Melvyn Price - Rhythm and Blues (1974)

A lost bit of 70s soul jazz and global funk percussion from conguero & trombonist Melvyn Price – an incredible set of heavily rhythmic grooves recorded in Stockholm in 1974 – originally a private press effort, rediscovered a few years back by Wax Poetics Records!

Melvyn grew up outside of Detroit, and he cut his teeth with the freeform Afrikan Folk Ensemble before relocating to Sweden in the 60s, where he thrived in the country's healthy and creative jazz scene. He's joined by a great group of international players who bring diverse flavors to the overall sound, with Latin and African styles of percussion from Price, Jon Dill and Luis Agudo, drums by Gunnar Nyberg and Fredrik Noren, piano by Bjorn Wolff, fluidly jazzy tenor sax from Ed Epstein, and bass by Guy Roellinger, whose work here often sounds like the stuff of funky 70s soundtracks. The rhythms are absolutely impeccable – with the conga and percussion as the driving force of the sound! Titles include "Voodoo Love Dance", "Toward Brazil", "Behind Kungstradgarden", "Happiness Is. . .", "Five O'Clock Traffic" and "Last Train".

Enjoy it!

Greg

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Sheila Landis and Her Bandits of Bebop -Guess I'll Call It Love (1981)

A great session of groovy jazz vocals, with a light breezy finish by Sheila Landis and her band! The set was recorded in Michigan – but it's got a flowing groove that feels like the best of the San Francisco scene at the time, lightly dancing vocals with a hip edge, in the mode that Mark Murphy was using a lot at the time. The group is tight in a small combo mode – with a mixture of acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes, plus just the right amount of guitar and saxes to give the tunes a bit of flourish.

The album's filled with great original tunes – including "Love Robs Your Reason", "Where You Gonna Put Your Blues?", "There's Never Enough There For Me", "Lonely Wine", and "Guess I'll Call It Love" – plus the wonderful groover "Parenthe-Seizure", which you'll recognize from its appearance on a few compilations here and there.

Enjoy it!

Greg

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Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers - Jungle Fire! (1969)

One of my favorite albums by this funky Latin combo! The record differs from some of their earlier Prestige albums in that the tracks are longer, more instrumental, and have a hard fuzzy electric groove. The band jams hard in a way that's more like some of the funk combos of the early 70s, than the Latin groups from which they came — and the results of this mix are wonderful!

Includes two funky numbers written by Sonny Phillips – "The Spokerman" and "Jamilah" – plus a great extended cover of "Cloud Nine", and the amazing break cut "Got Myself A Good Man". Great horn work from the funky Pazant Brothers, plus Seldon Powell, who also plays flute and tenor on the album – and other jazz funk stars on the album include Bernard Purdie, Billy Butler, and Neal Creque, Pucho's right hand man!

Enjoy it!

Greg

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Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers - Heat! (1968)

Yet another title with an exclamation mark, and one of Pucho's greatest albums ever! This one really gets all the elements right – from Latin jazz, to boogaloo soul, to some of that funkiness that was creeping into the group's work at the time.

The fantastic Pazant Brothers (Eddie & Al) are on sax and trumpet (respectively), and the set also features some vocals by Jackie Soul on a few cuts. Includes some great Latin Jazz tracks like "Heat!" and the amazing "Psychedelic Pucho" (with an organ hook that won't let go), plus other great Latin soul cuts, like "Payin' Dues" and "Let Love Find You". Neal Creque's on piano, and the whole thing kicks booty!

Enjoy it!

Greg

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Eero Koivistoinen Music Society - Wahoo! (1972)

Funky funky Finland! Don't be put off by the long name, or the overuse of vowels in the title – because this album's a killer batch of funky jazz, filled with loads of choppy sax riffs, sweet Fender Rhodes licks, and plenty of heavy drums. The record's got a hard fusion groove – and all the tracks are long instrumentals served up with plenty of power, and plenty of ferocity!

The set was recorded in Finland in 1972, but it feels more like some killer studio jam from the west coast – played by by a very tight bunch of funky jazz musicians who weren't afraid to go over the top. Titles include "Hot C", "7 Up", "6 Down", "Suite 19", and "Wahoo!".

Enjoy it!

Greg

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Leny Andrade - Estamos Ai (1965)

Beautiful bossa – and one of Leny Andrade's best albums! The record was recorded way back in 1965, when Leny was starting her career, years before she went onto become one of Brazil's most famous jazz singers. She's working here with Deodato, who did a beautiful set of jazzy arrangements that work perfectly with Leny's rich voice – warm and airy, with a sweetly skipping quality throughout!

The whole thing's really jazzy and wonderful – without any of the heavier styles of Leny's later work – and titles include "Tema Feliz", "Samba De Rei", "A Resposta", "Banzo", "Cliché", "Samba Em Paris", and "Coisa Nuvem".

Enjoy it!

Greg

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Young-Holt Unlimited - Young-Holt Unlimited Plays Superfly (1973)

Fantastic stuff as Young and Holt lay down a monster set of grooves from Curtis Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack (all the good ones – like "Freddie's Dead", "Give Me Your Love", "Pusher Man", and "Superfly"). They also get into some funky tracks of their own (like "Hey Pancho" and "Mystical Man"), and do a super-dope cover of "People Make the World Go Round".

The album's nice and stripped down – perhaps closest to their Oh Girl LP on Atlantic in feel, with loads of cool electric piano by Ken Chaney, laid out over the group's harder funky grooves. An essential bit of early G-funk!

Enjoy it!

Greg

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