Great early work from Oscar Brown Jr – a hip mix of jazz and soul, working in Brown's unique sense of showmanship, and his almost beat-like flair with a lyric! Ralph Burns and Quincy Jones handled the arrangements – and the album's filled with great original tracks by Brown, including "Mr. Kicks", "Opportunity, Please Knock", Love is Like a New Born Child", "Elegy (Plain Black Boy)", "Hazel's Hips", and many more! Nice jazzy groove, and very much in the best style of Oscar's 60s work! LP, Vinyl record album

A great early album by Oscar – one that focuses on his own compositions, and a few other hip tunes written by other jazz players, with new vocals added by Oscar! These kind of tracks are the stuff that made him a legend instantly – strongly voiced vocal tunes, handled with a flair that few other singers could match, save for Jon Hendricks, who also shared Oscar's talent for crafting a jazz-based lyric. Arrangements are by Oscar's hometown talent Floyd Morris – and titles include "One Foot In the Gutter", "The Snake" (later covered by Al Wilson), "So Help Me (A Little 3/4 For God & Co)", "The Tree & Me", and marvelous lyrical versions of Miles Davis' "All Blues" and Duke Pearson's "Jeanine". Essential stuff for jazz juice fans! LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet 70s funk from the great Oscar Brown – quite a change from his jazz-based work of the 60s, but a great new sitting for all of his wonderful wit and warmth! Brown's still a hell of a songwriter, and one with a very socially-conscious eye – sharper here than before, with lots of comments on the changes in society in the 70s, mixed with a few more heartfelt, personal moments too. There's still a bit of jazz in the mix – thanks to work from Seldon Powell on reeds, and Joe Sample on keyboards – and arrangements are by old friends Floyd Morris, the underground Chicago soul genius – and Sivuca, best known for his Brazilian music, but a great choice here to expand the groove. Brown wrote all the tunes on the record – and titles include "From My Window", "Like A Flower", "Brother Where Are YOu", ""The Lone Ranger", "If You Come Back", and "The Joneses". LP, Vinyl record album

Oscar Brown's score for a hip play that he wrote (one of his many plays!) – performed by him, Sivuca, and Jean Pace. Despite the "show" quality of the material, this actually stands simply as a great Oscar Brown Jr. LP, and the production is nice and intimate, and sounds just like an ordinary studio album. Sivuca's great, and his breathy voice and playing really open up Oscar Brown with some great Brazilian touches. And as usual, the writing's great, especially on tracks like "Brown Baby", "Mother Africa's Day", "Funky World", and the great version of "Afro Blue", featuring Oscar's classic lyrics. Also features a wonderful version of Johnny Alf's "Sky & Sea" – done by Sivuca with an incredible lilting groove! LP, Vinyl record album

One of Oscar Brown's great ones, recorded live at the Cellar Door in Washington before an enthusiastic crowd of hipsters! The record's a beautiful mix of soul, jazz, and folk – in the same Chicago tradition that spawned Terry Callier (although Brown's style has a bit more of a "show" feel to it). There's a lot of great stuff on here, and most of it doesn't appear on Oscar's other albums in studio versions. Tracks include "Call of the City", "Muffled Drums", "Maxine", "Brother Where Are You?", and more! Backing's by a tight little combo that includes Floyd Morris and Phil Upchurch! LP, Vinyl record album

A great lost album from Jerry – and a key link in the hip Chicago scene that produced Terry Callier and Oscar Brown Jr! Sure, you might think of the album as a silly "cash in on the folk craze" effort – but Jerry keeps it soulful throughout, and thanks to some wonderful arrangements by Phil Moore III, the record stands out as one of the most compelling in Butler's early years. Jerry sings with a sophisticated style that turns the simple folk songs into compelling vocal numbers with a nice jazzy finish – and the backings are suitably varied from track to track, in a way that really spices up the album wonderfully. The album's got a bit of Terry Callier, a bit of Nina Simone, and a wonderfully large dose of Iceman soul! Titles include "Strawberries", "Eighteen Hammers", "Red Dress", "Who's Gonna Be Your Man", "Little Ole Lite", "When I Lost My Baby", and "Such A Feelin". LP, Vinyl record album

Key early work by Abbey – no so much the "blue" album you'd guess from the title, but a session that's filled with the kind of anger and emotion that makes us love her so much when she's this good! The group here is very hip – an ensemble brought to the date by her then-partner Max Roach – with Max on drums, Tommy Turrentine on trumpet, Stanley Turrentine on tenor, and Julian Preister on trombone – all working with Abbey in a mode that's quite similar to her best appearances on Roach records from the same stretch! Titles include her amazing early version of "Afro Blue", plus "Lonely House", "Come Sunday", "Let Up", and a great version of Oscar Brown, Jr's "Brother Where Are You?" LP, Vinyl record album

One of the more righteous albums from the early years of Diana Ross' solo career – a set that really has her moving past the familiar Motown groove of previous years, into a vibe that really shows the label's new California influence! The tracks here often feature expansive arrangements that mix soul and larger orchestrations – arranged by Gene Page, James Carmichael, Gil Askey, and Michael Randall – all of whom preserve the class that Diana's always had in her music, while still also opening things up to some of the more thoughtful elements of 70s soul. The album includes a nice medley of Oscar Brown Jr's "Brown Baby" and Marvin Gaye's "Save The Children", plus a version of "Imagine", and the tracks "Leave A Little Room", "I Won't Last A Day Without You", "All Of My Life", and "Touch Me In The Morning". LP, Vinyl record album

