Daptone Records Keeps Soul Music Refreshing
The Family Daptone: Gabriel Roth (with shades), bassist, producer and co-founder of Daptone Records, with various members of the label’s roster, including Sharon Jones (center) and Binky Griptite (left) of the Dap-Kings, as well as members of the Budos Band and the Gospel Queens.Credit...Finlay MacKay for The New York Times
Are you one of those music fans that feels like they don't make music like they used to? Are you always looking for new music, but with a sound that reminds you of the Motown era?
Then, it may be that you have overlooked an independent label that has been making news for years. It is even possible that you have never caught the name of the label, but you may have heard the soulful sounds of some of their artists or their world-renowned bands.
Brooklyn-based Daptone Records has been around for decades. The label was formed in 2001 and is the baby of Bosco Mann (aka Gabriel Roth) and Neal Sugarman. Both are musicians and have played in the Dap-Kings band.
The label received more acclaim for having been associated with the late great Amy Winehouse. Her 2007 album - Back to Black - had partially been recorded at the label's house studio. Mann received a Grammy Award for his work on the soulful album that made Winehouse a household name before her untimely demise in 2011.
But the Daptone sound had already begun receiving recognition for the music made there. Two of their biggest stars, Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley, had been releasing soul-stirring music for years with an assortment of musicians connected with the label, typically, in the bands - the Dap-Kings and the Menahan Street Band. Sadly, Jones passed in 2016 and Bradley passed away in 2017.
Although their biggest names are no longer here, Daptone Records still celebrate their memories with continued posthumous releases. Nevertheless, the label continues to find new talent and steadily puts put new music.
They continue to inject uplifting and moving music into the lives of their fans. Their rhythm and blues music, their soul music, may put you in the mind of a time long past. It may make you think of the output of record labels forever associated with soul music, such as Motown, Stax, and Atlantic.
However, Daptone still shows that soulful music was not just for a time in history. It is still relevant for these modern times. People just need to open up their souls, focus their ears, and listen.