A post-Curtis Mayfield album by The Impressions – but one that crackles with the raw righteousness of Curtis' first few solo albums on Curtom! Mayfield's place here is held by the amazing Leroy Hutson – one of our favorite soul talents of the 70s, really sparkling here in the trio before moving onto his own run of classics for Curtom – with a vocal quality that's solidly soulful, and possibly even more progressively pointed than Curtis. Hutson helped co-arrange the album with Riley Hampton – and production is by Curtis Mayfield, who brings in all the right elements of fuzz and funk to really keep the group sounding hip. Titles include the classic peace song "Stop the War", plus "I Need To Belong To Someone", "Love Me", "Our Love Goes On & On", "This Love's for Real", and a cool cover of "Inner City Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Bettye Lavette on Verve Records – a move that also signals a shift in her music too – in a way that we can really approve! Bettye's getting some richer care in the backings – more of a classic soul approach, in terms of warmth – never trying too hard to cast the singer in modes that might be a bit forced, and instead almost echoing a Muscle Shoals sort of vibe at times – which leaves Lavette to provide more than plenty of edge to the music with her vocals! All of the tunes here are Bob Dylan covers, but are wonderfully transformed – and even the presence of guest stars like Keith Richards or Trombone Shorty can't get in the way of the lady and her message. Titles include "Emotionally Yours", "Going Going Gone", "Seeing The Real You At Last", "Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight", "Things Have Changed", and "Ain't Talkin". CD

Junior Mance works in a great trio here – one that really helps capture the deeper side of his talents on the piano – thanks to strong contributions from Paul West on bass and Idris Muhammad on drums! There's a fair bit of blues-tinged tunes in the mix, but the set also includes some wider-ranging jazz numbers as well – really showing off that round, full tone that's always made Mance so great – captured here beautifully by the open, yet understated production of this Japanese label session – at a level that Junior maybe wouldn't have had on an American date. Titles include Mance's own "Jubilation", plus "Soul Eyes", "Lester Leaps In", "Solitude", "Funky Carnival", "Stormy Monday", "Jitterbug Waltz", and "God Bless The Child". CD

An excellent groover from the legendary Vince Montana! Vince arranged, produced, conducted, and wrote just about all of this second album by hard-grooving Salsoul Orchestra – and the album's a no-nonsense batch of disco instrumentals that's way better than many of the fake albums of the type that sprung up in the group's wake. The players include the cream of the Sigma Studios team – including the Baker/Harris/Young triad – and the tracks have a wonderfully soulful sound, with loads of great instrumentation on guitar, bass, percussion, and Montana's jazzy vibes! Titles include "It's Good For The Soul", "Nightcrawler", "Nice N Naasty", "Salsoul 3001", "Ritzy Mambo", and "It Don't Have To Be Funky (To Be A Groove)". CD

A smooth batch of modern soul from this great 70s vocal group! By this point in their career, Tavares have already had great fame on both the radio and dancefloor charts – moving effortlessly between sweet harmony tracks and more strident disco ones. This set has the group working in a mature mode that falls out equally well on both side of the fence – with arrangements by Bobby Colomby, David Foster, and Benjamin Wright, and tracks that include "Bad Times", "I Don't Want You Anymore", "Paradise", "Why Can't We Fall In Love", and "I Can't Go On Living Without You". CD

Five classic Motown albums from The Temptations – packaged together here in tiny record-style sleeves! First up is The Temptations Sing Smokey – a set on which the group sing the work of Smokey Robinson – and they've even got Smokey along to help them out on production! Given the high Robinson quotient on the set – both on production and songwriting – you'd almost expect this one to be a copycat of The Miracles' music at the time. Yet The Temps really manage to bring plenty of their own greatness to play on the material – deepening some of the songs with wonderful harmonies, and creating a sound that's often a bit less sweet and a bit more soulful than Smokey's approach with his own group. Titles include "It's Growing", "Who's Loving You", "What's So Good About Goodbye", "Depend On Me", "Way Over There", and "What Love Has Joined Together". Temptin Temptations is a wonderful little record produced by Smokey Robinson with a sweet group finish! The harmonies are impeccable, and the sound is perfect Motown – tight and classy, but with enough rough edges to keep things soulful at the best parts – and there's a romping sort of groove to many tracks, almost making the album sort of a mini-Motown dance party of sorts! Titles include "Just Another Lonely Night", "The Girl's Alright With Me", "Don't Look Back", "Since I Lost My Baby", "Everybody Needs Love", "My Baby", "You've Got To Earn It", and "Born To Love You". On Gettin Ready, the group are at the height of their early powers – really finding their own groove, and standing out even more than some of their Motown contemporaries! Smokey Robinson's still at the overall helm on production, but Norman Whitfield contributes some key early work here – shaping The Temps' sound with that rougher, more bottom-heavy groove that would explode in full righteous energy a few years later. Whitfield produced the groovers "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg", plus "Lonely Lonely Man Am I" – and other tracks include "You're Not An Ordinary Girl", "Not Now, I'll Tell You Later", "Say You", "Who You Gonna Run To", "Get Ready", and "Fading Away". On With A Lot O Soul, the group has a deeper, darker groove than ever before – the start of that fuzzy psychedelic soul style that made them one of the most inventive Motown acts of the late 60s! Deep basslines roll out strongly right from the start of the set – bringing a new richness to the grooves that's matched by those incredible harmonies that made The Temptations one of the most dynamic groups of the time – incredible harmonies that are often matched by a sense of lyrical intensity too! The set kicks off with the classic "I Know I'm Losing You" – a perfect illustration of this shift – and other titles include "Save My Love For A Rainy Day", "All I Need", "Two Sides To Love", "Don't Send Me Away", "Ain't No Sun Since You've Been Gone", "No More Water In The Well", and "You're My Everything". Last up is Diana Ross & The Supremes Join The Temptations – a record that might be easy to write this off as a mistake or inessential session – but thanks to some great arrangements by HB Barnum, Paul Riser, and Gene Page, plus great vocals by the groups, the record shines as much as any other Motown set from the time! The vocals are traded back and forth nicely between the groups – with the guys dominating some moments, the gals others, but never in a kitschy way. Includes a lot of Motown standards redone – like "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", "Try It Baby", "I Second That Emotion", and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" – but also includes a tasty version of "Funky Broadway", which has some great fuzzy guitar work! CD

One of the richest albums from the Kudu years of Grover Washington – a double-length set that shows the full range of his soul and imagination! The album was done in collaboration with Bob James – who arranged and conducted all tracks, and also plays keyboards on the date – and the style is kind of an added extension of other Washington work on Kudu, with added string and chorus bits to round out the sound! Things are still wonderfully soulful – thanks to James' sense of space and timing on the charts – and if anything, the added voices and orchestrations bring an almost soundtrack-like quality to the record – but one that still leaves plenty of room for Washington's solos on tenor, alto, and soprano sax! Most tracks are quite long – really stretching out with lots of room for fresh ideas – and titles include a 15 minute version of "Trouble Man", plus "Taurian Matador", "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life", "Masterpiece", "Aubrey", and "Don't Explain". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic sounds from the grittiest years of the 45rpm single – music that's so mad, so strange, it really defies description! All the cuts here are presented in conjunction with the long-running Fool's Paradise radio show on WFMU – a longtime champion of all things weird and wild – always reminding us that in the glory days of vinyl, there was so much stuff set to record that really defied any sort of description – sounds that usually were quite far from the charts as well! The music here maybe has bits of R&B, early rock, jazz, and exotica – but the end results are all pretty darn unique – and often handled with both a sense of humor, and a great ear for unusual studio tricks and gimmicks. Titles include "Chinese Rock & Roll" by the Flock Rocker, "Shawnee" by The Premiers, "Charlie & The Bank Job" by Al Katraz, "Umh Uh Baby" by Kind Sid, "Knock Her Down" by The Orbits, "The Last Meal" by Hurricane Harry, "500 Pound Canary" by Jules Blattner, "The Goatee's Got To Go" by Dick Summers, "Mad" by Bobby Borda Five, "Pulp Wood Charley" by Wee Willie & The Soulettes, and "Pal Mal Rock" by Arnie Ginsberg. CD

It's been almost 60 years since the Stax Records label forever changed the face of American soul music – and we can think of no better way to celebrate than by dipping into this well-chosen batch of 60 classic tracks from the label's glory days! The whole Stax groove is here – from the early roots of Memphis soul, to the label's breakout crossover moment in the 60s, to their new sense of pride and power in the post-1968 years – all wrapped up in a super-tight 3CD set, without any filler at all! The set moves in roughly chronological order – and covers both the ballads and the groovers, the funky moments and more sophisticated sounds – on titles that include "Jody's Got Your Girl & Gone" by Johnnie Taylor, "Fool In Love" by The Veltones, "Big Bird" by Eddie Floyd, "Private Number" by Judy Clay & William Bell, "I Got A Sure Thing" by Ollie & The Nightingales, "Hey You Get Off My Mountain" by The Dramatics, "Starting All Over Again" by Mel & Tim, "Hearsay" by Soul Children, "Dedicated To The One I Love" by The Temprees, "After Laughter" by Wendy Rene, "Walking The Dog" by Rufus Thomas, "You Don't Miss Your Water" by William Bell, "Tramp" by Otis & Carla, "Walk On By" by Isaac Hayes, "Just Keep On Loving Me" by Johnnie Taylor & Carla Thomas, "What A Man" by Linda Lynell, and "Your Good Thing Is About To End" by Mable John. CD

