John Heartsman and Circles - Music Of My Heart [1977]

John Heartsman is known as the guy who played on a thousand R&B hits. From the mid '50s to the late '60s he recorded countless sessions, backing up the likes of Jimmy McCracklin, Lowell Fulson, Sugar Pie DeSanto, and many, many more. Then is the early '70s, exhausted from constant touring and seedy late night gigs, he took up a low-key residency at a small Sacramento jazz club. Here, Heartsman finally got to do his OWN thing. And his thing went down so well with the local audience that he decided to record some material and offer an LP for sale. The album was quickly snapped up by the Basin St West regulars, and very few escaped the local area. A couple of decades later, and sadly a little while after Heartsman himself had passed away, a couple of copies surfaced on the funk collectors scene in LA and whispers and rumours of a set of sustained quality funky soul and jazz began circulating slowly. Very few copies have appeared since, making the LP almost as legendary as the long and hidden career of the man himself...

                                                              Enjoy!

Aura Urziceanu ‎– Seară De Jazz Cu Aura [1974]

Aura Urziceanu (aka Aura Rully, Aura Borealis) was born in 1946 in Bucharest in a family of musicians. She started studying the violin with her father when she was 5 and singing when she was 16 years old. In 1969, after being awarded the second prize at the National Festival in Mamaia, she left for a long tour in Canada and USA, where she appeared on stage together with Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.

                                                                                                             Enjoy!

Shake Keane - Dig It! [1969]

A groovy album of short little pop jazz numbers – featuring the sparkling trumpet of West Indian player Shake Keane over the top of arrangements from Ivor Raymonde! Shake's got his roots in the hipper side of the British scene of the late 50s and early 60s – and is particularly well known for his work on some of Joe Harriot's groundbreaking albums. Here, though, Shake also proves that he's got a good vision for an all-around groover – and works with the arranger in a style that nicely circles between mainstream instrumentals and jazz inflections. There's some great groovy covers on the session – including "Honey", "Sunny", "World", "Love Is Blue", "As Tears Go By", "Goin Out Of My Head", and "Bend Me Shape Me".

                                                                 Enjoy!

East New York Ensemble de Music - At the Helm [1974]

Bilal Abdurahman's East New York Ensemble de Music came out of the diverse community of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, where African, West Indian & black American cultures converged. First and foremost a deep Spiritual Jazz record, At The Helm also incorporates elements of the West Indies, and both the Near and Far East. 
The sound is loose and free – spiritually building in a manner that recalls the work of Ahmed Abdul Malik, Phil Cohran, and some of the AACM – and the album has a style that's exploratory, but never goes too far out, or loses its sense of rhythm and swing. 

                                                              Enjoy!

Afro Soultet - Afrodesia [1968~1971]

The wildly diverse, heavily percussive global jazz, soul, and exotica inspired Afrodesia from the late 60s combo Afro Soultet – a crazy rare one, too! The group purportedly has roots in Texas, but incarnations of it were gigging around LA a bit earlier as Afro Latin Blues Quintet +1 and a bit later as Afro Latin Soultet. Here they play with boundless inspiration from around the globe. Afro Latin percussion and rhythms hold it all together, but they bring in strains of Latin soul, African rhythms, straighter jazz and madly percussive instrumental rock.

                                              


                                                                Enjoy!

Billy Wooten - Lost Tapes [2007]

Rare material from Indianapolis vibesman Billy Wooten – previously unreleased tracks that start with his years in The Wooden Glass, then stretch out into even more obscure territory! The first 3 tracks on the set are all live jams with plenty of heavy vibes from Billy – tracks that have that chilled out, slow funk approach that's made Wooten a big artist with the Stones Throw generation. Other tracks feature Wooten in a number of different modes – working in a small combo mode with guitar on some tracks, jazzing it up with Oliver Nelson Jr on another, and moving back to heavier funk on the last 3 numbers – live trio numbers that feature some great work on organ from Caesar Frazier!

                                                                                 Enjoy!

Eddie Russ - Fresh Out [1974]

A landmark bit of indie funk from the 70s – one of the few records cut by Detroit keyboardist Eddie Russ, and easily the best! The album features Russ going to town on electric piano – working with a hip combo called The Mixed Bag, which features some wicked work on flute and soprano sax by Larry Nozero – and a vibe that's a lot more laidback than standard funk, or even more mainstream jazz funk too – a sweet open groove that's mighty nice all the way through! The album's really a showcase for Nozero and Russ' solos – trading back and forth effortlessly over long tunes that roll along in a sweet electric-tinged groove – long vamping rhythms that really seem to drive both players onto new heights.

                                                                Enjoy!

The Nineteenth Whole - Smilin' [1972]

Indianapolis soul-jazz trio Nineteenth Whole first played together as backup musicians for jazz guitar great Grant Green, forming their own group to record the 1972 Smilin' album on Eastbound Records. Vibist/singer Billy Wooten, organist/singer Emanuel Riggins, and drummer "Mad" Harold Cardwell were joined by a few sessionmen for the LP, including noted guitarist Cornell Dupree, who took all the guitar solos. 
The record was solid early-'70s soul-jazz in which the musicians sounded more comfortable with the soul idiom than many did on releases given a soul-jazz tag, offering five mostly instrumental, lengthy pieces with funky grooves and some sparkling organ-vibes-guitar interaction. The group also recorded a live album, featuring Wooten, under the name Wooden Glass.



