Following the success of the Tabu individual expanded editions, we have subsequently received enquiries about putting some packages together on Alexander O’Neal and The S.O.S. Band which encompass all of the original albums together with the 7” versions of the singles plus some of the 12” mixes we were unable to feature on the individual expanded editions. So who better to curate these packages than Ralph Tee, curator of the Philadelphia International Box Set and all-round Soul Music expert. So here are all 6 of Alexander O’Neal’s original Tabu albums as they were originally released together with 2 bonus CDs, one of which contains of all the key 7” singles and the other which contains the 12” versions which were not included on the recent expanded editions.
Soul Brother has given us a long overdue compilation of Gary Bartz's experimental jazz material from the 1970s, beginning with his classic Harlem Bush Music albums, Taifa and Uhuru from 1970 and 1971, with his band NTU Troop. While it's impossible to overstate the influence his brief tenure with Miles Davis had on him (Bartz is featured on the Live-Evil recordings), the saxophonist and composer was exploring other avenues of creative black music as well, from funk to soul to the blues. The 12 cuts here begin with the sublime "Celestial Blues," from that seminal NTU Troop debut set.
Soul Brother has given us a long overdue compilation of Gary Bartz's experimental jazz material from the 1970s, beginning with his classic Harlem Bush Music albums, Taifa and Uhuru from 1970 and 1971, with his band NTU Troop. While it's impossible to overstate the influence his brief tenure with Miles Davis had on him (Bartz is featured on the Live-Evil recordings), the saxophonist and composer was exploring other avenues of creative black music as well, from funk to soul to the blues.