One of the hippest collections on BBE we've heard in years – a really underground batch of breaks that features fantastically rare tracks in a variety of different genres! The set beautifully shows just how far the funky scene has come in recent years – because many of these cuts are from sources and genres folks wouldn't have thought of touching a decade before – unusual global rock groups, odd sound library records, and obscure category-defying artists who are only getting their due all these many years later. There's a sharp-edged quality to the set that's definitely in keeping with the "breaks" in the title – but the grooves here aren't the simple James Brown variety, nor are they the familiar cuts you might hear in some of those overdone "as sampled by" collections. Instead, most tracks here are ones you probably don't already have in your collection – and titles include "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More" by Lloyd Charmers, "Calypso Rock" by Original Tropicana Steel Band, "Rocking Bird" by Emphasis, "Yes We Can Can" by The Discoettes, "Tramp" by Bergendy, "Shack Up" by Blockbuster, "Hogtied" by Chain Reaction, "Funky Soul (part 1)" by David Batiste & The Gladiators, "Boxe Et Violence" by Daniel J White, "Boogie Man" by The Crystal Mansion, "Godofallofus" by New Hope, "Black & Blue" by Yan Tregger, "Why Don't You Take Us" by Sky King, "Tighten Up" by Steve Smith, "Percumatics #11" by Bob Ascroft, "Soulful Illusion" by Soulful Illusion, "Food Stamps" by Leaf, and "Superstar" by Society Of Seven. LP, Vinyl record album

More funky breaks than Evel Knevel after the Snake River Canyon jump! The groove hounds at BGP records were set loose on the Ace catalog – which includes holdings from Atlantic, Stax, Volt, Westbound, and other funky classic labels – and they managed to come up with a killer batch of funky cuts, even though this is their 3rd dip into the crates! If anything, perhaps they dipped even deeper this time – especially as some of the once-trusted sources for breaks, like the famous Ultimate Breaks & Beats series, are now disappearing from the market. Titles include "Soul Pad" by The Coasters, "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" by Johnny Jenkins, "T Plays It Cool" by Marvin Gaye, "Nappy Dugout" by Funkadelic, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Jimmy Ponder, "Get Out Of My Life Woman" by The Mad Lads, "The Rose" by 50 Foot Hose, "Holy Ghost" by The Bar Kays, "No Strings Attached" by The Mad Lads, "After Laughter Comes Tears" by Wendy Rene, "River's Invitation" by Freddie Robinson, "This House Is Smokin" by BT Express, "Music Man (parts 1 & 2)" by Pleasure Web, and "I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over" by David Porter. CD

A tremendous solo act from GC Cameron – a singer who first rose to fame in The Spinners, but who really sounds wonderful on his own! GC's moved away from The Spinners here – into a wide range of styles that show him ready to take on most of the rest of the competition! He's working here with the best of the best of Motown – production from Stevie Wonder and Willie Hutch – and arrangements by both, plus Paul Riser, Gene Page, James Carmichael, and Frank Wilson – all of whom really give their best to the record, and show that Motown was putting plenty of effort into making GC one of the next big stars of the 70s. We're not sure why things never took off as strongly for Cameron, but whatever the case, the album's a great step for the solo artist – on cuts that include "If You Don't Love Me", "Tippin", "All In Love Is Fair", "If You're Ever Gonna Love Me", "Come Get This Thang", "I'm Gonna Give You Respect", and "Let Me Down Easy". CD features an insane amount of bonus tracks – 13 more tracks that include "Act Like A Shotgun", "Girl I Really Love You", "I'm Gonna Get You (parts 1 & 2)", "Don't Wanna Play Pajama Games", "You Are That Special One", "Have I Lost You", "Time", "Topics", and "No Matter Where". CD

A groundbreaking album of vocal group soul – right from the first note! The record kicks off with the sublime "Ready Or Not, Here I Come" – which starts with fierce stepping strings that are actually funky, then soars into some of the best harmonies the group ever put to record, superbly arranged by the great Thom Bell, who also wrote the track. As the album progresses, the sound expands further to encompass many elements that would become the blueprint for vocal groups over the next few years – like twangy electric sitar, cascading orchestrations, and pinched lead vocals that take a lot more chances than most group singers had been taking for years! There's still a bit of a 60s soul sound to some of the cuts, but the album's a watershed – not only for Thom Bell and the group, but for harmony soul as well! Titles include "Ready Or Not Here I Come", "My New Love", "Loving Him", "With These Hands", "Somebody Loves You", and "Everytime I See My Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

Pre-Motown work from Willie Hutch – but a great little record that really points the way towards Willie's famous sides to come in the 70s! Hutch here already sounds pretty darn great – singing with a raspy tone that reminds us a bit of Curtis Mayfield – especially given that Willie uses the same sort of righteous undercurrent as Curtis – not yet as over the top political, but brewing under nicely with a really marked sense of power! The backings are great too – all arranged by Hutch himself, and already showing some of the hipper styles that he'd bring into play in his later blacksploitation work. One of the deepest soul albums on RCA at the time – with a righteous vibe that's totally great – and filled with wonderful original tunes that include "Lucky To Be Loved By You", "Ain't Gonna Stop", "You Gotta Try", "Let Me Give You The Love You Need", "Do What You Wanna Do", and "Good To The Last Drop". LP, Vinyl record album

Bettye Lavette on Verve Records – a move that also signals a shift in her music too – in a way that we can really approve! Bettye's getting some richer care in the backings – more of a classic soul approach, in terms of warmth – never trying too hard to cast the singer in modes that might be a bit forced, and instead almost echoing a Muscle Shoals sort of vibe at times – which leaves Lavette to provide more than plenty of edge to the music with her vocals! All of the tunes here are Bob Dylan covers, but are wonderfully transformed – and even the presence of guest stars like Keith Richards or Trombone Shorty can't get in the way of the lady and her message. Titles include "Emotionally Yours", "Going Going Gone", "Seeing The Real You At Last", "Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight", "Things Have Changed", and "Ain't Talkin". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible record from funky drummer Idris Muhammad! Idris is probably known for his funky break work on Blue Note and Prestige records sessions of the late 60s and early 70s – but by the time of this 1974 album, he was really expanding his style, hitting a laidback groove that went way beyond the simple drum break, into a world of complicated fills and riffs that forever changed the face of funk. The best example of this is the album's standout groove – the massive cut "Loran's Dance", which has a mellow jazzy vibe that you'll recognize from its popular use as a sample cut over the years (by the Beastie Boys, DJ Shadow, and others.) All cuts are long and mellow, and other titles include "Power Of Soul", "Saddest Thing" and "Piece of Mind". LP, Vinyl record album

A massive soul showdown by two of the best vocal groups of the early 70's! Soul Generation were an incredible group who only managed to cut one album and a handful of singles – but had a unique sound that matched sweet group harmony with a tougher Superfly sort of feel. The set includes 10 tracks by them – including their big cuts "That's The Way It's Got To Be", "Super Fine", "Sweet Thing", "Million Dollars", and "Key To Your Heart". The Joneses are best known for their one album on Mercury – but they're represented here by earlier material, rare sides cut for the VMP label in 1972 and 1973, done in a perfect sweet soul mode that's quite different from their later work! The tracks sparkle with the kind of late nite soul sound that always makes us dig harmony vocals so much – and titles include "Baby (There Is Nothing You Can Do)", "Pull My String", "She Loves You", and "Lovin You". 20 cuts in all, and most of it is stuff we never never see – especially the Joneses singles! CD

One of the richest albums from the Kudu years of Grover Washington – a double-length set that shows the full range of his soul and imagination! The album was done in collaboration with Bob James – who arranged and conducted all tracks, and also plays keyboards on the date – and the style is kind of an added extension of other Washington work on Kudu, with added string and chorus bits to round out the sound! Things are still wonderfully soulful – thanks to James' sense of space and timing on the charts – and if anything, the added voices and orchestrations bring an almost soundtrack-like quality to the record – but one that still leaves plenty of room for Washington's solos on tenor, alto, and soprano sax! Most tracks are quite long – really stretching out with lots of room for fresh ideas – and titles include a 15 minute version of "Trouble Man", plus "Aubrey" and "Masterpiece"! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the richest albums from the Kudu years of Grover Washington – a double-length set that shows the full range of his soul and imagination! The album was done in collaboration with Bob James – who arranged and conducted all tracks, and also plays keyboards on the date – and the style is kind of an added extension of other Washington work on Kudu, with added string and chorus bits to round out the sound! Things are still wonderfully soulful – thanks to James' sense of space and timing on the charts – and if anything, the added voices and orchestrations bring an almost soundtrack-like quality to the record – but one that still leaves plenty of room for Washington's solos on tenor, alto, and soprano sax! Most tracks are quite long – really stretching out with lots of room for fresh ideas – and titles include "Taurian Matador", "Don't Explain", "Easy Living/Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do", and "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life". LP, Vinyl record album

