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A beautiful, and oft-overlooked, album of modal jazz tracks performed by Chicago jazz musician Ira Sullivan – who normally plays trumpet and tenor, but who also shows here his amazing talent on soprano sax! The album's quite different than most of Sullivan's straighter material, and some... read more

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The notes say that the album is "the rare plum of authenticity". We don't know if we'd go that far, but we can tell you that the record features Yma performing songs of the legendary Jivaro headhunters! Supposedly, Yma learned them in her "South American jungle-home", but we... read more

Capitol 12" LP that features work from 2 earlier Yma Sumac 10" LPs – Voice of The Xtabay and Inca Taqui. Voice Of The Xtabay is one of her earliest Capitol albums, with classic arrangements by Les Baxter, of material that was written by Yma's Partner Moises Vivanco. Titles include... read more

A mid 70s classic from Donna Summer – and a follow up to her huge, chart-toppiong Love To Love You Baby – and once again produced by Giorgio Moroder! The record didn’t hit the commercial heights of the preceding one, though they did utilize the same sort of Euro-disco approach... read more

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Obscure little disco record, issued on the Pi Kappa label, and with an uptempo east coast sound that's part disco, part Buddah-type soul of earlier generations. Paul Kyser handled the whole project – and wrote, arranged, and produced all the material. Most of the tracks have an instrumental... read more

Funky soul covers from a host of hit blacksploitation films – played in fresh new versions by the mysterious Super Dudes! Most of the tracks here follow the originals pretty closely, but have some different elements that we really appreciate – slight changes in rhythms or... read more

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Hardly the surf music set you'd expect from the title – but still a set that's plenty surf-washed, thanks to a great choice of exotic numbers for the record! The Surfers are a vocal group, not a guitar-based instrumental combo – and they harmonize with a mixture of jazz and pop modes... read more

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A great bit of boogie from the Chicago scene of the early 80s – a set recorded with a nice jazzy bounce overall, and a strong ear for a catchy hook and tight groove – very much in the mode of Omni or Zoom from the same period! Alfonzo's got a warm vocal style that soars up to falsetto... read more

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Heavy fusion from southern Wisconsin – a pretty tasty little set by a group we know nothing about! The lineup includes bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, and saxes – played in a style that's somewhere between some of the jamming, frenetic European groups of the time, and some of the... read more

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A groovy groovy treasure! The work of The Swingle Singers is well known to any fan of 60s French tunes – as their groundbreaking approach to vocalese had a huge influence on other pop, easy, and soundtrack work of the time. This nicely-done set features jazz scat versions of tunes by all... read more

One of our favorite albums by the Swingle Singers – a really cool batch of tracks that has them working with compositions by French composers – rococo tunes that have a bit more of a flourish for them to work with their vocal trickery! The sound is great, and tunes are short, very... read more

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A great little set from Sylvester – 3 sides recorded live in San Francisco, one more recorded in the studio! All the sides have a complicated approach to the groove – larger orchestrations that really show Syl pushing his conception of soul to the max, sounding really wonderful, and... read more

An overlooked gem from Sylvester's years on Fantasy Records – a set that has him working strongly with soul maestro Harvey Fuqua, in a really great blend of disco and more laidback modes! There's a balance here that's like early Luther at his best – a way of being proudly poised, yet... read more

Fuzzy, freaky early work from Sylvester – a hip little set that's part soul, part funk, and part rock – overflowing with all the strange genre-mixing sounds you'd find in the Bay Area scene of the early 70s! There's definitely a Sly & The Family Stone inspiration going down on some... read more

A work of incredible brilliance – a lost treasure from the late 80s that's been one of our favorite records for years! The album's quite different than most other work by David Sylvian – not nearly as open-ended and loose as his more experimental, soundscape-like projects – nor... read more

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Sylvia's Decca recording with backing by the Ralph Burns Orchestra, tracks include "Lilac Wine", "My Ship", "Woman's Intuition", "I'm So Happy I Could Cry", "Experiment" and "Honey In The Honeycomb".... read more

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Some of the most compelling grooves the Talking Heads ever recorded – a set that sparkles with imaginative touches, and railroads forward on a wave of complicated rhythms! The sound is brilliant throughout – a genre-less approach that sheds the group's earlier art nerd aesthetic for... read more

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Sweet and dreamy instrumental pop from John Andrews Tartaglia – an arranger we only know from a few late 60s sides at Capitol Records – all of which are pretty great! Tartaglia's got a style that's still heavy in mainstream 60s easy modes, but borrows a fair bit from the generation of... read more

Twice as sweet, and mighty neat – a killer set from Taste Of Honey, and one that has the girls moving away from Mizell Brothers help in the studio, and getting some great grooves from George Duke! Duke brings in all his best jazzy soul to the duo – lots of keyboards stepping around the... read more

Grady's most obscure album – and one that's got much more of a jazzy tip than his other ones. Richard Tee plays electric piano, and the band includes Billy Butler, George Coleman, and Ron Carter – all of whom do their best to keep things hip, and not fall into some of the schmaltzier... read more

