All Categories — LPs  

One of Julie London's wildest albums – and one of her sexiest too! The record has Julie running through the calender – singing a song a month, dedicated to January, February, March, and so on – a really great concept for a record like this, in ways that set the album apart from some of London's other classics of the time! The record's certainly one of her campier efforts – but in a great way – and it's further agumented by a great cover that has pinup images of Julie in a setting specific to each month – a cheesecake spectacular that's almost worth the price of admission alone. Titles include "June In January", "February Brings The Rain", "Melancholy March", "Memphis In June", and "Time For August".

Candido cut sooo many great Latin records over the years, spanning a wide range of styles, we have a hard time deciding which we love the best. We like to think this may be his best album from the early part of his career, specifically because it features the master conga player amidst a tight jazz lineup, who leave him plenty of room to solo and just plain get down doing his thing. Dick Hyman's on organ, Joe Puma's on guitar, and Ernie Royal's on trumpet, with George Duvivier and Charlie Persip in the rhythm section. 8 tracks in all, including "Afro Blue", "Caravan", "Softly But Blue", "Blue Lou", "Blue Prelude", "Bongo Baby", "Blue Dirge" and "Candido Cocktail".

A great example of the way that Gil Evans really opened up his groove in the 70s – moving here way way past the cool jazz and third stream of earlier years – into a soulful style that's far groovier than might be expected! Part of the strength of the set is because of the players – as Gil's working with a group of younger soul jazz and spiritual soloists that include Ted Dunbar, Billy Harper, and Hannibal Marvin Peterson – as well as the older soul modernist Richard Williams. But there's also some other specifically Evans-like touches to the record that stand out – like Gil's stark notes on acoustic piano and his lighter work on the electric keys – plus a bit of inventive synthesizer from David Horowitz, who makes a few tracks really crackle with energy. Tracks include "Zee Zee", "Blues In Orbit", "Cry Of Hunger", and "Thoroughbred" – the latter two of which are lovely compositions by Billy Harper!

Was Clinton in jail when this one came out? We can't remember, but the back cover does say specifically "This album does not include any performances or creations by George Clinton." The band does include Fuzzy Haskins, Grady Thomas, Ken Blackmon, Calvin Simon, and others – and the sound is not bad early 80s slap-bass funk, with lots of nice electronified moments. Titles include "Phunklords", "The Witch", "Connections & Disconnections", "Call The Doctor", and "Who's A Funkadelic".