A treasure trove of harmony soul gems – and a package that's overflowing with great numbers from a time when small group soul really sparkled in the funky 45 underground! Most of the cuts here have never appeared on CD before, and a handful are previously unreleased – and together, the set really showcases the sublime style of singing that emerged in the second half of the 60s – a new approach to harmonizing that was different from jazz, gospel, or doo wop groups in previous years – with tremendous interplay between the lead and backup parts of the group, in charts that were continually inventive and richly expressive at a level that still sounds completely great all these many years later! If you only know Motown male groups, or bigger names like The Impressions or Stylistics, you'll find plenty here to discover – a really rich tapestry of tunes that includes "Strange Voice" by The Imaginations, "Baby" by The Joneses, "Boom A Rang" by Dynamic Soul Machine, "By Your Side" by Moon & Mars, "Can't Get You Off My Mind" by Brothers Of Soul, "Waiting For Your Love" by The Love Experience, "Linda" by Salt & Pepper, "Need Someone To Love" by The Symphonies, "Take Your Time" by The Festivals, "That Day When She Needed Me" by The Performers, "We Can Make It Baby" by The Reputations, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" by The Four Sonics, and "I'll Be Waiting" by The Lovettes. CD

A very well-titled set – given that the Colemine Records label has given us some mighty soulful slabs of wax in recent years! Although a small label, in the hinterland of Ohio, Colemine is fast rising to be one of the coolest funk labels in the world – right up there on a par with older classics like Desco and Soul Fire, and almost able to challenge the supremacy of the Daptone sound! Yet Colemine is also a bit more wide-ranging than some of those other labels, too – as you'll hear in the rich array of sounds within – all pulled from previous funky 45s on the label, many of which are out of print – and presented here in a fantastic full length set. Titles include "Don't Get Caught" by The Droptones, "Yo Todo Tu Yo" by The Rugged Nuggets, "Street Sweeper" by The Grease Traps, "Like Yesterday" by The Monophonics, "Pacified" by Soul Scratch, "Remember When" by Leroi Conroy, "Jesse's Jing" by In Motion Collective, "Next To You" by Gene Washington & The Ironsides, and "Suction" by On The Spot Trio. LP, Vinyl record album

Always-great work from Eric Alexander – one of our favorite tenor players of the modern age, and a talent who gets better and better with each album! This one features Eric working with pianist Harold Mabern – in a wonderful union that's been forged over the course of a number of records, and which seems to be one of the greatest things that's happened to either player. Mabern lays out loads of wonderful modal lines in the set – keeping a rhythmic pulse that stretches out Alexander's solos in sweeping brilliance on the upbeat tracks, holding them back with gentle soul on the mellower ones. The rest of the group is completed by Ron Carter on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums – and titles include "Nemesis", "I Can Dream, Can't I?", "Nightlife In Tokyo", "Cold Smoke", "Island", and "Big RC". CD

A wicked bit of funky jazz from reedman Harold Alexander – and a set that's much sharper and harder-edged than some of his later work! There's maybe a bit of freedom in the mix, here too – some post-Coltrane spiritualism that mixes with some of the more funk-based currents – which include excellent electric piano by Neal Creque, and tight funky drums by Pretty Purdie! The tracks are all nice and long, but have a completely different approach than you'd find on labels like CTI or Prestige at the same time – both more complex, but maybe also more spontaneous too – in ways that really make the album a treasure all the way through, and has us wishing that Harold gave us a lot more like this. Titles include the classic "Sunshine Man", plus "Tite Rope", "Quick City", and "Mama Soul". LP, Vinyl record album

A great selection of work by the team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson! The pair started out doing some excellent work at Motown during the early 70s – but it wasn't until they moved to Warner in the middle of the decade that they began to emerge as the powerhouse act they became for the rest of their career. Nick and Valerie changed the face of duet soul forever – taking it past the simple boy/girl themes of 60s work by artists like Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell or Maxine Brown & Chuck Jackson, into a soaring, adult, hard-grooving mode that forever changed the way male and female voices interacted in soul music. Titles include a few 12" cuts on LP for the first time – "Is It Still Good To Ya (long version)", "Love Don't Make It Right (long version)", "One More Try (long version)", and "Ain't It A Shame (long version)". Other tracks include "Found A Cure", "It Seems To Hang On", "Don't Cost You Nothing", "Over & Over", "Nobody Knows", "It Shows In The Eyes", "Bourgie Bourgie", "Send It", "Somebody Told A Lie", "I'd Know You Anywhere", "Stay Free", "Main Line", "So So Satisfied", and "Have You Ever Tried It". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic album of classy vocals – one that helped set a whole new tone in 80s soul music! Anita had already gained a bit of experience on the soul scene before this set, but with this record she emerged as a full-formed diva who could effortlessly blend jazz and soul into a magnificent new sound. The production has a few touches that date the record a bit, but there's a timelessness to the set that was apparent to listeners the moment it was released. Titles include "Mystery", "No One In The World", "Sweet Love", "You Bring Me Joy", and "Caught Up In The Rapture". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Gato Barbieri's later recordings – but don't hold that against it! The set's a smoother effort than most of Gato's earlier work, but it's also still pretty darn soulful – done in a way that allows plenty of space for his raspy reed work on tenor to flow over the top of larger arrangements that have a nice electric touch. Players include Eric Gale and Joe Beck on guitars, Don Grolnick on keyboards, and Mtume and Ralph MacDonald on percussion – both of whom give the tunes a nice earthy undercurrent when needed. And while we might be put off by the larger, more heavily-arranged sound – Gato himself is still in charge of the charts, and keeps things nicely focused in a soulfully expressive way! Titles include "Firelies", "Fiesta", "Europa", "Don't Cry Rochelle", "Behind The Rain", "Los Desperados", and "I Want You". LP, Vinyl record album

Nicely overstuffed CD that brings together some excellent tracks from Kenny Barron's early work as a leader for the Muse label! Barron spent a good part of the 60s working with one of Dizzy Gillespie's great groups, and by the time of these recordings, he'd emerged as a strong soul jazz modernist, with a good sense of modal rhythmic lines, and a style that mixed up funky jazz and spiritual post-Coltrane freedom. There's a total of 9 cuts on the CD, many of them long – and titles include "Swamp Demon", "Al Kifha", "Voyage", "Baiana", "Jungle Plum", and "Here's That Rainy Day". CD

Way before Sinatra first grabbed the "Chairman Of The Board" title for his own musical persona, Basie laid great claim to the tag with this tight little album for Roulette! The album's got the 50s Basie band working at the height of their powers – with original compositions written and arranged by Frank Foster, Ernie Wilkins, Thad Jones, and Frank Wess – all of whom play in the bad, along with other all-stars like Freddie Green, Billy Mitchell, and Al Grey. The sound is tight, soulful, and searing Basie all the way through – with tunes that include "Segue In C", "Blues In Hoss' Flat", "Who Me?", "The Deacon", "Half Moon Street", "Mutt & Jeff", "TV Time", "Speaking Of Sounds", and "HRH". LP, Vinyl record album

After "The Bottle", Joe's big remake of the Gil Scott Heron song in 1975, "Rap-O Clap-O" was probably his second biggest club cut. The track's got a very catchy groove – with sort of a stomping beat that Joe used to cook up his own dance. Arranged by the great Marty Sheller, so it's still got some Latin soul cred. 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the rarest funky records of all time – the hard-to-find second album by Beginning Of The End! This West Indian combo hit it big with their first album on Alston, but this second set, for some strange reason, never really got distributed – which is a damn shame, because it's every bit as funky as their first! The uniquely choppy rhythms of the group's first album are every bit as great here as on the first set – and if anything, the band's instrumentation is even better, especially on the guitar, which is wickedly tight, and played with a super-dope flanged-out approach on the solos. Vocals are great too, maybe even more soulful than before, especially on the album's few midtempo cuts – and the album's a must-have for any fan of the group's funky sound! Titles include "That's What I Get", "Super Woman", "Bluestrain", "Jump In The Water", "Falling Apart At The Seams", and "Trip To Nowhere". CD

One of the rarest funky records of all time – the hard-to-find second album by Beginning Of The End! This West Indian combo hit it big with their first album on Alston, but this second set, for some strange reason, never really got distributed – which is a damn shame, because it's every bit as funky as their first! The uniquely choppy rhythms of the group's first album are every bit as great here as on the first set – and if anything, the band's instrumentation is even better, especially on the guitar, which is wickedly tight, and played with a super-dope flanged-out approach on the solos. Vocals are great too, maybe even more soulful than before, especially on the album's few midtempo cuts – and the album's a must-have for any fan of the group's funky sound! Titles include "That's What I Get", "Super Woman", "Bluestrain", "Jump In The Water", "Falling Apart At The Seams", and "Trip To Nowhere". LP, Vinyl record album

