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You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians

The Genius of D'Angelo's Voodoo

You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians

Peter Martin

Best New Jazz, Reaction, Album Analysis, Live Music, Album, 194861, Music, Jazz Lessons, Fresh Spin Fridays, Album Breakdown, Music Analysis, Kid A Harmony Analysis, Jazz Education, Musical Life, Video Podcast, Isolated Stems, Track-by-track, Song Breakdown, Music Advice, Jazz Tutorials, Music Education, Album Deep Dive, Jazz Musicians React, Music Commentary, Jazz, Vocal Stems, Adam Maness, Tutorials, Jazz Courses, Musicians React, Peter Martin, Song Stems, Chords, Music Theory

4.9770 Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’re finally digging into “Voodoo” - D’Angelo’s Grammy-winning album that changed the sound of R&B, soul, and hip-hop forever. And the album a young Adam Maness had on repeat, seriously influencing his playing as well as countless musicians since.
With Questlove’s “Dilla-drag” drumming, Pino Palladino’s funky bass lines, Roy Hargrove’s jazzy horn arrangements, and Charlie Hunter’s chicken-picking guitar, Voodoo is packed with the kind of cross-genre musicality that makes jazz musicians lose their minds.
Twenty-five years later, Voodoo still grooves harder, hits deeper, and sounds more human than many albums of its generation.
In this episode, you’ll hear:

  • What makes D’Angelo’s groove so unique (and hard to imitate)
  • Isolated tracks, rare demos, and interviews with the artists
  • How “Spanish Joint” came together in a single take
  • Whether “Feel Like Makin’ Love” tops the Roberta Flack original
  • And whether “Voodoo” is even an R&B album at all

ABOUT OPEN STUDIO
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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, what's up, Adam?

0:04.0

What's up, Peter? Man, it was great. My sister came in time. Mine was crazy. I did this gig down in Branson in the Ozarks with Ron. Okay. He says hello, by the way. Oh, yeah. It was a duo gig, just the two of us, but it was actually a trio gig. Well, how is that possible? Well, I was playing accordion. Kind of weird for me, but, you know, in Branson.

0:02.3

I bet it was killing.

0:03.0

Yeah, and Ron was on. Well, how is that possible? Well, I was playing accordion. Kind of weird for me, but, you know, in Branson.

0:22.3

I bet it was killing.

0:23.0

Yeah, and Ron was on bass guitar and Glockenspiel.

0:27.2

So it was kind of a trio.

0:28.2

He was doing both.

0:28.9

That's crazy.

0:29.9

Actually, that reminds me, you know, what we're doing today.

0:32.1

What's that?

0:34.7

Oh, yeah. Okay.

0:55.0

Okay. Oh yeah, okay. Oh yeah, okay. I'm . I'm .

0:56.0

.

0:57.0

. I'm Adam Mness.

1:24.8

And you're listening to the other podcasts.

1:27.4

Music Explore. Explore brought to today. And you're listening to the podcast.

1:28.4

Music, Explore.

1:30.4

Explore brought today by Open Studio.

1:33.3

Go to Open StudioJadogad.com for our... Your jazz lesson needs.

1:35.6

And Peter, you can go to our brand new, bespoke...

1:38.7

Did you say brand new?

...

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