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One of Carlos Garnett's great soul jazz albums for the Muse label from the mid 70's. There's a very deep feel here, and the music is played by an ensemble that's fairly large, and which has a similar sound to the Norman Connors jazz LPs that were on Buddah and Cobblestone (which is no surprise, since Garnett played on those). The lineup includes Hubert Eaves, Reggie Lucas, and Olu Dara, and the tracks are long and spiritual. Includes "Senor Trane", "Samba Serenade", and "Ghetto Jungle".

Heavy, spiritual Coltranesque Afro-jazz from '74 from Carlos Garnett! The album's one of Carlos' best for Muse – with a heavy soul jazz lineup that includes players like Huberrt Eaves, Reggie Lucas, and Anthony Jackson. Ayodele Jenkins sings vocals on a few tracks – and the album nicely places beautiful introspective pieces like "Journey To Enlightenment" and "Love Flower" sit next afro-Carribean influenced numbers such as "Chana" and "Let Us Go to Higher Heights".

A 70s soul jazz classic – one of those albums we go back to again and again over the years for inspiration! The album was one of the first from young reed player Carlos Garnett – and it's virtually a super-session, with a lineup that includes heavyweights like Buster Williams, Norman Connors, Charles Sullivan, Mauricio Smith, Reggie Lucas, Billy Hart, Mtume, and Dee Dee Bridgewater – all coming together in a righteous blend of soul, funk, and jazz! The vibe here is incredible – far deeper than even on any of Garnett's other albums of the time – at a level that sounds as beautiful on the mellow cuts as it does on the soaring, spiritual soul jazz anthems that have made the record a classic for years. Includes the perennial favorites "Mother of the Future" and "Taurus Woman", two cuts which transformed the global jazz dance scene years back – plus the tracks "Ebonesque", "Black Love", and "Banks of the Nile".

A 70s soul jazz classic – one of those albums we go back to again and again over the years for inspiration! The album was one of the first from young reed player Carlos Garnett – and it's virtually a super-session, with a lineup that includes heavyweights like Buster Williams, Norman Connors, Charles Sullivan, Mauricio Smith, Reggie Lucas, Billy Hart, Mtume, and Dee Dee Bridgewater – all coming together in a righteous blend of soul, funk, and jazz! The vibe here is incredible – far deeper than even on any of Garnett's other albums of the time – at a level that sounds as beautiful on the mellow cuts as it does on the soaring, spiritual soul jazz anthems that have made the record a classic for years. Includes the perennial favorites "Mother of the Future" and "Taurus Woman", two cuts which transformed the global jazz dance scene years back – plus the tracks "Ebonesque", "Black Love", and "Banks of the Nile".

A landmark first album from drummer Norman Connors – a spiritual jazz masterpiece that builds wonderfully on the post-Coltrane tradition! Norman is years away from his smoother soul recordings at this point, and coming out of a righteous jazz background that included work with Marion Brown and Archie Shepp. For this initial set, Norman's in incredible company – working with players that include Herbie Hancock on both electric and acoustic keys, plus Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Gary Bartz and Carlos Garnett on saxes, Stanley Clarke on bass, and Billy Hart and Airto on percussion – plus a chorus of vocalists on the album's mighty title cut! Tracks are all long, spiritual, and freely exploratory – but never in a style that goes too far outside, or that forgets the joy and love that can spring forth in a forward-thinking session like this one! Titles include "Dance Of Magic", "Give The Drummer Some", "Morning Change", and "Blue".

Excellent funky jazz material from Norman Connors! The record's a key link between his earlier spiritual stuff, and his later smooth R&B material – and it features a lot of strong players like Dom Um Romao, Reggie Lucas, Hubert Laws, Carlos Garnett, and Gary Bartz. The cut "Slew Foot" is a funky monster, with a great sample on the intro – and there's lots of other nice ones, like a version of Garnett's "Mother Of The Future", and the cuts "Dreams" and "Chuka".

A rare and beautiful Andrew Hill session, and one of the classic Blue Note entries into the "jazz and voices" sound that the label pioneered with Donald Byrd and Eddie Gale. Hill leads a core jazz group that includes Woody Shaw, Carlos Garnett, Richard Davis, and Freddie Waits – and the group is backed by a vocal ensemble with a very spiritual vibe. The sound is a lot more hip than the Donald Byrd & Voices albums, and the playing of the core jazz group is very very soulful – along the lines of Hill's Grass Roots album, which was also from the same period. The record's similar to the Max Roach/Billy Harper vocal work around the same time, and titles include "Ghetto Lights", "Hey Hey", "Two Lullabies", and "Love Chant". A very unique album for Andrew Hill!

One of the most spiritual albums recorded by Pharoah Sanders for Impulse – an open-ended and free-thinking exploration of ideas, all very much in the late John Coltrane mode! The group's a largeish one – filled with spiritual soul jazz luminaries who include Hannibal Marvin Peterson on trumpet, Harold Vick on tenor, Carlos Garnett on flute, Joe Bonner on piano and harmonium, Cecil McBee and Stanley Clarke on basses, Norman Connors and Billy Hart on drums, and Lawrence Killian on congas and percussion – all working together beautifully, with some of the same spirit as the larger jazz ensembles on the Strata East label! Sanders' magnificent tenor is at the helm of the album – pushing, urging, and directing the players with a strong sense of vision – and although live, the album has the same sort of intimate intensity as the best studio sides by Pharoah for Impulse. Titles include "Healing Song", "Memories of John W. Coltrane" and "Lumkili".