Four albums from the second chapter in the career of Jorge Ben – packaged here in a single set, with a few bonus tracks too! First up is A Banda Do Ze Preinho – a record that's funky, soulful, and totally wonderful – a wicked late 70s live set from Jorge Ben – and one of his few post-Philips albums that really holds onto the best energy from earlier years! The date's a live one, and the group grooves in a style that's got plenty of Africa Brasil touches – mixed with some other soulful and funky modes too – always great for Jorge's wonderful vocals, especially on some of the earthier tracks. The production is nice and lean – with a core focus on Jorge's great voice, and the funky instrumentation of the band – which really lets the fantastic sound of the record come through strongly, without some of the heavier elements on some of Jorge's 80s records. The whole thing's great – and titles include "Troca Troca", "Bom Dia, Boa Tarde Boa Noite Amor", "A Banda Do Ze Pretinho", "Denize Rei", "Berenice", "Amante Amado", and "Era Uma Vez Treze". Salve Simpatia is late 70s funky soul from Jorge Ben – a record that tightens up the sound a bit from his earlier years on Philips – but still keeps in all the core elements we love so much! The tracks bounce along with a tight samba soul approach that's built very much on Jorge's earlier experiments – handled with a bit more modern soul on the arrangements, but in a way that only makes the grooves come across more directly – in a style that's akin to some other Brazilian artists who were shifting more soul towards soul from other styles at the time – such as Marcos Valle and some of his contemporaries. Titles include "Salve Simpatia", "Ive Brussel", "Waldomiro Pena", "Adelita", "Occulatus Abis", and "Menina Crioula". Alo Alo Como Vai has Jorge working in a smoother vein than on his Philips sides, with the same sort of modern soul approach that Marcos Valle and other older Brazilian singers were using at the time. But since Jorge's always been a soulster from the start, the style works perfectly for his warm vocals and his keen talent for putting over a groove. Arrangements have kind of a brassy funky samba groove – and titles include "Ma Ma Ma Ma Mae", "Solitario Surfista", "Olha A Pipa", "Cae Cae Caetano", "Alo Alo, Como Vai?", and "A Cegohna Me Deixou Em Mardureira". Bem Vinda Amizade is an 80s groover with a sound that's a bit of a change from his 70s classics! The backings show Ben picking up some modern soul elements from the US scene of the time – but these are also mixed with some rougher, rhythmic styles that are definitely Brazilian – which makes for a really compelling blend – quite similar to the samba and soul mix of Jorge's 70s records, but tuned towards the ears of a different generation overall. Bits of boogie mix in to the groove nicely – and titles include "Katarina Katarina", "Para Que Digladiar", "Santa Clara Clareou", "O Diam Em Que O Sol Declarou O Seu Amor Pela Terra", "Lorraine", and "Luiz Wagner Guitarreiro". CD set features 3 bonus tracks – "Natal Brasileiro", "Waimea 55,000", and "Saci Perere". CD

Incredible work by Willie Bobo – a slamming record of hard funky instrumentals, one that sounds different than any of his other albums! The record's a killer all the way through – a mixture of Latin and deep 70s funk, one of the few perfect fusions of the styles, held up beautifully all the way through the set. We've always liked Willie a lot, but honestly, we don't know how he managed to make a record this funky – but we're also not arguing, just enjoying the grooves with tremendous delight and surprise. Great all the way through, and includes the break cuts "Do What You Want to Do", "Broasted or Fried", and "Soul Foo Young" – plus a version of "Dindi", which, for some reason, Willie seemed to record every chance he got! Other titles include "Shut Up & Pay Attention", "Come Together", and "Never You Mind". LP, Vinyl record album

The first solo album from Johnny Bristol – a genius soul talent who did a bunch of great work for Motown as a writer and arranger, breaking out here on his own! Like so many other behind-the-scenes talents from the late 60s, Johnny turned out to be an excellent soul artist in his own right – even though he only got to cut a rare few albums during the 70s – and this debut album already has him emerging straight away as a fully-formed talent! The vibe is a great mix of Detroit and California Motown – arranged by HB Barnum, and produced with a style that's tight, but still open and fluid too. Backings mix soulful strings with sweet harmonies – and lots of the tunes have a great 70s mellow soul groove. Titles include "Woman Woman", "I Got Your Number", "You & I", "It Don't Hurt No More", and the anthemic "Hang On In There Baby". CD

A very unusual setting for the legendary Ruth Brown – the singer who first rose to fame singing raw-edged R&B tracks for Atlantic Records in the 50s – but who works here in a much jazzier mode overall! The set features backings from Peter Matz – who often accompanied the classier singers of the time – and Ruth really does a great job of mixing her bold vocals with his jazzy charts – soaring to new heights in a way that swings nicely, and makes for much deeper soul than most of Matz's other projects. Musicians include Hank Jones on piano, Clark Terry on trumpet, Barry Galbraith on guitar, Urbie Green on trombone, and Richard Davis on bass – and there also seem to be some female backup singers in a few spots too. Titles include two from Nellie Lutcher "Hurry On Down" and "He's A Real Gone Guy" and Dick Hyman's "Watch It", "Whispering Grass", "I Know Why", "Here's That Rainy Day", and a very interesting interpretation of "On The Good Ship Lollipop" – which almost makes the whole tune sound like a sad ballad. LP, Vinyl record album

A killer set that's extremely well-titled – as BT Express were one of the hottest ensemble funk acts of their time! The groove here is definitely aimed at a more disco-oriented dancefloor than before – but the overall sound is plenty funky enough for our ears – thanks to some amazing horn passages arranged by Carlos Ward, whose own work on sax and flute really add an edgey quality to the set. Ward's horns are really fantastic – cutting and turning with a sharply-honed tone that keeps things fresh throughout – even when the rhythms are hitting more of a mainstream dancefloor sound. Titles include the group's mellow soul version of "Now That We've Found Love", plus "Herbs", "Time Tunnel", "Energy To Burn", "Can't Stop Groovin Now Wanna Do It Some More", and "Make Your Body Move". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Jerry Butler's funkiest moments of the 70s – served up in a fantastic soundtrack co-penned and arranged by the great Jerry Peters! Peters is best known for his hip work with a variety of soul acts in the studio, but he really steps out here for the score to Melinda – a lesser-known blacksploitation film from the early 70s, but one that boasts a heck of a great soundtrack! Peters approach here is a bit more baroque than some of his contemporaries – and he uses stepping strings equally alongside funky rhythms – creating a groove that's complicated, yet still plenty darn funky – and a sound that's as soulful on the mellower tunes as it is on the standout uptempo ones. Jerry Butler sings vocals on "Speak Truth To The People", "Tank's Theme", "Love is", and "Melinda Reprise" – but the instrumental tracks are even better, and include the clavinet groover "Part III", the sitar-styled "Melinda Latino", and the cuts "Music For Tank's Boat", "The Blues (Dope Pusher's Theme)", and "I Can't Let You Go" – plus the bonus track "A Prayer". CD

Sweet electric work from Ron Carter – subtle magic in the best CTI mode! Ron arranged the set himself, but he's working with a core group of CTI players that includes Bob James and Richard Tee on electric piano, Hubert Laws on flute, Ralph MacDonald on percussion, and Billy Cobham on drums – shifting mood, tone, and color with ease as each new track on the album emerges – and uniting the whole proceedings with work on acoustic bass and piccolo bass! Not funky, but very soulful – with a keen sense of space, but never too much so to make things snoozy. Titles include "Blues Farm", "Hymn For Him", "Two Beat Johnson", and "R2, M1". CD

Strong sounds from the young Clifton Chenier – one of the first great voices in zydeco grooves in the postwar years! Yet the music here isn't the pandered-out zydeco of later years – when it was almost to the Louisiana scene what Chicago blues had become to the tourists in the Windy City – as the music here was an initial burst of accordion-fueled blues, which had to compete with the other modes in the postwar blues scene – a place where Clifton surprised many with his harmonica-like command of a once-clunky instrument! In a way, you could almost think of many of these cuts as harp blues-styled numbers – especially when Chenier soars out with some rough-edged vocals – and there's a swampy, gritty sound that really makes the whole thing great. CD features 24 tracks in all – with titles that include "Rockin Hop", "Clifton's Blues", "The Cat's Dreamin", "The Big Wheel", "My Soul", "Bayou Drive", "All Night Long", "Boppin The Rock", and "The Things I Did For You". CD

