Daptone Records | |
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Founded | 2001 |
Founder | Bosco Mann Neal Sugarman |
Distributor(s) | The Orchard Redeye Worldwide |
Genre | Funk, soul |
Country of origin | U.S. |
Location | Brooklyn, New York |
Official website | daptonerecords |
Daptone Records is a funk and soul independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. [1] Best known as the home of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley, the label boasts a roster which includes Menahan Street Band, The Budos Band, The Sugarman 3, and Antibalas, and runs the recording studio Daptone's House of Soul. [2]
Daptone Records was formed in 2001 by Gabriel Roth (Bosco Mann) and Neal Sugarman. Daptone was born out of the closure of Desco Records, a label run by Roth with fellow musician Philip Lehman who both played in the band Soul Providers. [3] Roth and Lehman ended their band and business relationship in 2000. Roth, who had played with Sharon Jones as part of the Soul Providers, subsequently founded a new label with Neal Sugarman, leader of The Sugarman 3, as the home of their new group, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.
Their first release was 2002's Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings . [4] In their first four years, Daptone would also put out Sharon Jones' sophomore album, Naturally , as well as original releases by the Sugarman 3 and Dap-Kings-adjacent The Budos Band.
During this time, they also converted a two-family home in Bushwick, Brooklyn into an analog recording studio space. The first album recorded there was Antibalas's "Who Is this America?" in July 2003. Producer Mark Ronson became a fan of the studio. He brought in Amy Winehouse to record parts of her album Back to Black there with The Dap-Kings and Antibalas members Nick Movshon and Victor Axelrod. [4] The Dap-Kings would tour with Winehouse in 2007. [3]
In addition to Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Daptone has recorded and released the music of Antibalas, The Sugarman 3, The Budos Band, The Poets of Rhythm, The Mystery Lights, The Daktaris, The Mighty Imperials, Lee Fields, Charles Bradley, Binky Griptite, The Sha La Das, and Naomi Davis. The Daptone Record label is inexorably tied to Sharon Jones. The label and members of her band were with her during the last weeks before her death. [5]
Since its founding, Daptone has released over one hundred 45" singles and fifty albums. [6]
As of 2021, Daptone operates four specialty imprints.
Daptone built their studio, called Daptone's House of Soul, in a converted two-family home in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. It was very run down when they first rented it, and the neighborhood was not great. Daptone Records has its offices in the top floor, the studio is on the ground floor. The label built the studio from scratch, and made the decision to not have computers, but to rely completely on the more old-fashioned analog recording methods to make music. There are tape machines and a CD recorder, but no Pro Tools or digital reverbs. [11]
The studio is where they have recorded most of their releases. Their distinctive sound is a product of the studio acoustics, recording only on analog tape (no digital), and mixing done by Roth. The recording studio and engineering personnel have been sought out by record producers such as Mark Ronson. [12]
In February 2009, Daptone's House of Soul was broken into and thieves made off with the better part of its equipment. [13] [14]
![]() | This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2021) |
Artist | Title | Catalog Number | Release date |
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Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings | DAP-001 | 2002 |
Sugarman Three & Co. | Pure Cane Sugar | DAP-002 | 2002 |
The Mighty Imperials | Thunder Chicken | DAP-003 | 2004 (reissue) |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | Naturally | DAP-004 | 2005 |
The Budos Band | The Budos Band | DAP-005 | 2005 |
The Sugarman 3 | Sugar's Boogaloo | DAP-006 | 2007 (reissue) |
The Poets of Rhythm | Practice What You Preach | DAP-007 | 2006 (reissue) |
The Sugarman 3 | Soul Donkey | DAP-008 | 2007 (reissue) |
The Daktaris | Soul Explosion | DAP-009 | 2006 (reissue) |
Bob and Gene | If This World Were Mine... | DAP-010 | 2007 (reissue) |
The Budos Band | The Budos Band II | DAP-011 | 2007 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | 100 Days, 100 Nights | DAP-012 | 2007 |
Various Artists | Como Now: The Voices Of Panola Co., Mississippi | DAP-014 | 2008 |
Menahan Street Band | Make the Road by Walking | DAP-015 | 2008 |
Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens | What Have You Done, My Brother | DAP-016 | 2009 |
Pax Nicholas & The Nettey Family | Na Teef Know de Road of Teef | DAP-017 | 2009 (reissue) |
Various Artists | Daptone Gold (label sampler) | DAP-018 | 2009 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | I Learned the Hard Way | DAP-019 | 2010 |
