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

D'Angelo - 1996 - Live At The Jazz Cafe. London

D'Angelo - Live At The Jazz Cafe, London

1996

Beautiful live material from one of the greatest new soul stars of the past decade! D'Angelo's caught here in the legendary temple of groove , London's Jazz Café, home to some of the best funk and soul shows in Europe. The crowd is extremely enthusiastic, and the whole thing falls together beautifully , with a hard raw soul vibe that's similar to, but edgier than, D'Angelo's studio albums. Lots of great electric piano, soulful vocals, and great backing by a tight band.

01. Me & Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine

02. Can't Hide Love

03. Cruisin'

04. Shit, Damn, Motherfucker

05. Lady

06. Brown Sugar

07. Heaven Must Be Like This

Link:Download

Rare Afro & Caribbean Funk Vol. 1 (2007)

Various Artist

"Rare Afro & Caribbean Funk Vol.1"

One of the hippest collections of global grooves we've ever heard a side each of rare African and Caribbean tunes, both of which sound a fair different than work we've had on other compilations! The African tunes break nicely from the standard Fela groove.

01 - Idowu Funkyman Fakeye - We Gonna Make It

02 - Jerry Malekani - Diwela

03 - Sumo - Munia

04 - Oby Onyihoa - Enjoy Your Life

05 - Biosis Now - Independent Bahamas

06 - Black Machines - Soul Martinique

07 - Black Machines - Right Now

08 - Marcel Louis Joseph - Prière Au Soleil

09 - Gordon Henderson - The Higher Bidder

Link:Download

Rare Afro & Caribbean Funk Vol. 2 (2007)

Various Artists

"Rare Afro & Caribbean Funk Vol.2"

A second mighty batch of rare work from points south the kind of tunes we'd never have tracked down on our own making us even more grateful for a set like this! As before, the music's a blend of obscure African tunes and other bits picked from the Caribbean, the latter of which represents a strongly untapped source of funk from the 70s, finally getting its due in recent years! There's a strong influence on most numbers

from American funky 45s .

01 - Jojo L'explosif - Dig It Babe

02 - Coffin's - E Te Die

03 - Amadou Balake - Super Bar Konon Mousso

04 - Black Santiago - Don Dagbé Wè

05 - Wjw & Roots Trunks & Branches - Rising (Power Disco Power)

06 - Super Tentemba Jazz - Almamy

07 - Sookie - Rhythm On Rhythm

08 - Marius - Joe

09 - Roland Louis Orchestra - Play Up Play Up

10 - Les Vicking's - Let Stay Up Vicking's

11 - Cool Creation - Wish Upon Love

Link:Download

Joe Thomas - 1976 - Feelin's From Within

JOE THOMAS: FEELIN'S FROM WITHIN

GROOVE MERCHANT RECORDS, GM-3315(LP)

(P)1976 GROOVE MERCHANT INTERNATIONAL, INC., USA

RECORDED: OCTOBER 1976

RELEASED: 1976, USA

Joe Thomas - flute, tenor saxophone

Rhythm section:

Bob Babbitt (bass)

Jerry Friedman (guitar)

Lance Quinn (guitar)

Pat Rebillot (keyboads)

Gary Mure (drums)

Barry Miles (synthesizers)

Jimmy Maelen (percussion)

Steve Gadd (drums on 6)

Jeff Mironov (guitar on 6)

Horn section:

Alan Rubin, Lew Soloff, Jon Faddis (trumpet)

Dave Taylor, Barry Rogers (trombone)

Michael Brecker, George Young, Lew DelGatto (saxophone)

Strings section:

Peter Dimitriades, Harry Cykman, Norman Carr,

Richard Sortomme, John Pintavalle, Harold Kohan,

Tony Posk, Carol Webb, Harry Glickman,

Harry Lookofsky (violin)

Julian Barber, Seymour Berman (viola)

Kermit Moore, Jesse Levy (cello)

Background vocals:

David Lasley, Arnold McCuller (on 1)

1. Funky Fever (7:24) [Jerry Friedman]

arranged by Jerry Friedman and Brad Baker

2. Feelin's From Within (6:51) [Lance Quinn, Brad Baker]

arranged by Lance Quinn snd Brad Baker

3. Polarizer (5:34) [Joe Thomas, Lance Quinn, Brad Baker]

arranged by Joe Thomas, Lance Quinn and Brad Baker

4. Coco (6:04) [Bob Babbitt]

arranged by Bob Babbitt and Brad Baker

5. Galaxy Dreamin' (6:05) [Lance Quinn, Brad Baker]

arranged by Lance Quinn snd Brad Baker

6. Venus (4:59) [Brad Baker]

arranged by Brad Baker

Get This Rare Funky Shit

Donny Hathaway - 2004 - These Songs For You, Live!

