Raised on church music, trained in jazz, and blooded by the psychedelic soul of the Black Pumas, of which he’s been a member since they started touring, keyboardist JaRon Marshall has a deep creative well from which to drink. While earth sounds, his 2023 debut with his band the Collective, leaned most heavily on both his jazz education and his love of hip-hop production, The Return of Slick spreads a smorgasbord of flavors on its table. “The Realest,” with MC Ric Wilson, features the kind of quirky hip-hop you’d expect from Marshall’s production style, while “Augusta” tastes similar to earth sounds. But elsewhere he travels further afield, from the misty acid soul of “Ego Death” (with vocalist James Robinson) and the slick modern pop of “Tomorrow” (with singer Claudia Isaki) to the smoky trip-hop of “Keep On Shining” and the cinematic soft-psych of the title track. Given his skill and experience, Marshall unsurprisingly nails every approach he takes, and if there’s no out-and-out banger, every song grows more consequential the more times it’s spun. Marshall’s distinctive keyboard sound – like yacht rock given a soul-jazz makeover – provides the thread keeping The Return of Slick from sounding like a various artists compilation.
This article appears in December 12 • 2025.