A beautiful lost relic, and a monster batch of long jazzy grooves! The album was recorded in the great tradition of "musicans in prison" albums, like those by The Escorts in the early 70s, and it features an incredibly soulful band made up of jazz musicians in lockdown at the Ohio State Penitentiary during the mid 70s! We don't recognize any of the names on the album, but the players work with a hell of a lot of soul and spirit – on longer tracks that almost have the feel of 70s work by The Pharoahs or Phil Cohran's Artistic Heritage Ensemble. Way better than anything you'd usually get of this nature – and definitely light years beyond any school or army band recording – and much more like a 70s underground spiritual jazz set. All of the material was written and arranged by Logan Rollins, and the tracks have a large group feel, with long drawn out grooves, and plenty of room for nice nice solos – and titles include "Psych City", "Mantra Dance", "Counterry Bosa Davan", and "Java Man". (Limited numbered edition of 1000 copies.) ~ Dusty Groove
An overlooked gem from Freddie Hubbard – a late fusion outing, done for the Japanese market at a time when most of his American work was returning to more acoustic modes! Freddie's trumpet sparkles brilliantly in the lead – hitting the same sort of soulful, stretching vibe as his best CTI recordings from the mid 70s – served up with an equally great mix of electric and acoustic instrumentation in the arrangements! The lineup of musicians is pretty unique, too – with Art Pepper on alto, George Cables on acoustic and electric piano, Phil Ranelin on trombone, and Roland Bautista on guitars – usually working in these gentle grooving rhythms that have a soulful stepping vibe – and which really let Freddie soar on his trumpet solos. Titles include "Eclipse", "Sunshine Lady", "I Love You", and "Bring It Back Home". ~ Dusty Groove
An overlooked later gem from Ben E King – and a record that goes way past the overplayed hits of the early years! Ben's always been a hell of a singer – but on a record like this, we can really rediscover his genius all over again – hearing him on a fresh batch of Atlantic recordings from the 60s – raspy charm fully intact, and set to some growing sophistication in the uptown backings – some of which even introduce a slight touch of funk to King's groove! The key cut in this respect is the amazing title cut – "What Is Soul" – worth the price of the album alone, but mixed with loads of other nice ones too – including "Teeny Weeny Little Bit", "Katherine", "There's No Place To Hide", 'Get In A Hurry", "Cry No More", and "The Record". ~ Dusty Groove
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