Carlos Garnett hailed from Panama but made his name in New York in the 1970’s playing with Norman Connors and recording five great albums under his own name on the Muse label. For his fourth Muse album from 1976, Carlos leads a 25 Piece Big Band ‘Cosmos Nucleus’ making the sound on this album quite different from his other recordings. ‘Saxy’ is about as Funky as a Big Band can be. The Title cut is a 12 minute opus allowing the Band to develop the track as it flows through different sections. ‘Wise Old man’ is a lively highly rhythmic...
The disco/funkgroup Record Player were from Dayton Ohio. They only released one single 'Free Your Mind' in 1979 on the Gem City label which is now very rare selling for £800 if you can find one. It is a very funky killer track. However they actually recorded a whole albums worth of material which has never been released until now. 'Your Fantasy' , the Kool and The Gang influenced 'Magic', 'Funky Bone' and 'Nursery Rhymes' are also good disco funk tunes. The band disbanded in the early 80s and many of them joined bands including Slave, Aurra, Steve Arringtons Hall...
The Majestic Arrows were a four-piece vocal harmony group from Chicago put together by Bandit records owner and producer Arrow Brown. They consisted of Larry Brown from the 50’s vocal group The Moroccos, Tridia Brown (Arrows daughter), Gloria ‘Poolie’ Brown and Palario. They recorded this sophisticated but rare and in demand album ‘The Magic Of The Majestic Arrows for Bandit in 1973, featuring The Brown Orchestra, The Chosen Few and Scott Brothers on instrumentation. A characteristic of their music is switching between male and female vocals through the tracks. The funky soul ‘Going To Make A Time Machine’ and ‘One More...
Eddie Henderson recorded ‘Heritage’, his second album on Blue Note in 1976. He is accompanied by Headhunters Paul Jackson on bass and Mike Clark on drums, Patrice Rushen on keyboards, Mtume on percussion, Hadley Caliman on sax and Julian Priester on trombone amongst others. It includes the delightful mid tempo Jazz Funk ‘Inside You’, pulsating ‘Kudu’ and heavier funky Jazz ‘Acuphunture’. ‘Time And Space’ and ‘Dr Mganga’ are jazzier and darker, but equally impressive. Trumpeter Henderson deserves to be recognised as a leading figure in the development of Funky Jazz and ‘Heritage’ is one of his best slums of that...
Donald Byrd released his third album with the Mizell Brothers 'Stepping Into Tomorrow' for Blue Note in 1975. The title track is a classic with their distinctive production style , a chugging rhythm and nice soft trumpet playing from Donald.The album's killer track is 'Think Twice' a superb two stepper featuring Kay Haith on vocals alongside Donald. 'Design A Nation' highlights Gary Bartz on Sax who plays on the whole album. , 'Makin It' is also a nice Jazz-Funk instrumental with Donald blowing hard over a good rhythm. Donald is joined by a great cast of musicians including Harvey Mason,...
The Circling Sun are a Jazz Ensemble from New Zealand, whose debut album from 2023 'Spirits' was one of that year's highlights. They return with a possibly even stronger album 'Orbits' which combines Spiritual Jazz with Latin rhythms to create a beautiful album. 'Constellation' shows a very Pharoah Sanders 'Theresa' period influence with ethereal, incidental wordless backing vocals from the Love Affinity Choir, which in fact could be said about the whole album. 'Mizu' has a lovely feel, good factor and latin rhythms, a joyous track to behold. 'Seki' is more laid back and melodic. 'Amina' is a deeper and...
Jamiroquai keyboard player Matt Johnson's new album 'Warrior Princess' is a great album of Jazz-Funk and Soul grooves. 'Old Skool Funk' is a superb uptempo dancer with a right rhythm ft Jeff Lorber. The upper mid tempo 'In It To Win It' has a slick bassline and as expected nice keyboard riffs. 'Is It Too Late' has a shuffling rhythm. whilst 'Fascination' is more soulful. 'Personal Revolutions' has a Brit funk feel to it. 'Earth's Mysteries' is a lovely laid back mystical track. 'Warrior Princess' is another nice laid back groove with a harp in the background. 'Dance Of The...
Gamble And Huff wrote and produced some of the finest Soul music ever recorded and were primarily responsible for creating The Philly Sound. 'Love Train - The Gamble And Huff Songbook' compiles 24 of their songs including some lesser known tracks and unusual versions along with many of their classics. The Vibrations' 'Love In Them There Hills', Peaches & Herb's 'United', Freddie Scott's '(You) Got What I Need', Mary Wells' 'A Brand New Me', Archie Bell's 'I Can't Stop Dancing', Intruders' 'Cowboys To Girls', and Gladys Knight's 'Together' are the best of the 60's tracks on the comp. 'Joe Simon's...
Durand Jones and The Indications have established themselves as one of the premier retro Soul groups with a string of great albums over the past years, featuring the voices of Durand and Aaron Frazer, backed by a full band with horns and strings. 'Flowers' contains another ten tracks which whilst contemporary have a strong 70s or early 80s Soul vibe. 'Paradise' is a nice mid tempo stepper using a Sylvia Striplin groove. 'Lovers Holiday' is a nice upper mid tempo dancer, 'Flower Moon' a lovely mid tempo ditty. 'Really Wanna Be With You' is a good modern soul dancer. 'Been...
Raquel Rodriguez has established herself as one of the leading contemporary female Soul singers. The Los Angeles Latino Soul singer recorded 'Sweet Side' during lockdown but the CD has only just surfaced following her European tour. It features 14 dynamic tracks which have an early 80s feel, but are still totally contemporary. It heavily features partner Sam Brawner and Keyboard and bassist Nigel Hall and a host of good musicians. 'Sweet Side' is a nice upper mid tempo groover, 'Nobody Else' is slightly slower but has a heavier groove. 'I Know I Know' is written and produced by Amber Navran...
