Niji Magazine Introducing NYC’s acclaimed Soul / Rhythm & Blues singing sensation, Bobby Harden
Bobby Harden, NYC’s acclaimed soul/ rhythm and blues singing sensation, is thrilling audiences internationally as lead singer of the world-famous Original Blues Brothers Band. Led by music icons Steve Cropper & Lou Marini , the band keeps alive the tradition started by Belushi and Akroyd. Click on link below to read full article.
In April 1978, John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd debuted the Blues Brothers Band on Saturday Night Live. The band looked and sounded like a cohesive unit, composed of a stellar group of musicians whose members had backed soul greats including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett and Eddie Floyd, But when some members of the first Blues Brothers band first heard Belushi’s alleged singing, they were reluctant to be part of the project. Belushi won them over with his persistence and loyalty to the band and the project, and the band became a real working and recording unit. The original cast was led by keyboardist Paul Shaffer, with guitarists Steve Cropper and Matt “Guitar” Murphy, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, drummer Steve Jordan, and Alan Rubin, Lou Marini, Tom Malone, and Tom Scott on horns.
The band put out their debut, Briefcase Full Of Blues, that same year, recorded in September at the Los Angeles Universal Amphitheater, when the band opened for Steve Martin. Ackroyd and Belushi mugged their way through soul and R&B classics like King Floyd’s “Groove Me,” David Porter and Isaac Hayes’ composition for Sam & Dave’s soul smash “Soul Man,” and the tongue twisting novelty “Rubber Biscuit,” recorded by the Chips, as well as Otis Redding’s “I Can’t Turn You Loose.”
In the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, the band covered an eccentric mix of material ranging from Dimitri Tiomkin’s “Rawhide” to “Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” to Lieber and Stoller’s “Jailhouse Rock,” captured on the soundtrack released that year. Made In America also released in 1980, with a soundtrack that found the Blues Brothers band covering Booker T and the MGs’ instrumental “Green Onions” along with Johnny Taylor’s “Who’s Making Love,” the Bar Kays “Soul Finger,” and Wilson Pickett’s “Funky Broadway.”
1990’s The Blues Brothers Band Live in Montreux revisited the older Blues Brothers material, but Eddie Floyd featured on vocals made this one a standout.
Blues Brothers 2000: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was the companion piece to the ’98 film Blues Brothers 2000. Otis was back, represented on “I Can’t Turn You Loose” along with Cropper’s great soul classic written for Pickett, “634-5789.”
This latest go round, The Last Shade of Blue Before Black, is the best yet, with Floyd back as guest vocalist and Cropper, Shaeffer, Tom “Bones” Malone, and Blue Lou Marini from the core cast, and Dr. John and Joe Louis Walker guest starring as well.
There are no actors playing the role of singers here; this stuff is handled by the pros. Bobby “Sweet Soul” Harden comes from the Uptown Horns, but sings like a downhome soul man who just ran out of the church doors to play the devil’s music. “You Left the Water Running” has been covered by Redding, Pickett, and Sam & Dave, but Harden’s version hangs right up there with the big boys, Marini ripping out a King Curtis-worthy sax solo.
Eddie Floyd wrote and sings lead on “Don’t Forget About James Brown,” a funk-laden tribute to the the man Floyd labels as “King of the Mashed Potatoes: They called him a legend but his music can’t be measured/ he took the formula to his grave.”
Floyd co-wrote (with Cropper) and recorded “On a Saturday Night” in 1967, but he still sounds just as strong as he did back then.
Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do” is unrecognizable for the first minute and a half, the horn section taking it for a ride that sounds like a big band vehicle, but the funky undercarriage keeps you wondering when it’s gonna break down. It gets chopped down and dirty when vocalists Harden, Tommy McDonnell, and Rob Paparozzi do some laid-back vocalizin’, but the horns drag it back into luxury-ride mode til John Tropea’s guitar drops it back on the jukejoint floor.
There’s a lot of outfits purporting to be blues bands, but this one’s hard to top. It’s great to hear a horn section that sounds this muscular but doesn’t overpower the arrangements. The band pays homage to the Muscle Shoals and Stax Records sound but doesn’t copy the originals note for note, letting the material expand and grow as some of the original creators breathe new life into it. Let’s just hope the title isn’t prophetic, and this isn’t the last shade of blue before the final blackout curtain comes down. This band of blues brothers deserves a few more encores.
