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Diverse dancefloor funk – Volume 1 in the Afrodisia Club series – featuring an international roster of modern funk combos including Diplomats Of Solid Sound, Brother Soul, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Hi-Fly Orchestra, Port Angels, New Mastersounds and more! Great stuff all around, from neo classic funky soul, mod funk, modern DJ tooled hip hop funk, straight up raw small combo cookers and more. 13 tracks in all: "If You're Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)" by Diplomats Of Solid Sound Featuring The Diplomettes, "Cookies" by Brother Soul, "Angel Food Pt 1" by Port Angels, "Soupy" by Maggie Thrett, "Don't Stop" by Patrick & Eugene, "Crosstown Traffic" by Hi-Fly Orchestra, "Thirty Three (Ju Ju Orchestra remix)" by New Mastersounds, "Soul Burger" by Soulful Torino Orchestra and more.

Majestic Motown from the 70s – an almost-overlooked record, but a surprisingly sophisticated gem that's well worth discovering again! The album's definitely soul at the core, but embraces so many other rich styles too – and at points, almost feels like some of the most ambitious material of the Cadet/Concept scene in Chicago – especially given the full orchestrations on the tracks, handled by Jimmy Haskell and Jerry Long! Leonard Caston's the real genius behind the record, though – and works here to provide great support for co-vocalist Carolyn Majors – who trades leads back and forth with him, and is sometimes showcased on tracks that really let her heavenly vocals take off! The whole thing's great – and titles include an early version of the cut "I'll Keep A Light In My Window", which was later recorded by other groups – plus "Child Of Love", "There's Fear", "Satisfied Mind", "Let There Be Love", "No One Will Know", and "Say You Love Me True". CD features loads of bonus tracks too – 9 more numbers that act as a great second chapter to the album – titles that include "Mother's Son", "What About The Price", "If I Can", "We're Together", "I've Got To Fly", "Don't Let", and "I'm Flying Your Sky".

An amazing set of modern jazz – penned by Italian film composer Piero Umiliani, but also played by a very hip group headed by a young Gato Barbieri! Although Gato's probably best known for his late 60s appearances on the American scene, and his 70s dates for Impulse and Flying Dutchman – his earlier work in Italy is all pretty darn great, and this set shows the budding modernist to be in very strong company with a lineup that includes Enrico Rava on trumpet and Franco D'Andrea on piano, plus bass and drums. Side one of the record features full orchestrations by Umiliani – still plenty jazzy, with some great horn passages and cool use of vibes. Then side two features Umiliani's music played by the small group with Gato in the lead – a really great mix of modes that make the soundtrack a real standout, both in the Italian jazz and film scenes of the 60s. Titles include "Jazz Alla Vivaldi", "Ballata Della Bassa Padana", "Brass Fugato", "Una Bella Grinta", "Lontananza", "Sequenze Autostrata", "Free Theme", and "Hammond Blues"

Bobby's first two albums on one CD – like a dream come true to our ears! Both records are incredible stuff – with Bobby hitting hard on every level! The vocals are incredible – fresh, and raw, and with that warm little rasp that made him stand out so strongly from other singers of the late 60s. The arrangements are superb, with a mix of small-combo organ/guitar southern grooving, and just the right touches of larger orchestrations to push the whole thing over the top. The songwriting is superb – with some of Bobby's best early tracks, like "What Is This", "It's Gonna Rain", "I'm Gonna Forget About You", "Don't Look Back", "More Than I Can Stand", "I'm In Love", and "Baby! You Oughta Think it Over". Even the non-original tracks are wonderful – like the track "Fly Me to the Moon", which Bobby manages to completely make his own!

Way more than just "hits" – given that this hip box set features tracks from every single 12" released by the legendary P&P family of labels – a massive amount of underground dancefloor work from the late 70s and early 80s, and a set that gives new meaning to the word discography! If you know even just a bit of the P&P sound, you'll know you've got a revolutionary listening experience in store – music that goes way beyond conventional club and disco, with lots of weird little twists and turns – in both the instrumentation and production, which often use these cool little homemade spacey touches! Vocals are often right in synch with the offbeat grooves – and just about every cut on here is massively funky, too. Package features work by Cloud One, Milton Floyd, Sons Of Darkness, Jesse Gee, Scoopy, Rudy Stuart, Little Scotty, Henry Brooks, Fly Guy, Ahzz, Super Jay, Otis Turner, Sherod, The Destiny Orchestra, Bobby Mann, and many others – from singles that originally appeared on labels like Queen Constance, La Shawn, Land Of Hits, Golden Flamingo, Heavenly Star, Clarence, Destiny, Mr Brown, P&P, Sound Of New York, and others. 185 songs, on 15 CDs, packaged in cool slim sleeves in a tight box set – over 18 hours of music, and all of it great!