The Budos Band | The Budos Band III | DAP-020 | 2010 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | I Learned the Hard Way (11x45s box set) | DAP-021 | 2010 |
Charles Bradley | No Time for Dreaming | DAP-022 | 2011 |
El Rego Et Ses Commandos | El Rego (compilation) | DAP-023 | 2011 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | Soul Time! (compilation) | DAP-024 | 2011 |
Menahan Street Band | No Time For Dreaming (The Instrumentals) | DAP-025 | 2012 |
The Sugarman 3 | What The World Needs Now | DAP-026 | 2012 |
The Como Mamas | Get An Understanding | DAP-027 | 2013 |
Antibalas | Antibalas | DAP-028 | 2012 |
Menahan Street Band | The Crossing | DAP-029 | 2012 |
The Poets Of Rhythm | Anthology 1992-2003 | DAP-030 | 2013 |
Charles Bradley | Victim of Love | DAP-031 | 2013 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | Give The People What They Want | DAP-032 | 2014 |
Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens | Cold World | DAP-033 | 2014 |
The Budos Band | Burnt Offering | DAP-034 | 2014 |
Saun & Starr | Look Closer | DAP-035 | 2015 |
Various Artists | Daptone Gold, Vol. II (label sampler) | DAP-036 | 2015 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | It's A Holiday Soul Party | DAP-037 | 2015 |
The Dap-Kings | A Closer Look at The Dap-Kings: The Instrumentals Behind Saun & Starr's "Look Closer" | DAP-038 | 2018 |
Walker Family Singers | Panola County Spirit | DAP-039 | 2016 |
The James Hunter Six | Hold On! | DAP-040 | 2016 |
Charles Bradley | Changes | DAP-041 | 2016 |
The Frightnrs | Nothing More To Say | DAP-042 | 2016 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | Miss Sharon Jones! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | DAP-043 | 2016 |
The Olympians | The Olympians | DAP-044 | 2016 |
The Como Mamas | Move Upstairs | DAP-045 | 2017 |
Antibalas | Where the gods are in peace | DAP-046 | 2017 |
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings | Soul Of A Woman | DAP-050 | 2017 |
The James Hunter Six | Whatever it takes | DAP-051 | 2017 |
Various Artists | Daptone Super Soul Revue Live at the Apollo | DAP-069 | 2021 |
Antibalas is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band founded in 1998 by Martín Perna. Initially inspired by Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra, the music generally follows the musical architecture and language of afrobeat and incorporates elements of jazz, funk, dub, improvised music, and traditional drumming from Cuba and West Africa.
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album Dap Dippin' in 2002, the first of seven studio albums. Their 2014 album Give the People What They Want was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. Following Sharon Jones' death in 2016, the band released the posthumous album Soul of a Woman in 2017 and a compilation of cover songs in 2020.
Sharon Lafaye Jones was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough success relatively late in life, releasing her first record when she was 40 years old. In 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want.
Nicholas Anthony Movshon is a bass guitarist, drummer and songwriter best known for his considerable contributions to the New York funk and soul revival. A frequent contributor to the recorded output of Brooklyn-based labels Daptone Records and Truth & Soul, he has spent the past two decades playing with Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and as a member of groups including Antibalas, Menahan Street Band, and El Michels Affair. He is also a founding member of The Arcs and has toured with The Black Keys.
100 Days, 100 Nights is the third studio album by American funk band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Recorded in 2006, it was released on Daptone Records October 2, 2007.
The Budos Band is an American instrumental band from Staten Island, New York, formed in 2005. AllMusic describes the group as a "doom rock Afro-soul big band with a '70s touch" that joins "musical universes from trippy psychedelia and Afro-funk to '70s hard rock and late-'60s soul." They have described themselves as "70's Psychedelic Instrumental Music," and "Afro-soul inspired by Ethiopian music with a soul undercurrent" and "sprinkled a little bit of sweet 60's stuff on top." One reviewer described the band as “sounding as if Quentin Tarantino was the music supervisor for a Bond film". Their more recent albums have incorporated sounds from 1970s jazz, funk, Afro-Beat, underground rock, and proto-metal. They have been signed to Daptone Records throughout their career.
Menahan Street Band is an American, Brooklyn, New York–based instrumental band formed in 2007, that plays funk and soul music. The band features musicians from Antibalas, El Michels Affair, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and the Budos Band. The group was founded by Thomas Brenneck while living in an apartment on Menahan Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Their debut album, Make the Road by Walking, was released in 2008 on Dunham, a sublabel of Daptone Records and was followed by The Crossing in 2012.
