Before I Got Here

“It’s Just The Way I Feel” and “The Party In Me” come from 1981, both albums ooze the quality of the period and with the benefit of Gene’s contributions in the songwriting came the classic recordings on both. Featured vocalists include The Ridgeway Sisters (formerly Sweet Cream) and Philippe Wynne (Detroit Spinners).

In April 1969, Taste released the first of their two studio albums, the self-titled Taste, with On the Boards following in early 1970, the latter showing the band's jazz influences with Gallagher playing saxophone on numerous tracks.In 1970 Taste toured Europe but were disbanded by Gallagher, who decided to pursue a solo career, performing their last show on New Year's Eve in Belfast. Universal Music are proud to present both of Taste’s studio albums plus two extra discs featuring live recordings from Stockholm, London and at the Woburn Abbey Festival. All which were previously unreleased and would make a great addition to any fan’s collection.

In a Detroit classroom, two budding musicians with a love of soul and jazz became acquainted, they were guitarist Earl Klugh and drummer Gene Dunlap In 1978 Earl was a featured artist for Blue Note on an album “Blue Note Meets The L.A. Philharmonic” supported by Gene on drums. As Earl became more established as a solo performer, Gene played for him on professional dates and the affiliation continued through Earl’s solo recordings with United Artists and Liberty, part of the Capitol Records family of labels. It was Earl who took Gene to Capitol in 1981 for the two albums presented here.
“It’s Just The Way I Feel” and “The Party In Me” come from 1981, both albums ooze the quality of the period and with the benefit of Gene’s contributions in the songwriting came the classic recordings on both.

Like two of his other three albums, Tina Brooks' final session as a leader (in March 1961) was sequenced and prepared for release, but remained on the shelves until well after the tenor's tragically early death. That's why the title of The Waiting Game is not only apt, but sadly poignant. Despite Blue Note's reservations at the time, Brooks' output for the label was uniformly strong, demonstrating his skills as a smooth, graceful soloist and a composer of considerable dexterity within the hard bop idiom.