Detroit Rising

2026! DownJazz & Detroit Rising present: " This Is Neo-Soul", a new album from keyboardist, composer, & longtime Roy Ayers music director Mark Adams. The 10-track album, vinyl, cd & digital, gathers fifteen all-star musician friends associated with Neo-Soul, Jazz, Rock, & R&B. True to its present-tense title, "This Is Neo-Soul "isn’t a gaze into the rearview mirror. It's a continuation of a language, Adams lived for more than two decades. “It’s a Roy Ayers, ’70s sound, but we authenticated it with the people who played that music and the people trained by them. Adam says, "I played with Roy for more than 20 years. He taught me everything. So we made this the real thing". The core band includes Chris DeCarmine (drums, Roy Ayers), Dave Mullins (saxophone, Gloria Gaynor, Gill Scott Heron), Monte Croft (vibraphone, Gladys Knight), Steve Kroon (percussion, Luther Vandross), and Kenyatta Beasley (trumpet, Mary J Blige). Additional contributors include Chic vocalist Kimberly Davis; vocalist John Presley (Roy Ayers), Jonathan Quash ( Mark Adams), and May Bass (Broadway-Lion King); guitarist Bill White (Lonnie Liston Smith) , John Smith guitar (William Patterson); and bassists Roy Bennett (Bernard Perdie), Donald Nicks (Roy Ayers), and Emanuel "Chulo" Gatewood (Dianna Reeves) plus Brooklyn Gospel. Up NEXT SUMMER of SOUL! 12 dance DJs reconstruct the music into Soulful-House, Jazz electro , Broken Beat & Disco. Jimpster, Kaidi, Spinna, Kai Alce, Crackazat, EVM128.