The Sugarman 3, sometimes titled The Sugarman Three, is a retro-funk band from New York City formed in 1996 by saxophonist Neal Sugarman, Hammond organ player Adam Scone, and drummer Rudy Albin. The band has released four studio albums—Sugar's Boogaloo (1999), Soul Donkey (2000), Pure Cane Sugar (2002) and What the World Needs Now (2012)—and one compilation album, Sweet Spot (2001).
Victor Axelrod is an American musician, producer, and audio engineer from Brooklyn, New York. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked primarily in the genres of reggae, Afrobeat and soul, recording and producing under his own name and using the alias Ticklah.
I Learned the Hard Way is the fourth studio album by American soul and funk band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, released April 6, 2010 on Daptone Records. Production for the album took place at the label's House of Soul Studios during 2009 to 2010 and was handled by Daptone co-founder Gabriel Roth, credited for the album as "Bosco Mann". The album debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard 200, selling 23,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, I Learned the Hard Way received generally positive reviews from most music critics.
Gabriel Roth, also known as Bosco Mann among other aliases, is an American record producer, musician, and co-founder of Daptone Records. He is best known as the bandleader, bass player, primary songwriter, and producer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. A prolific recording engineer, he runs Daptone Studios in Brooklyn and Penrose Studios in Riverside, California.
Give the People What They Want is the fifth studio album by American soul and funk band Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, released January 14, 2014 on Daptone Records. The album was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
Thomas "Tommy" Brenneck is an American guitarist, record producer, and engineer, best known as the leader of the Menahan Street Band and member of The Budos Band, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, and El Michels Affair. He is the founder of Dunham Records, a subsidiary of seminal retro-soul label Daptone Records, and was the producer of soul singer Charles Bradley. As a producer session musician, he frequently works with Daptone and Big Crown Records artists.
Homer Steinweiss is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expressions, Hardly Knew Ya, El Michels Affair, and Dan Auerbach's The Arcs, among many others. He leads the Brooklyn folk soul band Holy Hive with Paul Spring. A popular session musician as part of The Dap-Kings and in his own right, he is perhaps best known for his work with Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse, with whom he recorded the 2006 album Back to Black.
Leon Marcus Michels is an American music producer, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records. He is a founding member of soul and funk bands Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band, and Lee Fields & The Expressions, and has played with Charles Bradley as well as Wu-Tang Clan. A frequent collaborator of Dan Auerbach, Michels was a touring member of The Black Keys and co-founded The Arcs. As a producer, Michels has produced records for artists such as Lee Fields, Norah Jones, Clairo, Chicano Batman, Nicole Wray, and Hanni El Khatib.
Retro soul, sometimes written as retro-soul, is a post-modern and contemporary popular music genre that emerged years after the golden era of soul music. In style of singing, arrangement and recording techniques, this music attempts to offer new music in the tradition of soul music from the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s. This differs from soul music, Contemporary R&B and neo soul as it is intentionally produced in a vintage recording sound and style years after the original era.
Franklin Stribling, professionally known as Binky Griptite, is an American guitarist, record producer, and radio DJ. He is best known as a founding member and guitarist of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Soul Providers, and Antibalas, among other Daptone Records-related projects. From 2017 to 2021, he hosted the weekly radio program The Boogie Down on WFUV.
David Anthony Guy is an American trumpet player and member of The Dap-Kings. Over his more than two decade career, he has been part of the groups Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band, The Budos Band, and Lee Fields & The Expressions, among others. Since 2014, he has played with The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. A prolific touring and session musician, he often works with producer Mark Ronson and can be heard playing on tracks including "Valerie" and "Uptown Funk."
The discography of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings consists of seven studio albums, three compilation albums, and the soundtrack album of Miss Sharon Jones!, in addition to more than thirty album and non-album singles. Not included in these numbers are the singles released by the band in the late 1990s as the Soul Providers.
Phillip Lehman is a Franco-American artist, music producer, and cave diver best known as Bando, the graffiti pioneer of France who helped popularize the medium in Europe throughout the 1980s. Following this period, Lehman co-founded a string of funk labels in Paris and New York including Desco Records, the precursor to Daptone Records and his Truth & Soul Records. Since the 2000s, he has worked as a cave diver and speleologist in the Dominican Republic.