Reviews- Bobby Harden solo & guest recordings
———————————————————————————————————-Douglas Newsom-DJ-BBS Radio Network, Paradise Ca.
Nov 11, 2017
“I will be adding the following tracks into rotation: Not Ready, Try
Again, Where Is The Love, You Make My Heart Sing and You’ll Never Walk
Alone
“Not often do we select more than one track from a CD for airplay on
BBS Radio, but River of Soul by Bobby Harden is an exceptional Album.
The brilliant, soulful, heartfelt compositions are masterfully crafted
and Bobby’s deeply moving and profoundly beautiful voice touches the
human core. The music will leave you feeling warmly embraced and
linger in your mind long after. Bravo!”
by Douglas Newsom, Cofounder of BBS Network, Inc (BBS Radio)
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Reviews- Bobby Harden solo, Original Blues Bro.Band & Stew Cutler’s CD
NO DEPRESSION MAGAZINE
The Blues Brothers Return
Blues Brothers – The Last Shade of Blue Before Black
BY GRANT BRITT , STAFF REVIEWER
OCTOBER 17, 2017
“This latest go round, The Last Shade of Blue Before Black, is the best yet, with Floyd back as guest vocalist and Cropper, Shaeffer, Tom “Bones” Malone, and Blue Lou Marini from the core cast, and Dr. John and Joe Louis Walker guest starring as well.
There are no actors playing the role of singers here; this stuff is handled by the pros. Bobby “Sweet Soul” Harden comes from the Uptown Horns, but sings like a downhome soul man who just ran out of the church doors to play the devil’s music. “You Left the Water Running” has been covered by Redding, Pickett, and Sam & Dave, but Harden’s version hangs right up there with the big boys, Marini ripping out a King Curtis-worthy sax solo”.
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Album Review of
Label: Severn
Maybe it’s the energy and atmosphere of their nearly overdub-free, “live”-in-the-studio approach that makes for the consistent good-vibes character of this set. Original Blues Brothers guitarist Steve Cropper and saxman Lou Marini host a slew of soulful guests on a mix of originals and tasty covers. Horn charts courtesy of Marini and others freshen classics such as Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do” and Willie Dixon’s “Don’t Go No Further”. That latter tune also sports a hefty vocal from guest Joe Louis Walker and guitar from BBB alum Matt “Guitar” Murphy. Dr. John contributes a welcome cameo with his own “Qualified”, offering up his own “Qualified” and Paul Shaffer generates some keyboard heat covering the James Brown classic “Sex Machine”.
Stealing the show, vocal-wise, is NYC soulster Bobby Harden, tearing up the Dan Penn-penned gem “You Left The Water Running”.
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The Last Shade of Blue Before Black- THE ORIGINAL BLUES BRO.BAND
-Severn Records-cd 0071
“…some of the most outstanding tracks hark back to his {Steve Cropper’s} work at STAX , including original Stax stare Eddie Floyd’s remake of his 1967 hit ON A SATURDAY NIGHT and Bobby Harden’s take on the Rufus Thomas unrelenting Funk hit ITCH AND SCRATCH. Harden shifts things from Memphis to Muscle Shoals and delivers the COLLECTION”S HIGHLIGHT with a version of Dan Penn’s YOU LEFT THE WATER RUNNING, which is saying a lot given that the song’s pedigree includes versions by Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding {the original demo} and Sam & Dave -ABSOLUTELY INFECTOUS!
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THE HOUR OF THE BLUES-http://www.lahoradelblues.com
THE LEGENDARY BLUES RADIO SHOW IN BARCELONA (SPAIN).
Vicente Zúmel International Recipient 2013 KBA
CRITICS CD’s QUARTERLY / QUARTERLY CD REVIEWS –
Bobby Harden “River Of Soul”. Nyota / 2017 .
Bobby Harden defines himself as a fervent soul man. That’s why his first album was titled “Soul Purpose”. Bobby has had to wait sixteen years to be able to publish his second full-length album. For those who do not know this artist too much, he has traveled around the world as one of the most charismatic leaders of the original Blues Brothers Band, as well as working on other side projects with Steve Cropper. Steve provided many of his knowledge of Stax sound and soul music in general, which served Bobby to become a true expert. Further, The keyboardist of the band Blues Brothers Leon Pendarvis became a crucial and irreplaceable aid in the creative process of this album. The result is a magnificent exhibition of the most classic soul with very current arrangements, full of life and various and colorful effervescent. In the nine songs that make up the album you can see the influences that have been forming the style and voice of this complete singer and ranging from gospel artists like James Cleveland or Andre Crouch to soul singers like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett and Bluesmen Like Johnny Adams or BB King, although Bobby Harden always says that his greatest influence has been James Brown. Great album that has no waste and should be featured in any collection of soul music. VERY GOOD.
