One of the best Rotary Connection albums for Cadet – with an incredible baroque spacey soul sound that still feels very fresh today! The group's vocals are especially eerie – and float around these wild arrangements by Charles Stepney, peppered with strings, soul, fuzzy guitars, and even slight bits of electronics. The album features their incredible cut "Memory Band" – the one that begins with those cool sitar riffs that have been sampled by Tribe Called Quest and The Fugees. Other tracks include "Ruby Tuesday", "Soul Man", "Amen", "Rapid Transit", and "Black Noise". LP, Vinyl record album

With Iriscience, Maylay Sparks, Last Emperor, and DJ Babu. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Kanye West finally dropped the full length in early '04 – and it's one of the best hip hop albums of that year. Kanye is probably the hottest beats producer of the year, too, having dug through the greatest soul hooks of the past few decades for his samples, and piled on the chunkiest, catchiest, thickest beats anywhere. And if he doesn't have the greatest vocal delivery in hop hop (if he did, he'd be Superman considering his production pedigree), he makes up for it with some masterful lines, like "I gotta apologize to Mos and Kweli/is it cool to rap about gold if I told the world I copped it from Ghana and Mali?" from "Breath In Breath Out". Hilariously, Kanye also found just about the sharpest theme for a record that we've scene in a while – the tangential connection between gang bangers and frat boys! He ain't granola, he ain't bling bling, he's just a guy from Chicago with a sometimes astoundingly strong production aesthetic, very smart rhymes and a lot of people who owe him great guest spots, and deliver. Were you looking for more than that? It's a triumph, one that Chicago couldn't be more proud of! "We Don't Care", "Graduation Day", "All Falls Down" with Syleena Johnson, "Spaceship" with GLC & Consequence, "Never Let Me Down" with Jay-Z, "Get 'Em High" with Talib Kweli & Common,"New Work Out Plan", the great single "Slow Jamz" with Twista & Jamie Foxx and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Kanye West finally dropped the full length in early '04 – and it's one of the best hip hop albums of the year. Kanye is probably the hottest beats producer of the year, too, having dug through the greatest soul hooks of the past few decades for his samples, and piled on the chunkiest, catchiest, thickest beats anywhere. And if he doesn't have the greatest vocal delivery in hop hop (if he did, he'd be Superman considering his production pedigree), he makes up for it with some masterful lines, like "I gotta apologize to Mos and Kweli/is it cool to rap about gold if I told the world I copped it from Ghana and Mali?" from "Breath In Breath Out". Hilariously, Kanye also found just about the sharpest theme for a record that we've scene in a while – the tangential connection between gang bangers and frat boys! He ain't granola, he ain't bling bling, he's just a guy from Chicago with a sometimes astoundingly strong production aesthetic, very smart rhymes and a lot of people who owe him great guest spots, and deliver. Were you looking for more than that? It's a triumph, one that Chicago couldn't be more proud of! "We Don't Care", "Graduation Day", "All Falls Down" with Syleena Johnson, "Spaceship" with GLC & Consequence, "Never Let Me Down" with Jay-Z, "Get 'Em High" with Talib Kweli & Common,"New Work Out Plan", the great single "Slow Jamz" with Twista & Jamie Foxx and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Forget the Shakespearean reference in the title – which might make you think the whole album's got a Renaissance bent – because the album's a nice bit of funky flute jazz from Hubert Laws, done with the same groovy vibe as some of his earlier albums for the CTI label! The set was produced by Bob James, and has lots of strong James touches – from the sweet work on Fender Rhodes and clavinet that works nicely with the flute on most tracks, to the full group rhythms that make the best tracks into nice smooth groovers! A few tunes get more introspective, in Hubert's Afro-Classic mode – and titles include "Guatemala Connection", "What Are We Gonna Do", "Undecided", "Forlane", and "Tryin To Get The Feelin Again". LP, Vinyl record album

Fun fact – Mitch Aliotta was also a member of Chicago's Rotary Connection! LP, Vinyl record album

Early work that really shows the initial Armstrong connection to the world of blues – thanks to some great vocalists on most of these cuts! LP, Vinyl record album

