It's ironic that on Ramsey Lewis' Urban Knights II (GRP), the one holdover from the first Knights project is only featured half the time. Needless to say, that's the more riveting, jazzier half of this Maurice White-produced exercise in easy funk and potent, machine generated urban grooves. Lewis' slowly simmering, coolly rhythmic piano jaunts add flair to middle of the road silky pieces like "The Promise," but are best enjoyed on the two playful solo interludes which create an organic contrast to the slicker fare they complement. The pianist also adds an avant-garde edge to the heavily soundscaped "Brazilian Rain."
's 1983 albums, both released while the singer was with , are combined on this reissue from 's label. , a number six hit produced with , is one of her best albums. It contains two of her bigger hits: the upbeat pop-funk title track and the quiet storm favorite 's once again prominent on , which wasn't nearly as major. Although it reached number 20 on the chart, the material let her down. The most notable number is the ballad
Look Out For #1 is the debut album by the Los Angeles, California-based duo Brothers Johnson released in 1976. The album reached number one on the R&B albums chart and number three on the jazz albums chart in the United States.
Representing much of the group's output for the year 1969, the two albums show the group advancing in the face of adversity - Paul Williams, who had been very much the Temptations' sparkplug in its earlier years, was in declining health, and music was changing around the group, almost faster than a lot of soul artists of the era could keep up with. This remastered collection is a reminder, even better than the Emperors Of Soul box, of precisely how ambitious and urgent the Temptations' music became in response, and how the group and producer Norman Whitfield helped expand and change soul music's boundaries in the process.
Solid Ground is the sixth studio album by American saxophonist Ronnie Laws released in 1981 by Liberty Records. The album reached No. 17 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart.
Ronnie Laws is an award-winning tenor saxophonist and composer whose career has, since the early 1970s, straddled the worlds of jazz and R&B. Since 1975 he has placed seven albums in the Top 200 - including his 1975 Blue Note debut Pressure Sensitive - as well as tracks and albums in no less than six other categories. He has worked as an in-demand session man and live musician with a who's-who of jazz and R&B greats including Ramsey Lewis, Gregory Porter, B.B. King, George Duke, Quincy Jones, Stanley Jordan, and dozens more.
Solid Ground is the sixth studio album by American saxophonist Ronnie Laws released in 1981 by Liberty Records. The album reached No. 17 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart.
Ronnie Laws is an award-winning tenor saxophonist and composer whose career has, since the early 1970s, straddled the worlds of jazz and R&B. Since 1975 he has placed seven albums in the Top 200 - including his 1975 Blue Note debut Pressure Sensitive - as well as tracks and albums in no less than six other categories. He has worked as an in-demand session man and live musician with a who's-who of jazz and R&B greats including Ramsey Lewis, Gregory Porter, B.B. King, George Duke, Quincy Jones, Stanley Jordan, and dozens more.