Most bands travel with their own instruments and their own music, looking to gain a name and promote their latest record. The Eccentric Soul Revue may be looking to promote their releases, but they’re traveling with something different — music’s history, and they’re bringing it to the 9:30 club this Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Eccentric Soul is the flagship project of the Numero Group, a multi-format media business and archival record company dedicated to bringing toe-tapping blues relics out of obscurity.
“Time kills of precious bits of passed-over sound, story, and ephemera every day,” Numero’s Web site explains. “Just as fast as we can haul this sprawling archive of underheard recordings — along with the musicians, writers, and entrepreneurs who created them — out of exile.”
Seeking to finally achieve justice for underappreciated musicians of the past, Numero views their records not as products, but as artifacts of soul.
Currently featured on Eccentric Soul’s line-up are The Notations, Renaldo Domino and headliner Syl Johnson — all legends in their own right. Not only classically melding gospel and R&B, the musicians of the Eccentric Soul Revue deliver everything from funk, rap and blues to power-pop and folk.
Syl Johnson is a 73-year-old powerhouse, a real-life witness to the heyday of soul. Making music since the 1960s, Johnson’s records have since explored themes like African-American identity and civil rights issues, never shying away from hurt and anger with records like “Is It Because I’m Black?”
And even when he’s not making music, Johnson has always managed to remain relevant. In 1992, the musician’s ever-recognizable 1967 single “Different Strokes” was sampled by a number of hip-hop artists, including Wu-Tang Clan, Kool G Rap, Hammer and the Geto Boys. It is this statement of staying power that propelled Johnson to make a comeback into the music industry after almost a decade.
Now, 10 years after that, Johnson is still swinging it and busting it, tearing up the stage in his shiny vintage suit and worn-in loafers. More than just an imitation, Johnson is the real deal.
The Notations are a four-piece Chicago group that formed in the 1960s and are still going strong. Their MySpace features covers of Motown classics like the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination,” as well as old standards like “Baby I Like Your Style.” The Notations know that the industry’s standout artists are the ones out there making a name for themselves, and they’ve accordingly founded a record company. The aptly-named “Still Here Productions” aims to expand their name across their home, the Midwest, as well as throughout the country and overseas.
Putting themselves on par with legendary R&B groups like Gladys Knight and the Pips and The Whispers and the O’Jays, The Notations bring the smooth harmonies, catchy bass lines and, of course, shiny vintage suits, to Soul Revue audiences.
So what do D.C. college students have to gain from checking out this tour, featuring music faintly echoed from our parents’ living rooms? A taste of where music today comes from, a greater appreciation of how the contemporary builds off the classic and the experience of real, live eccentric soul.
You can reach this writer at kcasino@theeagleonline.com.