A great return to form for the legendary Sidney Barnes – known best as a onetime member of both Rotary Connection and the P-Funk universe – but working here with great small combo backing from the Speedometer combo! "Best Thing" is an original by Barnes – sung in this sweet raspy style that gets great support from the funky group – who even thrown in a sweet Hammond solo in the middle! The flipside is a remake of Nolan Porter's "If I Could Only Be Sure" – a midtempo burner that has Sidney sounding even better on vocals! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Funky funky Don Ellis – a great set of electric groovers released at the same time that Don scored big with his soundtrack for The French Connection! As you'd guess from the title, the feel here is quite similar – funky electric big band jazz, with a very hip 70s action soundtrack feel – one that mixes acoustic sax and trumpet passages with some groovier keyboards and electronic bits – all wrapped up in production that's tight, but never too slick to be funky! The album features a great take on Don's excellent "Theme From The French Connection" – plus great electric jazz covers of "Alone Again Naturally", "Superstar", "I Feel The Earth Move", "Roundabout", and "Lean On Me" – as well as album originals "Chain Reaction" and "Train To Get There". LP, Vinyl record album

A bit smoother than Ben's earlier albums – but a great little set all the way through – and about as classic as you can get for Sidran in the 70s! The album's got a bit more soul in the mix, but still has some jazzy elements in the backings – and where things were sometimes messed up in the past, they're much more straightforward here – in ways that make the record really sparkle nicely! Ben's voice is still really compelling, and as on his best albums, there's some nice funky grooves in the mix that keep things fresh. Players include Phil Upchurch on bass and guitar, Woody Shaw on trumpet, David Newman and Sonny Seals on saxes, and Richard Tee on organ. Titles include the great instrumental "Let's Make A Deal" – a fast groover with guitar and keyboards riffing away, sounding like some lost jazz funk gem from the Fantasy Records catalog – plus "Beg For It", "Cuban Connection", "Free In America", "New York State Of Mind", and "Feel Your Groove". LP, Vinyl record album

A very cool 2LP, Japanese-only pressing of Musical Menu – one that features lots of bonus material, and a different set list than the original album! There's lots of great arrangements here from Charles Stepney, who makes the whole thing a real Cadet studios masterpiece! The sound's a bit like some of the Rotary Connection albums put together under Stepney's supervision – but given that the group is the Dells, the vocals are much much better, with a much stronger soul component – and fused with some incredible musical arrangements! Titles include "If You Don't Move I'll Fall", "You Don't Care", "Stand Up & Show The World", "Always Together", "Hallways Of My Mind", "Does Anybody Know I'm Here", "Don't Make Me A Storyteller", "I Hear Voices", "I Wish It Was Me You Loved", "Strung Out Over You", "I Miss You", "Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation", and "Good Bye Mary Anne". LP, Vinyl record album

Mindblowing work from Minnie Riperton – her first solo album, cut at the end of the 60s, after a number of years of work with the group Rotary Connection. The album builds off the now famous sound of Rotary Connection – but takes it to the next level, with arch-baroque production by the great Charles Stepney – who couches Minnie's fantastic vocals in a suite of shimmering soulful tracks that mix strings, horns, jazzy piano, and slight touches of bouncing rhythms. The overall sound is impossible to describe – sort of a cross between Burt Bacharach on A&M, Scott Walker's 3rd album, and the sound of Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On. The album's pure genius all the way through – one of the highlights of the Chicago scene of the 60s – and proof that Riperton, Stepney, and crew were shooting for the outer limits of soul music! Titles include "Les Fleur", "Only When I'm Dreaming", "Rainy Day In Centerville", "Memory Band", "Expecting", "Whenever Wherever", and "Oh, By The Way". This album's a 2nd pressing of the album Come to My Garden, from 1982, with one less track. LP, Vinyl record album

Gwen Guthrie's first album for Island Records – a unique little soul set from the early 80s, recorded in Nassau with backing from Sly & Robbie – in a groove that's totally great! The rhythms here are really at the heart of the set – not in a way that eclipses Gwen's vocals, but which does plenty to make the record stand out from the pack at the time – in a groove that's partly clubby, mostly soulful, and which has some key elements from its Nassau connection! Other players on the date include Wally Badarou on keyboards and Sticky Thompson on percussion – and titles include "Peek A Boo", "Your Turn To Burn", "God Don't Like Ugly", "Dance Fever", "Getting Hot", "Your Turn To Burn", and "For You". LP, Vinyl record album

