Sweet soul. That's what you get with the Newark, New Jersey based duo The Jack Moves. Singer, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist Zee Desmondes - he's the one with the falsetto - met drummer, producer, and former pro-skater Teddy Powell at a Lower East Side Skate Park and they honed their vision in the studio. Desmonde describes that vision, which is not as simple as it sounds: “So with sweet soul you have the rhythm and it’s super Black—it’s heavy, it’s funky, it swings; the bass is always super funky, and it’s got this toughness to it. But then on top of that, you have these big, lush open chords with jazz progressions—an almost Western influence, especially when you’re talking about the strings and horn arrangements; you get notes of Tchaikovsky and Jean Sibelius, Beethoven or Ravel. It was this great combination of hip-hop—you can hear the roots of hip-hop in the rhythm and the chords, gospel chord changes and grooves—but then this beautiful symphonic element to it.” We will play you a couple of examples and you can download our podcast with The Jack Moves, this week’s WorldCafe: Next artist.

Listen and download The Jack Moves World Cafe: Next segment on NPR Music.

Session Setlist
“Doublin’ Down”
“Seasons Change”



Recent Release: Jack Moves
Release Date: October 30, 2015
Label: Wax Poetics