One of the greatest albums by this sweet east coast vocal group – also known to folks as the Golden Apples album, because of the crate full of gold-covered apples on the cover. The album's got a wonderful mellow harmony sound – arranged and produced by Van McCoy, much more in the style of his early uptown soul work than some of his other more overblown mid 70s work. Features the sublime stepper "When You're Young & In Love", the hit "I'm Gonna Walk Away From Love", and the cuts "Until We Said Goodbye", "Keep In Touch", "Angel Don't Fly Away", and "Hook it Up". LP, Vinyl record album

Fully-formed genius from Stanley Clarke – his first album for Columbia Records, and already a radical departure from the spiritual jazz of his previous set for Polydor! This Clarke's the one who'd play on countless sets of headphones in the 70s – the bassist who really revolutionized fusion, and managed to link it back to a huge audience of fans from rock, soul, and other genres! And despite the cliches to come, this album's still a masterpiece of power – funky at points, jamming at others, and nicely spacey when it needs to be – all produced and arranged with great care by Stanley, and featuring a host of players who include Jan Hammer on keyboards, Tony Williams on drums, Airto on percussion, and some assorted brass and string players as well. Titles include "Vulcan Princess", "Power", "Lopsy Lu", and the extended "Life Suite". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Alice Coltrane's most adventurous albums – a beautiful blend of organ, harp, percussion, and strings – much of which are transcribed for the album by Ornette Coleman! The most haunting aspect of the album is Alice's work on organ – spare, jagged, with a nascent soulful quality that's quite different from her piano work on other Impulse albums. The strings provide a sheet of sound – a shimmering backdrop to support Alice's work on the keys – moving forward tentatively, but growing in energy as the album progresses through a host of Eastern spiritual influences. Alice is way past jazz at this point – moving towards the new level of consciousness hinted at in the title, growing majestically on tracks that include "Oh Allah", "Sita Ram", "Hare Krishna", "Universal Consciousness", and "The Ankh of Amen-Ra". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Alice Coltrane's most adventurous albums – a beautiful blend of organ, harp, percussion, and strings – much of which are transcribed for the album by Ornette Coleman! The most haunting aspect of the album is Alice's work on organ – spare, jagged, with a nascent soulful quality that's quite different from her piano work on other Impulse albums. The strings provide a sheet of sound – a shimmering backdrop to support Alice's work on the keys – moving forward tentatively, but growing in energy as the album progresses through a host of Eastern spiritual influences. Alice is way past jazz at this point – moving towards the new level of consciousness hinted at in the title, growing majestically on tracks that include "Oh Allah", "Sita Ram", "Hare Krishna", "Universal Consciousness", and "The Ankh of Amen-Ra". CD

A nicely moody track from Dede Copland – deep soul, with a slow-moving groove – one that really fits the blue-tinged lyrics of the track – which Copland delivers in a very unique vocal style! The track's got a great late nite vibe – that sort of middle-of-the-night sense of regret – which is offset by the more upbeat "You Gotta Give Up" – a tune that lopes along with a great 60s soul groove! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A document of an incredible shift in style for the Crusaders – and one that helped them soar even higher in the jazz funk stratosphere! By the time of these albums, the group had changed significantly from their youthful days as the Jazz Crusaders – mostly a trio, with Joe Sample on keyboards, Wilton Felder on saxes, and Stix Hooper on drums – but often augmented by some of the best studio help they could find, and working at a level that was still razor-sharp, and incredibly soulful! So many other artists mixed jazz and soul together in the 70s, but a rare few could do it this right – and still hold onto all the bite that the artists had in their earlier days. Production is tight, but never too slick – no 80s smooth jazz modes here – and there's a sense of groove balanced with a sense of soloing that's really wonderful! All five albums are impeccable – to jazz what Steely Dan was to mainstream rock at the time (and we mean that in the best way possible!) – and as you'll hear with some slight inclusion of vocals (most famously by Randy Crawford on Street Life), these guys also found a way to win whole new audiences to jazz from the world of soul too. A great package – with all five albums in little tiny LP-styled covers! CD

Apart from the title's terrible pun on the Glenn Campbell hit of the mid 70s, this album's a real treat – a very soulful batch of smooth funky jazz tunes by The Crusaders, who by this point have fully emerged to claim the throne of the pop soul jazz genre they virtually invented. The record's got razor-sharp production, which you'll hear perfectly in the album's jazz stepping hit "Keep That Same Old Feeling", one of the best tunes ever to come from the pen of Wayne Henderson, and a track that he recorded endlessly with other groups. Other tracks include "Feeling Funky", "Spiral", and "Til The Sun Shines". LP, Vinyl record album

Instantly timeless work from Martinho Da Vila – a set that's every bit as powerful as his classic albums from the 70s – and done with an even more personal sound! Martinho first rose to fame at a time when there was a big wave of new samba recordings in Brazil – a mode that still held onto the roots, but also pushed the music with a fullness in terms of production – never too commercial, yet still quite different than the approach used here – which is very intimate, and maybe makes the album one of the singer's most impressive ever! The passage of years has only made Martinho's vocals better, and amidst the spare percussion and stringed instrumentation, he really carries the sound of the record beautifully – making us feel as if we've stumbled upon to his genius all over again, but at an even more powerful level. Titles include "Samba Sem Letra", "Amanha E Sabado", "Danadinho Danado", "Choro Chorao", "Soul Brasileiro", "Muita Luz", "Sarava Sarava", and "Daqui De La E De Acola". CD

The biggest-label release ever cut by 70s funk legend Betty Davis – but a set that's every bit as hard and heavy as the indie dates that preceded it! Davis is at the top of her form here – bad-stepping amidst the heavy drums and freaked-out guitars that easily made her one of the funkiest folks working in the 70s – an artist who was definitely very much into her own bag, and who's only finally getting her due all these many years later! In a way, the groove is even leaner than before – especially the drums, which are turbocharged with energy, and set a badass vibe for the record throughout – mixing up equal parts of rock, funk, and soul – almost with the genre-busting modes that wouldn't really show up on the New York scene until a number of years later. The whole thing kicks ass – and titles include "Nasty Gal", "Talkin' Trash", "Dedicated To The Press", "FUNK", "Getting Kicked Off Havin Fun", "Shut Off The Light", "This Is It", "The Lone Ranger", and "Feelins". Great limited pressing of the classic – with liner notes, lyrics, and lots of cool photos! LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from Tyrone Davis' under-recognized years at Columbia Records – a wonderful set of mature modern soul numbers that really let the singer find a whole new groove! The whole thing's nicely free of any sort of commercial overtones – and instead, the album has Davis really spinning out this rich, warm groove – arranged throughout by James Mack, who brings in a perfect Chicago balance of soul and sophistication – elements that many of Tyrone's contemporaries cooked up in the past, but hardly did this well at the time! And Davis' vocals somehow seem better than ever – more expressive in more ways, but never overtone – really illustrating that path that deep soul took to the Windy City, while changing up its sound in the process. Titles include a remake of "Turn Back The Hands Of Time", plus "Just My Luck", "I Won't Let Go", "You're Heaven Sent", "You Made Me Beautiful", and "Let's Be Closer Together". CD features a bonus 7" mix of "Just My Love". CD

A great one from Buddy DeFranco – exactly the kind of record that will make you understand why jazz collectors have always prized his Verve Records work so much! Although Buddy's given instrument, the clarinet, was one that was handled by so many others at the time in kind of an outmoded way – DeFranco always managed to keep things fresh and modern, drawing heavily on bop inspiration for a record like this, yet also remaining true to his roots too. Part of the strength of the record is the group, too – given that Sonny Clark is on piano, bringing in a mighty soulful undercurrent to the rhythm section, and even playing a bit of organ too! Tal Farlow brings in some nice guitar – and the group's completed by Gene Wright on bass and Bobby White on drums – on titles that include "Indian Summer", "Cooking The Blues", "Stardust", and "How About You". Sweet and lovely – but plenty darn soulful too – and one of the excellent early 50s Verve dates that features the piano of Sonny Clark with the clarinet of Buddy DeFranco! The album's got an even more unusual twist in that it features a bit of organ from Clark too – one of his only recordings on the instrument – as well as guitar from Tal Farlow on a number of tracks – another leading light of the fresh Verve sound of the 50s, really working some great music next to Buddy's horn. The stripped down sound is very nice – equal parts bop and swing, in that unique mode that made DeFranco one of the hippest players on his instrument at the time! Titles include "Getting A Balance", "Old Black Magic", "Moe", and "What Can I Say". CD

A very cool, really rare soul album from the Philly scene – one that was written, produced, and arranged by Hammond organist Charles Earland – but which is a sweet soul album with a really great feel! There's definitely a touch of Earland's keyboard work on the set – especially some of those non-organ lines he brought to his records for Mercury – and there's a jazzy groove that really sets The Diddys apart from other east coast groups of the time – a more complex approach to rhythm and instrumentation that almost makes some of the tunes feel as if they came from the James Mason side of the spectrum! The whole thing's wonderful – as unique as it is rare – and titles include "Intergalactic Love Song", "Strange Love", "Your Love Is Like A See Saw Baby", "How Long Have You Loved Him", and "My Special Love". CD features lots of bonus tracks – alternate takes of nearly every number on the record! CD