Rare work from 50s vocalist Beverly Kenney – a selection of material that stands nicely alongside her commercially-released albums of the time! Kenney first burst on the scene with a flourish, then recorded only briefly before her all-too-soon death in 1960 – so the unreleased gems here really do a lot towards filling in her small catalog of music – and offer up some surprising slices of work pulled from TV and radio performances in 1954 and 1958. Backing is by a group with Roland Hanna on piano and Vinnie Burke on bass on some tracks – and by The Skitch Henderson Orchestra on others – and titles include the Kenney originals "I Hate Rock & Roll" and "I Don't Believe In Love" – the latter of which is sung by Diane Hubka, in a recent performance added to this package. Other vintage songs include "The More I See You", "Swing & Sway", "Charleston Fling", "I'm Ready For The Show", "Tappin Out A Merry Beat", and "What Is There To Say" – plus a short interview with Beverly.

Soaring grooves from the legendary KPM Sound Library – a set of tunes that sparkles with all the charm and glamour of early 70s air travel! The title and cover really fit the spirit of the music here – as most of the tracks are upbeat and sky-flying – the sorts of numbers that go way beyond the sleepier side of easy listening, and really show the way that Easy maestros of the 70s were picking up plenty of funky elements in their music! There's no hard funk tracks here – as you might find on other sound library sets – but there's definitely an undercurrent of groove, thanks to some well-chosen rhythms, strong use of electric bass, and an overall sense of flow in most of the orchestrations – a feel that reminds us a lot of some of the excellent Brigade Mondaine compilations from a few years back. The package really offers up a different look than usual at KPM – and the tunes are as classy as anything we might have loved years ago, on the legendary Sound Library collections. Titles include "Sun Lover", "The Great Outdoors", "Husky Birdsong", and "Towards The Sun" by Keith Mansfield; "Holiday People", "Soft Memories", "Gentle Breeze", "Summer Dreams", "Summer Season", and "Friendly Faces" by James Clarke; "Paradise Found" by Dick Doerschuk, "Silk Stream" by David Gold, "Busy Spectacle" and "Fun In The Sun" by Neil Richardson, "Sunseekers" by David Lindup, and "A Tender Touch" by Steve Gray.

The first album in a legendary run of vocal jazz classics on Atlantic Records – and a set that really helped Chris Connor move to a new level of expression in her music! The sound here is much richer than Connor's previous recordings for Bethlehem – and the small combo jazz backings have been replaced by fuller orchestrations by Ralph Burns – done in a cool, edgey sort of way that really pushes Chris into newly sophisticated territory! The sound's on a par with the best June Christy/Pete Rugolo collaborations on Capitol – and the group's filled with some great jazz players, including Zoot Sims, John Lewis, Milt Hinton, and Oscar Pettiford. Titles include "I Get A Kick Out Of You", "My April Heart", "He Was Good to Me", "Where Are You", and "Get Out Of Town". CD features 2 bonus tracks – "Circus" and "Flying Home".

One of the few cases in the history of pop music where the record is worth all the hype! Marvin blew everyone's mind when he unleashed this amazing suite of political soul tunes – not only just because he'd moved past the simple love songs of earlier years, but also because he was working with an amazingly complicated approach to soul music, one that would touch the work of others for years to come. David Van DePitte arranged and conducted the whole album – with soaring orchestrations mixed with smooth modern soul, in a style that reminds us a lot of the work of Charles Stepney at Cadet, who'd been doing this sort of thing for years but with less success. In the hands of Marvin Gaye, though, the material has an amazing quality – and all the disparate elements of the album are fused together in one powerful message by Marvin's incredible voice. One that we never tire of, and a record to be listened to all the way through every time. Titles include "What's Goin On", "Save The Children", "Flyin High (In The Friendly Sky)", "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)". This expanded edition includes the B-side tracks "God Is Love" and "Sad Tomorrow".

A really cool compilation of late 50s outer space obsessive pop, rockabilly boogie, and groovy space age jazz numbers – wild numbers from the decade before we set down on the moon! The numbers are mostly from the end of the 50s – age of black & white flying saucer attack movies and cold war hysteria – and it's filled with seedy and spacey little numbers that clearly influenced a generation of cheeky rockers to come. Martian honky tonk numbers, theremin enhanced instros, early Sun Ra cosmic jazz, echoey surf rock, and so much more! 27 tracks in all: "Blast Off" by The Jimmie Haskell Orchestra, "Saturn" by Sun Ra, "In The Bible" by Flying Saucers, "Martian Band" by Wildtones, "Moon Moods" by Samuel J Hoffman, "Space Storm" by Col Frank Erhardt and more.