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KURTIS POWERS-THE FACE RADIO – DJ at Mod Radio UK, DJ at Back2Back FM and DJ at BBOX Radio – on air comments
“I want to introduce you to an artist…..Bobby Harden…right here from NY….This track is from his CD, RIVER OF SOUL. The song is called LETS GET REAL….This is a BANGER ! When I say banger, I mean its got a banging groove. It’s a cross-over…it’s a little soul…a little funk, r&b.”
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BC* Blog Critcs -Music Review: Stew Cutler & Friends – ‘Every Sunday Night’ Posted by: Jon Sobel –
“New York City guitarist Stew Cutler‘s sixth album Every Sunday Night is a long-steeped brew of soul, jazz, and blues-rock including several tracks with vocals by local soul man Bobby Harden. Harden’s presence is likely to make any recording worth a listen (or any gig worth the cover charge).”
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KAMASAMI KONG – www.japantoday.com producer & radio personality
“When Bobby sings you’ll feel his soul purpose is to delivers pure, old- school, heartfelt soul that’s perfectly in-tune with today and guaranteed to make you want more. “We liked track 2 “Try Again” and “Where Is The Love” (you can see from our music list that we played it today}
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Allan Shellard – Broadcasting as Alan Dee on Fantasy Radio Devizes on 97FM and online at www.fantasyradio.co.uk
“I love the sound of Where is The Love. It has a feeling reminiscent of 70s Soul but coupled with a style that is very much of today. Bobby voice and phrasing is excellent, a sound and style that is the preferred soul sound of the 21st century. A worthy start to the album.”
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STEVE CROPPER –Stax / Soul music icon
“No need to listen too deep, Bobby Harden is plenty out front ….. fun to imerse
and float down his “River Of Soul” – Steve Cropper –Stax / Soul music icon
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JOHN TROPEA- Deodato/jazz/funk recording artist/legend
“My fellow Blues Brother Mr Bobby Harden and his recent release “River of Soul” exemplifies R&B at its best. The songs are well written, The band and arrangements are right on the money and Bobby’s vocals are as always warm and loving. In addition, his collaboration with the multitalented Leon Pendarvis is an asset anyone would be thrilled to have. Myself included! “
John Tropea – Jazz/Funk guitar legend
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CHRISTINE OHLMAN – Beehive Queen / Sat.Night Live vocalist
“Bobby Harden connects with the true soul of American music…and this connection is straight from his heart, directly to the listener’s. I love every track on ‘River of Soul’…..and so will you.”
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LIVING BLUES_NY
“A high , intense delivery that recalls Little Johnny Taylor and Otis Rush .”-
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SOUL BAG magazine -France
“This NY’er offers a soul that could come from a Southern studio 20 years ago. Absolutely not that it’s out of date –on the contrary, there is a freshness and a punch that immediately grabs the listener.”
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TZ Newspaper -Munich
“Bobby Harden’s voice has brought him his nickname,”The Soul Man from NY.”
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CURATEDUSA.COM
“With his soulful vocals, charisma and natural stage presence, you’d imagine Bobby Harden had been performing on stage since day one. “
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HOSH GURELI- Sr. Dir.-A&R , ARISTA records
“A voice that conveys the lyrics he sings beautifully. He must get mad props from his peers . ”
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donandsherylsbluesblog JUST ANOTHER WORDPRESS.COM SITE
Posted July 1, 2017 by dvcrow56 i
STEW CUTLER AND FRIENDS (incl.BOBBY HARDEN) EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT
COGNA 70070-28026-2
“Three of the vocals stood out for us. Bobby Harden brings the soul while Stew’s guitar does its share of testifyin’ on a great read of Gregg Allman’s “Not My Cross To Bear.” A bit later, Bobby plays the part of the perfect con man, asking for “an hour on Channel 35” to be a “TV Preacher,” so that he can get away from “nothin’ in my pockets but poor.” Perhaps the album’s highlight, tho, is a blistering, soul-satisfying vocal duet between Bobby and JT Bowen, as they take us all down to East McLemore to the Church Of Stax with a sanctified throwdown of “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby.”
