Closing in on 20 years since their last album, the whole gang is here, pretty much – the core of Don and David Was and Sir Harry Bowens and Sweet Pea Atkinson, along with Was (Not Was) vets Luis Resto, David McMurray, Wayne Kramer, Donald Ray Mitchell, and Randy Jacobs, as well as roughly a couple dozen additional accomplices, from Booker T. Jones to (of course) Kris Kristofferson. Mixing and matching funk, rock, and soul with a little jazz and blues, and enhanced on occasion by some seamlessly incorporated electronics, Boo! delivers robust party material with plenty of straight-faced, sidesplitting/head-scratching humor…precisely what you'd expect from them, then. They've remained ageless all along, balancing their adolescent pranksterism with sharp social observations and deliriously random humor, deploying it all over sturdy grooves that roam unselfconsciously across the history of R&B.

Compilation from English vocalist who kind of has a Sade thing going on. Big following in France. 13 tracks including 'Sally', 'More, More, More', 'Bad Day', 'I'm Not Afraid Of You' and a cover of 'It's All In The Game' which appeared on the soundtrack to 'She's Having A Baby'.

Arnett Cobb's debut for Prestige and his first recording as a leader in three years (due to a serious car accident in 1956) is an explosive affair. Cobb is matched up with fellow tough tenor Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and there are plenty of sparks set off by their encounter. With organist Wild Bill Davis, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Arthur Edgehill keeping the proceedings heated, Cobb and Davis tangle on a variety of basic material, alternating uptempo romps such as "Go Power" and "Go Red Go" with slightly more sober pieces highlighted by "When I Grow Too Old to Dream." This is a great matchup (reissued on CD through the OJC imprint) that lives up to its potential.

"20/20" is the 22nd studio album by George Benson, released on the Warner Bros. record label in 1985. The lead single by the same name reached #48 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA. "You Are the Love of My Life" is a duet with Roberta Flack; it was one of numerous songs used for Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo on the American soap opera Santa Barbara. Also included on 20/20 is the original version of the song "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" which would later become a smash hit for Hawaiian singer Glenn Medeiros.

Debut album by innovative Soul-Jazz-Funk-Beats-Trio led by Ed Motta-MD Matti Klein (formerly of Mo' Blow). Co-produced by Axel Reinemer of Jazzanova at Jazzanova studios, Berlin. With his various vintage keyboards and as MD for Brazilian soul superstar Ed Motta, or with his band Mo 'Blow, Klein earned a reputation as one of the most interesting young groove jazz musicians, appearing in renowned clubs like Ronnie Scott's, the Blue Note Tokyo, or the Highline Ballroom in New York, sharing stage and studio with stars like Nils Landgren, Jimmy Somerville, or David T. Walker.

"The First Minute of a New Day" is an album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron, keyboardist Brian Jackson, and the Midnight Band - an eight-piece musical ensemble. It was released in January 1975 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the summer of 1974 at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was the follow-up to Scott-Heron's and Jackson's critically acclaimed collaboration effort Winter in America. The First Minute of a New Day was the first album to feature "Winter in America", the title track of Scott-Heron's previous album which was not featured on its original LP release. The album was reissued on compact disc by Scott-Heron's label Rumal-Gia Records in 1998.

Ray Charles's time on ABC Records was about more than adding strings, choirs, and country tunes to his approach. By 1972's "A Message From The People", he was turning out tracks full of funky soul, largely devoid of the overproduction plaguing much of his ABC discography. As was so often the case with Ray, a gospel feel mixed with R&B locomotion is the engine that drives things here, but he also uses it to transform Melanie's "What Have They Done to My Song, Ma" into a syncopated strut, and bring a Sunday Baptist church feel to the Dion hit "Abraham, Martin and John."

"Rotary Connection" is the eponymous debut album by the American psychedelic soul group of the same name. The album rose to #37 on the Billboard 200 chart and includes several cover songs by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Lovin' Spoonful and Sam & Dave.

Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music. Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of black pop by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country. Then there was his singing; his style was among the most emotional and easily identifiable of any 20th century performer, up there with the likes of Elvis and Billie Holiday. He was also a superb keyboard player, arranger, and bandleader. The brilliance of his 1950s and '60s work, however, can't obscure the fact that he made few classic tracks after the mid-'60s, though he recorded often and performed until the year before his death.

