Episode
"Brown Sugar" – D'Angelo
- Published
- Mar 16, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 5753
- Processing state
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- https://youllhearit.com/episodes/brown-sugar-dangelo
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Summary
D'Angelo's Brown Sugar sounded like nothing else in 1995. R&B was slick, polished, and built for clubs. D'Angelo later said the "deeper consciousness" had gone out of contemporary music. Questlove later wrote that contemporary R&B had become "trite" and "soulless" ... and then there was Brown Sugar, D'Angelo's debut album. It sounded more like the '70s than the '90s. More like church than the club. On this episode of You'll Hear It, jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin go track by track through D'Angelo's debut, pulling apart the vocal stems, naming the jazz chords underneath the soul, and tracing every influence back to its root. They also bring in the archival recordings you might have missed: a live set from the Jazz Café London that gives the album a whole second life, and a J Dilla remix. ------------------------------- Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs: https://openstudiojazz.com/yhi ------------------------------- Related You'll Hear It episodes: Voodoo: https://youtu.be/AYqmFNF2s0U ------------------------------- About You'll Hear It: In this popular music series Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again. ------------------------------- Sign up for the You'll Read It newsletter for little known stories about the artists you love: https://youllhearit.com/newsletter ------------------------------- 00:00 - D'Angelo's Brown Sugar 01:11 - Let's Go Back to 1995 05:35 - "Brown Sugar" 08:30 -…