Jukka Eskola Quintet - 2006 - Hub Up

A beautiful tribute to the electric side of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard , done by Jukka Eskola from Five Corners Quintet, in a mode that almost beats some of Freddie's classic work for CTI! The setting here is spare and simple , trumpet from Jukka, tenor from Timo Lassey, and bass, drums, and plenty of sweet electric keys. All hitting a groove that's soulful, soaring, and filled with the new sense of invention that Hubbard brought to his work at the start of the 70s. Most of the tracks here are originals by Hubbard , "Keep Your Soul Together", "Gibraltar", "Povo", and "Love Connection" , but the set also features the well-penned original "Deli", and a version of Weldon Irvine's "Mr Clean" , a key title in the Hubbard songbook of the CTI years!

01 - Keep Your Soul Together

02 - Gibraltar

03 - Brigitte

04 - Deli

05 - Mr.Clean

06 - Povo

07 - Love Connection

Link:Download

Marvin Gaye - 2008 - Here My Dear EXPANDED EDITION

The year is 1978 and Marvin Gaye is fresh off a divorce from Anna Gordy, the sister of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. MG's choice of release therapy? Chronicling the entire divorce, his feelings, and his failure at love on his out-of-print, oft-slept on album, Here, My Dear. When the album was initially released in 1978 during the height of the disco era, the LP was highly criticized for it's uncommercial sound and intensely introspective lyrics. When the LP was first re-issued in the early 90s, it debuted at #1 on the Billboard R&B charts and featured in-depth liner notes from Gaye's biographer David Ritz. Ritz wrote that Gaye was convinced that Motown would never push an album critical of the sister of company founder Berry Gordy, Jr., and did all he could to alienate the label, never giving Motown a chance to promote the album properly.

CD1

1. Here, My Dear

2. I Met A Little Girl

3. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You

4. Anger

5. Is That Enough

6. Everybody Needs Love

7. Time To Get It Together

8. Sparrow

9. Anna's Song

10. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You - Instrumental

11. A Funky Space Reincarnation

12. You Can Leave, But It's Going To Cost You

13. Falling In Love Again

14. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You [Reprise]

15. Ain't It Funny (How Things Turn Around) - Alternate Mix

Link:Download

CD2

1. Here, My Dear - Alternate Mix

2. I Met A Little Girl - Alternate Version

3. When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You - Alternate Version

4. Anger - Alternate Extended Mix

5. Is That Enough - Instrumental

6. Everybody Needs Love - Alternate Version

7. Time To Get It Together - Alternate Extended Mix

8. Sparrow - Alternate Version

9. Anna's Song - Alternate Version

10. A Funky Space Reincarnation - Alternate Extended Mix

11. You Can Leave, But It's Going To Cost You - Alternate Extended Mix

12. Falling In Love Again - Alternate Version

13. A Funky Space Reincarnation - Instrumental

Link:Download

The Greyboy Allstars - 1995 - West Coast Boogaloo (with Fred Wesley)

In 1995, The Greyboy Allstars teamed up with reknowned funk trombonist Fred Wesley to record their first album, West Coast Boogaloo. The group then recorded a live album in 1997. Their latest release, A Town Called Earth, was issued on their own Greyboy Records label in late 1997.

The Greyboy Allstars:

Karl Denson (vocals, soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, flute)

Harold Todd (tenor saxophone, flute)

Robert Walter (electric piano, organ)

Elgin Park (guitar)

Chris Stillwell (bass)

Zak Najor (drums)

Craig Levitz (percussion.

Additional personnel:

Fred Wesley (trombone).

01 - Soul Dream

02 - Let the Music Take Your Mind

03 - Fried Grease

04 - Fire-Eater

05 - Tenor Man

06 - Miss Riverside

07 - Gravee

08 - Browns at Home

Link:Download

Supersauce - 1998 - Keep On Keepin' On

Gretchen Lieberum - vocals

Michael Cruz - bass

Alex Budman - saxophone, flute

Jordan Glasgow - keyboards

Tim Carter - drums

David Metzner - guitar

Also featured on Keep On Keepin' On:

Dustin Hengl - trumpet

Dave Scott - trumpet

Primo Navarez - percussion

Founded by bassist Michael Cruz and vocalists Gretchen Lieberum and Maya Rudolph, Supersauce formed in 1993 at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Picking up where bands like the Brand New Heavies and Incognito left off, the group achieved local stardom almost overnight. From their first gig at a Halloween house party, they immediately graduated to rocking sell out crowds at infamous Santa Cruz institution, The Catalyst. The recipe was simple -- part funk, part groove, and all party. As their theme song goes, "once you taste The Sauce, you'll never be the same."

