Great singing, nuff God, and slick, not-altogether authentic dance and soul grooves which are amazingly dated in places.

But most of the concert belonged to singers riding plush soul grooves and celebrating love, physical and spiritual.

Opening the Knitting Factory festival on Monday is Curlew, a group that mixes improvisation with Southern funk and soul grooves reimagined through a New York sensibility.

With band members joining in, the group showed off plush, fervent quartet-style harmonies, sung a cappella or over 60's soul grooves.

He also plans to market his own unreleased soul grooves and release his first album in over a decade, expected in 2012.

The stirring singer Sharon Jones coaxes joy and pain while the Dap Kings supply 60's soul grooves.

Trey Songz is an admitted disciple of R. Kelly, from his vocal melismas and falsetto to his electronic, neo-1970's soul grooves.

Funkin' soul grooves, smooth vocals and a chunky clavinet moves the music with a steady, relentless momentum.

Sporting a "mid-'60s soul groove" and "lushly lovely backing vocals", the song's melody and vocal arrangement were perceived by critics as a homage to The Carpenters.

The song "simmers" on an "elastic" soul groove that contains "retro-synth" hooks, hand claps, horns and a "squelchy" bass line.