MARCH 2026 ISSUE
MARCH 2026 ISSUE A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the March 2026 issue – OUT NOW! Click to buy this issue and read more… LINDSEY WEBSTER Lindsey Webster’s on the move: as her beaming face comes into view via Zoom, I can see she’s in the front passenger seat of a travelling vehicle. This is unexpected. Seated just behind is long-time musical partner [and former husband] Keith Slattery. That wasn’t. ‘Erm, going anywhere exciting?’ I ask. Yes – to Alexandria, Virginia, for our album release party tomorrow,” she replies, as Keith – who can’t actually hear me [since Lindsey’s using earbuds] waves a friendly greeting. Since that’s some six hours away by road from Lindsey’s Woodstock home, I’m assuming they’re headed for a nearby airport… Click here to buy and read more… SHABAKA D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar was one of the great sweet sticky things of the ‘90s, but the singer’s refined vocal was not only reason it sold like hotcakes. The heavenly blend of soul, hip-hop and jazz was largely down to the artist himself, who put many tracks together working as a one-man band, a la Sly, Stevie and Prince. It made a big impression on Shabaka, then a 13-year-old clarinetist at the dawn of his career. “I looked at the liner notes of the CD booklet, and I realized he played most of the instruments,” he recalls heartily. “It just really blew my mind. So, for me, kind of seeing that a musician could be in a room by themselves and play and program everything to a level where you just think it sounds great… it’s just… it’s grooving… Click here to buy and read more… SIX60 New Zealand has a proud history of producing popular reggae bands, stretching all the way back to Herbs, who supported Bob Marley & The Wailers on their historic 1979 visit there. The best-known of these include Katchafire, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Kora, House Of Shem and The Black Seeds – all of whom regularly tour overseas. Another Kiwi outfit that’s won over international audiences is Six60, whose latest album, Right Here, Right Now isn’t a reggae set exactly, but offers proof of what happens when band members on the same wavelength make music that people from diverse walks of life and backgrounds can relate to. You can’t achieve this by pandering to a common denominator – only by making your songs personal, whilst expressing truths we can all recognise… Click here to buy and read more… SLY DUNBAR Planet Earth lost one of its greatest drummers on the morning of 26 January, after Sly Dunbar’s wife found him unresponsive in bed. Tributes poured in from every corner – not just from people within reggae circles, but also from celebrities like the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger who posted, “The world has lost its rhythm. I miss you.” He referred to the 73-year-old as “not only a great musician, but also a friend and collaborator who left an irreplaceable mark on his musical journey. Sly was the heartbeat behind so many incredible records, and the world feels a lot quieter without him.” He and Sly had a long history of working together, and not just on Jagger’s solo albums or tracks by The Rolling Stones. Sly was in Peter Tosh’s band Word, Sound & Power during the period Tosh was signed to Rolling Stones Records and he played on all three of the albums they produced together, beginning with Bush Doctor. Click here to buy and read more…
Black News 
MARCH 2026 ISSUE
A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the March 2026 issue – OUT NOW!
LINDSEY WEBSTER
Lindsey Webster’s on the move: as her beaming face comes into view via Zoom, I can see she’s in the front passenger seat of a travelling vehicle. This is unexpected. Seated just behind is long-time musical partner [and former husband] Keith Slattery. That wasn’t.
‘Erm, going anywhere exciting?’ I ask.
Yes – to Alexandria, Virginia, for our album release party tomorrow,” she replies, as Keith – who can’t actually hear me [since Lindsey’s using earbuds] waves a friendly greeting. Since that’s some six hours away by road from Lindsey’s Woodstock home, I’m assuming they’re headed for a nearby airport…
SHABAKA
D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar was one of the great sweet sticky things of the ‘90s, but the singer’s refined vocal was not only reason it sold like hotcakes. The heavenly blend of soul, hip-hop and jazz was largely down to the artist himself, who put many tracks together working as a one-man band, a la Sly, Stevie and Prince. It made a big impression on Shabaka, then a 13-year-old clarinetist at the dawn of his career.
“I looked at the liner notes of the CD booklet, and I realized he played most of the instruments,” he recalls heartily. “It just really blew my mind. So, for me, kind of seeing that a musician could be in a room by themselves and play and program everything to a level where you just think it sounds great… it’s just… it’s grooving…
SIX60
New Zealand has a proud history of producing popular reggae bands, stretching all the way back to Herbs, who supported Bob Marley & The Wailers on their historic 1979 visit there. The best-known of these include Katchafire, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Kora, House Of Shem and The Black Seeds – all of whom regularly tour overseas.
Another Kiwi outfit that’s won over international audiences is Six60, whose latest album, Right Here, Right Now isn’t a reggae set exactly, but offers proof of what happens when band members on the same wavelength make music that people from diverse walks of life and backgrounds can relate to. You can’t achieve this by pandering to a common denominator – only by making your songs personal, whilst expressing truths we can all recognise…
SLY DUNBAR
Planet Earth lost one of its greatest drummers on the morning of 26 January, after Sly Dunbar’s wife found him unresponsive in bed. Tributes poured in from every corner – not just from people within reggae circles, but also from celebrities like the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger who posted, “The world has lost its rhythm. I miss you.” He referred to the 73-year-old as “not only a great musician, but also a friend and collaborator who left an irreplaceable mark on his musical journey. Sly was the heartbeat behind so many incredible records, and the world feels a lot quieter without him.”
He and Sly had a long history of working together, and not just on Jagger’s solo albums or tracks by The Rolling Stones. Sly was in Peter Tosh’s band Word, Sound & Power during the period Tosh was signed to Rolling Stones Records and he played on all three of the albums they produced together, beginning with Bush Doctor.
