N The Groove 2

Stamping their identity all over this compilation album are the female singers of 50s and early 60s generations trying to make a name for themselves in a largely male dominated industry. What the listener will experience with ‘Cat Scratchin’ is a variety of songs, with a variety of styles that show flashes of sophistication and songs borne out of more primitive foundations. There’s plenty of attitude as well as honesty, not to mention a mental toughness as well as vulnerability that serves up a perfect balance of emotions. Most tracks give the suggestion of late 50s and early 60s periods in history with the rhythm and blues ranging from late-night torchbearers such as the excellent ‘Please Give Me A Match’ performed by Rebecca Williams, to the tub-thumping, boisterous racket that is ‘Holy Mack’reel’ from equally animated vocals of Prentice Moreland.

Miles Davis - Evolution Of The Groove (2007) {Columbia-Legacy, 9699-89152-2}
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© 2007 Sony BMG Music / Columbia / Legacy | 9699-89152-2
Jazz / Groove / Jazz Funk / Fusion / Electronic / Broken Beat / Trumpet

What a jumble. Nearly a decade and a half of groove morphology compressed into an EP, and overlaid with new components to show, at once, how rhythmically pioneering Davis was-as if this needed reiteration-in a Sly Stone/James Brown sense, and how much influence he still exerts in rap and R&B. An old soul informing our new soul music. But wouldn’t you know: This brief set mostly works, if you can orient yourself to what’s essentially a tour-de-force of amalgamation, a testament to the recording studio and what can be done with old session tapes as much as that original music itself.

Recorded in Los Angeles, the 8th solo album of Masato Honda includes members of Fourplay - Bob James, Harvey Mason and Nathan East .

The Hammond organ, named after its inventor Laurens Hammond, debuted in 1935 as a cost-effective electro-acoustic alternative to the gigantic pipe organs mainly installed in churches. Among Hammond’s first customers were George Gershwin and Count Basie. Jazz pianists like Basie, Fats Waller, Wild Bill Davis and Milt Buckner were the founding fathers of the instrument’s international conquest, which led across all styles of popular music, from jazz to progressive rock, with its heyday in the 1960s and '70s…

With apologies to groups like The Meters, Bar-Kays, and Average White Band, when it comes to all-time great instrumental R&B bands, for most folks Booker T. & the MG's represent the gold standard. And with good reason'or, actually reasons! First of all, as the house band of the hallowed Stax label, The MG's pretty much invented the sound of Southern soul, playing on records by everybody from Otis Redding to Wilson Pickett to Carla Thomas. Second, on their own as Booker T & the MG's, they came up with some of the most indelible instrumental jams of all time, including'but by no means limited to!''Green Onions.' And, third, each member of the band was an absolute monster on their instrument, to this day revered and copied by untold numbers of musicians. Indeed, by the time the mid '60s rolled around, bands on both sides of the Atlantic wanted to sound like Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr, and Lewie Steinberg (replaced about halfway through this collection by the great Donald 'Duck' Dunn).

Those who became aware of Robert Randolph's considerable musical gifts on either the awesome Live at the Wetlands or on the underrated Unclassified are in for a surprise. Colorblind expands the Robert Randolph & the Family Band's palette – on tape anyway, they've been doing stuff like this on the stage for years – stretching out from the blues ledge into gospelized, gritty funk and soul, and expanding those genres in the process. Using a group of producers from cut to cut, the Family Band takes no prisoners in this wildly crazy and utterly joyous mix of musical forms and flavors. Sure, it's a bit slicker than Live at the Wetlands, but not in any detrimental way. This is what these cats have been laying down for awhile now. It's been their vision and they've finally brought it into the studio. The opening joint is a stomping wail called "Ain't Nothing Wrong with That" that features the Family Band chanting a refrain, handclaps, and killer female backing vocals as well as Jason Crosby's B-3, as Randolph's pedal steel hovers above before coming in for the killing groove.

Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Sound Of Philadelphia Volume 2 celebrates the 50th Anniversary in 2021 of the hugely influential Philadelphia International Records ( 8 CD & 12" Box ).