The Best Women's Delicious

The Funky Knuckles belong to a new generation of improvising musicians, challenging the constraints of genre, but never losing sight of the groove. This is not your typical funk band… or jam band… or jazz band. The Funky Knuckles are something different entirely. This is the improvised music of the new generation, and it is continuously being re-defined, even as it is performed. In recent years, Texas has gained a reputation as a hotbed for groove-oriented improvised music, and The Funky Knuckles have been a part of that movement for over a decade. It is a common occurrence to hear world-class musicians sitting in at their weekly residency in Dallas, and band members can be seen as sidemen with Janet Jackson, Stanley Clarke, and Larry Carlton. The Funky Knuckles are releasing their fourth album, “Delicious” in November 2019 on Ropeadope, and will be touring domestically around the release.

For whatever reason, Pretty Things failed to make significant inroads in the U.S. when the window of opportunity was open widest. Perhaps the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Animals more than fulfilled the quota for invading bad boys. Maybe their sophomoric (and less than artistic) obsession with drugs played a role, though that's doubtful, given the preponderance of mind-altering substance cheerleading by '60s bands. Like the Stones, Pretty Things incorporated garage, R&B, and psychedelia into their aggressive style of rock & roll…

The definitive Jay & the Americans collection, Come a Little Bit Closer: The Best of Jay & the Americans, collects the highlights of the band's career with each of its lead singers, Jay Traynor and Jay Black. Traynor was the voice behind the group's first big hit, 1962's "She Cried," as well as singles like "Dawning," the melody of which cleverly mimics Edvard Grieg's "Morning Mood" and a laid-back version of "Tonight" from West Side Story. It's too bad that the Americans didn't wait to record that last song until Black had entered their fold. His impressive range and theatrical delivery made songs like "Only in America" sound like they were from some forgotten musical and made the band's version of "Crying" closely rival Roy Orbison's original. Along with the title track, "Come a Little Bit Closer" also features the hits "Cara Mia" – one of the best showcases for Black's vocal prowess – and "This Magic Moment," as well as sound-alike follow-ups like "Let's Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key)," "Some Enchanted Evening," and "Sunday and Me".