“THERE IS A LEGEND AMONG US FOLKS!!” – this is my constant rallying call to my brothers and sisters in local media. Stokley, the iconic R&B musician who fronted Mint Condition for 20+ years is a half-decade into a fruitful solo career and I can’t believe the man can shop for groceries at Mississippi Market without signing a couple autographs. It will go down as one of the bigger blind spots in Twin Cities media coverage that we aren’t all shining a light on Stokley’s offerings. I’m sure Stokley doesn’t lose much sleep over it, he can fill venues all over the world including in the Twin Cities, the man doesn’t need our help. We need his music. Fine, I’ll get off my soap box and talk about this beautiful music.
We are firmly in R&B territory on Stokley’s new single “RARE (no, no, no)” with a beautiful acoustic guitar lick that gives a smiling nod towards the sounds of Brazil. The pulse of the groove is straight Afrobeats, and Stokley sounds beyond comfortable floating over the club-friendly pulse with his vocal performance. . .he sounds like he was born to be on this type of feel. I’d like to give special points to Jonathan Bekure, a powerhouse bassist from our scene who puts so much sass and rhythmic comfort into his ever-unfolding bass performance.
I’m honored to be bringing a sound like this onto Jazz88, especially since it comes from right in our backyard! Stokley is one of the great artists of our time and one of the most under-covered artists in our local scene. When he makes new music it’s worth celebrating and worth sharing. Congratulations on the new release and thank you for the great sounds Stokley.
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