There’s No Debate

When Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black hit the scene, she was instantly drenched in accolades. People acted like the skeletal chanteuse was the new savior of soul, here to rescue the music scene from disposable sound. Cut to less than a year later, and Winehouse is pissing all that talent away. Now compare her to someone like Sharon Jones, a superbad sista who has been rocking audiences since the Seventies, who shares her backing band, the Dap-Kings, with Winehouse but has typically received less than her fair share of attention because of her age and/or appearance. It becomes obvious who the most ground-breaking retro-soul singer of our era truly is.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings have brought the fervor of old-school soul -- complete with horns, skittering guitar, and earnest lyrics about love, loss, and pain -- back into the spotlight. Her latest album, 100 Days, 100 Nights, is as good as it gets. After years of slogging away in dingy clubs and working as a corrections officer at Rikers Island to pay the bills, Jones is getting her due. She appears on most of the soundtrack of the eagerly anticipated film The Great Debaters, and also has a small role in the already acclaimed flick. Those who haven’t yet experienced her magic can hear what everyone else is raving about tonight at the jam cruise preparty at the Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale. Doors open at 8. Tickets are an unbelievably cheap $19.99 at www.ticketmaster.com.
Thu., Jan. 3, 2008