The former frontman for the Baltimore soul band Marcell & The Truth, Marcell Russell, has been stepping out on his own in more recent years, starting with the release of 2013’s The Serenade & The Sermon. While the musicians of The Truth are still involved to varying degrees as sidemen on Russell’s new spat of solo releases, the big-voiced baritone has been working with a variety of producers as he develops his distinct brand and musical identity separate from The Truth. Interestingly enough, the forthcoming 2016 winter release, Teddy Douglas Presents: Retro Soul (featuring Marcell Russell), represents a return to Russell’s collaboration with veteran producer Teddy Douglas (Crystal Waters, Ultra Naté), who produced half of the Marcell & The Truth’s Hopes Too High debut in 2006.
The former frontman for the Baltimore soul band Marcell & The Truth, Marcell Russell, has been stepping out on his own in more recent years, starting with the release of 2013’s The Serenade & The Sermon. While the musicians of The Truth are still involved to varying degrees as sidemen on Russell’s new spat of solo releases, the big-voiced baritone has been working with a variety of producers as he develops his distinct brand and musical identity separate from The Truth. Interestingly enough, the forthcoming 2016 winter release, Teddy Douglas Presents: Retro Soul (featuring Marcell Russell), represents a return to Russell’s collaboration with veteran producer Teddy Douglas (Crystal Waters, Ultra Naté), who produced half of the Marcell & The Truth’s Hopes Too High debut in 2006. Russell and Douglas’s latest collabo is a single artist, single producer collection of retro R&B and dance tunes to chase the seasonal blues away, while venturing in slightly different directions from Russell’s material with The Truth.
The “retro” in this instance is more ‘70s to ‘90s than the recent ‘60s soul revival. The first three tracks released off Retro Soul represent the ying and yang of the album to come, one half traditional R&B and one half dance extravaganzas. The first is Russell’s soulful house hit from last year with fellow Baltimore resident Maysa Leak, “Forever (Salvation Mix).” The second is this satiny neo-soul duet with The Floacist of Floetry fame, “Good Morning Love.” The latest, “Wonderful,” is a complete departure for Russell & Douglas, venturing off into country soul with a dash of doo-wop. Collectively, the whet the appetite for more interesting surprises to come.
In promotion of Retro Soul, Douglas and Russell finally cut a new video on 2013’s “Good Morning Love,” with another projected to be forthcoming for “Wonderful.” The amber glow of their sunrise video below by director Keston DeCoteau is a fitting example of the late ‘90s, early 2000s jazzy soul of a generation raised on artists like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, but who were also having their own spoken word and bebop jazz resurrections. The atmospheric cut nicely connects all three influences, and the video is the best of DeCoteau’s and Russell’s long line of video collaborations to-date. Both visually and musically, Retro Soul looks like it will be expanding Russell’s already vast musical horizons.
By L. Michael Gipson