                                                 

                                                                        Enjoy!

Hal Singer & Jef Gilson - Soul Of Africa [1974]

A groundbreaking set of work from the team of Jef Gilson and Hal Singer -- a uniquely cross-cultural session recorded in the Paris scene of the 70s, and easily some of the best work ever from both musicians! Singer's probably best remembered on these shores for his older R&B tenor work of the 50s -- but sometime during the 60s, he moved over to Paris, where he cut some mighty great music -- including the legendary Paris Soul Food album, which predates this one by a few years. Gilson was always a great artist on the French scene -- a modern pianist whose work of the 60s was always fresh and new, and a player who moved into more of a world jazz sensibility as the 70s approached. Together, both players work some real magic here -- deep soul from Singers tenor, sharper tones from Gilson's piano -- and a range of weird and wonderful notes from other players who include Bernard Lubat on vibes, Jacky Samson on bass, Frank Raholison on drums, and both Del Rabenja and Gerard Rakotoarivony on percussion -- really helping the record live up to its "Africa" title! Samson's bass is especially amazing -- roundly-toned, and incredibly soulful -- as much so as his legendary work with Marco DiMarco, but pitched slightly differently here -- and titles include "The High Life", "Liberation", "Mother Africa", "Chant Inca", and "Garvey's Strut". Plus, as an added bonus the CD also features 2 incredible earlier tracks by Gilson -- material recorded with Lloyd Miller back in the 60s -- playing "micro organ" and balaphon, with a sound that's almost even more haunting than the main album. Other players include "Pierre Caron on tenor and Alain Tabar-Nouval on alto -- and titles include "Le Grand Bidou" and "Fable Of Gutenberg".

                                                                            Enjoy!

Fats Theus - Black out [1970]

This is the first release by tenor sax player Fats Theus. Originally released in 1970 on Creed Taylor‘s CTI label, this album was quite hard to find until it was re-released in 2000. Mr. Taylor also produced this album.

Session players include Grant Green, who plays some excellent guitar, Hilton Felton and Clarence Palmer on organ, Jimmy Lewis and Chuck Rainey on bass, Idris Muhammad on drums, and Eddie Moore, who plays a saw solo(!) on Bed Of Nails.

This album is all about soul-jazz. It’s heavily blues and soul influenced. If Booker T and the M.G.s went to jazz camp every summer in their youth, this is what they might have come up with.

                                                                                Enjoy!

Frank Wess - Wess To Memphis [1971]

This is a funky soul album from Frank Wess that's loaded to brim with flutes,wah wah,vibes and all the ingredients for super funky album.

                                                                                Enjoy! 

Merl Saunders - Merl Saunders [1974]

Merl Saunders was born in California and grew up playing the Hammond B3 in various styles from Blues to Jazz to Rock. For a short period in the 60s he even played with the Grateful Dead. On his self-titled album he played mostly Soul-Jazz like on Evil Ways, When I Die and Bolinas Brown that starts off with a drum break. The two best songs, and funkiest, are the originals Aunt Monk and Righteousness. David Axelrod helped Saunders produce the album and Billy Fender, Phil Upchurch, King Errison were some of the musicians that recorded with him. 

                                                    Enjoy!

Merl Saunders - Fire Up [1973]

What might have been worth volumes of rock history, but turned out to be nothing much more than a short story, was the supergroup comprising members of both the Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival, a ship whose captain was the wonderful Merl Saunders. With both the chops and musical background to lead the somewhat younger rock neophytes on a vision quest, Saunders became something of a galvanizing force, bringing out some of the tightest and strongest performances of the players featured here. As this band evolved in later years, former Creedence Clearwater Revival guitarist Tom Fogerty was pushed out of the picture and Saunders began a program of diversity in which the hapless Garcia would be thrust into the limelight on ballads such as "My Funny Valentine," an ungrateful fish out of water to be sure. There is none of that here, as the program wisely emphasizes the leader's clever songwriting; fans of the good ol' boogaloo should enjoy both "Soul Roach" and "Chock-Lite Puddin'." The range of material is narrowly focused into the areas where these players really excel, rather than attempting to be jaw-droppingly eclectic. Of the covers, the best is an energetic reworking of "Expressway to Your Heart," in which Saunders displays his feel for light, melodic soul material. He gets the others to play in the pocket, yet these are hippie bell-bottoms with holes in the pockets; the slightly unkempt nature of the Bay Area psychedelic rockers adds a nice atmosphere.

                                                  Enjoy!

The Souljazz Orchestra - Rising Sun [2010]

Rising Sun is the Souljazz Orchestra's first all-acoustic afro-jazz album. Playing over thirty different instruments, the group creates a rich soundscape of otherwordly jazz, driven by heavy African rhythms and soulful grooves. The esoteric arrangements and fiery improvisations make it one of the Souljazz Orchestra's most unique offerings.

Enjoy!