A beautiful, beautiful little record – as righteous and soulful as some of the best spiritual jazz classics of the 70s – and arguably even rarer, as it was only issued on a tiny label from Atlanta! Solar have a sound that uses 3 female lead vocalists in chorus formation – one that comes across with the righteousness of Roy Ayers' best use of such a style, but which is taken even further in a wave of soul jazz expression – in a mode that reminds us a lot of the work of Dee Dee Bridgewater or Jean Carn singing together on key early records by Norman Connors, Carlos Garnett, or Mtume! The vocals share equally with the instrumentation on the set – delivering a message that's rich and positive, but never cliched or hokey. Instrumentation includes flute, soprano sax, piano, and some great percussion – and playing is inside, but exploratory – definitely in a post-Coltrane vein. Titles include "Rejoice", "Vanity", "Living For The Most High", "Faith For My Mind", and "It's A New Day". Really great stuff – and right up there with the classics of spiritual soul jazz!

A beautiful, beautiful little record – as righteous and soulful as some of the best spiritual jazz classics of the 70s – and arguably even rarer, as it was only issued on a tiny label from Atlanta! Solar have a sound that uses 3 female lead vocalists in chorus formation – one that comes across with the righteousness of Roy Ayers' best use of such a style, but which is taken even further in a wave of soul jazz expression – in a mode that reminds us a lot of the work of Dee Dee Bridgewater or Jean Carn singing together on key early records by Norman Connors, Carlos Garnett, or Mtume! The vocals share equally with the instrumentation on the set – delivering a message that's rich and positive, but never cliched or hokey. Instrumentation includes flute, soprano sax, piano, and some great percussion – and playing is inside, but exploratory – definitely in a post-Coltrane vein. Titles include "Rejoice", "Vanity", "Living For The Most High", "Faith For My Mind", and "It's A New Day". Really great stuff – and right up there with the classics of spiritual soul jazz!

Way more than just a jazz funk revival – given that all of the tracks here are from the mighty Muse Records, one of the coolest companies going back in the 70s! The set does a great job of mixing straighter funk with some more righteous numbers – showing two key sides of the label's genius at the time – and really blowing our mind with the range of wonderful music in the set! There's loads of overlooked gems here – packaged nicely in one cool little set – and titles include "Mean Streets No Bridges" by Jimmy Ponder with John Patton, "Chameleon" and "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again" by Eddie Jefferson, "In the Middle of It All" by Neal Creque, "Mystery Of The Ages" by Carlos Garnett, "In The Meantime" by Kenny Barron", "Walk That Funky Dog" by Stan Bronstein, "Philadelphia Bright" by Walter Bishop Jr, "and both "Let Us Go" and "Black Love" by Carlos Garnett.

Early genius from drummer Norman Connors – a sensational bit of righteous soul jazz – right up there with the best work on Strata East and Black Jazz from the time! The sound here is full, soulful, and spiritual – as Connors heads up a large ensemble that includes luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, Carlos Garnett, Buster Williams, and Dee Dee Bridgewater – all working together in a formation that's free spirited, yet tightly unified – often at a level that's even stronger than their own recordings! The album mixes a few longer tracks with shorter numbers – in a mode that reminds us a lot of Garnett's classic Black Love album – and titles include "Song For Rosa", "Black Lightnin", "Dark Of Light", "Butterfly Dreams", and "Laughter".

A landmark first album from drummer Norman Connors – a spiritual jazz masterpiece that builds wonderfully on the post-Coltrane tradition! Norman is years away from his smoother soul recordings at this point, and coming out of a righteous jazz background that included work with Marion Brown and Archie Shepp. For this initial set, Norman's in incredible company – working with players that include Herbie Hancock on both electric and acoustic keys, plus Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Gary Bartz and Carlos Garnett on saxes, Stanley Clarke on bass, and Billy Hart and Airto on percussion – plus a chorus of vocalists on the album's mighty title cut! Tracks are all long, spiritual, and freely exploratory – but never in a style that goes too far outside, or that forgets the joy and love that can spring forth in a forward-thinking session like this one! Titles include "Dance Of Magic", "Give The Drummer Some", "Morning Change", and "Blue".

Early genius from drummer Norman Connors – a sensational bit of righteous soul jazz – right up there with the best work on Strata East and Black Jazz from the time! The sound here is full, soulful, and spiritual – as Connors heads up a large ensemble that includes luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, Carlos Garnett, Buster Williams, and Dee Dee Bridgewater – all working together in a formation that's free spirited, yet tightly unified – often at a level that's even stronger than their own recordings! The album mixes a few longer tracks with shorter numbers – in a mode that reminds us a lot of Garnett's classic Black Love album – and titles include "Song For Rosa", "Black Lightnin", "Dark Of Light", "Butterfly Dreams", and "Laughter".

