Al Green & ?uestlove Working On New Album For Blue Note

Al Green has been recording a new album with ?uestlove on the production! Green says the new album is about "love and happiness, but the real kind. According to an article in the Belfast Telegraph:

"My next record is about the love and the happiness," he says. " My record is about the everyday life of a girl, guy, living together with one kid – we're not married yet but we're working on it, I'll drop off the kids if you'll pick them up. That's what my music is about – today's actual life, the grind of today."

The album will be released by Blue Note, his label home for a few albums now. Neither he, nor the label, nor ?uestlove are revealing many details however. I did find out that James Poyser will be on the keys (keyboardist to Erykah, Jill Scott and others). Green refers to ?uest so affectionately, further on in the Belfast article:

"Ahmir would be so upset if I told you!" he laughs, referring to Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, the drummer for influential hip-hop group The Roots. Thompson is just one of several younger soul artists whom Green has engaged for the album, as well as D'Angelo and Anthony Hamilton. "It's going to be good," he gushes, flashing his trademark smile. "I heard the music, and they said: 'Sing what you sing. Don't change you.' When you hear it, I think you're going to be surprised, because it's refreshing. And the music doesn't sound like a Willie Mitchell production."The new musical direction seems to suggest Green might be trying to get down with the kids, as it were. "Al? He's not going any place. There he is right on that water right there," he says, pointing to the two 50ml " Al Green" mineral water bottles on his desk. "He's gonna be there to try to help the kids. Like with the rap, hip-hop... As far as Al is concerned, those are our kids."

For an intimate look into early sessions with ?uestlove and Al Green (that eventually led to them working on the record together), here is a video from ?uestlove's blog dated October 2006:?uest claims in a detailed post to the Okayplayer boards that this is in fact just a soundcheck, but admits that the magic can be felt.