A deep funk inspired single from DJ Harrison! "Rule The World" has a murky vibe that gives it the right kind of vintage gritty mood, with the vocals mucked up to almost hallucinogenic effect – but that's backed by guitar bass and drums that's got a cool 70s funky soul feel. "Brown Water Blues" has a similarly submerged sound, this one riffing a bit on Hi Records style bluesy soul & funk 7-inch, Vinyl record

One of the greatest Blue Note funky jazz sets of the late 60s – an all-out soul fest headed up by funky Lou Donaldson, and featuring some incredible work on drums from Idris Muhammad – who was still calling himself Leo Morris at this point! Muhammad's work on the drums is fantastic – not just in the snap-funk mode of some of his oft-sampled Blue Note classics, but also hitting these nicely changed-up rhythms that dance along with a free sense of joy, love, and life – one that seems to open Lou up even more than before! Other players on the set are great too – and include a young Charles Earland on organ, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, and Jimmy Ponder on guitar – cooking up some incredible licks that fill in the spaces between the grooves with a wash of soulful colors! Titles include a great version of the James Brown Classic "Say It Loud", plus the originals "Snake Bone" and "Brother Soul" – and surprisingly great takes on "Summertime" and "Caravan"! Also includes a bonus alternate take of "Brother Soul". CD

Carol's at the top of her game in this set of full-sounding disco numbers arranged and conducted by John Davis – singing with that heartfelt tone that still has plenty of great traces of AM radio soul, but which also slides nicely into the smoother, sophisti-club arrangements of the set. There's no real standout singles on the set, but a few of the tracks have some nice hooks – and titles include "Lie To Me", "Life Time Guarantee", "Crime Don't Pay", "Headline News", and "Midnight Love Affair". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of albums from the legendary Johnny Dyani – packaged here in one great little set! Rejoice features searing live work from Johnny Dyani – a set that has the bassist opening up strongly in a trio with Mongezi Feza on trumpet and Okey Temiz on drums and percussion! Feza sounds even better here than usual – blowing these long, inventive solo lines that match the work of Ted Curson for 70s fire – really spurred on by Okey's creative changes, into a soulful space that may well be some of Mongezi's most spiritually expressive of the 70s! Dyani's bass is strong, and ever-present – never needing to dominate, but always felt as this rich pulse – and powerful melodic element at just the right moments. Titles include "Mad High", "Makaya Makaya", "Pukwana" and "Imbomgolo". CD also features an unreleased track from the same performance – the 20 minute "Mad High Revisited". Together is a record that really gets back to Johnny Dyani's roots in South African jazz! Although Dyani and his expatriates in the Blue Notes helped give London a new sound of avant jazz expression in the 70s, the music here returns to the warmer melodic style of their early 60s days – with loping rhythms that draw on regional tradition, and soulful interplay between the alto of Dudu Pukwana, tenor of Peter Shimmy Radise, and keyboards from Dyani – who shifts his instrument for this special recording! The group also features use of guitar, congas, whistles, and a South American harp – used in rhythmic ways that pulsate warmly – on titles that include "Kalahari", "Tula Tula", "High Priest", "Johnny's Kwela", and "Together". CD

Magnificent! Charles Earland may well be our favorite-ever jazz organist – and after you hear this set, he'll probably be yours too! Charles really didn't emerge as a name until the beginning of the 70s – and although that decade did some nasty stuff to some of the 60s best organ players, Earland managed to really get a heck of a lot out of the decade, twisting and turning his style with all the changes in arrangements and instrumentation, yet always keeping it real, laying down killer solos and funky grooves that rank with some of the best organ work of his generation! This 2CD set is the first to really pay tribute to Earland's genius – and it's a massive batch of tracks the spans his early years at Prestige Records, and moves into his work for labels like Mercury, Columbia, and Muse. Disc 1 features "funky organ grooves" – 10 tracks from Prestige and Muse with a straight heavy soul jazz funk groove, cut with monster players like Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad, Gary Chandler, and Virgil Jones. Tracks on the set include "Murilley", "Spinky", "Betty's Dilemma", "Sing A Simple Song", "Morgan", "My Favorite Things", and "Sing A Simple Song" – and the grooves are hard and funky all the way through! Disc 2 features "jazz funk and beyond" – beginning with Earland's spacier jam cuts on the Leaving This Planet session for Prestige, then moving into his jams on Arp and Electric Piano for Mercury, and some of his later R&B funk cuts for Columbia. Most of this work's never been on CD before – and the wealth of Earland's talent here will take you way past his early Black Talk years. Titles include "Phire", "Coming To You Live", "Red Clay", "Intergalactic Love Song", "Cosmic Fever", "Betty Boop", "Let The Music Play", and "Over & Over". CD

Magnificent! Charles Earland may well be our favorite-ever jazz organist – and after you hear this set, he'll probably be yours too! Charles really didn't emerge as a name until the beginning of the 70s – and although that decade did some nasty stuff to some of the 60s best organ players, Earland managed to really get a heck of a lot out of the decade, twisting and turning his style with all the changes in arrangements and instrumentation, yet always keeping it real, laying down killer solos and funky grooves that rank with some of the best organ work of his generation! This 2CD set is the first to really pay tribute to Earland's genius – and it's a massive batch of tracks the spans his early years at Prestige Records, and moves into his work for labels like Mercury, Columbia, and Muse. Disc 1 features "funky organ grooves" – 10 tracks from Prestige and Muse with a straight heavy soul jazz funk groove, cut with monster players like Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad, Gary Chandler, and Virgil Jones. Tracks on the set include "Murilley", "Spinky", "Betty's Dilemma", "Sing A Simple Song", "Morgan", "My Favorite Things", and "Sing A Simple Song" – and the grooves are hard and funky all the way through! Disc 2 features "jazz funk and beyond" – beginning with Earland's spacier jam cuts on the Leaving This Planet session for Prestige, then moving into his jams on Arp and Electric Piano for Mercury, and some of his later R&B funk cuts for Columbia. Most of this work's never been on CD before – and the wealth of Earland's talent here will take you way past his early Black Talk years. Titles include "Phire", "Coming To You Live", "Red Clay", "Intergalactic Love Song", "Cosmic Fever", "Betty Boop", "Let The Music Play", and "Over & Over". CD

A pair of rare gems from The Electric Prunes – both of which feature key production help from David Axelrod! Mass In F Minor is a beautifully baroque batch of tracks, written and arranged for the Electric Prunes by the great David Axelrod – a really groundbreaking mix of modes that had quite an impact back in the late 60s! The record shows Axelrod's perpetual fascination with the spiritual – mixed with that great modern style of funk that he was forging at Capitol during the late 60s. The record's not really preachy, nor is it proggy. It's more of a complex blueprint of rock, jazz, funk, and touches of soul – all hung together on the same sort of "mass" structure that Axelrod would later use with Cannonball and on his own. Titles include "Kyrie Eleison", "Gloria", "Benedictus", and "Sanctus". Release Of An Oath is the second album done by David Axelrod for The Electric Prunes – and arguably the best! The album's a bit unusual, in that none of the original Prunes were actually working on the session – and instead, Axlerod's almost fully at the helm – putting together the set in a way that's quite similar to his own solo albums over at Capitol! As with those, there's a bold, spacious sort of instrumentation here – richly orchestral, but also quite funky at times – punctuated by great drums from Earl Palmer, bass from Carol Kaye, keyboards from Don Randi, and guitar from Howard Roberts – who's really tripping out nicely here! The work uses the Jewish Kol Nidre mass as its conceptual focus – but really takes off with plenty of tripped-out Axelrod flourishes that make the whole thing a fair bit more psychedelic than anything you'd ever hear in temple. Titles include "Holy Are You", "The Adoration", "Our Father, Our King", "Kol Nidre", and "General Confessional". CD

A sublime set of soul instrumentals – very funky work, and sort of a 70s follow-up to the Soulful Strings albums on Cadet Records from the 60s! Maestro Richard Evans is at the top of his game here – stepping out with that hip Chisoul mode he first forged at Chess, tuned here towards some even more sophisticated modes for Atlantic Records! Many of Evan's previous players are on board to make the record great – including Lennie Druss on flute, Paul Serrano on trumpet, Odell Brown on organ, and Phil Upchurch on guitar. Evans himself plays bass for the record – using a very funky bottom sound – and the set also features some wicked vibes from the legendary Billy Wooten, working away from his Nineteenth Hole group on a rare major label date! The sound is blacksploitation soundtrack, part Curtom funk – and titles include the great originals "Pie Daddy's Dream", "Wado City", "Angela My Sister", and the great "Patutu" – which was done by the Soulful Strings – plus a few nice covers like "Mercy Mercy Me" and "Ellie's Love Theme", by Isaac Hayes. LP, Vinyl record album

