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Episode 105 : Nelson George on the Death of R&B + Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis audio

12 July 2021

In the new episode of the RBP podcast, hosts Barney, Mark & Jasper welcome the great Nelson George into "the cupboard", all the way from his native Brooklyn. Nelson talks about his long and distinguished career, from interning at Billboard via his Village Voice column to his recently-published collection The Nelson George Mixtape, Vol. 1. His hosts ask him specifically about his essential 1988 book The Death of Rhythm & Blues, as well as about hip hop & the Average White Band.

The conversation then turns to the week's new audio interview(s) with Nelson favourites Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis — and to the Minneapolis duo's peerless productions of Janet Jackson, Alexander O'Neal and the S.O.S. Band. Mark then talks us through new library pieces about Lee Dorsey, Television's Richard Lloyd and Public Enemy, while Barney highlights Sheila Weller's Vanity Fair retrospective on Haight-Ashbury and Jasper quotes from Mal Peachey's 2004 Independent appreciation of Eric Dolphy's jazz classic Out to Lunch.

Many thanks to special guest Nelson George. Visit his website at http://www.nelsongeorge.net/bio for details of his books and other work.