This 1998 CD reissues keyboardist Patrice Rushen's first two recordings as a leader except for one selection ("Puttered Bopcorn") from the first date that was left out due to lack of space. Twenty at the time of the earlier set, Rushen showed a great deal of potential for the future, potential that (at least in the jazz world) was unfortunately never realized. Rushen is heard on the Prelusion album heading a septet that includes tenor-saxophonist Joe Henderson (the most memorable soloist), trumpeter Oscar Brashear, trombonist George Bohanon and Hadley Caliman on reeds; the music is essentially advanced hard bop with touches of fusion. The later date has a similar group (without Henderson) and with guest spots for flutist Hubert Laws and guitarist Lee Ritenour. The R&B-ish vocal by Josie James on "What's the Story" hints at where Rushen would be going in the future: straight to the pop market. So overall this CD, which should have served as a bright beginning for the young keyboardist, is practically the artistic high point of Patrice Rushen's erratic career.

Level 42 - The Complete Polydor Years 1980-1984 (2021) {10CD Set, Polydor–Robinsongs ROBINBX45}
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© 1980-84, 2021 Polydor / Robinsongs / Cherry Red | ROBINBX4
Jazz / Sophisti-Pop / Contemporary Pop / Dance Rock / Jazz Funk / New Wave / Synth Pop

Formed in the last embers of the 70’s Level 42 started as a Jazz Fusion band before embracing dance rock for which they would be best known. The band’s first single Love Meeting Love was released in 1980 to much critical acclaim which led to the debut album, the self-titled Level 42 which charted in the top 20. Throughout the 80’s the band released numerous albums and toured regularly building a large and devoted fan base – these early years are featured here. Volume One contains all the Level 42 albums from 1981 – 1984 in their original glory. Discs 6 -10 contain all the B-Sides, 7” Mixes, remixes and rare versions from those eras. Compiled in conjunction with Level 42 and band experts Paul Wallace, Paul Waller and Simon Carson. The band go out on a major tour in 2021 and are fully involved with the release of this box set. This beauty is PART ONE! PART TWO to follow…

Miles Davis - Olympia 11 Juillet 1973 (1999) {Trema France 710574}
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© 1973, 1999 Trema France / Sony Music | 710574
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Jazz Rock / Trumpet

Of Miles Davis's numerous live releases from the 1970s, this one rates as less essential, but it does provide further insight into the fascinating chronology of Davis' music as he entered the final stages of his pre-retirement "electric period." The band heard here includes drummer Al Foster, electric bassist Michael Henderson, electric guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas, percussionist Mtume, and saxophonist Dave Liebman. Several of these players are heard to better effect one year earlier on the more colorful and varied In Concert: Live at Philharmonic Hall recording, which featured material from On the Corner, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and Get Up With It. By 1973, Davis' music had increasingly focused on mesmerizing static harmonies, electronics, and dense polyrhythmic layers that danced around the core of Foster's surging beats and Henderson's subterranean throb.

Marcos and the other Brazilian luminaries Adrian and Ali hosted for Jazz Is Dead, are able to create an entirely different sound and feel using the exact same palette.

Pucho and his Latin Soul Brothers - Groovin' High (1997) {Cannonball Records CBD 27103}
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© 1997 Cannonball Records | CBD 27103
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Latin Jazz / Soul Jazz / Groove

If anyone has successfully bridged the gap between Latin jazz and soul-jazz, it's Pucho, whose very accessible blend of hard bop, R&B and Afro-Cuban music took its share of knocks from jazz critics but was consistently swinging and could always liven up a party. The New York percussionist was 59 when Groovin' High came out on the small Cannonball label in 1997, but except for some experiments with rap, the CD isn't much different from his Prestige dates of the 1960s and early 1970s.

On his first instrumental album in over a decade, German jazz trumpeter/flügelhornist and pop star Till Brönner offers his own tribute to one of his earliest inspirations: the sound of Creed Taylor's CTI label. Co-produced by the artist with keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia and Samon Kawamura, these 12 tunes employ a crack studio band as well as strings, and evoke memories of the label's arrangers Don Sebesky, David Matthews, and Bob James, but with distinctly modern charts. The mood is relaxed, open, and fluid, and creativity runs high. The production is warm yet crystalline; though attention is paid to detail, nothing feels constrained by nostalgia. These 12 cuts wed hip, soulful jazz-funk grooves to modern jazz, sometimes infused with a subtly cinematic panache. "Will of Nature" has a tight front-line horn vamp (Brönner and saxophonist Magnus Lindgren) that invokes hard bop but sticks closer to spacy soul-jazz – Lindgren even quotes "A Love Supreme" in the intro to his solo. Di Gioia's Rhodes makes room inside the mix for exploration, while staying deep in the pocket provided by Wolfgang Haffner's drum kit and Albert Johnson's double bass. "The Gate" opens with lush, impressionistic strings that hover and float in the intro, highlighted by Lindgren's flute. They introduce Brönner's smoky flügelhorn melody, followed by double bass, rim-shot snare, and cymbals. The strings vanish and, in a nice timbral contrast, the slippery head is led by Lindgren's bass clarinet and the horn.

