Rare Soul & R&b Masters

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray". He was often referred to as "The Genius". Charles was blind from the age of seven.

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Thomas had this to say about recording with the Ike & Tina Revue: “I’ll tell you some strange stuff. I’ll tell you why you get confused with this stuff. Everybody gets confused. Look … Ike was a wheeler-dealer when it came to … I mean he knew how to juggle. In them days people like myself … in the organisation … we were just young, only Ike knew what was going on. And Ike would make masters and masters of other masters and wheel and deal and change names around and stuff … like, I wrote two or three Ikettes songs that sold pretty good and Ike stuck his name on ’em and stuff like that. Because he said, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it, I got the publishing company so the money’ll come’ … you don’t know until later on, a few years later you learn better and you do it different. But, yeah, he sold a lot of masters more than one time. He re-recorded songs, you know, new masters of various songs. That’s why you see things on various labels, same song by a different name … We would be on the road, we did a lot of recording down in New Orleans, Cosimo’s studio … Whatever city we’d be in, we was always touring, we’d do some recording usually. Lay down some tracks. Odd places, population twenty and stuff like that. If there was a studio there and we was in town, Ike got some ideas, even if they ain’t new ideas, just re-record what we did last year, you know, whatever …”

"What'd I Say" is the 5th studio album recorded by Ray Charles, and was released in 1959. The release popularized Charles' first top 10 hit, "What'd I Say", and became his first gold record. The album is included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).

This new release delves deep into the unique melting pot sound of reggae, funk and dub created throughout the 1970s at the Studio One music lab situated at 13 Brentford Road, Kingston, where the intense experiments and collaborations of crack musicians, singers, DJs and engineers under the guidance of producer Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd produced the most forward-thinking music ever to come out of Jamaica.

"Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings" is an 87-track, four-disc box set that covers Aretha Franklin's Atlantic career, spanning from 1967's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" to 1976's "Something He Can Feel". Over the course of the set, all of Aretha's best-known songs, including all of her Top Ten pop and R&B singles, are included. For fans who only know the singles, the set is primarily notable for the wealth of album tracks and forgotten singles that are included, which nearly equal the hits in terms of quality. Stopping just short of her move to disco, "The Queen of Soul" just misses being a totally comprehensive collection, but it remains definitive – it may miss some of her later hits, but every one of her greatest tracks is in the box. The Queen of Soul is one the cornerstones of any soul collection.

"Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings" is an 87-track, four-disc box set that covers Aretha Franklin's Atlantic career, spanning from 1967's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" to 1976's "Something He Can Feel". Over the course of the set, all of Aretha's best-known songs, including all of her Top Ten pop and R&B singles, are included. For fans who only know the singles, the set is primarily notable for the wealth of album tracks and forgotten singles that are included, which nearly equal the hits in terms of quality. Stopping just short of her move to disco, "The Queen of Soul" just misses being a totally comprehensive collection, but it remains definitive – it may miss some of her later hits, but every one of her greatest tracks is in the box. The Queen of Soul is one the cornerstones of any soul collection.

The story of Sondra 'Blinky' Williams has long been shrouded in mystery. The soulful singer came to Motown Records in 1967 following stints at Vee-Jay and Atlantic, bringing her passionate and powerful deep soul sound to Hitsville, USA. Despite recording dozens of tracks between 1968 and 1973, only a small handful saw release: a mere four 45s plus an album of duets with Edwin Starr, two live cuts, and a couple of one-off recordings, including a key moment on the best-selling soundtrack of Lady Sings the Blues. Over the years, Blinky tracks would emerge on compilation releases, prompting fans worldwide to clamor for more and even launch a 'Free Blinky from the Vaults' campaign.

Jazz Funk Soul is the Smooth Jazz super group featuring 3 of the most important hit makers on the scene today: Jeff Lorber, Everett Harp and Chuck Loeb. As artists and producers they are responsible for selling millions of albums and scoring close to 50 #1 Smooth Jazz radio hits! As a touring ensemble, they are wowing audiences from coast to coast. Jazz Funk Soul is overflowing with soaring saxophone solos, brilliant guitar riffs, super funky piano riffs and incredibly compelling melodies. Highlights include the soon to be hit single, In the Moment, the sensuous Loeb original Feel Me, the high spirited romp All Over , and much more!