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A lost chapter in the career of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – an obscure early 70s album, issued by the mostly-blues Paula Records label in Louisiana, and one of the hardest to find albums in their catalog! The album features 3 long tracks – "Chi-Congo", "Enlorfe",... read more

Very righteous work from Fontella Bass – an album done after her time at Chess Records, and after her work in Paris with the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – in a heartfelt, southern soul mode that's totally great! Fontella's back working with producer Oliver Sain, who first brought her fame... read more

Very righteous work from Fontella Bass – an album done after her time at Chess Records, and after her work in Paris with the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – in a heartfelt, southern soul mode that's totally great! Fontella's back working with producer Oliver Sain, who first brought her fame... read more

A wonderful album by Odell Brown – recorded years after he broke up with his Organizers group, with a sweet electric groove that's very different than his Chess LPs – and also quite a bit different from other records on Paula in the mid 70s! Odell's playing electric piano on the set... read more

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One of the greatest albums ever from pianist Ronnie Kole – a hip cat who played heavily on the New Orleans scene of the 60s and 70s – but who also had a soulful sound that was much more in keeping with piano work from the Windy City! This set has a nice crackle from the start –... read more

One of the greatest albums ever from pianist Ronnie Kole – a hip cat who played heavily on the New Orleans scene of the 60s and 70s – but who also had a soulful sound that was much more in keeping with piano work from the Windy City! This set has a nice crackle from the start –... read more

Killer piano from Ronnie Kole – a set with loads of cool soul jazz touches throughout! The core of the album's based around Ronnie's trio – with some excellent hard-handed work from Kole that's right up there with Ray Bryant in the 60s – but it also features great arrangements... read more

The greatest session ever recorded by pianist Ronnie Kole – recorded for the Louisiana label Paula, but with all the feel of a Chess/Cadet session from the late 60s! All of this is no surprise, since Ronnie himself was an ex-Chicagoan, living in New Orleans – and the album's... read more

Harmony soul heaven – and the only full album from The Montclairs! The group were a sublime vocal group from the 70s – one with a sound to rival The Whatnauts or The Moments, but which also had a bit more of the super-dope touches you'd expect from their look on the cover of the record... read more

A sweet set of electric funk from James Moody – and a great little record to match the grooves he was laying down at the Perception label in the early 70s – with a very unique sound! Moody's working here alongside some sweet work on electric piano by either Jodie Christian or Tennyson... read more

One of the best soul records to come out on the Paula label in the early 70s – one with a number of beautifully soulful moments – and a few surprisingly funky ones, too! Although Bobby did a lot of work for other singers, this is one of the few albums he actually cut under his own name... read more

Funky soul from Bobby Patterson – a smoking set of music that's easily some of the funkiest ever cut for the Paula label in the 70s! Bobby's a southern soul singer, but he's got a righteousness that feels much more Detroit or Chicago – and some of the best cuts here have this sharp,... read more

An excellent album by Isaac Redd Holt – one half of the incredible Young-Holt rhythm team, bursting out nicely here on his own! This is Redd's second album – first for Paula, as the other one was a jazz effort on Argo back in the 60s – and it's a wild blend of jazz, funk, and a... read more

This was Redd's second album after the breakup of the Young-Holt team – and it's also the tightest. The best cuts have this hard funk sound that features tightly stepping drums by Redd, and a classic choppy groove that's best summed up in the cut "Do It Baby", a favorite with hip... read more

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An oft-overlooked, but very nice record from Sonny Stitt – recorded in Chicago in the early 70s, and with two different types of groups that show off both sides of the city's jazz scene at the time! O the first 4 numbers, the group is a bit on the larger side – giving the material a... read more

An oft-overlooked, but very nice record from Sonny Stitt – recorded in Chicago in the early 70s, and with two different types of groups that show off both sides of the city's jazz scene at the time! On the first 4 numbers, the group is a bit on the larger side – giving the material a... read more

A beautiful little solo session from the late Mal Waldron – recorded in Paris in 1972, and featuring (as you'd guess from the title) Mal stretching out wonderfully on a well-tuned Steinway! The mood of the set is softer and more introspective than some of Waldron's other work from the time... read more

Fantastic! Young and Holt lay down a monster set of grooves from Curtis Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack (all the good ones – like "Freddie's Dead", "Give Me Your Love", "Pusher Man", and "Superfly"), and they also get into some funky tracks of their own... read more

The funky side of the Jewel & Paula labels – surprisingly jazzy work for a company that's best known for its blues recordings! Most of the tracks here come from a creative early 70s stretch for the label – and there's a number of cuts that show a strong connection with the AACM and... read more