My album of the year, though it was a hard competition with sets by Angie Stone, N'Dambi, Gerald Levert, Carmen Lundy, Sandra St. Victor and others. But judging the album as a whole this is the most rounded album and more like a concept album about a love gone bad and the process of being independent again. And of course, there's Syleena's soulful voice. If you not already own it, buy it, steal it, lend it, copy it, but go out and get it! (click here for song lyrics)

I really can't deny it, but I was always a fan of Sandra's voice since I first heard her with The Family Stand on Sex w/o Love. And 2001 finally saws her second solo album after the excellent Mack Diva Saves The World from the mid-nineties. (Of this album Sandra said in an interview with David Nathan: "Imagine planning to give birth and planning your child's future, of taking care of your body during pregnancy in preparation for the delivery. You conceive and your baby is taking away from you and 'they' decide what to do with it. Just for a joke, they throw the baby out of the window and see if it will fly. Since we live in a world of gravity, it ain't gonna fly. I was disillusioned, disheartened and hurt and very upset at the handling of my 'baby,' my album. There were changes in the regime at Warner Brothers and if you get caught up in something like that you know it's going to be bad. The company hired a head of promotions and he was the one person that did not 'get' "Mack Diva." In fact, I found out later that he told people NOT to work on it. The company was working on Eric Benet's album at the time and this promotion guy told people in the company that everything else had to go. People who loved my record worked on it on the sneak tip but after it took so long for a second single to come out after "Rise Up," I knew something was wrong")
Another thing about Sandra are her more personal and sometimes strange lyrics. And there are a lot things to listen to on Gemini (click here for song lyrics). If there wasn't Syleena's album this year, Sandra's Gemini would've been my top album of 2001.

Only the second solo album of the mighty Angie Stone and it's pure listening joy for any serious soul music lover. 'Nuff said. (click here for review)

Like with Sandra St. Victor, I'm a fan of Gerald since his first solo release. And since Private Line Gerald has matured music- and lyricwise. So if you're looking for real soul music with personal lyrics Gerald's your man. Click here for review.

A great two CD set full of songs from her Little Lost Girls Blues and new material. N'Dambi adds more of a live feeling to this album and thus new meaning to songs like Lonely Woman, Soul From The Abyss, 4 Sure, The Sunshine or Broke My Heart. Great soul from out of Texas. Click here for review.

More talking than singing from Kofy Brown but I really love this leftfield album that still offers much soul and with song titles like Fender Rhodes you get an impression what to expect.

From one of my favourite Brit-labels comes this fine record from Cooly's Hot Box. With albums from Beverlei Brown, Dennis Taylor and Cooly's Hot Box Dome Record proved themselves as the main label for soul music in 2001. Favourites still include Simple, Take It, Make Me Happy and Friend Of Mine but it's hard to pick any standout cuts because the whole album is great. (click here for review).

After having bought a copy of the pre-released 12" Single Heard It All Before (that became a well deserved hit for Sunshine) I was really looking forward to the album and wasn't disappointed. Your Woman contains good soul songs en masse like the afore mentioned Heard It All Before, Better Off, He Said, She Said, Where Have You Been, Lunch Or Dinner or Last Night. Great debut and let's hope that Macy Gray's label Soulife will release more records of this quality.

2001 saw some fine debut releases, namely Sunshine Anderson and India.Arie, who offers us a great dose of erm, well acoustic soul. favourite cuts include Video, Brown Skin, Strength, Courage & Wisdom, Always In My Head and her great Stevie Wonder dedication Wonderful.

I admit it, I just love Jon Lucien's voice, so it comes to no surprise I love Morning Sun and since this album also features our favourite house icon from days gone by in the shape of Mr. Owens, I just had to have this album. And it also features Jhelisa (Anderson) on Find An Oasis, but, alas, the only good version of it was the FUG mix that was only on a 12" release.

Bilal's debut is -like Res- one of the more strange albums of 2001, trying to combine soul, Hip Hop and reggae (really don't see the market for this mixture)...but tucked away among some more mediocre tracks there are the above mentioned songs where Bilal sounds like a mixture of Prince, D'Angelo (who sounded also like Prince to a large extent on Voodoo)...and Soul Sista is still one of the best soul songs of the last years.

