I Dig Wayne Brady

Today I purchased from iTunes " A Long Time Coming", the debut cd from Emmy award winner Wayne Brady. Now this is the same Wayne Brady who only a few years ago hosted his own daytime talk show which succeeded Rosie O'Donnell's chat fest. This is also the same Wayne Brady who, in my opinion, dominated the one hour improv show, "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

What made me purchased his CD were his attempts to remake the classic, "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke as well as his jazzy, laid back version of "All I Do" from Stevie Wonder's "Hotter Than July" LP. His first single from the disc, "Ordinary", has stapled itself onto the urban adult contemporary radio playlist of many R&B/Soul stations nationwide. His deep, smooth vocals delivered ear satisfaction worth sealing the deal.

Check out the CD "A Long Time Coming" by Wayne Brady.

Lalah and Ledisi--Sisters In Song

My favorite female vocalist of all time made her way into Philadelphia on Friday and brought one of her "sang-in" girlfriends along for a night of song. Lalah Hathaway, eldest daughter of the late R&B/Soul Legend Donny Hathaway, headlined the last night of the Bank Of America Sounds Of R&B Series. Opening for her was two-time Grammy nominee Ledisi, who gave an electric performance complete with scats and runs that leaped up and down the musical scales.

Below is Ledisi giving a musical testimony.

Earlier in the afternoon I had the pleasure of seeing Lalah in person for my third time during a CD signing at the Sound Of Market record store on the unit block of south 11th Street. Since I purchased her latest musical effort, "Self Portrait" on iTunes, I had Lalah sign my copy of the August/September issue of Heart and Soul magazine which featured a cover story on her.

Below is a snippet of Lalah performing her first number one single, a cover of the 1982 Luther Vandross classic, "Forever, For Always, For Love". If you ever wanted to know what unconditional love sounds like, take a listen.

After seeing Ledisi for the first time and Lalah once again, it was DEFINITELY worth the pain of sitting Indian-style on the concrete for over 2 hours just so that I can see that at stage front.