Gina Sedman returns with one of her best albums '1972' reflecting her birth year. The title track is a real throwback to early 70's funky soul groove. 'Give Love' has nice vocal harmonies and a more laid back funky groove and features Kinsman Dazz Band members Michael J Calhoun on Guitar and Chris Cuda on horns and Ryan McCaffrey on keys, he also plays clavinet on the more uptempo 'In One Day'. 'Grateful For You' 'Just Another Day' and 'Like A Whisper' are nice tempo songs that really show off Gina's soulful voice. Felipe Avellaneda plays organ, keys and strings...
Keyboard wizard Bobby Lyle’s Classic Jazz funk album from 1977, includes the brilliant inventive title track ‘The Genie’, an all time classic that goes through many changes but retains its groove throughout. His version of his own beautiful track ‘Night Breeze’ previously recorded by Ronnie Laws is another highlight. ‘Mother Nile’ is a mystical track with a deep rhythm structure, and ‘Pisces’ is a lovely dreamy mid tempo track. The more up tempo ‘Magic Ride’ and atmospheric ‘You Think Of Her’ feature Bobby’s deep vocals. Lyle is joined by a stellar cast of musicians including Roland Bautista on guitar, Babatunde...
Omar has been making great Soul music for 35 years with his own distinctive style. His eighth studio album 'Brighter The Days' is his most sophisticated to date, 17 tracks with a positive optimistic message. 'This Thing Called Life' has a lush groove with strings and horns and is a real stand-out track. 'Can We Go Out', another standout, has a very infectious riff, typically Omar a great track. There are many duets and collaborations on the album. 'Holding On To Life' is a killer, gorgeous mid tempo groover featuring Ledisi singing at her sultry best. India Arie's smokey vocals...
Zaimie is the collaboration between Zaidi Kiggundu and Jamie McShane who illustrate their love of Soul, Funk and Jazz on their second album 'Black Velvet' . It comprises of eleven tracks which have a strong Brit Funk influence and can be likened to Splash label mates Incognito's sound especially on the brassy Jazz Funk instrumentals 'Weekend Breeze' , 'Black Velvet' and 'Feel The Rush'. Suzy Duffy adds vocals to the mid tempo groovers 'Can't Do Without' , 'New Life' and beat ballad 'I Need You' which adds another more soulful dimension to the album. Strong contemporary Jazz-Funk and Soul album....
Chocolate Milk recorded their classic debut album 'Action Speaks Louder Than Words' in New Orleans in 1975. It is produced by legendary New Orleans producers Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn. The album is best known for their funky hit 'Action Speaks Louder Than Words' one of the most recognisable funky tracks of its time which has compulsive groove . The rare groove 'Time Machine' is more laid back with a lazy jazzy groove and a killer track, that was overlooked at the time now rightly recognised as a classic. 'My Mind Is Hazy' , 'Pretty Pimpin Willie ' , 'Confusion'...
Tanika Charles returns with her fourth full album and possibly best to date ‘Reasons To Stay’. Kelly Finnigan adds his touch of magic by mixing the album which is more sophisticated than her previous albums. ‘Reasons To Stay’ is a lovely mid tempo beat ballad that has all the hallmarks of classic late 60s/early 70s Soul. ‘How Long Will It Take’ the sightly faster ‘Here When You’re Ready’ and the mystical ‘Talk To Me Nice’ are also mid tempo soul highlights.’Don’t Like You Anymore’, the uptempo ‘No More’ and funkier ‘Having A Time’ are good retro Soul tracks, whilst ‘Win’ featuring...
Sault have rightly built a large underground following over the past few years, with numerous quality albums produced by Inflo. 'Acts Of Faith' is one of their best, featuring the soulful vocals of Cleo Sol over some great feel-good grooves and great harmony backing vocals. 'Set Your Spirit Free', 'Look For You', 'Heal', 'Someone To Love You', and 'Signs' are all uplifting tracks with a spiritual message. 'Soul Clean' has a funkier edge to it and the down tempo cut 'Pray For Me' and mid tempo 'The Lesson Is Over' are also very strong, on this excellent album. Click on...
Melbourne songwriter multi instrumentalist and producer Gordon Li better known as Don Glori releases his third and most sophisticated album 'Paper Can't Wrap Fire'.The album features some of Melbourne's finest musicians including Matt Hall on vocals, Glori on bass, guitar, keyboards and percussion, Joshua Moshe on sax and Audrey Prowne on trumpet amongst many others. 'Disaster', 'Brown Eyes' , 'Flicker' and 'Janet' are all good mid tempo multi layered mid tempo soulful vocal tracks with good instrumentation that set the tone for the album. There are also some nice jazzier more instrumental cuts with background vocals 'Song For Ants' which...
Gil Scott-Heron recorded his ‘Moving Target’ album in 1982, accompanied by the band that became known as the Amnesia Express with Robbie Gordon on slap bass, Larry McDonald percussion, Kenny Powell drums, Ed Brady guitar and Glen Turner keyboards. It has a funkier sound than the albums recorded with Brian Jackson. The highlights are ‘Washington DC’, a slinky funky mid tempo groove documenting the inequalities of the capital city. ‘Fast Lane’ is another funky riff-laden cut, and ‘Explanations’ has a hard driving rhythm. ‘Black History/The World’ is a 10 minute dialogue with history from Gil’s perspective, over a funky rhythm...
Charles Rouse came to the fore as the tenor saxophonist with Thelonious Monk from 1959-69. He recorded 'Two Is One' for the Strata East label in 1974, his first as a leader since his only album on Blue Note from 1963. The first side comprises three funky jazz tracks, the strongest of which is a version of Joe Chambers 'Hopscotch'. This track has a strong driving funky rhythm from David Lee on drums, Airto on percussion and Stanley Clarke on bass with Paul Metzke on guitar and Charles blowing over the top to create one of the NY label's finest...
