The Powers That Be

After over two decades shaping the modern soul, funk and rare groove scene from behind the scenes, Jeff Silverman—better known as J. Dynamite—is stepping forward with a vision his own: The Powers That Be. This album marks a new chapter for an artist whose fingerprints have been all over the modern soul and funk landscape. As co-founder of Truth & Soul Records, Dynamite was instrumental in the New York soul revival that grew from Desco, Soul Fire, Truth & Soul and Daptone Records. He became a producer on Aloe Blacc’s Good Things album and later brought his ear for groove and atmosphere to video-game music as a soundtrack producer for Rockstar Games on GTA V and RDR 2.

With The Powers That Be, J. Dynamite reunites with many of the musicians who helped define the funk and soul resurgence. The album features Grammy-winning bassist Nick Movshon, with credits including T&S productions, Aloe Blacc’s “I Need a Dollar” and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black; Stuart Bogie (Antibalas, TV on the Radio, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings) on flute and saxophone; guitarist Luke O’Malley (Antibalas, The Roots); keyboardist Jake Pinto (Magic City Hippies); Miles Francis (Antibalas, EMEFE) on drums; vibraphonist Angelo Outlaw; Grammy-winning Latin percussionist Reinaldo DeJesus; and a cast of longtime collaborators.

Despite the history of the musicians involved, The Powers That Be is deliberately not a nostalgia trip. Dynamite turns the accumulated experience of a long career into something immediate, personal and forward-looking. The album is not a retrospective, but a chance to hear what happens when a producer with decades of musical history finally puts his own name at the center of the record. For longtime followers, it marks the return of a producer whose influence can be traced through much of the soul and funk renaissance of the last twenty-five years. For everyone else, it is an introduction to an artist who has spent decades shaping the conversation and is finally telling his own story. With this newest album, J. Dynamite isn’t revisiting the past. He’s re-entering the conversation.