Tuesday, January 14, 2014

NEW RELEASES - TOUCH OF CLASS - LOVE MEANS EVERYTHING; FREE SOUL - URBAN MELLOW; SARAH MANNING - HARMONIOUS CREATURE

TOUCH OF CLASS - LOVE MEANS EVERYTHING

A killer little soul group who recorded with John "Monster" Davis in the mid 70s – really soaring with a groove that rivals some of their bigger contemporaries on the east coast group scene! Touch Of Class sing in a style that's sometimes fragile, but often more suited to the soaring grooves that Davis gives them on the album – a mode that's partly disco, partly pop, and which should have been as huge as any of their Philly or New York contemporaries. There's a "slightly different" feel to the record that we really like – and tracks include "Love Means Everything", "Anything", "One Half As Much", "Love Me Tonight", "I'm In Heaven", and "You Got To Know Better". And just for the record, this appears to be the same record as I'm In Heaven, issued on the Midland label in 1976 – but it's presented here on another label with a date of 1981.~ Dusty Groove
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FREE SOUL - URBAN MELLOW

Free Soul music is alive and well into the 21st Century – a continuing evolution of a great genre that was first pegged by Japanese diggers in the 90s! "Free Soul" was a term first coined to refer to genre-crossing work from the 70s that was upbeat, joyous, and a very freewheeling approach to soul music – a mode that moved past easy cliches or genre conventions, and which often brought in bits of jazz, Latin, or other influences as well. This set of contemporary work really follows the same spirit of the classics – and shows a whole range of artists who've really been making some great music in recent years – the kind of cool cuts that we used to have to track down on older vinyl, but which have really been making our world bright in recent years. Titles include "Man In The Middle" by Roos Jonker, "Summer's Loss" by Ben Westbeech, "Get Lucky" by Hyleen Gil, "Neverland" by Quadron, "Game Over" by Daley, "Who's That Lady" by Lucas Arruda, "Trust" by Inc, and "All That I Can Say" by Gretchen Parlato. ~ Dusty Groove

SARAH MANNING - HARMONIOUS CREATURE

The title's a great one for this album by alto saxophonist Sarah Manning – as she's got a very strong sense of harmony on the record, and mixes her reed lines wonderfully with the guitar of Jonathan Goldberger and viola of Eyvind Kang! Both musicians have these tones that come into contact with the alto in ways that are rich and bright, yet always have a dark edge too – one that comes through even more strongly when Sarah really takes off on her solos! Other group members include Rene Hart on bass and Jerome Jennings on drums – and titles include "Tune Of Cats", "I Dream A Highway", "Copland On Cornelia Street", "On The Beach", and "Three Chords For Jessica". ~ Dusty Groove



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