The title's a bit obtuse, but the music is warm and soulful throughout – a really tremendous session that carries on the strong legacy of solo work that Jimmy Heath was doing in the 70s! The feel here is a lot like some of Heath's dates for the Muse or Xanadu labels – and Jimmy's working here with a great rhythm section that includes Larry Willis on piano, Stafford James on bass, and Akira Tana on drums – players who provide a very soulful grounding for the set. Heath blows alto, tenor, and soprano sax – and remaining players include Tom Williams on trumpet and Tony Purrone on guitar. The groove is in a classic Prestige/Riverside mode – not hard hardbop, but soulful, with touches of post-Coltrane blowing, and the mix of lyricism and soul jazz that Heath's always brought to his best work. Titles include "Trane Connections", "Forever Sonny", "You Can See", "I Waited For You", and "Song For Ben Webster". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the stranger chapters of the Holland-Dozier-Holland story of the early 70s – and one of the coolest, too! Warlock are a jazzy rock combo with plenty of soul – a bit like a twisted version of Blood Sweat & Tears, but with all the sinister energy you'd guess from the image on the cover! Most of the numbers have a nasty scratchy sort of vocal – almost Alice Cooper-ish, in keeping with the Warlock name of the group – but a few others get a bit more soulful and funky, belying the HDH connection of the group – sometimes even showing a righteous jazzy vibe, as kind of an odd echo of the Detroit Tribe Records scene. The best tracks have some jazzy phrasing in the mix, and let the guitars go off to the side – and titles include "Love Girl", "You've Been My Rock", "So Can Woman", "Thrills Of Love", and the 14 minute jammer "As You Die/Music Box", which almost has a Colosseum build to it! LP, Vinyl record album

Skool Boyz are a lot better than you might guess from their dated 80s spelling – a surprisingly tight little trio, bouncing along with lots of riffing rhythms and sweet keyboard lines, but also keeping things pretty solid with a good mix of ballads alongside the groovers! One of the group members is Stanton Sheppard, and Bill Bunky Sheppard's listed as the executive producer – so we're guessing there's some sort of connection to the earlier years of the Chicago soul scene here – and there's definitely a solid approach to the record that's way more than the commercial pop you might expect from other groups with "boys" in their name. Titles include "Jam Beneath The Groove", "Can We Do It Again" (which has little bit of rapping), "You Can Get Down", "This Feeling Must Be Real", "I Ain't Gonna Go Searching", and "You Took The Best Part Of Me". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent – and totally rare – recording of Freddie Redd's score to The Connection – done more famously on Blue Note under Freddie's own name. This isn't the version that was released by Blue Note, nor is it the version on Charlie Parker records – instead, it's an obscure set led by trumpeter Howard McGhee (during his great comeback period of the early 60's), and featuring the amazing tenor talents of Tina Brooks (whose few Blue Note sessions are the stuff of legend!) Freddie Redd plays piano on the set, and he plays with as much fire as on his Blue Note recording of the music – with with McGhee in the lead, the sound is quite different. Titles include "Wigglin", "Who Killed Cock Robin", "OD", "Jim Dunn's Dilemma", and "Time To Smile". LP, Vinyl record album

A great little set that brings together the short but fantastic legacy of Risco Connection – a late 70s project led by Studio One drummer Joe Isaacs, after moving from Kingston and setting up shop on the scene in Toronto! Joe calls on plenty of his older roots in early reggae, but also serves up cuts that have a strong nod towards contemporary club – slowing down the rhythms from the pace of disco, but also not really working in a reggae groove either – and instead coming up with a really unique hybrid of both – one that's peppered by vocals from a variety of different singers, often has nice keyboard touches in a moogy/spacey style, and which also features dubby reworkings of most of the tunes too! As usual, Strut do a great job of putting together the material with nicely detailed notes – and titles include two versions each of "It's My House", "Good Times", "Ain't No Stoppin Us Now", and "Sitting In The Park" – plus "I'm Caught Up", "Argument", "Stopping", "Bringing Out The Sunshine", "Risco Music", and "Reggae Music". LP, Vinyl record album

A massively beautiful piece of work by "the new Rotary Connection" – a version of this groundbreaking Chicago soul ensemble which featured Phil Upchurch, Henry Gibson, and Charles Stepney – the cream of the Chicago production scene! Minnie Riperton's still in the band on vocals, and her work on the LP is similar to that on the legendary Come To My Garden LP. The album features the incredible track "I Am the Blackgold of the Sun" – a haunting soul anthem that has been a favorite of groovers for years, and which was later made into a house track by NuYorican Soul. A great album all the way through, and filled with loads of excellent cuts! LP, Vinyl record album

Really cool later work from this excellent UK trumpeter – a set that features Jimmy Deuchar on flugelhorn alongside Gary Cox on tenor, Dave Lynane on bass, and Jack Parnell on drums – plus some great electric piano work from Johnny Patrick, which gives the set a sense of lyricism you might never expect from Jimmy! Gary Cox is pretty wonderful too – and the record has this beautiful brightness and deeper edge that's quite unexpected! LP, Vinyl record album