There were some really good Soul and Funk reissues in 2024. The Modulations' 'It's Rough Out Here' is one of the best Philadelphia Soul albums not to appear on PIR, a great album throughout. Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson's 'Winter In America' is an all time classic, with their 'From South Africa to South Carolina' not far behind. Gloria Scott's 'What Am I Gonna Do' is a lovely Barry White produced rare groove album. Willie Tee's 'I'm Only A Man' is a very strong David Axelrod produced album from 1970. Luther's two 70's Cotillion albums were finally reissued this...
2024 won't go down as a vintage year for new soul music, however there were some really good albums. Sy Smith gave us the best album of the year with a very nice album which has shades of Deniece Williams and Minnie Riperton whilst being totally contemporary. Kelly Finnigan, Emilio Sisco and Thee Sinseers produced excellent and very authentic retro soul albums with great production and songs, whilst Cleo Sol gave us the best Neo-soul album with Allysha Joy not far behind and Will Downing produced his best album in years 'Soul Rising' (and also 'Luscious'). Myles Sanko and Jose...
There were some great new jazz albums in 2024, pride of place goes to an unreleased Roy Hargrove Crisol album recorded in 1998 but incredibly never released, killer Latin Jazz! Resolution 88 made a very strong fusion album 'Vortex' illustrating Tom O'Grady's keyboard wizardry and Herbie Hancock influence, Ashley Henry, Ezra collective and Nubya Garcia showed how good new London Jazz can be and Kamasi Washington made another strong album whilst Don Glori had a good album with a slight Brazilian influence.
2024 was a really vintage year for Jazz reissues, too many good titles to list here. Mr Bongo started a series of reissuing albums from the Groove Merchant label including killer albums from Lonnie Smith and O'Donel Levy. Dorothy Ashby's superb 'Afro Harping' got a deluxe edition issue with many additional versions of an amazing album produced by Richard Evans. Luis Gasca's fantastic funky latin jazz album 'For Those Who Chant' featuring an incredible line up is another highlight. Donald Byrd's 'Kofi' and Roy Ayers' Ubiquity mark the beginning of Jazz Fusion whilst Lee Morgan's 'Search For The New Land' is...
