Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "100 Days, 100 Nights"pick

Another veteran soul singer delivers a powerhouse comeback

By Jeff Weiss, Special to Metromix

October 1, 2007

 
Critic's Rating:
4 1/2

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "100 Days, 100 Nights"
100 Days, 100 Nights
Release date:
October 2, 2007
Artist/Band name:
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Record label:
Daptone
Backstory: Unable to get a record deal as a solo soul singer, Sharon Jones labored as a backing singer on numerous funk and soul records throughout the ‘70s, and later as a corrections officer at New York’s Rikers Island prison. Roughly a decade ago, she finally received a much-deserved career break, appearing on a session backing soul and deep funk legend, Lee Fields. Several of the backing musicians from those sessions went on to form the Dap-Kings and enlist Jones as their lead vocalist.

Why you should care: With Amy Winehouse bringing retro back, there is no better time than now to check out the genuine article. No mere Stax-era revivalist, Jones has been doing this since the days of Booker T. and the Bar-Kays, belting it out for funk and soul bands since the early 1970s.

Verdict: You won’t hear a better R&B album in 2007. Jones’ voice is a marvel, a chocolate cake-rich slab of soul, capable of carrying the pain and suffering accrued from a lifetime of sacrifice and paying dues. Her backing band, the Dap-Kings, are her secret weapon, piping pinpoint trumpet blasts, elegiac sax lines and meaty-fingered basslines to imbue “100 Days, 100 Nights” with the feel of a long-lost great album recently excavated from a dusty vault somewhere in the dirty South.  

X-Factor: Speaking of Winehouse, the British diva borrowed the Dap-Kings as her touring band for recent jaunts across the U.S. and Europe.

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