Massive double-length Miles from the early 70s – some of his most inventive long form work of the time, and some of his funkiest too! The album stretches out with almost an improvised jamming sort of quality – tunes that begin sparely, then have the musicians stepping in as the groove builds up – an odd amalgam of electric sounds on sitar, keyboards, and guitar – mixed with earthier percussion and some great trumpet and sax – working at a level that has the edge of the Japanese recordings, but a lot less noise overall. Players include Carlos Garnett on tenor and soprano sax, Reggie Lucas on guitar, Khalil Balakrishna on electric sitar, Cedric Lawson on keyboards, Al Foster on drums, Badal Roy on tabla, and Mtume on percussion. Titles include the "Foot Fooler" tracks "Rated X", "Honky Tonk", "Theme From Jack Johnson", and "Black Satin/The Theme" – and the "Slickaphonics" tracks "Ife" and "Right Off/The Theme".

A wonderful session of hip soul jazz tracks from Freddie Hubbard – mostly short tight and groovy, but played with a sophisticated style that points the way towards the soul jazz sound of the 70s. Soul Experiment is a fitting title – as Freddie works hard with hip players like Billy Butler, Carlos Garnett, and Kenny Barron to kick out some rhythms that are different than those heard on his earlier albums. Garnett, Hubbard, and Barron all contribute original titles to the album – including the tracks "Hang 'Em Up", "Soul Experiment", "Midnite Soul", "Lonely Soul" – and they do a great version of Walter Bishop's groover "Soul Turn Around".

Rare grooves galore – served up by Chicago DJ Sadar Bahar, with just the right kind of depth we'd expect! The set's one of the funkiest in years from the BBE label – and bristles with great energy ritht from the start – loads of obscure uptempo funky cuts that almost hit a disco mode, but not entirely – laying back instead in that more spontaneous, more live approach to funky music – with a few nice touches of jazz as well! The package includes some real gems from the 70s, plus a few more bits from later years – and titles include "Comin On Strong" by Calender, "Odyssey (part 1)" by Johnny Harris, "Bail Out" by Maxayn, "French Fried Boogie" by Puzzle People, "Striving For Tomorrow" by Moses, "Free" by Seawind, "Scorcher" by Carl Grubbs, "Trying To Get Over" by Sparkles, "Funkyfied" by Chuck Higgins & The Wild Bunch, "Spirit" by Frederic Mercier, and "Mystery Of Ages" by Carlos Garnett.

Afro-centric jazz from the 70s through the 90s – a real spiritual journey in music, compiled from a host of hard to find records, most of which are long out of print! The music on the collection is from three different decades, but the set's got a wonderfully unified feel – thanks to a strong spiritual current that runs through all the tunes, and a linked heritage of performance that was shared by many of the players over the years. Tracks are from a very diverse set of sources – including many American and European indie labels of the 60s and 70s – and all tunes are long, soulful, and plenty darn righteous! Titles include "Song For Mozambique" by Archie Shepp, "Africa" by Sathima B Benjamin, "The Almoravid" by Joe Chambers, "Our Roots Began In Africa" by Pharoah Sanders, "Days Gone By" by Moe Koffman, "Children" by Nation/African Liberation Arts Ensemble, "Mrafu" by Nate Morgan, "Afro Blue" by J Life, "Desert Fairy Princess" by Adele Sebastian, and "Banks Of The Nile" by Carlos Garnett.

Things definitely get plenty deep on this jazz trip – a great run through the 70s catalog of Muse Records, and one that's filled with some incredible bits that we'd rank right up there with the best work of the time on labels like Black Jazz or Strata East! Muse always had a way of really letting its artists do their thing – and you'll heard that clearly on some of the best cuts here – numbers that offer up surprisingly vibrant sides of the artists included, usually with some righteous undertones. Titles include Eddie Jefferson's rendering of "Freedom Jazz Dance" (and a very crazy one at that), Charles Earland's excellent stormer "Murilley", Kenny Barron's "Swamp Demon", Walter Bishop Jr's "Soul Village", Joao Donato's "Night Tripper", "Old Man Moses" by Grant Green, and three nice ones by Carlos Garnett – "Good Shepherd", "Banks Of The Nile", and "Taurus Woman", from the classic Black Love LP.

Way more than just a jazz funk revival – given that all of the tracks here are from the mighty Muse Records, one of the coolest companies going back in the 70s! The set does a great job of mixing straighter funk with some more righteous numbers – showing two key sides of the label's genius at the time – and really blowing our mind with the range of wonderful music in the set! There's loads of overlooked gems here – packaged nicely in one cool little set – and titles include "Mean Streets No Bridges" by Jimmy Ponder with John Patton, "Chameleon" and "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again" by Eddie Jefferson, "In the Middle of It All" by Neal Creque, "Mystery Of The Ages" by Carlos Garnett, "In The Meantime" by Kenny Barron", "Walk That Funky Dog" by Stan Bronstein, "Philadelphia Bright" by Walter Bishop Jr, "and both "Let Us Go" and "Black Love" by Carlos Garnett.