01. Keep On Keepin' On

02. Soldier

03. EZ West

04. Walk Slowly

05. Song In C

06. M-Bomb

07. Butterfly

08. Six Bucks On The Dollar

09. Gotta Get Back

10. Mango Street

Link:Download

Christian Scott - 2006 - Rewind That

CHRISTIAN SCOTT

Rewind That

2006

Concord Jazz 3122442

Christian Scott – Trumpet

Luques Curtis – Bass

Thomas Pridgen – Drums

Walter Smith III (except track 1) – Tenor-sax

Matt Stevens (except track 4) – Guitar

Zaccai Curtis (except track 10) – Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer

Donald Harrison (tracks 4, 8, 10 and 11) – Alto-sax

The jazz world used to be full of tenor-saxophonists pretending to be John Coltrane. Hearing this debut album by a 22-year-old trumpeter, I begin to think we are surrounded by trumpeters who want to sound like Miles Davis. Christian Scott has the same mournful tone (sometimes sounding rather flat) and the same economy with notes – playing short phrases above ostinato patterns very much in the style of Miles Davis when he was in his jazz-rock mode. Like Miles, Christian occasionally breaks out into fierce flurries of notes but most of his playing is subdued – and sadly rather uninteresting.

Thomas Pridgen’s cracking drums reinforce the jazz-rock style, mostly using the eight-in-a-bar rhythms of fusion, and Matt Stevens’ guitar adds some abrasive commentary – which can intrude on the ear in an otherwise well-recorded album. Christian Scott wrote nine of the eleven tracks himself but they tend to retread familiar paths and have little melodic appeal, preferring to depend upon repetitive grooves. Scott’s version of Miles Davis’s So What is rather lacklustre until Donald Harrison comes in with some biting alto-sax. In fact the outstanding soloists here are not Scott but Donald Harrison and tenor-saxist Walter Smith III, who both produce shapely solos. Despite their contributions, I am unlikely to be tempted to follow the CD title’s advice and rewind this album to hear it again.

01. Rewind That

02. Say It

03. Like This

04. So What

05. Rejection

06. Lay in Vein

07. She

08. Suicide

09. Caught Up

10. Paridise Found

11. Kiel

Link:Download

Corey Wilkes - 2008 - Drop It

Corey Wilkes - Drop It

2008

Chelsea Baratz, tenor sax

Jabari Liu, alto sax

Robert "Baabe" Irving III, piano and Fender Rhodes

Junius Paul, bass

Jeremy "Bean" Clemmons, drums

Jazz trumpeter Corey Wilkes burst on the Chicago jazz scene in 2002. Corey took on the ghost of Lester Bowie and filled the vacant seat in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Big shoes to fill for a new musician but Corey isn't an ordinary musician. He began at the age of 10, made the Illinois All State Honors Jazz Combo in high school and honed his talent at Berklee College of Music. His soulful notes can be heard gracing a variety of projects such as DJ sets by Logic, Osunlade and Josh Deep; tracks on Hidden Beach's Unwrapped Vol. 4, also recorded with Roscoe Mitchell, Art Ensemble, Tortoise, Ernest Dawkins, Nicole Mitchell and Ethnic Heritage Ensemble's Hot 'N' Heavy.

01. Trumpet Player (Feat. Miyanda Wilson)

02. Sonata In The Key Of Jack Daniels

03. Drop It

04. Remy's Revenge

05. Prelude - Touch

06. Touch

07. Return 2 Sender

08. Searchin'

09. Ubiquitous Budafly

10. Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter (Feat. Dee Alexander)

11. Drop It (Live)

Link:Download

Remy Shand - 2002 - The Way I Feel

Shand began recording and mixing his debut album, The Way I Feel during the spring of 2001 at his home in Winnipeg. The album features songs such as "The Colour of the Day" and "I Met Your Mercy", examples of his particular style. Shand was quoted as saying the track "Everlasting" was the blueprint towards the content of The Way I Feel, as it was the oldest track on the album, recorded in 1998.

The Way I Feel was released on March 12, 2002, and Shand won a Juno Award for Best R&B/Soul Recording at the 2003 Juno Awards. The album was successful in Canada and sold roughly 500,000 copies in the United States. Shand received four Grammy nominations for his work.

In October 2003, Shand's official website stated that he was working on his second album, to be called Day In The Shade. The album has yet to be released, and since then, there has been no public information regarding Shand's whereabouts or recording projects. As of December 7, 2007, Shand's official website domain (www.remyshand.ca) had not been renewed by his record label.

