SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE
SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the September 2026 issue – OUT NOW! Click to buy this issue and read more… SANDRA ST. VICTOR Sandra St. Victor is in Arnhem, Mother Tongue label boss, Patrick Gibin, is in Verona and I’m in SE London. We have gathered together today, in front of our relative computer screens, to discuss the former Family Stand member’s first new solo album in more than a decade. Titled Eleven, it’s an outstanding body of work that seeks, amongst other things, to bridge St. Victor’s long-standing soul and jazz audiences with a new community of listeners – here and there it stirs in elements of boogie and soulful dance music to her more usual creative stew. Amongst its 14 tracks you’ll spot not only some familiar titles – covers of Roberta Flack’s Go Up Moses, Syreeta’s Tiki Tiki Donga and Captain Sky’s Moonchild, as well as a new version of Sandra’s own Dizzy from her 2001 Gemini: Both Sides album… … … Click here to buy and read more… KY-MANI MARLEY Every time there’s some public utterance about how reggae music is dead, one of the Marleys retaliates by making a brilliant album. Stephen Marley did it back in 2011 when recording Revelation Pt 1 The Root Of Life and now 15 years later, his brother Ky-mani has responded to that same tired, defeatist argument by releasing his first solo album in over a decade, the highly impressive Love And Energy. My first question for him was ‘Why the wait? Had he run out of things to say, or was he in need of a recharge?’ “I think time just took its course,” he replied, smiling. “I had some other projects I was working on at the time. I shot a movie, wrote some scripts and actually started an album that was totally different from this one. Click here to buy and read more… MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO A diva dies, our hearts break. The passing of Cassandra Wilson comes the day before my interview with Meshell Ndegeocello and catches us both off guard. Saddened though the latter is, she nonetheless has a distinct brightness in her voice when she hails the achievements of the former, one of the pivotal artists of the 1990s, all genres considered. The visionary who birthed New Moon Daughter was her own woman. “Cassandra was not only a jazz vocalist,” says Ndegeocello pointedly on a clear transatlantic Zoom call. “I think that’s very limiting to what she did. She was a great actress, performance artist, a presence, a chanteuse, a haunting spirit you could hear. What a voice! But not only that, just a song stylist able to make anything her own.” Click here to buy and read more… CHARLES BRADLEY “I get so emotional when I watch that video; I have to get up and walk away. I don’t think I’ve seen the whole thing right through to this day.” Charles Bradley is talking about his movie, Soul Of America, a revealing documentary of his life. So far released in – as the saying goes – selected American cinemas [and possibly soon to be aired on UK TV], it profiles both Bradley’s remarkable 60-odd years of struggle and his noble, ultimately successful, attempts to break into the music business, dragging himself out from some deep and very dark places in the process. There have been a lot of those. Echoes regulars may be familiar with parts of the Charles Bradley saga, having latched onto his 2011 debut album, No Time For Dreaming and perhaps found themselves wondering where this old guy who sounded a lot like James Brown had suddenly sprung from – not to mention how come he’d ended up working with Thom Brenneck and the Daptone guys. Click here to buy and read more…
Black News 
SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE
A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the September 2026 issue – OUT NOW!
SANDRA ST. VICTOR
Sandra St. Victor is in Arnhem, Mother Tongue label boss, Patrick Gibin, is in Verona and I’m in SE London. We have gathered together today, in front of our relative computer screens, to discuss the former Family Stand member’s first new solo album in more than a decade. Titled Eleven, it’s an outstanding body of work that seeks, amongst other things, to bridge St. Victor’s long-standing soul and jazz audiences with a new community of listeners – here and there it stirs in elements of boogie and soulful dance music to her more usual creative stew. Amongst its 14 tracks you’ll spot not only some familiar titles – covers of Roberta Flack’s Go Up Moses, Syreeta’s Tiki Tiki Donga and Captain Sky’s Moonchild, as well as a new version of Sandra’s own Dizzy from her 2001 Gemini: Both Sides album…
…
…
KY-MANI MARLEY
Every time there’s some public utterance about how reggae music is dead, one of the Marleys retaliates by making a brilliant album. Stephen Marley did it back in 2011 when recording Revelation Pt 1 The Root Of Life and now 15 years later, his brother Ky-mani has responded to that same tired, defeatist argument by releasing his first solo album in over a decade, the highly impressive Love And Energy.
My first question for him was ‘Why the wait? Had he run out of things to say, or was he in need of a recharge?’
“I think time just took its course,” he replied, smiling. “I had some other projects I was working on at the time. I shot a movie, wrote some scripts and actually started an album that was totally different from this one.
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO
A diva dies, our hearts break. The passing of Cassandra Wilson comes the day before my interview with Meshell Ndegeocello and catches us both off guard. Saddened though the latter is, she nonetheless has a distinct brightness in her voice when she hails the achievements of the former, one of the pivotal artists of the 1990s, all genres considered. The visionary who birthed New Moon Daughter was her own woman.
“Cassandra was not only a jazz vocalist,” says Ndegeocello pointedly on a clear transatlantic Zoom call. “I think that’s very limiting to what she did. She was a great actress, performance artist, a presence, a chanteuse, a haunting spirit you could hear. What a voice! But not only that, just a song stylist able to make anything her own.”
CHARLES BRADLEY
“I get so emotional when I watch that video; I have to get up and walk away. I don’t think I’ve seen the whole thing right through to this day.”
Charles Bradley is talking about his movie, Soul Of America, a revealing documentary of his life. So far released in – as the saying goes – selected American cinemas [and possibly soon to be aired on UK TV], it profiles both Bradley’s remarkable 60-odd years of struggle and his noble, ultimately successful, attempts to break into the music business, dragging himself out from some deep and very dark places in the process.
There have been a lot of those. Echoes regulars may be familiar with parts of the Charles Bradley saga, having latched onto his 2011 debut album, No Time For Dreaming and perhaps found themselves wondering where this old guy who sounded a lot like James Brown had suddenly sprung from – not to mention how come he’d ended up working with Thom Brenneck and the Daptone guys.
