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The Kevin “Slow-Jammin” James Playlist

Sixty-two slow jams selected by somebody who clearly knows exactly what he is doing. A guest playlist, and a superb one.

 

The art of the slow jam

The slow jam is a discipline with rules. The tempo sits somewhere between 60 and 80 beats per minute. The arrangement leaves space. The vocal is close-miked and intimate rather than large. And the sequencing matters enormously — a well-built set holds one temperature for hours without ever becoming monotonous.

What is assembled here is a working knowledge of that form across four decades, drawn heavily from the 1970s and 80s vocal-group tradition and the quiet storm radio format that grew out of it.

What to listen for

Con Funk Shun's "Love's Train" opens, which is the right call — it is one of the most beloved slow jams ever recorded and has had a second life through Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak's version.

The Manhattans' "It Feels so Good to Be Loved so Bad" and The Intruders' "I Wanna Know Your Name" are the Philadelphia entries and both are immaculate.

The Floaters' "Float On" is the one where each member introduces himself by star sign, which should be absurd and is instead genuinely charming.

New Birth's "Wild Flower" is the collector's pick and one of the most emotionally devastating records of the 1970s.

Norman Connors and Michael Henderson's "You Are My Starship" is the deep one — Connors was a jazz drummer, Henderson played bass for Miles Davis, and the record is the point where jazz musicians decided to make soul ballads.

The Stylistics appear twice, and "People Make the World Go Round" is the Thom Bell arrangement that everyone from the Roots to Michael Jackson has borrowed from.

Anita Baker's "Angel," Deniece Williams' "Silly" and Switch's "I Wanna Be Closer" round out the essentials.

Go deeper

The Philadelphia International catalogue is the foundation of this entire aesthetic — Thom Bell's arrangements for the Stylistics and the Delfonics in particular.

Norman Connors' You Are My Starship is a superb album and a doorway into the jazz-soul crossover of the mid-1970s.

And the format itself is worth knowing about: Smokey Robinson's A Quiet Storm (1975) gave its name to the radio programming that kept this music alive for decades, largely on Black stations, largely late at night, and almost entirely uncovered by the music press.

How to use it: the slow jam is a format with rules, and the best of them are built on restraint rather than heat — the vocal holds back, the arrangement leaves room, and the tension does the work. Played end to end, this set is a lesson in how much can be implied.

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