José James is simply beyond category. No Beginning No End is a culmination of his career and life weaving threads of jazz, balladry, R&B, classic and neo-soul plus hip-hop into a sensual stream of consciousness.
James does it his way. He chose to record the music with help from Robert Glasper, Takuya Kuroda and Hindi Zahra without a contract. Fortunately, Don Was of Blue Note Records liked what he heard and got behind the project. WEMU hosts have always liked what we’ve heard from José James, and we like this one a lot as you can tell from his position on our Sweet Sixteen for February 4th through the 10th. For more on James’ life and music, check out this recent post from NPR Music.
Sweet Sixteen
February 3, 2013 to February 10, 2013
- JOSÉ JAMES “No Beginning No End” (Blue Note Records)
- ORGANISSIMO " Dedicated" (Big O Records)
- AARON NEVILLE “My True Story” (Blue Note Records)
- KEVIN EUBANKS “The Messenger” (Mack Avenue Records)
- BEN HARPER WITH CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE “Get Up!” (Stax Records)
- BENNY GREEN "Magic Beans" (Sunnyside Communications)
- TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON “Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue” (Concord Jazz)
- MENAHAN STREET BAND "The Crossing" (Dunham Records)
- ROGER DAVIDSON TRIO “We Remember Helen” (Soundbrush Records)
- BILLY MARTIN / WIL BLADES “Shimmy” (The Royal Potato Family)
- ELIZABETH SHEPHERD “Rewind” (Linus Entertainment)
- MADELEINE EASTMAN + RANDY PORTER “A Quiet Thing” (Mad-Kat Records)
- TAKUYA KURODA “Six Aces” (takuyakuroda.com )
- WINARD HARPER & JELI POSSE "Coexist" (Jazz Legacy Productions)
- TEENY TUCKER “Voodoo To Do You” (TeBo Records)
- CHESTER “CT” THOMPSON “Mixology” (Doodlin’ Records)
~ Compiled by Patrick Holubik and Linda Yohn
