20 - North Shore News -— Friday, April 14, 2000

Jacks

John Goodman

This Week Editor
fgoodman@nsnews.com

® Jacksoul — Sleepless
kext (BMG Music
Canada/Vik
Recordings).

HAYDAIN Neale’s new CD
Sleeplese is the complete
package. Great songs full of
emotion and wrapped in
fresh grooves that recall the
classic smooth soul of
Motown and Philly.

The Hamilton native also
happens to be homegrown

but don’t press that tip with

. him. “I could care less about
_ any sort of Canadian frater-

_ nity because it obscures the
main point —- we have some
incredible world-class artists

here. The musical communi-
ty parallels the whole popu-
lation and the way it’s set
up.” cians

«The Philosopher Kings’

Jon Levine makes his debut.

as a producer on Sleepless
and ‘the album features stel-
» lat performances from some
f Toronto's finest including
the Kings’ guitarist. James

McCollum and vocalist Jully -

Black who sings back-up on

“I Know What You Want”. |
“2 Neale was in'town last
week with his Jacksoul band-

“mates celebrating the release

: of the new CD.with a per-
“formance at Richards on
Richards. We got a chance :
talk'to him about Sleepless

making but well worth the
wait.

Along the way some
musical partners dropped
our and different producers
were tried to get the right
chemistry. Neale wanted
Levine and wouldn’t settle
for anything less. “It was
really cool to not just work
with my friend but my muusi-
cal peer. And a producer
that I really admire — I’m
not interested in being that
kind of cat you know —-
spending, a lot of time in the
studio working on other
people’s tunes isn’t really my
thing. There’s certain things
that I have to get out and
that’s expressed in my
music.”

Levine and Neale were in
sync throughout the record-
ing process. “It was incredi-
ble working with Jon —
we're pretty much on the
same page — if ! say
crunchy peanut butter to
him and he says let’s make it
a little bit smoother then we
know where we're headed.
He’s very melodic which is
my big ing — and every-
thing he throws out is very

“tasteful.”

Levine’s music is pub-
lished by Old Schul and that
accurately sums up his
approach to the tunes. “It’s
not about this sound or that
little neat technique — it’s
all about trying to push cach
story and each mood,” says
Neale, “I think sometimes
it’s easy to get lost — there’s
lots of great songs out there
that are just a groove with a
chorus waiting to happen.

~ And Jon is in that sort of

headspace too — if you lose
that it doesn’t matter how
hip the production is — it’s
not enough to keep you
interested in the tune.”
The first single “Can’t
Stop” is in the top ten this
week and suggests that
Jacksoul is on the right
track. There are many other
songs on the CD ready to
follow it — my guess is “I
Know What You Want” will
be next. Neale makes no
apologies for the success of
¢ music. “It doesn’t have

to be just underground. ;

“That’s something that I kind
_of.wizened up.to — there is
“no extra ment in being hun-

~ performed by ~

‘with guest artists
Bryan King(violin)

Karen Suzanne Smithson (flute)
os featuring works by — :
Mozart, Wolf, Weisgerber, Mendelssohn

"Sunday, April 16, 7:30 pm
Mt. Seymour United Church, North Van
Thursday, Apri? 20, 7:30 pm
|; Ferry Building, West Vancouver
“2. Ensemble members are
- Aurora Felde (violin), Sandra Fiddes (violin), ~
“Audrey Nodwell (cello), Hans-Kari Piltz (viola). :

7 The | Pro Nova

ADMISSION b

Ensemble

donation -

__ in the most...

gry and underground. If
you're making music for
people just keep on making
music— if it happens co
blow up and take a main-
stream presence that’s
because other people under-
stand what you are trying to
say.”

Three years in the making
gave Jacksoul plenty of time
to drop the right mix. Many
songs didn’t make the final
cut for one reason or anoth-
er. “I come from pep music
as a kid,” Neale says.
“Listening to the radio and
hearing lots of great.scngs
— for me | started with a
group of songs and I want
to get them out to people.”

The emotional mood has
to be created first and then
everything clse should fall
invo place. Forget about for-
mula though as Neale
remains open to a wide spec-
trum of musical experience.
Even someone as non-con-
formist as Thelonious Monk
gets his due in Neale’s musi-
cal philosophy. “Here’s a
guy that broke all the rules

technically-advanced musical .

genre that we have but he
wasn’t about imposing 2
bunch of weirdness for the
sake of it — he wasn’t one
of these guys that played
outside because he couldn’t
play inside. There were so
many crazy things he did
that don’t make any sense
rule-wise but they feel right.
And that’s an important les-
son for any young musician.
If your music feels right then
you’re telling your story.”
Sleepless is in record stores
now and highly recommended.

Toronto with The Philosopher Kings’ Jon Levine.

HAYDAIN Neale, the man behind Jacksoul, recorded his new albuim Sleepless |

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