This 3-CD SoulMusic Records’ set celebrates the recordings that Solomon Burke made for the legendary Atlantic Records label between 1960 and 1968. Solomon is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest soul singers to emerge during the genre’s golden days. He signed to Atlantic before ‘soul music’ became a bona fide sub-genre of African-American music and it was Solomon who helped define this new movement and he was, in fact, one of the first artists to use ‘soul’ to describe his music. He would eventually be known the world over as ‘The King of Rock and Soul’.
What you see is what you get, an excellent little compilation of the various faces of soul-jazz as presented by the Verve label with their amazing array of artists from Hugh Masekela to Willie Bobo and Herbie Mann on the one hand, and Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks (in an outstanding reading of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man") the Heath Brothers, and Teddy Edwards on the other. The track list is wonderfully varied, too: there's a smoking version of Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" by Masekela, a pair by Jimmy Smith, and a big band – a new entry by the acid jazz group the James Taylor Quartet, but they get it deep; and Wynton Kelly goes deep into soul and blues with "Escapade." Anyway you cut it, it comes out great.
"It's midnight, lights off, clothes off, candles glowing, incense is fading away, don't need no electricity, baby, I'll be your amplifier, 'cause we can boogie in the dark'" - and so pioneer San Francisco disc jockey Voco introduced himself every Saturday night at midnight, while proceeding to expand the musical palette of his stoned audience. KSAN was the first radio station to bring "hippie music" to SF area listeners, a large and devoted following whom the laid-back Armenian DJ introduced to an eclectic mix of blues, funk, and world music, until 6 A.M. rolled around and the tired heads rolled into bed. In 1972 Voco convinced Blue Thumb to release a double concept album based on his radio show, and gathered together some incredible musicians from the Bay area as contributors. Lights Out: San Francisco, subtitled "Voco Presents the Soul of the Bay Area" is an excellent overview of the diverse and exciting San Francisco music scene in the early '70s…
One of the greatest soul discoveries of recent years. Joe Barr shaped his art in the smoky clubs of Chicago. This essay in the form of a tribute to the big names in the genre is definitely a masterstroke!
After one and a half years of extensive research we are exhausted but ecstatic to present to our fans and critics the third volume in the "Can You Feel It?" compilation series. This time our journey leads us through various musical styles, originating from countries as diverse as Barbados, Guyana, Germany, and the US. But the one quality these tunes all share is that they, once again, will make you get up, get down, and get ready for some more highly underrated MODERN SOUL, DISCO and BOOGIE!