Good album by this female-male-female soul trio, with a lot of tracks written and arranged by Van McCoy, with the good New York soul sound that he was laying down with groups like this in the days before he hit the disco. Zulema's on vocals, and she also wrote a few tracks. Cuts include "God Bless The World", "I Worship The Very Ground You Walk On", "Heavy Love", "I Was There", and "We Can Change The World". LP, Vinyl record album

Blistering early work from a young Georgie Fame – a set that definitely lives up to the Rhythm & Blues in the title! The set was recorded live at London's hip Flamingo club – and Georgie and The Blue Flames are very much in command of the crowd – burning with the intensity of a American small organ combo, especially the early 60s variety that often played equal parts soul jazz and R&B! Georgie's on the Hammond, and also sings with a rough-edged style that's plenty soulful, and incredibly appealing – a mode that oozes charisma, but never sounds fake or forced. Other instrumentation includes tenor, baritone sax, bass, drums, and conga – plus some great guitar from Big Jim Sullivan – and titles include "Do The Dog", "Eso Beso", "Work Song", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Shop Around", "Humpty Dumpty", and "You Can't Sit Down". This 2016 edition comes loaded with a huge number of bonus tracks, too – with 1964 BBC Session recordings of "Night Train", "Walking The Dog", "Do-Re-Mi", "You're Breaking My Heart" wtih Long John Baldry and more, plus "Parker's Mood", "Molasses", "Funky Mama (Blue Moon Bootleg Version)", "Money (That's What I Want)" and lots more. 10 tracks on the original album – plus 13 bonus tracks! CD

A very cool album of soul instrumentals, played by the session musicians responsible for creating (the second version of?) the Muscle Shoals sound – players like Clayton Ivey, Junior Lowe, Ronnie Eades, and Freeman Brown. The set's nicely packaged – in a gatefold cover, with shots of Muscle Shoals, the studio, the group, and Rick Hall, who produced the whole darn thing. The cuts themselves are pop and soul hits, done with slightly southern tinges – and titles include "Soulful Strut", "Choice Of Colors", "It's Your Thing", "Get Back", and "Too Weak To Fight". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best albums ever by this crack soul jazz combo – the mighty Jazztet, an early 60s group led by Art Farmer and Benny Golson! The set was recorded in Chicago, and it features the group hard-grooving through some really well-arranged numbers – lively tunes with a snapping, in-the-pocket kind of groove, played with a lot more soul than you'd expect from either Golson or Farmer's solo albums. The rest of the group's great, too – and features Cedar Walton on piano, Tom McIntosh on trombone, and Albert Heath on drums. A few tracks are nice and long, and titles include "Farmer's Market", "Junction", "November Afternoon", and "Shutterbug". CD

A really fantastic album from the legendary Lee Fields – a set that blows us away every bit as much as his stellar My World album! Like that set, this one's got kind of a moody early 70s vibe – almost a New Jersey soul approach at times, but tinged with more southern modes – mixed with bits of Lee's more familiar funk at others – but often with this moody, almost mellow vibe that's such a fresh take on the territory that Fields has been exploring for years! Lee's lost none of the deep soul elements in his vocals, but there's a shift in arranging styles that's really great – and superbly delivered by the Expressions – a subtle darkness that shows why Fields is really one of the true greats out there in the contemporary funk underground – a true soul singer who's never content to just rest on the laurels of previous success. Titles include "Let Him In", "Lover Man", "Make This World", "How I Like It", "Special Night", "I'm Coming Home", and "Where Is The Love". CD

Ronnie Foster cut plenty of sweet fusion sides for Columbia Records at the start of the 80s – but this set's from the second half of the decade, and was initially an album that was only issued for the Japanese market! Foster arranged the whole record himself, and works with a nice lean lineup that includes Phil Upchurch on guitar, Harvey Mason and Ndugu on drums, and Paulinho Da Costa on additional percussion – all in a groove that's kind of a mid 80s update of Foster's earlier mode, still delivered with just the right sense of space and soul! Titles include "Ipanema Walk", "Festival Do Brasil", "Squirt", "Night Life", "Europe", and "The Racer". CD

A wild little concept album from the Four Seasons – one that's packaged in newspaper-style cover, and which presents tunes that almost have that late 60s British "snapshots of life" approach to pop – particularly that put forth by The Kinks on Village Green Preservation Society. The album's a true genius effort from Bob Gaudio – now risen to the ranks of producer for the group, and also the key songwriter for the album too – working here in tandem with the great Jake Holmes, a wonderful choice for a record like this! Arrangements are inventive, playful, and definitely at a level that shows some influence from Pet Sounds or Sgt Peppers – but there's also a focused, all-pop approach to the tunes too – one that's hook-heavy even when trippy, and which shows that the Four Seasons were as great at psychedelic and Sunshine Pop as any of the groups they'd inspired over the years. Titles include "Saturday's Father", "Wall Street Village Day", "Wonder What You'll Be", "Soul Of A Woman", "Something's On Her Mind", "American Crucifixion Resurrection", and "Mrs Stately's Garden". LP, Vinyl record album

Great stuff – and a beautiful album of spiritual jazz recorded by this obscure piano player who worked briefly with Jackie McLean in the seventies. Billy Gault had an amazingly soulful way of putting together his work, but never got bogged down in too much sentiment. There's some beautiful stuff on here, including the awesome "Mode for Trane", and "The Time of this World is at Hand", a great track that features vocals by Joe Lee Wilson (some of his best) and Ellen Deleston. Wilson and Deleston also sing on a few others too – in a moody, soulful and spiritual way that's almost a post-Coltrane take on the sound of Andy & The Bey Sisters. Other titles include "Aisha", "When Destiny Calls", "Portrait Of A Joaner", and "Nothing But A Man". This truly is an incredible record – one of our all time favorites of this generation! CD

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)". LP, Vinyl record album

The start of a very successful run for Gloria Gaynor – a seminal bit of crossover 70s soul – one that perfectly linked the dancefloor with the airwaves, and managed to take on more than a few living rooms as well! Gloria's not entirely in full blown disco-diva mode yet, and works here with a soaring Philly-styled groove – of the sort you'd hear with groups like First Choice or Three Degrees – almost grounded a bit in earlier female soul, especially in the vocals and overall changes in the grooves – yet sparkled up plenty with some fuller, richer 70s arrangements. Those are handled by Norman Harris and Harold Wheeler – who do plenty to warm up the production by Meco – and the set includes the stunning 6 minute version of Gloria's big hit "Never Can Say Goodbye", plus "All I Need Is Your Sweet Lovin", "We Belong Together", "Real Good People", "Honey Bee", and "Reach Out I'll Be There". LP, Vinyl record album

The title of the record may sound a bit scientific, but the music within has a very human appeal – sweet funky rhythms forged by the team of DJ Rocca and Stefano Ghittoni – the latter of whom you might know from previous productions with The Dining Rooms! The sound here is maybe an even more stripped-down take on that group's approach – very classic in the core elements used, but very contemporary in presentation overall – almost with a lean, very rhythmic approach that takes us back to the earliest years of Italo House – especially in the warmth of the tunes – but with a vibe that's also much more 21st Century overall! Titles include "Jupiter", "Cosmic Double Bass", "Past Present & Future", "Soul Place", "Memories", and "Carrie System". CD

The title of the record may sound a bit scientific, but the music within has a very human appeal – sweet funky rhythms forged by the team of DJ Rocca and Stefano Ghittoni – the latter of whom you might know from previous productions with The Dining Rooms! The sound here is maybe an even more stripped-down take on that group's approach – very classic in the core elements used, but very contemporary in presentation overall – almost with a lean, very rhythmic approach that takes us back to the earliest years of Italo House – especially in the warmth of the tunes – but with a vibe that's also much more 21st Century overall! Titles include "Jupiter", "Cosmic Double Bass", "Past Present & Future", "Soul Place", "Memories", and "Carrie System". LP, Vinyl record album

Nice 2LP set that brings together some of his most striking sessions of the early 60s recorded for Emarcy. This set includes pieces composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin played by a large ensemble led by Benny Carter – with Dizzy as the main soloist, and work by players that include James Moody, Phil Woods, Emil Richards, Francisco Aguabella, and Schifrin himself. Tracks are long, and have complicated introductions – then easily give way to the sort of flowing grooves that Schifrin was penning often at the time. Titles include "The Conquerors", "The Chains", "The Swords", "The Empire", and "The Legend Of Atlantis". The set also features Diz playing tracks from Tom McIntosh, one of the scene's brightest arrangers at the time, and a talent who was looming large, thanks to support from folks like Diz and James Moody. Moody's in the group – blowing tenor with a quintet that includes Kenny Barron on piano, Chris White on bass, and Rudy Collins on drums – and his tone is incredible, with a darkness that he'd rarely had before, and the whole group has a mixture of modern tones and soulful grooves that's beyond compare! Titles include "November Afternoon", "The Cup Bearers", "The Day After". Also included are songs from the soundtrack for the lost Shirley Clarke verite drama The Cool World. Mal Waldron wrote the material for the score, and Diz plays the music with a moody emotionality that you don't often hear in his other 60's work. The recording was made by his great group that included Kenny Barron and James Moody, and the titles include "The Pushers", "Duke's Fantasy", "Coney Island", and "Street Music". LP, Vinyl record album

