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Producer Series: Dre & Vidal

Twenty-one tracks from the Philadelphia production duo who made neo-soul sound like a movement rather than a marketing term.

Dre & Vidal, and the Philly sound reborn

Andre Harris and Vidal Davis came out of Philadelphia and, working from Touch of Jazz — the studio complex run by Jazzy Jeff — became the production team most responsible for the sound of neo-soul's commercial peak.

Their records are built on live musicianship: real drums, Rhodes and Wurlitzer, bass played by a person, and horn and string arrangements that come from the Philadelphia International tradition rather than from a sample library. Harris is a serious multi-instrumentalist, and it shows.

What made them commercially important is that they could take that approach into the mainstream. The same duo that made Jill Scott's most beloved records also produced Usher and Justin Bieber.

What to listen for

The Jill Scott material is the core, and it is remarkable. "A Long Walk," "Gettin' In the Way," "The Way," "Love Rain" and "One Is the Magic #" are all from Who Is Jill Scott?, one of the best debut albums in soul music, and Dre & Vidal produced most of it.

Floetry's "Getting Late" and "Hey You" represent the British half of the Philadelphia scene — Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart moved from London and became central to it.

Michael Jackson's "Butterflies" is the crown jewel. Written by Marsha Ambrosius and Andre Harris, produced by the duo, it is the last unambiguously great Michael Jackson single and one of the most beautiful things he recorded.

Glenn Lewis's "Don't You Forget It" is a perfect record that should have made him a much bigger star, and Anthony Hamilton's "The Truth" and Musiq Soulchild's "Love" complete the neo-soul core.

Usher's "Superstar," Chris Brown's "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" and Justin Bieber's "Change Me" show the crossover reach, and SiR's "Teach Me" is the modern one.

Go deeper

Jill Scott's Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 (2000) is the essential album, full stop.

The Touch of Jazz operation is the wider story — DJ Jazzy Jeff as a mentor and studio owner has quietly shaped more careers than his Fresh Prince association suggests, and his own The Magnificent is worth hearing.

And for the tradition underneath: Gamble & Huff, Thom Bell and MFSB. Philadelphia has produced a coherent musical identity for sixty years, and Dre & Vidal are simply its most recent chapter.

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