Donald Jenkins & The Delighters – Music Revolution
This one came my way due to a couple of my Sociology Soul Brothers, Dr. Steven Osuna and Dr. Oliver Wang (who all y’all should know from Soul-Sides.com), both of whom teach in the Department of Sociology with me at Long Beach. Me and Oliver frequently chat about music, sharing things we’ve recently tracked down or heard. Shortly after he tracked down a copy of the Caffe 45 I’ve posted here, he asked if I had heard this song, which Steven had turned him on to. Looking at the label, it rang no bells, so I clicked on the link and promptly had my mind blown away.
I don’t know a single thing about Donald Jenkins & the Delighters, but “Music Revolution,” is one of the tightest, sweetest, most soulful tunes I’ve heard in a mighty long time. Even before the song had ended (honestly, I don’t think I even made it a whole minute) I was looking online to see if there were any copies available, and the record Gods were kind to me that day. Since this one is definitely a “soul boulder,” I like to think that Matthew Africa put in a good word, though, knowing him, likely with a smirk while saying, “you know, I used to have doubles of this…”
The vocals, the flighty flute, those heavy drums that sound like they could have been imported from the Darling Dears, and the lyrics, which might be about literal revolution or just about a musical group finding their voice…all of it, it’s all so perfect. Especially in the midst of this pandemic, I am very thankful for Soul Brother solidarity and thankful to share music such as this as well.