Sims, a blues and jazz gui
tarist who worked with B.B. King
and Bobby “Blue” Bland. “Plus
when I was younger,” Louis re
calls, “we used to do what we
called ‘steppin’,’ just kind of bop
pin’ to records by Jimmy Smith,
Donald Byrd, Stanley Turrentine,
Shirley Scott.
“I think of those days often,
that’s really where I write from. I
was taught that musicians are se
riously influenced by what we
hear, that nothing great happens
that’s totally planned out. I refuse
to listen to the radio. I wanted to
make sure that on this album,
nothing would simply fit the for
mat’—whatever that may be.”
Lil Louis was bom and raised in
Chicago, 111. His nickname is a
throwback to his early teens, when
he became the youngest club DJ
on the hotly competitive Windy
City club scene. After high school,
Louis studied broadcasting and
advertising at Columbia College,
but soon re-entered the DJ arena
and ultimately opened his own
Chicago dance club.
American Dance Festival Spotlights
Vitality, Style In Latin Movements
DURHAM—The American
Dance Festival presents a spec
tacular triple bill spotlighting the
incredible vitality and variety of
Latin American modern dance.
Costa Rica’s Losdenmedium and
Ecuador’s Aulmomonto and
Susana Reyss/Moti Deren perform
July 16-18 in Page Auditorium.
The presentation of this dy
namic trio of companies will allow
ADF audiences to see an incred
ible range of dance—from the
poignancy of Susana Reyes and
her depiction of Andean women to
the awe-inspiring physicality of
Losdenmedium's dance-theater to
the magical realiam of Aul
momonto.
Aulmomonto, a troupe led by
Miguel Azcue, began as an experi
ment for young dancers and
choreographers and evolved into a
group creating works based on the
fusion of different points of view.
Losdenmedium, a daringly physi
cal group, sates as its goal "a spe
cial communication with the pub
lic through such elements as hu
mor, irony and satire.’* Susans
Reyes, a solo choreographer and
dancer, performs original works
set to music composed and played
live by her husband, the guitarist
Moti Deren.
These performances are made
possible with funding from the
Rockefeller Foundation.
The July 16,17 and 18 perform
ances begin at 8 p.m. in Page Au
ditorium on the west campus of
Duke University. Tickets are $11,
$16 and $21 and can be obtained
by calling the American Dance
Festival Box Office at 684-4444.
Poet-performance discussions will
follow on all three nights.
The American Dance Festival,
founded in 1934 in Bennington,
Vt., is now in its 15th year in Dur
ham. This year’s festival runs
through July 25 in Durham to be
followed by ADF West, Aug. 1-22
at the University of Utah in Salt
Lake City; ADF Seoul, Aug. 1-14
in Korea; and ADF Moscow, Sept.
1-15 in Russia.
The festival is a year-round op
eration, serving and developing in
ternationally the art of modern
dance through performances,
classes and education projects.