Columbia Nights

Alternative R&B act Columbia Nights put a contemporary, somewhat left-of-center spin on late-'70s and early-'80s crossover jazz, incorporated touches of laid-back hip-hop, and combined analog and electronic elements. They called their approach "soultronic." Prior to starting the group, musicians and producers John E. Daise and Hayling Price had played together in a Philadelphia-based band. They lost contact but crossed paths again in Washington, D.C., where they began to collaborate in a home studio setting. After adding Sarai Abdul-Malik, a vocalist enrolled in the jazz progr...