By Ron Wynn

There aren’t two more dissimilar vocalists than Wilson Pickett and Ibrahim Ferrer. One’s a combative, robust soul shouter, the other a soft-spoken, lush romanticist. Yet a pair of 1999’s biggest stories can be summed up in part by looking at both men’s releases.

Pickett’s first record in 12 years, It’s Harder Now, convincingly proved soul wasn’t dead—it was just in need of a makeover. Producers Jon and Sally Tiven updated the musical surroundings and left Pickett’s incomparable, growling vocals intact.

Ferrer, riding the wave of interest in all things Latino, sang with the passion and ardor of someone savoring newly found fame. While his comrades Compay Segundo and Eliades Ochoa also made fine records, Ferrer’s sublime delivery and wondrous tone best exemplified Afro-Cuban music’s timeless beauty and captivating charm.

Of course, neither Pickett nor Ferrer were chart-toppers. That was left to rappers and less creatively ambitious Latino stars. Still, the fact remains that there’s been an undeniable synergy between modern R&B and Latin music. And if enduring the forgettable dross of Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, and Jennifer Lopez helped get exposure for Carlos Santana (the true king of Latin pop) and Marc Anthony (the lone salsero in the bunch), it’s been worth it. Latinos’ impact on American and African American music has been ignored far too long; hopefully, this won’t be a one-year development.

Meanwhile, old-school R&B’s popularity continues to grow. More radio stations than ever are concentrating on vintage R&B, soul, and funk, while the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show regularly sets rating records for national urban programming. In turn, though, let’s hope that more people who grew up on doo-wop, Motown, Stax, and funk will rethink their anti-rap biases in the 21st century. For all the tiresome posturing about “being hard” and the obsession with extravagant materialism, rap has been the African American art form of the last two decades, influencing artists around the globe.

In addition, much of what constitutes hip-hop today has its roots not only in the traveling sound systems of Jamaican disc jockeys, but in the merger of booming vocals, uncensored lyrics, and dynamic arrangements forged by swing-era bandleaders like Lionel Hampton, Lucky Millinder, and Louis Jordan in the ’40s.

From a year that offered an interesting, compelling variety of music, here are my favorite R&B, soul, urban, and international releases of ’99:

1. Wilson Pickett, It’s Harder Now (Bullseye) A CD as important to the ’90s as Z.Z. Hill’s Down Home Blues was to the ’80s.

2. Whitney Houston, My Love Is Your Love (Arista) At long last, a Whitney Houston record with the freewheeling vocal abandon and energy she’s frequently shown live.

3. Tie: Rahsaan Patterson, Love in Stereo (MCA) and Eric Benet, A Day in the Life (Warner Bros.) Sensitive, but far from wimpy, these two men offer gorgeous voices, ambitious concepts, and often hard-hitting lyrics and compositions.

4. Angie Stone, Black Diamond (Arista) While audiences waited in vain for the next D’ Angelo album, his onetime writing collaborator and backup singer temporarily one-upped her mentor.

5. Ibrahim Ferrer, Buena Vista Social Club Presents (World Circuit) Cuba’s most alluring, romantic male vocalist vaulted to the head of the class among his Social Club mates.

6. Pablo Ziegler, Quintet for New Tango (BMG) Pianist Ziegler cajoled splendid melodies and wondrous arrangements while paying homage to the ever-present spirit of Astor Piazzolla.

7. Afel Bocoum, Alkibar (World Circuit) Ali Farka Toure’s protégé Bocoum took the spotlight with his own group and made music with futuristic zest and traditional excellence.

8. Santana, Supernatural (Arista) Even if the weakest single on the record got him his first No. 1 hit in 30 years, no one has been more important in making the links between Latin music, R&B, funk, rock, and even jazz.

9. BooZoo Chavis, Who Stole My Money? (Rounder) Rowdy, old-school zydeco from a master whose style and sound are as anti-crossover as it gets.

10. Michael Rose, Bonanza (Heartbeat) He’s among the least-known great singers in reggae, but that may change with this blockbuster effort.

11. Tie: TLC, “No Scrubs,” from Fan Mail (La Face) and Destiny’s Child, “Bills, Bills, Bills,” from The Writing’s on the Wall (Columbia) Two more shots in the continuing war between the sexes, female division.

12. Sporty Thievz, “No Pigeons,” from Roc-A-Block (Columbia) And the men return fire.

13. Donnell Jones, “U Know What’s Up,” from Where I Wanna Be (La Face) An average vocal upgraded by super production and exuberant delivery.

14. The Roots featuring Erykah Badu, “You Got Me” from Things Fall Apart (DGC) Gritty narratives balanced by Badu’s soothing vocals and expert underpinning.

Reissues

1. Johnny Otis, The Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan: The Complete Savoy Recordings (Savoy/Atlantic) R&B the way it used to be: raunchy, relentless, and low-tech.

2. Isley Brothers, It’s Your Thing: The Story of The Isley Brothers (Legacy) A criminally underrated family act whose music has endured eras ranging from doo-wop to hip-hop.

3. Tie: EPMD, Out of Business (Def Jam) and A Tribe Called Quest, Anthology (BMG) Two wonderful rap ensembles undone, respectively, by raging egos and conflicts over direction.

4. Clifton Chenier, Squeeze Box Boogie (Just a Memory) Though nearing the end in this ’78 Canadian concert, the king of zydeco found ways to ignite the crowd and keep his forces stirred.