A fantastic document of the genius of Donny Hathaway and a set that shows that the 70s soul legend was every bit as wonderful live as he was in the studio! The set features a huge number of unreleased tracks by Donny , grouped with numbers pulled from his two successful 70s live sets (Donny Hathaway Live and In Performance, neither of which are in print in the US!) The tracks feature Donny on electric keyboards and organ , leading a group of players that includes Phil Upchurch, Cornell Dupree, and Richard Tee , all coming together in a tightly-jamming small group formation that's quite different than the backing on Hathaway's studio albums. There's a warm, organic feel to the set that's really wonderful and which offers new versions of tunes you might only know from their studio incarnations, as well as a few covers of work by contemporary soul acts that come off amazingly well.

01 - Flying easy

02 - Valdez in the country

03 - Someday we'll all be free

04 - You've got a friend

05 - He ain't heavy, he's my brother

06 - What's goin' on

07 - Yesterday

08 - Superwoman

09 - A song for you

10 - Sack full of dreams

11 - Little ghetto boy

12 - I love you more than you'll ever know

13 - The ghetto

14 - Interview

Link:Download

European Jazz Trio Featuring Art Farmer - 2004 - Ballad Of The Sad Young Man

01. Che Voule Questa Musika Stasera

02. Ballad Of The Sad Young Man

03. Hello

04. Plein Soleil

05. How Deep Is The Ocean

06. Chopin; Prelude Op.28

07. Sweet Sweep

08. Jealous Guy

09. Walts

10. Sonata Nr.8 Op.13 Pathetique Adagio Cantabille

11. In Your Own Sweet Way

Link:Download

Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds - 1973 - The Black Motion Picture Experience

Artist: The Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds

Album: The Black Motion Picture Experience

Label: Buddah

Original Released: 1973

Album info from www.blaxploitation.com

You might be tempted to pass up on this one because of the NASTY cover. Don't make that mistake. Buy this album. It's an instrumental reworking of all the major pre-1974 black action themes, and features the likes of Randy Brecker in a killer studio band. The album contains one of the few versions of the 'Slaughter' theme committed to vinyl.

Cecil Holmes was an executive at Buddah Records as well as a recording artist himself. This was one of his solo releases. It was aimed at capitalizing on the huge popularity of Blaxploitatin movies during the time. Many of the songs seemed shortened, but still keep to the original arrangements. Holmes included most of the well known hits like Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly and Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man/T Stands For Trouble. Also Sprach Zarathursta (2001) has a short but sweet open drum break.

A1. ACROSS 110th STREET (B.Womack-J.J.Johnson)

A2. SLAUGHTER (Billy Preston)

A3. BEN (W.Scharf-D.Black)

A4. ALSO SPRACH ZARATHRUSTA (2001)

A5. SUPERFLY (C.Mayfield) Curtom

B1. TROUBLE MAN/T STANDS FOR TROUBLE (M.Gaye)

B2. SHAFT (Isaac Hayes)

B3. LOVE THEME FROM LADY SING THE BLUES

B4. FREDDIE'S DEAD (C.Mayfield)

Link:Download

Arthur Adams - 1975 - Home Brew

Arthur Adams - Home Brew

Label: Fantasy

Catalog#: F-9479

Released: 1975

Arranged By - Wayne Henderson

Bass - James Jamerson (tracks: A1, A4 to B5) , Wilton Felder (tracks: A2)

Clavinet - Jerry Peters (tracks: A1 to A2, B1) , Joe Sample (tracks: A5, B4)

Drums - Stix Hooper* (tracks: A2 to A3) , Earl Palmer (tracks: A1, A4 to B5)

Electric Piano - Joe Sample (tracks: A1 to A2, A4 to B3, B5)

Engineer - Rik Pekkonen (tracks: A2 to A3)

Flugelhorn - Oscar Brashear (tracks: B2)

Flute - Ronnie Laws (tracks: B2, B5)

Guitar - Al Vescovo* (tracks: A2 to A3) , Arthur Adams , Dennis Coffey (tracks: A1, A4 to B6)

Horn [Baritone Horn] - George Bohanon (tracks: B2)

Orchestrated By - Donal Cooke

Organ - Jerry Peters (tracks: A3)

Piano - Joe Sample (tracks: A3)

Producer - Arthur Adams , Wayne Henderson

Recorded By - Don Cody

Recorded By [Additional] - Eddie Harris

Remix - F. Byron Clark

Saxophone [Soprano] - Ronnie Laws (tracks: A4, B5)

Saxophone [Tenor] - Ronnie Laws (tracks: A1 to B1, B3 to B4)

Strings - Jerry Peters (tracks: A4, B2)

Synthesizer - Jerry Peters (tracks: B1 to B2) , Joe Sample (tracks: B3)

Tambourine - Wayne Henderson (tracks: A2, A5)

Tom Tom - Wayne Henderson (tracks: A2)

Trombone - George Bohanon (tracks: A1 to B4)

Trumpet - Oscar Brashear (tracks: A1 to B4)

1. Home Brew

2. Do What Cha Doin'

3. The Blues

4. We've Got An Understanding

5. That's The Way You Move

6. Keep On Dancing

7. First-Class Woman

8. Chicago Sidewalk

9. Bumpin' Around

10. That's The Way It's Gonna Be

Link:Download