01. The Way I Feel

02. Burning Bridges

03. Everlasting

04. The Second One

05. The Colour Of Day

06. Take a Message

07. I Met Your Mercy

08. Rocksteady

09. Liberate

10. Looking Back On Vanity

11. The Mind's Eye

Link:Download

Chuck Amstrong - 1976 - Shackin' Up

An obscure album of southern funky soul from Chuck Armstrong , an artist we know from his earlier funky 45 work in Chicago, but who sounds quite different on this set! The album was produced by George Kerr in New Jersey, but it's got a rolling, vamping approach on most cuts , a sound that's somewhere between Muscle Shoals and the nascent Jackson style of the 70s. Chuck's vocals are well-suited to the set, and a few numbers bear traces of his earlier more northern sound.

01. Shackin' Up

02. Goodness Gracious

03. I'm A Lonley Man

04. Nightmare

05. She Had The Right

06. You Got To Deal With It (This Superworld)

07. Coming Home

08. Misleading Information

09. Give Me All Your Sweet Lovin'

10. Sweet Foxy Woman

Link:Download

The Roy Hargrove Quartet - 2008 - Earfood

Roy Hargrove Quintet - Earfood

Emarcy (Groovin’ High/EmArcy)

Released July 29, 2008

Personnel:

Roy Hargrove: trumpet and flugelhorn

Justin Robinson: alto saxophone and flute

Gerald Clayton: piano

Danton Boller: bass

Montez Coleman: drums.

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove is the definition of a questing musician, having tried his hand at a number of different styles. From funk/hip-hop work on Hard Groove to Latin on Habana, Hargrove hasn’t always succeeded but he’s never been afraid to pursue. On Ear Food his road-tested straight-ahead quintet focuses on demonstrating how jazz can be some of the world’s most exciting and exhilarating music. Performing mostly originals, the focus is on the joy of playing at the highest levels with like-minded musicians. They never, however, forget that without an audience to “groove to it,” music is pedantic meandering.

Highlights include the delightful two-beat swinger “Strasbourg/St. Denis.” Gerald Clayton’s piano pops in perfect accord with Montez Coleman’s drum set accentuations, creating a colorful and vivid landscape from which Hargrove’s lines radiate. Ballads like “Joy Is Sorrow Unmasked” unleash Hargrove’s delicately balanced, full-bodied tone. The closing spirited gospel rendition of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me” perfectly caps what will certainly reign as one of 2008’s best jazz discs.

01 - I'm Not So Sure

02 - Brown

03 - Strasbourg-St. Denis

04 - Starmaker

05 - Joy Is Sorrow Unmasked

06 - The Stinger

07 - Rouge

08 - Mr. Clean

09 - Style

10 - Divine

11 - To Wisdom The Prize

12 - Speak Low

13 - Bring It On Home To Me

Link:Download

Shirley Scott - 1974 - One for Me

Shirley Scott - One for Me

(1974)

[Strata East]

Harold Vick(as,ts)

George Davis(fl)

Kiane Zawadi(Euphonium)

Jimmy Hopps(per,cwbl)

Joe Bonner(b,tuba)

Billy Higgins(tp,ds)

Sam Jones(b)

Shirley Scott(org)

Rec' New York City: November 1974

LP Strata East 7430

The late shirley scott was one of the great soul-jazz organists, and as near as i can tell, the only woman among the bunch. She recorded her own stack of albums for blue note, impulse!, cadet and other labels, and mostly didn't get quite the recognition all the other organ burners did in that classic period before the electric piano and synthesizers took over the work of keyboard funk in jazz. She was married to the great stanley turrentine, and i have to say that some of the equally under recognized harold vick's work here sounds a bit turrentine-ish--but better! Anyway, this is her contribution to the always-amazing strata-east label.

01 - What Makes Harold Sing

02 - Keep On Movin' On

03 - Do You Know а Good Thing When You See One

04 - Big George

05 - Don't Look Back

Link:Download

Ron Levy's Wild Kingdom - 2004 - After Midnight Grooves

Ron Levy's Wild Kingdom - Finding My Way

Year: Dec 2003

Record Label: Levtron

Musicians:

Ron Levy (composer, producer, Hammond organ, piano, Fender & Wurlitzer pianos, vibes, basses & programming)

Melvin Sparks (guitar)

Karl Denson (sax & flute)

Adrom "Acidman'' Machine - (drums, percussion & DJ drops)

Russ Lawton - (percussion)

Arkady Beletsky - (cello)