"For Every Heart" is the 2nd album by Dianne Reeves. Released on vinyl in 1984, it was re-released on compact disc only once - in Japan, on the label Victor Musical Industries in 1988. Only some of the compositions of this album can be found later in compilation "The Palo Alto Sessions 1981-1985" of Blue Note (1996). Therefore, this disc is a rarity even in the auction sales.

Besides "smooth" and "expressive," the qualifier "consistent" must be added to any list describing the Lou Rawls sound. This anthology of previously released material includes tracks recorded as early as 1962 and as recently as 1990, and while the arrangements and surrounding styles vary with the era, the warmth, purity, and sincerity of the singing is unvarying. It is particularly interesting to hear material recorded live in 1966: the songs are introduced with stories relating to the black experience in America, told with the same engagement with which Rawls sings, and the rapport with the audience is apparent even on disc. This CD in combination with its follow-up of newly recorded material, Portrait of the Blues, comprise a full education on get-dressed-up urban(e) blues.

It had been nine years since organist Jimmy Smith recorded for a major label when Bruce Lundvall approached him to make an album for Elektra Musician. Smith plays some unusual material (including Lionel Richie's "Endless Love" and the "Theme from M.A.S.H.") on this recording but swings everything and has a particularly strong supporting cast guitarist George Benson, Stanley Turrentine on tenor, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Grady Tate. A fine comeback date.

Mixing laid-back melodies with go-for-broke jams with some of the greatest names in modern instrumental music, saxophonist Bill Evans lives in the middle ground between smooth jazz and what could easily be termed of as contemporary jazz fusion. On his Zebra Records debut, Touch, the distinction is based on each song's sense of adventure. "In Your Heart," for instance, is the kind of right in the pocket, sweet little slice of passion that radio drools over, made unique (as Evans does on all tunes) by switching off from the high tones of the soprano with the darker shades of tenor to better discuss the emotional complexities of love. Likewise there's the cool, urban-flavored "Remember," which features subtle vocal chanting floating off in the distance. But then there's the edgier side of Evans intertwining his soprano with Lew Soloff's staccato trumpet energy on the brisk blues of "Dixie Hop," and kicking up all sorts of dust on the last two tunes, "Back to the Walls" and the ten-minute "Country Mile."

Billy Butler is well known to guitarists only, as the co-author of the early R&B funked-up standard "Honky Tonk," with organist Bill Doggett. The two albums featured in this single disc two-fer reissue – Guitar Soul and Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, both released in 1970 – offer a wider view of the man and his music. The opening track on Guitar Soul is a cut worthy of the Meters in its New Orleans-styled second-line funk called "Blow for the Crossing." Nine and a half minutes in length, it's dark, spooky, greasy, and funky as hell. With Seldon Powell on tenor, Sonny Phillips on organ, Specs Powell on drums, and Bob Bushnell on bass, it's a jam du jour. Everybody solos, but Butler and Phillips are the pair that bend the tune all over the place like Gumby on Pokey. With an elongated melodic line played by Powell on the saxophone and punched-up by the drums, there's nothing to keep the body still in its massive groove-o-phonics. But the almighty groove wasn't Butler's only strength. With a saxophonist like Houston Person, he could play the most elegant swing – as in their read of the Rodgers & Hart classic "Dancing on the Ceiling" on the second half of the album, or as a solo guitarist he could play from the Montoya fake book as he does on "Golden Earrings," with a classical guitar.

Thanks to the 1970s and '80s soul jazz movement and its 21st century counterpart, acid jazz, the Hammond B-3 organ has shown a remarkable ability to survive and adapt to changing musical trends – all without changing its swirling, pulsing tone one little bit. The Hammond Street anthology from Acid Jazz mixes in tracks from a couple of veteran B-3 players like Jimmy McGriff and Reuben Wilson with tracks from newer combos, and even though these newer groups cover songs like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," what is immediately obvious here is how much a B-3 sounds like a B-3 no matter what kind of clothes you drape over it. Highlights include the hard-charging "Itchy Feet" by the Past Present Organisation (which opens the disc), the ragged and energy-overloaded "Clubtown" by the Trashmonkeys, McGriff's "Ain't It Funky" (which indeed it is), and Wilson's "Sugar," a classic piece of soul jazz.