Patrick Adams picks the best of P&P Records – and the man definitely knows what he's doing – given that he was one of the "P's" in the label's name! The tunes here are heavy on those cool spaced-out grooves that Adams did so well – that wonderfully hip, and very underground style he used after an initial few years in more mainstream soul – the trademark imprint of P&P, and the reason why the label's tunes have gone onto influence so many others over the years! The grooves are all sublime – from quick-stepping moogy numbers, to mellower tracks that stretch out in this great sort of gentle funk – all tied together with a united production aesthetic and lots of shared sympathies between the artists. Titles include "Dance Dance Dance" by Marta Acuna, "Jump Jump Jump" by The Musicmakers, "God's Greatest Gift To Man Is Woman" by Margie Lomax, "God Save & Protect All The Children" by Margo Williams, "The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us" by Golden Flamingo Orchestra – and "Flying High", "Disco Juice", "Happy Music", and "Don't Let My Rainbow Pass Me By" by Cloud One.

Great jazzy grooves from the Quiet Nights Orchestra – the second set from the group, and every bit as wonderful as the first! There's wicked blend of modes going on here – a bit of modal jazz, some clubjazz rhythms, a touch of Schema groove, and also just a hint of older jazz modes too – all wrapped together with a youthful, vibrant energy that really makes the whole thing sparkle! If you've ever dug work on labels like Ricky Tick, Schema, or some of the best older Compost material, you'll find plenty here to love – and it's great to know that there's folks like Quiet Nights out there, still putting out grooves like this. Sofie Norling sings these beautiful vocals on a few tracks, but overall most of the set is instrumental – with a nice mix of trumpet, trombone, saxes, and even some vibes. Titles include "Waves", "When We Fly", "Movin", "The Path", "Dreaming", "One More Try", "He Is My Music", and "Falling For You".

A musical document of an amazing moment in the New York scene – the late 80s/early 90s wave of vogue balls – which were almost a collision of club culture with high fashion! There was a particularly rich gender-bending element to the vogue scene – and the music that accompanied it was a key part of that activity – tracks that had already risen to fame in crossover clubs from previous years, taken to new heights by DJs who provided music along with the voguing activity – in a great array of grooves from the disco years through early house music, brought together in ways that made 80s musical evolution make a heck of a lot of sense! The compilation album is a companion to the excellent book of the same name – also by Soul Jazz – and this 3CD version features tracks that include "Moment Of My Life" by Inner Life, "The Ha Dance (Ken/Lou mixx)" by Masters At Work, "Just Like A Queen (share the throne mix)" by Ellis D, "Is It All Over My Face" by Loose Joints, "Body Drill" by 2 Body's, "Love Hangover" by Diana Ross, "The Witch Doctor (dark ages mix)" by Armand Van Helden, "Break 4 Love (Spanish fly mix)" by Raze, "Din Daa Daa" by George Kranz, "X (Sound Factory mix)" by Junior Vazquez, "Love Is The Message (Tom Moulton mix)" by MFSB, "Cunty (party mix)" by Rageous Projecting Keven Aviance, "Love Thang" by First Choice, "This Brutal House" by Nitro Deluxe, "Ooh I Love It (Love Break)" by Salsoul Orchestra, and "Deep In Vogue (Banjie Realness mix)" by Malcolm McLaren. Also includes a limited bonus mix CD by Junior Vazquez – and a booklet and cool set of postcards!

Get ready for a whole new source for funky music – obscure small label recordings made by singers and musicians working in British bars, clubs, and lounges during the 60s and 70s! The cover looks kitschy, but the grooves are surprisingly great – a really wide range of funky numbers that feature lots of organ, choppy guitar, and jazzy vocals – all served up with a style that aims to be commercial, but which always falls a few spots short of the mark – giving the tracks some nicely rough edges, and a great sense of humanity that definitely earns the "Working Man's Soul" in the title! You'll be hard pressed to find most of these tracks in the original on either side of the Atlantic – and the folks at Licorice Soul have done a really wonderful job reconstructing the details of this elusive scene. A real delight through and through – one of the most mind-opening collections we've heard in years – with tracks that include "Meadowbank" by Sounds Bob Rogers, "Don't Bother Me No More" by Sophisticats, "Work Song" by Alan Randall, "Vehicle" by Collection, "Flyin Hi" by Maxwell Plumm, "Little Bit Of Love" by Carol Lee Scott, "Chain Of Fools" by Dave Anthony, "Light My Fire" by Brian Sharp, "Hip Flask" by The Northern Jazz Orchestra, "Hang In There" by The Peter Coe Big Band, and "Funky Nassau" by John O'Hara & The Famous O'Hara's Playboys.