Oliver Nelson - Skull Session (1975) {Flying Dutchman–BMG 74321887132 rel 2002}
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© 1975, 2002 Flying Dutchman / RCA Victor / BMG | 74321887132
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Post Bop

Anyone, who has been fortunate enough to play in a band that uses Oliver Nelson arrangements, will vouch for how clever and musical they are. On this session he was asked to include electronic instruments and incorporate the rhythms they are often associated with them. This has been attempted before and usually results in the most horrible ‘hodgepodge’ of sounds that please no one. Oliver Nelson however succeeds in incorporating the newer instruments without detracting in any way from the normal quality of his work. This is a very good album; every track is an original composition with a strong melody line and an imaginative arrangement.

Of the many wonderful blaxploitation soundtracks to emerge during the early '70s, Shaft certainly deserves mention as not only one of the most lasting but also one of the most successful. Isaac Hayes was undoubtedly one of the era's most accomplished soul artists, having helped elevate Stax to its esteemed status; therefore, his being chosen to score such a high-profile major-studio film shouldn't seem like a surprise. And with "Theme from Shaft," he delivered an anthem just as ambitious and revered as the film itself, a song that has only grown more treasured over the years, after having been an enormously popular hit at the time of its release. Besides this song, though, there aren't too many more radio-targeted moments here. "Soulsville" operates effectively as the sort of downtempo ballad Hayes was most known for, just as the almost 20-minute "Do Your Thing" showcased just how impressive the Bar-Kays had become, stretching the song to unseen limits with their inventive, funky jamming.

Lonnie Smith & Alvin Queen - Lenox And Seventh (1985) {Black And Blue BB 928.2 rel 2000}
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© 1985, 2000 Black And Blue | BB 928.2
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hammond B-3 Organ / Guitar / Drums

A great lost chapter in the career of organist Lonnie Smith — a session recorded in the 80s, but done with the simple straightforward soul jazz groove of earlier sides on Muse and Prestige ! Lonnie's working here in a loose and free trio format — with Melvin Sparks on guitar and the great Alvin Queen on drums — rolling out over longish tracks in an open-ended style that almost recalls more of the feel of Don Patterson's great organ trio sides than it does the heavier funk of Smith's early years. The recording quality is great — very faithful to the best tones of the Hammond.

Lalo Schifrin - Magnum Force (1973) {Aleph Records 033 rel 2005}
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© 1973, 2005 Aleph Records | 033
Jazz / Classical / Jazz Funk / Soundtrack / Stage & Screen

A blast from the past in more ways than one, this 2005 release of Lalo Schifrin's complete 1973 score for Magnum Force is full of memories and associations for anyone who saw the Dirty Harry film, and full of curiosities for those who didn't. While Schifrin's music is undeniably dated and may be regarded by some today as hopelessly clichéd – the eerie, wordless choruses, funky bass lines, electric piano vamps, psychedelic tabla drumming, menacing organ chords, mellow lounge-piano stylings, and free jazz improvisations are part and parcel of the urban music used in movies and TV series of the time – the sheer variety of his materials and his efficient use of them to paint inner-city scenes is remarkable and unmistakably his.

Miles Davis - Dark Magus: Live At Carnegie Hall (1974) {2014 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia–RCA Series, SICP 4238~39}
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© 1974, 2014 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICP 4238~39
Jazz / Jazz Fusion / Jazz Funk / Trumpet

Reissue. Available only for a limited period of time until December 21, 2015. Comes with liner notes. Dark Magus is a live recording of a very specific 1974 Carnegie Hall date that included most, but not all, of the members who recorded the classics Agharta and Pangaea. While drummer Al Foster, bassist Michael Henderson, percussionist James Mtume, and guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas were all present, the key element of Sonny Fortune was not yet in the band. Saxophonists David Liebman and Azar Lawrence were doubling in the saxophone chairs, while Dominique Gaumont, with his Jimi Hendrix-styled effects and riffs, was the band's third guitarist. The deep voodoo funk that gelled on the aforementioned recordings hadn't yet come together on this night at Carnegie, near the end of a tour.

Possessing not the greatest album sleeve in history - "Images" was nonetheless a bit of a Jazz-Funk peach. Produced by "Stix" Hooper, Wilton Felder & Joe Sample for "Crusader Productions, Inc." and mastered by long-standing expert Bernie Grundman, it followed so much of their Seventies output - really well-produced instrumental funky tracks followed by mellow ones that filled both the floor and the heart at one and the same time. Remastered from the original tapes by KEVIN REEVES at Universal Mastering in the States, it now sounds FABULOUS - really clear and defined - and virtually hiss-free. After a whole decade and umpteen albums of their particular type of funk & jazz, the same team that handled "Images" would finally hit paydirt a year later in 1979 with the global smash of "Street Life" and make Randy Crawford a star.

Partly because of Donald Fagen's reluctance to sing onstage, partly due to he and Walter Becker's perfectionism, and partly because the pairs' compositions and arrangements were so complex - requiring all manner of studio hardware to reproduce - Steely Dan played very few live concerts during their early career, indeed by the middle of 1974 they had given up touring entirely. The one album they did promote on the road however was their third masterpiece, the enigmatically titles 'Pretzel Logic', released in the USA on February 20th 1974. The tour started on March 9th, and this CD features the complete second show played by the group, at the University Of California the following night.