Although Howard Tate's work on Verve has gotten a lot of acclaim – thanks to an excellent CD reissue – this later album for Atlantic still remains in the ranks of soul obscurities. The album's perhaps not as great as Tate's Verve work – in that the arrangements don't fit as hand-i... read more

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A great change of pace for Billy Taylor – and one of the most striking sessions he made in the 50s! As you'll guess from the title, the record features Taylor's piano along with four flutes – played by Frank Wess, Herbie Mann, Jerome Richardson, and Phil Bodner – working here... read more

An early classic from pianist Billy Taylor featuring his classic 50s trio with bassist Earl May and drummer Percy Brice! The tracks are mostly short and simple, and done in Taylor's warmly rhythmical approach to the keys – a groove that was clearly informed by the hardbop of the time, but... read more

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One of Cecil's best for Hat Art, and a beautiful working of the extended title cut, "The Garden". Cecil's solo here, and other tracks include "Driver Says", "Points", "Pemmican", and "Introduction to Z". The set includes two LPs, and is boxed in... read more

The record features Cecil's Segments II Orchestra Of Two Continents – with trumpets by Enrico Rava and Tomasz Stanko, bass by William Parker, drums by Rashied Bakr and Andre Martinez, and saxes by John Tchicai, Frank Wright, and Jimmy Lyons. Titles include "Winged Serpent", "Wo... read more

A wicked little set from singer Debbie Taylor – a vocalist who really only shone brightly for this one album – but who's left more than enough of a soul legacy with its greatness! The record's an important early effort from Patrick Adams – and it's cut with a rough-edged style... read more

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More sweet and smooth than muddy – but that's what we'd expect from James Taylor during these classic years! Titles include "You've Got A Friend", "Riding On A Railroad", "Highway Song", "You Can Close Your Eyes", and "Soldiers".... read more

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A landmark album from Johnnie Taylor – a set that not only gave his career a giant boost, but which also helped shift southern soul into hip new territory in the late 70s! The music's a great change from Taylor's previous work at Stax – and the set features warm production from Don... read more

Funky soul from Johnnie Taylor – a set that mixes tight core grooving with some larger arrangements from Bert Keyes and Rudy Robinson – a perfect blend that shows why Taylor easily stood out from some of his bluesy contemporaries! It's clear that Johnnie's just the right guy to handle... read more

Sweet, smooth, and bluesy – perhaps not as hard as some of Johnnie's earlier Stax work, but with an increasing sophistication that really shows his development as a soul singer. The record's a good bridge into Johnnie's modern soul work at Columbia – and it's got arrangements by Wade... read more

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Mid 70's album of funky soul tracks cut by ex-Gator Willie Tee, with a number of other members of the Gators, for United Artists. Don't go thinking that it's raw New Orleans soul, though, because the sound is a lot more polished, with more of a 70's modern groove to it. Willie's still got some... read more

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One of the later Norman Whitfield efforts for The Temptations – a masterpiece of baroque harmony soul, touched with bits of the righteous sound that Whitfield brought to the group a few years before. The album's very coherent, with some wonderful tracks that really build the groove nicely... read more

Sublime work from the Temptations – still recording here with Norman Whitfield, who's really opening up his bag on most of the record – and taking the group into expansive territory that was barely hinted at in their early work! The album's got some incredible tracks in the Whitfield... read more

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Titles include "Gonna Run", "The Band With No Name", "I'm Coming On", and "Think About The Times".... read more

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A surprisingly nice little set from Clark Terry – featuring arrangements by Oliver Nelson, and a pretty nice little group that includes Budd Johnson on tenor and Eddie Costa on vibes and piano. The material appears to be lifted from the musical All American – by the team of Charles... read more

Clark Terry's breezy trumpet is paired with Don Butterfield's tuba for a real "top and bottom" session of brassy jazz. The two of them are backed by a sharp rhythm section that includes Jimmy Jones on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. The set's got a lot of nice... read more

An obscure session that Clark Terry cut for the mostly-pop Cameo label during the early 60s – and some of the better recording that Terry did during the decade. The group is relatively small – filled with soul jazz players like Buddy Lucas, Seldon Powell, Willie Rodriguez, and Dave... read more

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Sweet harmony pop – and from Chicago, no less! Thee Prophets, despite having a name that was pretty trippy-sounding, were actually a punched-up harmony rock group in the manner of The Buckinghams (another Chitown group of the time). They're singing here with some tight backings that feature... read more

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All the hits: "Steppin To The A.M.", "Brooklyn Queens", "The Gas Face", "Product Of The Environment", "Words Of Wisdom" and seven more full-length cuts.... read more

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It may be pop reggae or whatever you want to call it – but the strength of the group's version of "Now That We Found Love" really pushed them over the top! That track's the real winner here – a smooth modern soul number with just a slight hint of Kingston, grooving away in a... read more

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After leaving Island and moving onto Columbia, Third World got a bit more slick, and continued to work a reggae/pop/soul groove. This record's not a bad one, in fact, it's a pretty respectable crossover effort. Stevie Wonder collaborated with the group on the 2 best tracks, "Try Jah... read more