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Music

Lee Fields

LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS with MAYLEE TODD and DJ JOHN KONG at the Great Hall (1087 Queen West), Saturday (May 5), 9:30 pm. $22.50. PDR, RT, SS, TW. See listing.


Critics have been talking about a “soul revival” for much of the last decade. But with Amy Winehouse getting a posthumous reputation boost and Adele continuing to dominate the Billboard charts, it no longer seems like such a niche fad.

Funky soul crooner Lee Fields has benefited from new interest in the genre, but it’s kind of silly to call him a throwback.

“I’m not throwing back, because I’m from there,” says the 62-year-old singer over the phone from a tour stop in Houston.

Now in the 43rd year of a music career lined with peaks and valleys, Fields is currently enjoying a particularly fruitful phase. Armed with a talented young band, the Expressions, he’s found himself part of the same movement that’s given late-career popularity to fellow north-of-50 singers like Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones.

While the younger generation takes inspiration from the catalogues of Stax and Motown, the retro-minded wizards at Truth & Soul (Fields’s label) and Daptone (his one-time stomping ground) have gone back to the source, reviving the underappreciated greats of a bygone era.

“It’s a wonderful situation, because it not only benefits me as an artist but it also benefits all of us in general,” says Fields in his trademark oratorical style. “Younger people are gravitating toward the music I’m so well acquainted with, and the public at large is being introduced to an art form that’s worth preserving.”

Fields has dabbled in disco, deep funk and dance (via collaborations with French DJ/mega-producer Martin Solveig), but his albums with the Expressions, including his latest, Faithful Man, could easily be mistaken for his 70s records, which have become serious collectors’ items.

“Soul music is what I am, so regardless of what I do you will hear the soul in it,” says Fields. “Soul comes from the spirit. It’s about reaching within yourself and expressing as much reality and passion in the words as possible, not trying to fit a mould or trend but singing the words as they come to you.

“Soul music is about the human saga, human trials and tribulations, the ups and the downs. Regardless of how modern we get, regardless of how many things we done to make life quicker and easier, one thing that will always remain will be the human story. You can come up with electronic gadgets and all sorts of amusing sounds, but sadness, happiness, the human story stay the same.”

Interview Clips

Lee Fields expands on his definition of soul music.

Download associated audio clip.

In his self-described slow period in the ‘80s, Fields briefly became a real estate agent. But, he says, he spent the whole time learning and observing, which prepared him for his later career revival.

Download associated audio clip.

Fields explains why he plans to keep making music for as long as he can.

Download associated audio clip.

music@nowtoronto.com | twitter.com/nowtorontomusic

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