Hard to pick a favourite since all songs are good (except for the latin-pop-song Latin Lover). (click here for review)

Compilation of the year 2001. It features a cornucopia of good and new songs like Glenn Lewis' Don't You Forget It, Eddie Jackson You Make Me Wanna Smile Again, Don Scribbs When Your Ups Are Down or Erykah Badu with Today (Earth Song). (click here for review)

Dome Records really surpassed themselves in 2001 with three fine releases by Dennis Taylor, Cooly's Hot Box and Beverlei Brown. Allthough I have to admit -after having listened to all three releases- that Bev's Next to you is the weakest one of them. Sounding more up-to-date than the other two, I'm not so sure if the album as a whole sounds that good like it does now in some years. But songs like Somebody Knows How You Feel (VRS Mix), Gonna Get Over You, Love You Yes, Keep On Doing What You're Doing or Best Friend will certainly stand the test of time (ok, come back in 10 years and we'll see what happened to Beverlei)...

Like the Jahem album this could've been great if ir would've been reduced just to some soulful songs. But 5 out of 11 songs isn't that bad, especially if they are that good. And Straight F***ing is certainly the best ballad that will never ever be played on radio.

Well, knowing Gary Taylor is like knowing the secret handshake of soul music, someone once said...and we all know he's right. Don't expect anything new on a Gary Taylor album, but why change a winning sound and leave the niche one has occupied successfully? Still great, to hear a new Gary Taylor album every now and then.

Another year, another Incognito album. 2001 Bluey and his team sounded soulful for a whole album like never before. Life... features the vocal talents of Kelli Sae, Sarah Brown, Dianna Joseph and Xavier Barnett. Like with Gary Taylor not much innovation but if one's so great it's difficult to improve.

With the releases of Gary Taylor, Sandra St. Victor and Nathan Expansion had a real productive year in 2001. The highlight from Nathan's album is his duet with Marjorie Hughes who sounds a little like the late Phyllis Hyman. Together with the Nancy Wilson & Kenny Lattimore duet one of the best of 2001!

This could've been easily one of the albums of the year if Jahem would've stuck to more soulful songs like Just In Case or Looking For Love. Unfortunately there are too much Hip Hop influences on this album for my taste to make a good album a great album. Of course, there's no denying Jaheim's vocal abilities that are a little reminiscent of Teddy Pendergrass...maybe his second set will be more pleasent for my taste.

That's one of the craziest titles for a song I've heard in a long time. A Mambo par excellence featuring the vocals of Denise Cook (who really don't speak Spanish) from an otherwise more instrumental album.

Real Man Do was a nice return for Christopher Williams, but I really love the organ-driven Wild Child that sounds more like vintage soul music.

Osunlade is of course known for his releases on Yoruba Records which combine House with Afro and Latin Rhythms. Paradigm offers the same blend of different styles. For those who love their musical diet a little more ecclectic.

I really wish, Kenny's Weekend album would have included songs like this one...great duet of young and (not so young anymore) performers...one of my duets of 2001 together with Nathan Heathman & Marjorie Hughes.

Except for these three vocal songs Ride is a little too much on the modern elevator-smooth-jazz-tip, but it's so great to hear from Trina Broussard again...and 3 vocal cuts on an album like this is more than other smooth jazz icons can offer.

From a quite strange album that sometimes sounds more like the producers said 'Hey, let's produce something leftfield' comes this two songs that I like best...couldn't really feel the other songs here, though...looks like How I Do gets the strangest-album-of-the-year-award.

Surprise of the year for me...a decent Babyface album, because for my taste he usual lacked that certain something but in 2001 he surpassed himself. Standout cut is still What If. (click here for review)

Together with The Dells one of the oldest vocal harmony bands in the showbiz. Awesome wasn't that awesome (despite the title), but you must listen to the standout song I Feel Good (it's so damn funky).(click here for review)

It's always good to hear Gladys' voice, though At Last is a little to middle of the road musicwise. But with the Bill Wither's cover Grandma's Hands (of course we all know that her career with the Pips was based on the cover of I Heart It Through The Grapewine) and the story of another disillusion about a person you've once trusted (I Said You Lied) Gladys delivers two great songs that makes this album worthwhile.

The whole album is a more relaxed affair perfect for an early summer evening (or if you turn up the heating on a cold winter day and you wish it would be summer again), though it tends to become a little boring but, fortunately, with Tarde Em Itacuruca there's one vocal track...ah, why doesn't last the summer a little longer in Northern Europe?

Straight ahead latin jazz album from Mr. Bongo aka Jack Costanzo. As extra-added attraction there's also Marilu on vocals for La La La (not the greatest songtitle, though), Quimbara (a cover of a Celia Cruz tune), Nana Sere and on the schmaltzy Te Quiero Te Quiero. But the rest is just great latin jazz (but what else does one expect from a CuBop release?.