Artist's Website: http://www.levtron.com

Two splendid cds from one of the most prestigeous masters of Hammond B-3 and a great blues, rock, r&b, boogie piano player as well… Besides song writer and arranger, Levy is one of the most representative artists of the ‘jazzy-blues-with-a-touch-of-cool-grooves-and-hip-hop-sprinkled-in’ scene. He has done well known collaborations with artists and bands like Roomfool Of Blues, B.B. King, Ronnie Earl, Smokey Wilson, Melvin Sparks or Freddie Hubbard among other popular international names. The first sampler includes a repertoire with own songs, amazing keyboards and piano solos, the backing support of Melvin Sparks guitar playing in four of the nine tunes included on the cd, Karl Denson on saxo and flute and Russ Lawton and Adrome ‘Acidman’ MacHineon percussions as guest musicians. A good cd for fusion and experimental jazz lovers. The second record title, ‘After Midnight Grooves’ says everything about it and can be considered as an extension of the previous one. It provides long tracks where musical patterns follow the same cool-jazz-groove line he loves to perform some now and then along his musical career alternating it with blues and r6b. The cd gathers seven long songs (between six and eleven minutes lenght). The musicians are the same ones than on the previous cd plus Jeff Lockhart, Yahuba Garcia, Arkady Beletsky and ‘Sax’ Gordon Beadle. In short two interesting records to learn a little bit more about one of the most well known appreciated keyboards players not only on rhythm and blues field but also on the most colorful contemporary jazz style.

01. After Midnight Groove

02. Groovin' Whichu

03. Just the Way It Went

04. Like Back In The Day

05. Slinky

06. Keepin' Up The Love

07. Back At The Levshack

Link:Download

Karl Denson - 2001 - Dance Lesson #2

Karl Denson - Dance Lesson #2

May 08, 2001

Blue Note

Personnel :

Karl Denson - alto & tenor saxophones, flute, percussion

Ron Levy - Wurlitzer piano, organ

E.J. Rodriguez - percussion

Zak Najor - drums

Leon Spencer - organ

Producer : Karl Denson; Erik Newson

Engineer : David Baker; Ben Moore

The tenor man is back, and with a full battalion of dance-ready grooves that make jazz and funk hold hands. Guests on the CD include Chris Wood, DJ Logic, Charlie Hunter, Melvin Sparks, Leon Spencer, Zak Najor, Ej Rodriguez, and Ron Levy.

01. Dance Lesson #2

02. Like Like Dope

03. Rumpwinder

04. Flute Down

05. A.J. Bustah

06. A Shorter Path #1

07. A Shorter Path #2

08. I Want The Funk

09. Who Are You

Link:Download

Archie Shepp - 1998 - True Blue

Archie Shepp - True Blue [Venus 35067]

Rec'Sep 13, 1998

Archie Shepp - Sax (Tenor), Main Performer, Vocals

John Hicks - Piano

George Mraz - Bass

Billy Drummond - Drums

Great Shepp with a great group -- a quartet that pairs Archie's amazing tenor with the piano of John Hicks! The album's one of the best of Archie Shepp's later ballad albums -- and has a really standout feel, thanks to Hicks' warmer tones on the piano alongside Shepp's raspier notes. While other groups joining Shepp on ballad dates all seem to veer towards the inclinations of the leader, Hicks instead seeks to act in counterpoint -- creating a fuller sound and a greater depth overall through his well-crafted lines on piano -- never too sentimental, but with a sense of joy and lyricism that's really wonderful.

01. Lonnie's Lament

02. Everytime We Say Goodbye

03. Time After Time

04. All Or Nothing At All

05. But Beautiful

06. Que Reste-T-Il De Nos Amours

07. Blue Train

08. A Little Surprise For The Lady

09. I Want To Talk About You

Link:Download

Bobby Williams - 1974 - Funky Super Fly

One of THE all-time indie funk classics of the 70s, the standout LP by Bobby Williams, an obscure James Brown-styled vocalist with a really great sound! The style here cops plenty from JB at his funkiest, but that's A-OK with me, because Bobby gets that sound so completely right, and the raw production of the album make the record sound a good deal grittier than most of The Godfather's more mainstream records from the time. There's a hard-jamming quality to most of the numbers, with lots of tight horns, fast-romping rhythms, and calls from Bobby out to the band, who are more than happy to respond to his groove!

Funky Superfly

Soul Brother Party

Morning Of Love

Link:Download

Kyle Jason - 2005 - Revolution Of The Cool

If soul is back, then Kyle "Ice" Jason got enough to loan you some as James Brown used to say. This former Air America Radio host began his career as a member of the Eddie Murphy entourage. His 2005 release, "Revolution of the Cool" features the hit, "Coming From The Soul".

01. People, People

02. A Hipper Nipple

03. Cool Is Cool

04. After Midnight

05. Simone By Moonlight

06. Why (Am I So Funky)

07. Cat-O-Tonic

08. Paris Sky

09. Walkin'

10. Hot Sauce

11. Round Peg In a Roomfullasquares

12. I'm Tired Of Being Your Friend [Piano Mix]

Link:Download