Jazz-Soul
tagStarted 1999Peak 2010-2018Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Neo-soul pulled toward the jazz academy: extended chords, modal vamps, improvised solos and trained jazz-vocal phrasing over Rhodes and upright bass. Singers scat, bend and float across the bar line; arrangements breathe like a small combo. Sophistication and harmonic risk replace pop hooks, soul warmth meets conservatory chops.
History
Crystallized when jazz musicians embraced neo-soul vocabulary, peaking with Robert Glasper Experiment's Grammy-winning Black Radio (2012). Gregory Porter, José James and Lalah Hathaway carried jazz-vocal craft into soul contexts, building on a lineage where Blue Note-trained players and warm soul singers met on common harmonic ground through the 2010s.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/rediscover-black-radio/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Porter
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Glasper