Jocelyn Brown

Unless you've been living in a cave since the late '70s, you have likely heard Jocelyn Brown's voice at one point or another. Brown's immensely power-packed and impassioned voice has been at the fore of several definitive and timeless disco classics, and it has also been present in background roles on numerous others. Short-lived disco groups like Inner Life and Musique hit the upper reaches of the club charts in large part due to Brown's contributions, and she has also had success as a solo performer.

Jocelyn B. Smith was born in Queens, New York in 1960. Her parents recognized her passion for music early and Jocelyn started classical piano lessons at the age of five. Through her classical training she got more and more interested in 'Soul' music. So in the early 1980's Jocelyn started performing and touring with artists such as ELO, James Brown, Ellen Foley, Rick James and many others.

Not quite as solid as Todd Terry's always excellent remixes and singles, Ready for a New Day still benefits from several collaborations, with divas Jocelyn Brown, Martha Wash, and Shannon, as well as male singers like Roland Clarke (from Urban Soul) and Bernard Fowler (the Peech Boys, Rolling Stones). The appearance of his previous single "Something Goin' On" is welcome, as are two tracks with moderate breakbeats. Though most of the album covers previous territory, that's hardly a problem for a producer of Terry's stature and longevity.

Similar to Deep Beats' electro collection, the Prelude volume in the Absolutely series covers the disco and proto-house label with tracks by Jocelyn Brown, Sharon Redd, "D" Train, France Joli and Musique, among others. The contributors aren't quite as essential as the remixers, however; no less a collection of production all-stars than Shep Pettibone, Francois Kervorkian, Larry Levan and Tony Humphries contribute extended remixes, all of them contemporary with the original Prelude release. The result is a compilation which charts the changeover from '70s disco to '80s house.