By Eleni P. Austin
By the time Gabriel Roth finished college in 1996, he had co-founded his first record label, Desco in Brooklyn, New York. He also formed the label’s house band, The Soul Providers. The Riverside California native also adopted a nom de soul, Bosco Mann.
The label’s mission was to lovingly re-create the kind of Soul and Funk that ruled the airwaves in the ‘60s and ‘70s. (Analog purists, all their releases were only available on vinyl.)
Back then, labels like Atlantic, Stax-Volt, Motown and Philadelphia International discovered and nurtured artists like Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, Stevie Wonder and the O’Jays, (just to name a few). These labels thrived for years until their popularity was supplanted by Disco.
While producing a session with veteran vocalist Lee Fields, Roth was introduced to back-up singer Sharon Jones. Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Jones was pursuing a singing career, but paying the bills as a corrections officer at Riker’s Island Prison. They immediately collaborated on a couple of 45 singles.
The Desco label folded in 2000, but Roth quickly rebounded with Daptone Records. The Soul Providers broke up, but from their ashes rose the Dap-Kings. Best of all, Sharon Jones was persuaded to become their vocalist. Thus, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings were born.
In 2002 they released their debut, Dap Dippin’ With… followed in 2005 with their sophomore effort, Naturally. On record they were amazing, but live they were incendiary. Wunderkind producer Mark Ronson took notice and invited the Dap-Kings to play on a few tracks for Amy Winehouse’s historic Back To Black album.
Roth engineered the Dap-King tracks and the album went on to receive six Grammy nominations and win three awards. It proved to be great exposure for The Dap-Kings and they back in the studio with Sharon Jones for 100 Days, 100 Nights. In 2010 they released their most accomplished album to date, I Learned The Hard Way.
In 2013, Sharon Jones and the band had already written and recorded Give The People What They Want when Jones received devastating news, she was diagnosed with stage 2 pancreatic cancer. The album’s release and tour were postponed. Jones underwent grueling treatment and was pronounced cancer-free at the beginning of 2014.
The album opens with the one-two punch of “Retreat”and “Stranger To My Happiness.” The former is anchored by roiling timpani and stuttery bass lines, prickly guitar and playful Farfisa fills. Jones is in command as she informs an arrogant suitor that he’s met his match…”I see you coming from a mile away, You’re looking real cocky/ You think that you can keep the sea at bay, but it’s about to get real choppy.”
The stompy march tempo on the latter recalls the military precision of Motown’s storied Funk Brothers. Crisp, concise drum rolls provide sharp syncopation, as baritone sax, trumpet and trombone honk and sway. Jones bemoans the vagaries of romance.
A new edition to the Dap-Kings universe are backup singers the Dapettes, (Starr Duncan and Saundra Williams). They figure prominently on four songs, “We Get Along,” “Making Up And Breaking Up (And Making Up And Breaking Up Over Again),” “Get Up And Get Out” and “People Don’t Get What They Deserve.”
“We Get Along” is a slinky boogaloo, powered by in-the-pocket percussion, sticky sweet guitar licks, trilling brass and the Dap-ettes infectious call and response vocals. The inspirational lyrics are a testimony to our resilience… “We get along through sorrow and strife, darkness and rain, sorrow and pain.”
The melody Of “Making Up… is warm and supple, accented fluttery horns. Jones is soulful, sorrowful and resigned as she ends a doomed relationship… “Our love like is Humpty Dumpty on the wall and just like Humpty Dumpty it had a great fall/All this huggin’ and all this kissin’ can’t put back the love we’ve been missin’”
The vocal gymnastics the Dap-ettes employ here echo the lightning quick “I can dig it, he can dig it, she can dig it, we can dig it” refrain from the Friends Of Distinction’s classic “Grazing In The Grass.”
The jaunty melody of “Get Up And Get Out” belies Jones’ steely resolve to dump a toxic (albeit physically satisfactory), relationship. See-saw guitar riffs are tethered to a crackling rhythm. The Dap-ettes act as a blunt Greek Chorus silhouetted by cascading horn fills.
Finally, “People Don’t Get What They Deserve,” is a soul-shaking tour de force. Jones’ powerhouse vocals are buoyed by whiplash riffs, whip crack percussion, scorching horns, topped off by a sultry tenor sax solo. The lyrics offer a series of parables that conclude money is only a means to an end.
Jones has always been a gritty soul-shouter. A few tracks here allow her to slow her roll. Smoothing out her her vocal style, she displays a Jazz finesse that recalls Dinah Washington and Nancy Wilson.
On “You’ll Be Lonely,” a chunky back beat and walking bass lines provide ballast for rippling guitar runs and peppery brass. Jones is by turns, plaintive, withering and acerbic. Salted in the mix are fluttery trumpet trills that recall Herb Alpert’s patented bull fight-y fanfares.
Other interesting tracks include the sly, bubblegum-funk of “Now I See,” wherein Jones verbally eviscerates a treacherous “frenemy.” “Long Time, Wrong Time” is a sinuous Latin-Jazz work out.
The album closes with “Slow Down Love.” A languid dance floor grind that exudes the kind of dangerous sensuality that could get the listener pregnant. (You’ve been fore-warned!)
Sharon Jones receives top billing, but the Dap-Kings don’t just accompany her, they write and arrange the songs. The band includes Joseph M. Crispiano and Binky Griptite on guitars, Cochema Gastelum and Neal Sugarman on saxaphones. Homer Steinweiss on drums, Fernado Velez handles percussion, Dave Guy on trumpet and Bosco Mann on bass.
The music on Give The People What They Want is both classic and timeless. It feels particularly triumphant following Jones’ health scare. This album is full of heart and soul.
