The best Neo Soul Artists

Neo Soul music or Nu soul can be described as modern soul music which retains much of the attributes of soul music from the 60's 70's. Neo Soul artists may prefer the title of simply "Soul" claim that the music they perform is no different to what it was decades ago. However a lot of today's main stream soul (R&B) has definately lost much of the properties of older soul music which is why the "Neo Soul" or Real Soul Genre has come about.

One of the main characteristics of Neo Soul music is the chord sequences. These tend to be in Jazz/Gospel type keys with chords extended up to the 11th and sometimes 13th. There are often Tri tones (keys/chords outside the regular scale) which give a lot of depth and tension to the music.

The second characteristic of Neo Soul Music is the use of live (or sometimes sampled) real instruments, such as sax, trumpets etc..There also tends to be section of the track where the singer stops for a whole verse while musicians perform solos. This kind of thing is very reminiscent to soul music in the 60's and 70's.

A number of Artists have moved away from the Neo Soul genre into more of the pop or mainstream R&B since that's where the money, fame and popularity seems to be.

Bith name: Gerald Maxwell Rivera, born in Brookly, New York.

Maxwell can reach a beautiful falsetto range and his music tends to be one soul/soft rock/easy listening side rather than the jazz/gospel. His music definitely has Prince characteristics but more of a soulful slower tempo. For musicians, Maxwell's music can quite often be worked out by ear since he tends to go with the more regular Major scales. His most recent album sets a very relaxing mood.

Bith name: Michael Eugene Archer, born in Richmond, Virginia

Although D'Angelo has a similar singing style to Prince with touches of falsetto here and there, his music in heavily based around contempory Jazz with Swing or sometimes hiphop style beats. His tracks have a very distinguished style with a heavy use of a Wurlitzer sounding piano. Chords progressing are very deep and tension filled, with live sounding instruments in the background.

D'Angelo is known to play all the instruments in his productions, keys, drums, bass, brass. As a lover of hiphop he has also done a number of colaborations with hiphop artists for more of a hiphop style of music. D'Angelo's music definately captures the feeling of soul from the 60's and 70's.

Birth name - Taalib Johnson, Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Musiq's productions tend to be more ont he electronic side of the Neo Soul genre. You will hear the typical chord progressions but not the natural instruments. His song cover a range of moods, such as ballards, uptempo R&B, hiphop, dance, house. Musiq voice is very rich in timbre which allow his voice to sit nicely uptop of tracks for clarity. Some of his tracks actualy have a Stevie wonder quality to them escpecially he vocal phrasing techniques.

A noticeable talent is his ability to hum and beat box at the same time as in the intro of "Just Freinds".

Birth name: Andwele Gardner, born in Detroit, Michigan.

Dwele's music is very deep organic soul, following jazz type complex chord progressions, quite difficult to follow by ear if you are trying to play along with an instrument. Verses often end with a tri-tone (out side of the key) type of chord with gives a certain mood to his tracks.

His characteristic style is like a monotone talk, for a few bars then into a falsetto to end the phrase. Dwele doesn't do many uptempo tracks, he sticks to mainly to 60-70 bpm, smooth slow groves. Production wise is more on the electronic side than live sounding instruments.

See the below video, very clever lyrics "I'm Cheatin". Dwele seems to be talking about two women, but he is actually refering to the same only women. The contrasts of her being a lady in public but something completely different in the bedroom.

Birth-town - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jill Scott is a Neo Soul artist who covers a range of styles, including gospel, jazz and spoken word. Her tracks are very deep and organic and mixes element of both electric and live instrument sounds. One of her characteristics is the spoken word verses only many tracks a bit like poetry, she will then break into a complimenting bridge then into a chorus. Some of her tracks start out as R&B hen cleverly transform into Jazz changing the mood completely, like the track "Talk to me". This track starts out as a slow grove around 65bpm then doubles to around 130bpm as it transforms into Jazz. Jill can reach an impressive range of octaves.  

Birth name: Erica Abi Wright, born Dallas, Texas.

Erykah is know as the first lady of Neo Soul, well know for her eccentric head gear and style of dress. Erykah has a passion for Hip-hop as she raps in some of her tracks and are very hip-hop orientated. The majority of her tracks however are a very slow tempo deep soul tracks. Erykah has a lot of timbre in her voice but can reach very high notes. Her voice is also distinctive due to the slightly nasal property.

Not only does she like hiphop, she has had relationships with some famous rappers, Andre 3000 from Outkast with whom she has a child. She also dated and made tracks with Common who is a respected underground rapper.

 Birth name: Ledisi Anibade Young, born - New Orleans, Louisiana.

Ledisi is known for her highly influenced jazz type songs. Most of her track have an R&B rhythmto it but definately a contemporary jazzy sound in terms for musical arrangement and key. Ledisi has quite a wide vocal range and is a very energetic and emotional singer. In some videos you can see her even scat singing which is a kind of vocal improvisation mainly found in Jazz.

Ledisi was originally in a band called Anibade, which consisted of a keyboardist, bassist, guitarist, drummer and saxophone player. You can see her performance with this group in the below video.

Birth name: Angela Laverne Brown, Born - Columbia, South Carolina.

Angie grew up with a Gospel background. Her music has elements of soul, funk, hiphop, jazz and gospel. She is also a keyboardist and record producer. Vocaly Angie is more towards the softer side of singers while at the same time  expressing herself very well emotionally through the music. Musically wise she has a similar vibe to Jill Scott (mentioned earlier).

Angie is known for having a relationship with D'Angelo (Mentioned earlier on) who is 13 years younger. They have a son together born in 2008. They are now sepearated.

Robert Glasper is a jazz pianist who also produces music on the Neo Soul / Hip hop genre. He often performs live as "The Robert Glasper Experiment" with the members Chris Dave - drums, Derrick Hodge - Bass and Casey Benjamin - Sax / Synth. Robert Glasper plays with very interested and rhythmic chords textures creating and Hip hop / Jazz fusion.