SoulNRnB's Great Producers 13: Dre & Vidal

 

Got few of my "Great Producer" mixes coming up over the next few months, but were moving back in time for the others, so this is the last for a while from recent times.

Andre Harris and Vidal Davis came out of Jazzy Jeff's A Touch of Jazz production team in Philly, and went on to form thier own production company.

For all the pop/rnb tunes this pair have produced, they must take some credit for bringing the soul back into R&B in the early Noughties, heralding the appreciation of organic sounds that were incorporated into the Neo-Soul movement.

Evidence:

Their work on Glenn Lewis first Lp.
Their work on Musiq Soulchild's first LP.
Jill Scott.

Seminal work for Bilal, Mary J Blige, Anthony Hamilton and more.

The duo's trademark recording style - adding live instrumentation over infectious rhythm sections - has helped bring the soul back, something we lost towards the end of the decade when things got a little more programmed. Of course, it helped that they came from Philly, the home of Jazzy jeff, The Roots, Jill Scott, Jaguar Wright, and thier hero's Gamble and Huff.

They became part of the production team at A Touch Of Jazz, producing cuts on Kenny Lattimore's critically acclaimed 1998 album From the Soul of Man. Soon after they left to form their own production company and the following tunes follwed soon after.

Underestimated, In my opinion, for their contribution to bringing the soul back to popular music, they deserve thier place on my great producers list.





Tracklist in comments, Grizz back with you next week.

SoulNRnB's Great Producers 13 - Dre & Vidal