100 Days, 100 Nights

iTunes Review

Born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1956, but raised mostly in Brooklyn, the remarkable Sharon Jones cut her R&B teeth in church, and for much of her adult life, she held day jobs (including a stint as a prison guard at Riker’s Island) while grabbing occasional studio work and a few wedding gigs. A session (backing Lee Fields) for tiny Desco Records in 1996 got the ball rolling, and a decade later, at age 50, she was an internationally recognized talent and considerable concert draw, belting out classic, ‘60s-style R&B for adoring audiences and for Daptone, the tight-knit label that grew out of Desco’s ashes. Jones’s third album celebrates the period — mid to late '60s — when soul music was losing what was left of its innocence and morphing into gritty funk. With the Dap-Kings, the label’s ostensible house band, providing support both as songwriters and musicians, Jones tours from Muscle Shoals (“Nobody’s Baby”) to Motown (“Tell Me”) to Memphis (“Be Easy”), with nods to James Brown (“Let Them Knock”) and Otis Redding (“Humble Me”). The slinky “When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle” and limber, minor-keyed boogaloo “Keep On Looking” are slightly offbeat winners, and a burning, supremely funky cover of “Answer Me” reminds us of Jones’s (and R&B’s) gospel roots.