An album recorded relatively early in the career of singer Nina Simone – but a set that already shows the very unique approach that would make her a legend by the time the 60s moved on! Even the very first tune is a stunner – a haunting reworking of the favorite "Just In Time", but with Nina grunting instead of singing at the start – as the bass comes across with more power than the drums or piano – really shaping the song in moody tones! That sort of inventiveness follows on every other tune – making the familiar numbers sound very unique, and the unusual ones even more striking – as the set list also features numbers by Oscar Brown Jr, Olatunji, and Simone herself. The recording quality is great – intimate, yet lively – and the set's filled with longish readings of some great tunes that include "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Brown Baby", "Zungo", "Children Go Where I Send You", and "He Was Too Good To Me". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most amazing jazz vocalists of our generation returns here with an incredible group – a majestic combo to match all the spiritual inclinations in his music – with work from Kamasi Washington on tenor, Mark De Clive-Lowe on piano, Miguel Atwood Ferguson on viola, and both Carlos Nino and Derf Reklaw on percussion! Dwight Trible on his own is already more than enough to get us to run out and buy a record – but here, the combination of his unique voice with these musicians makes for an album that's an instant masterpiece – and one that even has lots of new colors and styles compared to some of Dwight's previous work! Songs include numbers by older west coast spiritual jazz heavyweights – like Horace Tapscott, Linda Hill, Nate Morgan, James Leary, and Jesse Sharps – mixed with some of Trible's own songs, and versions of work by Carmen Lundy, Oscar Brown Jr, and Donny Hathaway. From top to bottom, start to stop, the album's a treasure – with tracks that include "It's All About Love", "Thank You Master", "Song For My Mother", "Brother Where Are You", "Some Other Time", "These Things You Are To Me", "Desert Fairy Princess", and "Mothership". LP, Vinyl record album

Late great work from the mighty Gerald Wilson – done with a slightly different groove than his 60s sides! The group features Harold Land Jr on electric piano – plus Bobby Bryant on trumpet, Oscar Brashear on trumpet and flugelhorn, Garnett Brown and Thurman Green on trombones, Harold Land and Ernie Watts on tenor and flute, and Mike Wofford on Mason Hamlin BB piano! Tracks are long, and titles include "Lomelin", "Ay Ee En", "Blues For Zubin", "You Know", and "Triple Chase". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing early work from Amanda Ambrose – recorded in a style that's easily as hip as the best live sides from Nina Simone or Roberta Flack – but years before either singer sounded this great! The style is an ultra-hip version of jazz inflected with plenty of soul – reaching back into folk and gospel roots, but fusing the sound into a leaner, cleaner groove that often has a fair bit of rhythm – kind of in the manner of Oscar Brown Jr at his best from this time. Amanda plays piano, and the rest of her group features guitar, bass, drums, and some especially great percussion that drives the best numbers along nicely! Titles include "This Can't Be Love", "Besame Mucho", "A Foggy Day", "Lullaby For Toys", "Someone To Love", and "This Little Light Of Mine". LP, Vinyl record album

An early concept album from the great Jon Hendricks – one that tells the story of blues through jazz – all put together as a flowing story in music! Jon speaks and sings the whole tale – but also gets some help on vocals from Big Miller, Hanna Dean, and Jimmy Witherspoon – as well as great musical backing from the core Ike Isaac Trio, with solos by Pony Poindexter and Ben Webster! The music is mostly rooted in blues, but with a hipper jazz sensibility – almost in the way that Oscar Brown Jr and others were going back to the roots, but updating them for the 60s. Titles include "WPA Blues", "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child", "New Orleans", "I Had My Share", "Jumpin With Symphony Sid", and "Please Send Me Someone To Love". LP, Vinyl record album

An unusual little soundtrack to this obscure pre-Roots film about slavery – handled with some very nice touches from Gary McFarland, Bobby Scott, and Grady Tate! The music is penned by Scott, and is mostly in that hip blend of jazz and soul roots that he was using on some of his own 60s vocal work – but expanded a bit more here with the groovier styles of Skye Records, thanks to arrangements and conducting from Gary McFarland! The work's not as funky as you might expect, but is still plenty darn great – and there's a few instrumental numbers that are especially great here. Grady Tate sings on the vocal ones, often in the deep-voiced style of his own Skye albums – but with an approach that's a bit more down home and soul-based, which is a nice change – almost like Oscar Brown Jr at the best moments. A number of tracks are done in both instrumental and vocal versions – and titles include "Nightwind", "Slaves", "Black Lullabye", "Another Mornin", and "Pickin Cotton". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful early album from soul singer Al Wilson – a well-crafted mix of modes that really stands out in late 60s pop – and which showed that Al was quite different than most of his contemporaries! The album's got some very hip production by Johnny Rivers – who was really stretching out his own sound at the time – and arrangements are by Gene Page and Marty Paich, who create a sublime blend of jazz, soul, and strings – plus a slight undercurrent of more righteous modes from the late 60s post-folk underground! In addition to straighter soul, Wilson sings a mix of hip contemporary compositions by Fred Neil, Jimmy Webb, and others – showing a depth of sound that's really wonderful. Instrumentation's by a small combo that includes Hal Blaine on drums, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, and some especially great flute from Jim Horn – whose sound here really brings some dark moments to the record. Titles include a classic version of Oscar Brown Jr's "The Snake" – which has gone onto become something of a dancefloor stormer over the years – plus the cuts "Shake Me Wake Me", "I Stand Accused", "Who Could Be Lovin You", "Brother Where Are You", "Summer Rain", "Do What You Gotta Do", and a groovy cover of Fred Neil's "The Dolphins". LP, Vinyl record album