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‘Every Sunday Night’ is a great addition to any informed listener’s collection.
By Barry Kerzner September 20, 2017
“Without question, the standout performance here is the Gregg Allman classic “Not My Cross To Bare.” Cutler’s guitar lines are stunning, and the band rallies around him with rich sonic goodness. Bobby Harden’s vocal here is mesmerizing.”
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Penny Pepperstein http://www.pennyreviewsrock.media
“As always, I will start off with my favorite song on the album, “Where Is the Love.” A cry of apology to his scorned lover, who left him, after he stepped out on her. This song has the attraction of the late 70s, with the horns, piano and backup singers providing harmony with emphasis on the chorus. Marvin Gaye was once quoted as the “panty dropper” of sexual soul music, but Marvin may have a run for his money with Bobby Harden. “
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Album Review of
Label: Severn
Maybe it’s the energy and atmosphere of their nearly overdub-free, “live”-in-the-studio approach that makes for the consistent good-vibes character of this set. Original Blues Brothers guitarist Steve Cropper and saxman Lou Marini host a slew of soulful guests on a mix of originals and tasty covers. Horn charts courtesy of Marini and others freshen classics such as Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do” and Willie Dixon’s “Don’t Go No Further”. That latter tune also sports a hefty vocal from guest Joe Louis Walker and guitar from BBB alum Matt “Guitar” Murphy. Dr. John contributes a welcome cameo with his own “Qualified”, offering up his own “Qualified” and Paul Shaffer generates some keyboard heat covering the James Brown classic “Sex Machine”.
Stealing the show, vocal-wise, is NYC soulster Bobby Harden, tearing up the Dan Penn-penned gem “You Left The Water Running”.
Bobby Harden’s new video “Not Ready” featured in ION INDIE MAGAZINE
The August 2017 edition of ION Indie Magazine is now LIVE! It’s completely free…so check us out!
Click on the links below to buy River of Soul CD https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bobby-harden/id216798055
Amazon (hard and mp3 downloads)
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A5174%2Cp_32%3ABobby%20Harden
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Stew Cutler & Friends CD Featuring Bobby Harden “Bobby Harden’s presence is likely to make any recording worth a listen (or any gig worth the cover charge” review byBy Jon Sobel, BLOGCRITICS.ORG click link to read full review http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Music-Review-Stew-Cutler-Friends-Every-11280213.php
The Indie Beat features the music of noteworthy emerging independent recording artists. Follow these promising artists on their journey to success. See and hear them first, here on The Indie Beat! REAL music by REAL MUSICIANS. Hosted by Joyce Stovall.
BOBBY HARDEN
INDUCTED INTO THE NEW YORK BLUES HALL OF FAME @ BB KINGS
On August 4th, 2013 – Bobby Harden
was inducted into the
NEW YORK BLUES HALL OF FAME
@ B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, NYC
Hosted By The Michael Packer Blues Band
Bobby Harden (Lead singer of The Original Blues Brothers)
“Bobby inducted into the New York Blues Hall Of Fame”
Soul Purpose
wonderful, this is one of the best cds i have bought in a long time, very nice music and the songs are great, I TRULY LOVE IT!!!!
– Martel Allen
Keeper of the flame
Bobby is a journeyman singer whose music is as timeless as love and as fresh as a new dawn, combining the fuel of the traditional with the spark of the latest thing. A true keeper of the flame.
– Roger Bartlett
An essential album, buy it and love it.
Wow, this was the first word that came to my mind after pressing play button in my CD player. Bobby Harden’s voice is one of the sweetest ones on the scene, both the past one and the present one. A voice made to sing soul music. His songs are interesting and arrangements are catchy. The song “What Do You Call It?” should become a classic, as popular as “Soul Man”, “In The Midnight Hour” or “Dark End Of The Street”. For deep soul lovers this is an essential album. Buy it and love it.
– Przemek Draheim, Polish Blues & Radio Host
We love “Soul Purpose”
Internet Music Radio, “Gone Fishing for Blue Skies”, loves the world of Bobby Harden. Personal favorite, “What Do You Call It?”
– cloud nine and cloud seven
