Georgie B has a new Groove Association Cd 'Reflections' which will appeal to his many fans. Another contemporary Uk Soul artist the lovely Natasha Watts has a nice new album available only on a memory stick in the design of a cassette (No CD release) containing music and video material, exclusively available from Soul Brother for retail. There are some great reissue 45's this week on the Soul Brother, Expansion and Outta sight labels. On Soul Brother we are delighted to release Vanesese & Carolyn mega rare 2-stepper 'Goodbye Song' and Salena Jones' great take of 'Am I The Same...
Vaneese & Carolyn - The Goodbye Song / Just A Little Smile Vaneese & Carolyn are Vaneese Thomas (daughter of Rufus Thomas) and Carolyn Mitchell who recorded two singles together at Polydor in 1977 and 1978. From these, the 1978 collaboration has been reissued here, the sides reversed. Original copies have exchanged hands for over £300. Both singers had recorded with Disco producer John Davis and his Monster Orchestra the same year on his album “Ain’t That Enough For You”, but both these songs are more sophisticated classic soul stylings with incredible vocal performances. Buy standard dinked copy HERE Buy...
Donald Byrd’s album Street Lady was the second album he released in 1973, closely following the ground-breaking jazz-funk record Black Byrd that straddled both the R&B and jazz charts, although derided by many jazz purists as a sidestep away from “real” jazz. Street Lady was recorded by a cohort of young music students of his and alumni from the fabled Howard University in Washington DC—an institution that churned out talent with conveyor-belt regularity from Donny Hathaway to Leroy Hutson—where Byrd was the chairman of the Black Music Department, overseeing a large pool of talent which he would expertly recruit. The...
The Prince of Sophisticated Soul, Will Downing returns with a new 7 track CD. Will is in fine voice throughout, supported by some fine musicians including Hubert Eaves IV on bass,John 'Lil' Roberts on drums and David P Stevens on guitar and his wife Audrey Wheeler Downing on backing vocals on certain tracks' Love On You' , 'Make You Mine Again' , 'You Deserve Better', 'Dammit I Want You' and 'Kinda Guy' are good mid tempo soul tracks. There is a nice cover of Barry White's rare groove classic 'Early Years'. 'What I Gotta Do' has a little more tempo...
Bob Thiele Jr resurrects his father's Flying Dutchman label with this beautiful album from Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth. It contains versions of classic message songs mainly from the early 70's. The message of these timeless songs is still as revelant today as it was in those ground breaking times 50 years ago. Billy is accompanied by many great musicians including James Gadson, Jeff Parker, Larry Gouldings, The Croker and more. The album is superbly produced by Bob Thiele Jr. Tracks include Curtis Mayfield 'We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue', Gil Scott Heron 'Home Is Where The...
NDR Kultur have put out a rare and hitherto unreleased live recording of Pharoah Sanders in concert at the Fabrik club in Altona, Hamburg in 1980, accompanied by Curtis Lundy on upright bass, former Jazz Messenger John Hicks on keys and the experienced Idris Muhammad on drums. The set is an energetic, powerful live affair, comprised mainly of tracks taken from Pharoah’s 1980 Theresa album Journey to the One, in my book one of his finest bodies of work which eschews the free form and polemical musical stylings of some of his braver and more spiritual output on Impulse back...
There are some great new releases and reissues this week on Cd. Lp and 7" singles. Will Downing returns with a great new 7 track Ep/Cd 'Pieces' (arriving on monday). Reel People also return after a 10 Year gap with 'Love 2' featuring many guest vocalists including Eric Roberson, Raheem DeVaughn and Chantae Cann. Bob Thiele's son has recreated the Flying Dutchman label and the first album is Billy Valentine & the Universal Truth a great album covering classic tracks from the early 70's by CurtisMayfield, Gil Scott Heron, Leon Thomas and more. The Jack Moves also have a new...
Reel People return after a ten year wait with a new album 'Love 2'. It features many guest vocalists and is a mixture of uptempo and mid tempo contemporary Soulful and R&B grooves. Eric Roberson soulful voice fronts the superb uptempo dancer 'Save A Lil Love'. Jill Rock Jones sings on the upper mid tempo plodder 'Everything's So Crazy'. Chantae Cann lends her sweet voice to 'Dance In Her Eyes' another mid tempo groover which ends with an unnecessary rap from Dayne Jordan. Raheem DeVaughn vocalises on the pulsating mid tempo Deja Vu'. Paula features on two neo soul tracks...
Kool and the Gang recorded this great album live at P.J.’s in Hollywood California in 1971. The Album illustrated what great musicians these guys were, even through most of the band members were still teenagers at the time. ‘N.T’ (No title) is a funky bass led track with nice horns, flute and a drum break which has been sampled over 300 times. ‘Ricksonata’ has a slight Caribbean feel. There is great version of Charles Lloyd’s Latin groover ‘Sombrero Sam’ with great flute playing from D.T. ‘Ronnie’s Groove’ is a funky tune written and led by tenor man Ronnie Bell. ‘Lucky...
Alex Rodriguez’ 1978 Venezuelan Latin jazz-funk rarity has had the full re-issue works from kindred spirits Vampi Soul, who seem to be on the charge lately with a spate of timely and well put together reissues, uncovering rare, south American esoterica from salsa dura to Latin soul. This release showcases a surprisingly groovy body of Venezuelan jazz-funk led by guitarist Rodriguez alongside pianist Jorge Dalto, percussionist Nené Quintero, Eddie Palmieri’s go to reedman Ronnie Cuber, George Benson, Stevie Wonder and Roy Ayers’ drummer Dennis Davis and another Benson acolyte in Stanley Banks on bass. The album was recorded in New...