5. Ali Farka Toure, Radio Mali (World Circuit/Nonesuch) Mali’s best-known musician cut these scintillating tracks during various sessions between ’70 and ’78 for National Radio Mali, for whom he was also working at the time as an engineer.

6. Soul Children, Genesis/Friction (Stax/Fantasy) Pulsating singing and frenetic secular gospel from one of Stax’s last great vocal groups.

7. Melvin Van Peebles, The Melvin Van Peebles Collection (Stax/Fantasy) Neither theatrical music nor film soundtracks were ever the same after Melvin Van Peebles utilized them as part of his vision of African American culture.

8. Various Artists, VP Records 20th Anniversary Collection (VP) From strident political commentary to slack dancehall innuendo, VP has been the studio of choice for many reggae artists in the post-Marley era.

9. Various Artists, The Last Soul Company (Malaco) While Ichiban, Jewel, and Paula may quarrel with the title, over the past 30 years, no label has more faithfully chronicled the work of great blues/soul artists like Bobby “Blue” Bland, Tyrone Davis, Little Milton, Denise LaSalle, and others considered commercial pariahs by the majors.

10.Tie: Various Artists, Brown-Eyed Soul: The Sound of East L.A. (Rhino); Roy Head, White Texas Soul Shouter (Crazy Cajun); and Freddy Fender, The Voice (Crazy Cajun) Latino and white variations of deep soul, doo-wop, R&B, and funk, plus some country and Tex-Mex.

Books

It was a thin year on the book trail, though Craig Werner generated considerable debate and discussion with A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & The Soul of America (Plume/Penguin). Joan Morgan’s sometimes poignant, sometimes agitated commentary enlivened When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist (Simon & Schuster), while the staffers of Vibe magazine’s comprehensive The Vibe History of Hip-Hop (Three Rivers) outlined rap’s birth, development, and emergence.

Other worthy tomes included Zydeco! by Ben Sandmel (University of Mississippi); Soulful Divas by David Nathan (Billboard); Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock ’n’ Roll by David Reyes & Tom Waldman (Southern California Press); Aretha: From These Roots by Aretha Franklin and David Ritz (Villard); Thoughts by Tionne “T-Boz” Walters (HarperCollins); and Love Unlimited: Insights on Life & Love by Barry White with Marc Eliot (Broadway).

14. The Roots featuring Erykah Badu, “You Got Me” from Things Fall Apart (DGC) Gritty narratives balanced by Badu’s soothing vocals and expert underpinning.

Reissues

1. Johnny Otis, The Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan: The Complete Savoy Recordings (Savoy/Atlantic) R&B the way it used to be: raunchy, relentless, and low-tech.

2. Isley Brothers, It’s Your Thing: The Story of The Isley Brothers (Legacy) A criminally underrated family act whose music has endured eras ranging from doo-wop to hip-hop.

3. Tie: EPMD, Out of Business (Def Jam) and A Tribe Called Quest, Anthology (BMG) Two wonderful rap ensembles undone, respectively, by raging egos and conflicts over direction.

4. Clifton Chenier, Squeeze Box Boogie (Just a Memory) Though nearing the end in this ’78 Canadian concert, the king of zydeco found ways to ignite the crowd and keep his forces stirred.

5. Ali Farka Toure, Radio Mali (World Circuit/Nonesuch) Mali’s best-known musician cut these scintillating tracks during various sessions between ’70 and ’78 for National Radio Mali, for whom he was also working at the time as an engineer.

6. Soul Children, Genesis/Friction (Stax/Fantasy) Pulsating singing and frenetic secular gospel from one of Stax’s last great vocal groups.

7. Melvin Van Peebles, The Melvin Van Peebles Collection (Stax/Fantasy) Neither theatrical music nor film soundtracks were ever the same after Melvin Van Peebles utilized them as part of his vision of African American culture.

8. Various Artists, VP Records 20th Anniversary Collection (VP) From strident political commentary to slack dancehall innuendo, VP has been the studio of choice for many reggae artists in the post-Marley era.

9. Various Artists, The Last Soul Company (Malaco) While Ichiban, Jewel, and Paula may quarrel with the title, over the past 30 years, no label has more faithfully chronicled the work of great blues/soul artists like Bobby “Blue” Bland, Tyrone Davis, Little Milton, Denise LaSalle, and others considered commercial pariahs by the majors.

10.Tie: Various Artists, Brown-Eyed Soul: The Sound of East L.A. (Rhino); Roy Head, White Texas Soul Shouter (Crazy Cajun); and Freddy Fender, The Voice (Crazy Cajun) Latino and white variations of deep soul, doo-wop, R&B, and funk, plus some country and Tex-Mex.

Books

It was a thin year on the book trail, though Craig Werner generated considerable debate and discussion with A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & The Soul of America (Plume/Penguin). Joan Morgan’s sometimes poignant, sometimes agitated commentary enlivened When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life as a Hip-Hop Feminist (Simon & Schuster), while the staffers of Vibe magazine’s comprehensive The Vibe History of Hip-Hop (Three Rivers) outlined rap’s birth, development, and emergence.

Other worthy tomes included Zydeco! by Ben Sandmel (University of Mississippi); Soulful Divas by David Nathan (Billboard); Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock ’n’ Roll by David Reyes & Tom Waldman (Southern California Press); Aretha: From These Roots by Aretha Franklin and David Ritz (Villard); Thoughts by Tionne “T-Boz” Walters (HarperCollins); and Love Unlimited: Insights on Life & Love by Barry White with Marc Eliot (Broadway).