A warm, timeless batch of tunes from Golden Smog – by this point a bonafide late 90s neo-classic Americana (none of these fellows ever seemed all that fond of being tagged as "alt-country" so we won't do that to 'em) supergroup – a loose collective over the years which in this lineup features Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Soul Asylum's Dan Murphy, Jody Stephens of Big Star, Gary Louris of The Jayhawks and others! The record has a big, vibrant sound even if the songs are fairly unfussy, not too far out of character for the kind of thing on early Wilco or Def American era Jayhawks – really good stuff! Includes "To Call My Own", "Looking Forward To Seeing You", "Jane", "Keys", "White Shell Road", "Fear Of Falling", "All The Same", "Jennifer Save Me" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A trio of very groovy soundtracks – all brought together on one CD! First up is The Last Run, scored by Jerry Goldsmith with some strong action themes that are very much in a Lalo Schifrin mode – mixing guitar, electric harpsichord, and strings with a harder-edged groove so that there's a lot of space in the overall blend of elements – allowing each one to step out nicely, identified on its own! Even the mellower tracks are great – with an airy feel that recalls some of Michel Legrand's best action scores at the end of the 60s – with colors that flow out and really give the record a sense of soul! Steve Lawrence sings "The Last Run" in a mode that recalls Matt Munro's performances on other thriller soundtracks – and other titles include "Claudie's Stockings", "The Trap", "Border Crossing", "Rickard Escapes", and "Double Cross". Next is another great one from Goldsmith – the music to Crosscurrent (also known as The Cable Car Murder), penned here with bold themes that step off with a lot of action and chase-styled modes – often using a bold piano line out front of some very snapping funky drums! Titles include "Main Title", "The Killer", "End Title", and variations on "Moose Chase". Last up is Dave Grusin's score for The Scorpio Letters – his first soundtrack ever for a feature film, even if it was one that only aired on TV in the US! Grusin's style here is less funky than in later years, but still plenty darn great – often done in a blend of woodwinds and strings that cascade along gently, but often with some sort of undercurrent of rhythm. The music ebbs and flows along nicely – with a few more sentimental themes, but mostly a strong televisual pulse that echoes some of Dave's earlier music for the UNCLE TV show. Titles include "Max The Knife", "Miss Gunther", "Phoebe's Theme", "After You", "No Pass", "Bianeri", "Last Chase", and "Wrap Up/End Title". CD

A stone classic from the great Bennie Green – working here at a sharp 50s level that easily makes him one of the most hard-edged players in jazz at the time! Bennie's rooted in bop, but has plenty of deeper soulful elements too – a groove that others would expand more in the soul jazz generation, but which Green unleashes here with a really raw sort of energy – a tightness that's almost more suited to the trumpet than modes you'd usually hear from other trombonists. The setting's almost a blowing session one, but a bit tighter overall – and the quintet features Eric Dixon on tenor and Lloyd Mayers on piano – plus raw rhythms from Sonny Wellesley on bass and Bill English on drums. Titles include "East Of The Little Big Horn", "Walkin Down", and "But Not For Me". CD

Smooth and silky jazz funk from trombonist Urbie Green – a record that's much more in a mainstream R&B fusion mode than his earlier work – yet also arranged by David Matthews in a soulful style that still keeps things pretty real on the best cuts! The group's a good one for the mellow groove of the material – and includes Mike Mainieri on keyboards, Eric Gale on guitar, Jeremy Steig on flute, and Toots Thielemans laying down a bit of harmonica – all kicking back in classic 70s CTI styles. Titles include the nice modal groover "Mertensia", plus "Manteca", "Foxglove Suite", "Another Star", and "Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

Four ultra-rare records – all brought together in one incredible CD set – the third collection to document the brilliant sounds of Germany's Ego Recordings label from the 70s! First up is the album Reconciliation from Joe Haider – one of the 70s gems on the mighty German Ego label – an incredible small company who seemed to put out nothing but excellent music! The set's led by pianist Joe Haider, and features a quintet with Andy Scherrer on tenor and soprano sax, Ack Van Rooyen on flugelhorn, Gunter Lenz on bass, and Todd Canedy on drums – all of them together welling up as way more than the sum of their parts, and cooking up an amazingly soulful set of tunes! There's bits of modal and American 70s spiritual soul jazz in the set – all played with a proud and buoyant style that unfolds majestically through the course of the album, never faltering in its vision or creativity. A under-acknowledged gem, with tracks that include "Mas De Serles", "Magdalena", "Reconciliation", "Crossover", and "Spanish Groove". Katzenvilla features the amazing trio of pianist Joe Haider, bassist Isla Eckinger, and drummer Pierre Favre – three very individual musicians who come together here as a group, but still retain a lot of their special energy! Haider's a lot more dynamic than usual – still with warm chords on the piano, but also some sharper edges – which seem pushed on by Favre's deft drum work, and his flowing sense of both melody and rhythm at the same moment. Eckinger's bass has these deep, soulful currents that we always love – and really grounds the whole thing in a wonderful way – on titles that include "Capricorn", "My Little Darling", "And Now", "Katzenvilla", and "Fate Of A Child" – all originals by Haider! Pianist Fritz Pauer steps out on Water Plants – a trio date that's got a lot more warmth and soul than some of the musician's previous work from the German scene – a beautiful little session that balances the deep bass work of Isla Eckinger and the subtle drums of Billy Brooks. There's a loose, lyrical vibe to the record that shows a side of Pauer we might not have expected – and Fritz wrote some wonderful tunes for the album, including "Water Plants", "Sagittarius", "Tribal Dance", "For La Rives", and "Autumn Evening". Last up is One For Wilton – one of the hippest later albums from pianist Horace Parlan – a set recorded with the saxophonist Wilton Gaynair, who'd contributed heavily to the UK scene in the late 50s/early 60s, then made great waves in Germany during the 70s! The set features Wilton on tenor and soprano sax, Parlan on piano, and great rhythms from Isla Eckinger on bass and Billie Brooks on drums – all coming together with a sense of warmth and imagination that's completely sublime – much richer than some of Gaynair's other performances from the 70s, and with a sense of flow and soul that makes the album one of Parlan's best. Titles include "Billie's Bossa", "One For Wilton", "Shade", "Firm Roots", and "Pananika". All albums come in tiny LP-style covers, and the box also features a bookle of notes! CD

Breathy, beautiful soul from Ellerine Harding – a lesser-known 70s singer, but one who managed to cut this great album for the Mainstream label! Like some of the other soul on Mainstream, the approach here is inflected with a bit of jazz – arrangements scored by Wade Marcus, and featuring lots of mellow electric piano work from Paul Griffin – stepping lazily along in a way that complements Ellerine's vocals nicely. None of the tracks are too over the top, and there's a mature, easy-going feel to the record that's further complemented by the range of unusual tunes for the set – a number of which are written by Jimmy Briggs. Titles include "Sho Nuff I Need You Baby", "Don't Take The Time", "I Ain't Got Much", "Get Up Daddy", "A Fool In Love", and "If It Makes You Feel Good It's All Right". CD features 2 bonus tracks too – "We'll Cry Together" and "Tonight Let The Other Woman Cry Some". CD

A warm reunion between these two key players of the west coast scene of the 50s – done in a wonderful way that acknowledges their style of older years, yet which presents them in a whole new light! The tight interplay between the horns is still very firmly a quality of the set – but there's also a gentler, more relaxed style that characterizes the whole session – almost like the difference between Stan Getz in his early 50s sides for Verve, and the Getz that emerged later in the 60s. Harper's work on trombone is still wonderfully fluid, and Perkins' tone has, if anything, gotten even more soul and depth over the years. Other players on the record include Larry Konse on guitar, John Leitham on bass, and older legend Lawrence Marable on drums – and titles include "Pieces Of Dreams", "Dirty Man", "Fred", "Zingaro", "Mitch", and "The Wind". CD

Far and above the best album by sweet soul vocalist Major Harris! Harris had knocked around for years in vocal groups during the 60s, and had even sung for a bit with The Delfonics in the early 70s – but this album is his crowning achievement, a landmark of sweet Philly soul with some wonderful ballad work that he'd never be able to match again! Bobby Eli wrote, produced, and arranged most of the material – and although he had a bit of help from Norman Harris and Ron Kersey on some of the record, the core of the album is that perfect ballad style that Eli could do when he wasn't working on groovers. The centerpiece of the album is the stellar "Love Won't Let Me Wait" – a killer quiet storm soul number – and the record also features a great remake of "Sideshow", which Eli also cut with Blue Magic. Other tracks include "Loving You Is Mellow", "After Loving You", and "Each Morning I Wake Up". LP, Vinyl record album