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Album Of The Day | Joe Henderson – Power To The People

Joe Henderson recorded this seminal album 'Power To The People' in 1969, his third album for the Milestone label, but the first in a series of great spiritual inspired jazz albums. Joe is joined by a great line up featuring Herbie Hancock on keys, Ron Carter on Bass, Jack De Johnette Drums, and Mike Lawrence on trumpet, who support and interweave with Henderson's powerful and expressive tenor sax playing. 'Black Narcissus' is a beautiful track with a lovely melody played with amazing clarity, he would revisit this tune in the 70s. 'Afro- Centric' has a far more urgent groove and...
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Album Of The Day | Colin Curtis Presents Jazz-Dance Fusion Vol. 4

For today's album of the day we are presenting the most recent addition of Colin Curtis's Jazz Dance Fusion series. This brilliant compilation is available on LP and CD, with the LP version being split across two gatefold albums. Trumpeter Bill Ortiz is joined by Azar Lawrence on sax and Brian Jackson on Piano for a breakneck version of Eddie Henderson's 'Fusion/Noche Cubana' heavy vibes ! GeeW cover Rose Royce classic 'Still In Love' jazz dance style ft Navasha Daya on vocals. Tom Funk's The Sultans Swing  '46 To Somewhere' grooves along nicely. The music's heritage is represented by Charro Band...
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Album Of The Day | Dinner Party – Dinner Party/Desert

For today's album of the day we are presenting Dinner Party - the group consisting of Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin and 9th Wonder - who have put their first two albums on fantastic new CD. Both albums are significantly in demand and were snapped up quickly when first release. Although formed somewhat as a supergroup featuring household names in the jazz/hip-hop world, there is clearly no single leader to this fantastic set up musicians, each bringing their own talents and styles to the table and a rich depth of musicality quietly distilled into lovely album. I say album...
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Album Of The Day | O’Donnel Levy – Simba

For today's album of the day feature we would like to present to you O'Donnel Levy's fantastic album Simba. Recorded in 1973 and released the following year on Groove Merchant, Simba features seven killer tunes brought to you by some of the very best musicians of the time. Levy himself was of course a heavily sought after player during this time,  touring with George Benson and Jimmy McGriff before signing to Sonny Lester's Groove Merchant label. His ability in full flow on this record, with slick melodic phrasing that is both exuberant and delicate in equal measure and complimented perfectly...
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Japanese Soul and Funk CDs

Check the Soul, Funk and Jazz Japanese CDs that we have in stock. There are quite a few new titles including two from Jackie Ross that have just arrived, plus some deep dig finds in the back of the shop. Most of the titles are one off's and may not be available again, so please order early to avoid disappointment.. Happy Diggin, Laurence
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Albums Of The Day | Lee Morgan and Joe Henderson

                  We have had two absolutely fantastic Blue Note albums in recently the latest instalment of their Classic Album Series. Lee Morgan recorded ‘Search For The New Land’ just two months after the classic ‘Sidewinder’ session. The unexpected crossover success of ‘The Sidewinder’ which carried on throughout 1964 and into 1965 led to the delay in the release of ‘Search For The New Land’ and the recording of ‘The Rumproller’ as follow-up. An understandable decision by Blue Note to cash in on this success, meant that this sextet session has remained something...
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Album Of The Day | Leroy Huston – Hutson

With Valentines Day round the corner we wanted to draw your attention to an album that could not be more perfect for this time of year. Of all his albums ‘Hutson’ subsequently known as ‘Hutson 1’ is widely considered as his greatest, and is in fact regarded by many people as one of the best soul albums of all time (myself included). The full production with string and horn sections make a perfect complement to the songs and his seductive voice. Every track on the album is worthy of note, but especially ‘Lucky Fellow’ and ‘All Because of You’ which...
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Album Of The Day | Tenderlonious – The Shakedown (featuring the 22Archestra)

‘The Shakedown’ was Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne’s debut LP and features a dream team of top talent he named the 22archestra, who he leads seamlessly throughout. Arguably his finest album as a soloist, listeners are exposed to the full breadth of Tenderlonious's technical and compositional skills, ranging from subtly meandering jazz, to hip hop, Afrobeat, Latin and exhilarating free form jazz. The groups includes former Yussef Kamaal member Yussef Dayes on drums, Ruby Rushton bassist Fergus Ireland and producers Reginald Omas Mamode IV and Jeen Bassa on percussion. Standouts from this top drawer album include ‘Expansions’, ‘Yussef’s Groove’, ‘SV Interlude’, ‘SV...
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Album Of The Day | The Circling Sun – Spirits

The New Zealand group ‘Circling Sun’ have produced this brilliant album ‘Spirits’. Channelling spiritual/modal jazz and Latin rhythms, they simultaneously reference the greats such as Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane, while maintaining a fresh perspective on ensemble dynamics. Perhaps the group’s name is no coincidence – each instrument seems to be in orbit around the concept of symbiotic synergy – and everyone is given equal space to shine; from a psychedelic Korg, to a delirious saxophone or the gentle ripples of a harp. There’s a huge array of keyboards, skilfully manned by the likes of Guy Harrison and Cory Champion (Clear Path Ensemble), with a standout acoustic piano solo by Harrison on “Plume”....
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Album Of The Day | Will Downing – Soul Rising

Will Downing releases another 7 track album of Sophisticated soul 'Soul Rising' dedicated to the memory his daughter Aron Siobhan Downing, who sadly passed away earlier this year. 'Closer To Me' is an upper mid tempo dancer, and 'House Of Love' is an excellent mid tempo ballad both co-writen by Will with Randy Bowland. There is a nice version of the Linda Creed and Thom Bell classic ballad 'You're As Right As Rain', featuring many musicians including Johnny Britt on trumpet and Ronnie Foster on keyboards.  'Till We Meet Again' is  slinky mid tempo song featuring Foster, Bowland, Al Turner...