Well, with a band name and a cover like this you know what to expect (certainly something more that's more latin jazz than for example drum & bass). Caribbean Jazz Project combines the talents of Dave Samuels (vibes & marimba), Dave Valentin (flute) and Steve Khan (guitar & guiro) together with Rubén Rodriguez (bass), Richie Flores (congas & shekere) and Luisito Quintero and Dafnis Prieto on timabls, percussion and drums. Great latin jazz album that features original compositions together with covers of John Coltrane's Naima or Duke Ellington's Caravan. Although there's no piano involved on the whole album it's still a great latin jazz album and I just love the vibes...

More on the Brazilian trip so it's easy to understand why I bought this album in the summer. All songs were arranged by Marcos himself and he also wrote all songs except for O India E O Brasil (Indian In Brazil). And like remarked on this website quite often, it's always good if an artist writes his own stuff because he usually knows best how he wants to sound. The same goes for Marcos, who vocalwise reminds me a little of Jon Lucien on the English sung Realidade (Reality) but that's not a bad thing, quite on the contrary. If you're looking for quality music with a Brazilian touch you should check out Escape!

Another fine record from the british label specialized in Brazilian music, Far Out. Like labelmate Marcos Valle Joyce wrote or co-wrote all songs on Gaffieirs Moderna and of course plays also acoustic guitar, there's also a 4 minute video on this CD showing something of the recording session and some impressions of Rio de Janeiro. Listening to this album again in the cold December really makes me wish, the summer should never have ended over here.

Unfortunately all the information on the CD are printed so small and with light brown letters on red background I really can't read anything...so no information on Bazeado this time, but what really counts is the music. And Bazeado offer a modern version of South American/Brazilian music that fits to the above mentioned albums by Joyce or Marcos Valle. Unfortunately I don't speak Portuguese so I have no clue what Bazeado sing about (and no I dont't understand everything when I'm dancing...see the review of Bobby Matos & John Santos).

The third Down To The Bone album offers the same like the first two, fine instrumental jazz-fusion and they manage it to stay away from what has become the infamous smooth jazz thing (another word for elevator music). Groovy album that's highly recommenable.

Recorded live at the London Jazz Cafe in 2000 but released in 2001, this is my favourite live album this year. It may also be something of a greatest hits collection with songs like Ordinary Joe, Lazurus Man, Dancing Girl or I Don't Wanna See Myself on offer. Like Gil Scott-Heron is quoted on the CD Cover 'Everyone shoul own a Terry Callier album', so why not start with Alive that shows Terry and his band in very good condition.

Three great songs from a quite jazzy album by Llorca. Everyone who like St. Germain's Tourism will certainly like this and what's even better with Newcomer is, that we can also hear the wonderful voices of Nicole Graham, Mandel Turner and Lady Bird (My Precious Thing is one of the best housesongs that wasn't released on Naked Music...so you know it's deep as hell). Worth having it for these 3 tracks alone!

Norwegians doing Jazz? Well, it's not really jazz in the purist sense more something people like St. Germain did on Tourism, Shazz on _In_The_Light or Llorca on Newcomer or something you may find on a flipside of some house records from an obscure label. Listening to the album as a whole can become a little boring but include one or two tracks on a self-made compilation and it'll sound real good.

With his second album Shazz on a major label one might expect a more mediocre album than his debut. But that hasn't happened. Again we get a mixture of jazz and house (although I miss the vocal talent of Ken Norris this time) and (if ever released) a sure hit with a cover version of Sade's Nothing Can Come Between Us done as house version. Another highligh is All I Wanna Give U that could easily be mistaken for a Master At Work production.

Any album that features the vocal talent of Frank McComb is worthwhile..the same goes for New Sector Movement's Download This which features Frank on Anthem and The Sun. But also is Eric Appapoulay on Spontaneuos sounding like Frank and Stevie Wonder in one person. Mass Car Raid is more like a tour de force de jazz. Sadly overlooked this year...but it's still available so don't wait too long to get your copy.

2001 was really more a year when small, independent outshone the major labels and released the better records (e.g. Sandra St. Victor, N'Dambi, Kofy Brown, Gary Taylor or Dennis Taylor). Maurice J.'s Devoted is no exception, produced by Michael J. Powell (who had a lot more work to do back in the late 80ies/early 90ies) and a good mixture of uptempo and downtempo songs with my favourites listed above. (click here for review).