Daptone Records has shared a new collaborative track, “Hey Brother (Do Unto Others)”, which will serve as the A side on their upcoming 100th 45rpm vinyl release. The track, recorded under the banner of The Family Daptone, features an all-star lineup of the label’s vocalists both living and dead including Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, James Hunter, Lee Fields, Naomi Shelton, Saun & Starr, Duke Amayo (Antibalas), and Dan Klein (Frightnrs).
Written by The Frightnrs, the song originally appeared on their acclaimed LP, Nothing More to Say. In the wake of the tragic loss of singer Dan Klein to ALS just before the album’s release, Daptone felt it would be a fitting tribute to re-imagine the tune as a soulful collaboration between the dynamic vocalists on the label. What started as a thank you to the label’s beloved fans has now also become a loving tribute to their lost Brothers and Sister: Charles Bradley, Dan Klein, Cliff Driver, and the label’s eternal Queen, Miss Sharon Jones.
As label co-founder Gabriel Roth (a.k.a. Bosco Mann) tells Billboard, “Everybody seemed to really love the idea of being together on a record like that… Every one of those singers that I asked, after I explained what we were trying to do, they really jumped through hoops to try to make it happen.”
Listen to The Family Daptone recording of “Hey Brother (Do Unto Others)” featured on the new 45rpm release below:
The Family Daptone ft. Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones, More – “Hey Brother (Do Unto Others)”
[Video: DaptoneRecords]
The B side of the new record features the recently released and critically acclaimed “Soul Fugue” by The 100 Knights Orchestra, a massive ensemble comprised of every horn player the label has ever worked with (really!) including current and past members of The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, The Extraordinaires, The Soul Providers, and the Daktaris. Recorded on the rarest of days, February 29th, 2016, they all crammed into the studio simultaneously to perform the epic composition composed and arranged obsessively by Bosco Mann, based on the Fibonacci series and the number 100. Anyone who was lucky enough to catch Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ final performance at Prospect Park Summerstage was lucky enough to see/hear this stunning piece of music in real time.
You can listen to “Soul Fugue” below:
The 100 Knights Orchestra – “Soul Fugue”
[Video: DaptoneRecords]
The 100th 45 will be available as a Standard Black Vinyl 45, and as a limited edition die-cut picture disc of their classic globe logo (available at the Daptone Web-Shop ONLY). Daptone hopes that this disc forever lives as a token of their gratitude to their dedicated fans, and as a keepsake of their departed loved ones.