Some jewels in order of appearance
Betty Davis
Betty Mabry Davis has been celebrated for years as a visionary radio and soul pioneer. She revolutionized the image of women in the 70s, married Miles Davis and wrote songs for the greatest bands of her time. Their first three records became cult, then commercial success failed. In the 80s she suddenly disappeared from the scene.
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The Uncompromising Queen of Funk
Third Rock
Banda Black Rio
Banda Black Rio are one of the most important Brazilian bands in history. Formed in Rio de Janeiro, 1976, the group pioneered the soul-funk movement in Brazil. As global stars of the politically charged Black Rio movement, emerging almost a decade earlier from the Soul Brasileiro genre. BBR released a string of unforgettable recordings in the late-1970s from 1977 debut album, Maria Fumaça, on Warner Music to 1978’s Gafieira Universal on RCA Recordings, considered one of the all-time great Brazilian jazz-funk records.
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Expresso Madureira / Dopamine
Ed Motta
Eduardo “Ed” Motta is the nephew of late singer-songwriter Tim Maia. At the age of 15, Ed Motta recorded his debut album “Ed Motta & Conexão Japeri” which became an instant boogie-funk classic. In 1990 Motta recorded “Um Contrato Com Deus”, where he played almost all the instruments by himself. Since then he has released several solo albums.
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Expresso Madureira / Dopamine
Chris Joss
Frenchman/producer/multi-instrumentalist constructs funky downtempo music that’s heavily influenced by the film music of Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, and Quincy Jones. Joss made his debut in 1996 with “The Man With a Suitcase”.
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Fonka Donk
Bernard “Pretty” Purdie
As a drummer, musician, producer, arranger and musical director, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie has a record discography. He has worked on over three thousand albums and recordings with over two thousand artists. In addition to his long-standing collaboration with Aretha Franklin, Purdie has played with countless other artists. Purdie is known as a groove drummer with immaculate timing and makes use of precision half note, backbeats and grooves.
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Fonka Donk
Oliver Sain
Oliver Sain was, mainly, remembered for his fine sax playing, however he was an accomplished songwriter, bandleader, drummer and a highly regarded producer. “Bus Stop” was published 1974 and showed the brilliant Saxophone work of Mr. Sain.
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Hustle!
Fonka Donk
Brian Auger
Brian Auger is a British fusion and rock organist. Auger is one of the most important fusion organists of popular music. His main instrument is the Hammond organ. In 1965 he founded The Steampacket together with Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll and John Baldry. After Rod Stewart and John Baldry left the group, Auger founded Trinity with Julie Driscoll.
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Forbidden Fruits
Undisputed Truth
It’s not exactly fair to peg the Undisputed Truth as a one-hit wonder, because they did have a few hits for Motown in the first half of the 1970s, as well as made half a dozen albums for the label. Nothing else they did matched the strength of “Smiling Faces Sometimes” which made number three in 1971. Crafted by Norman Whitfield, Motown’s most adventurous producer of the time, it employed the funk-psychedelic guitars and ominous, socially aware lyrics that were also characteristic of his work during the period. The Undisputed Truth came into being after Bobby Taylor brought Billie Rae Calvin and Brenda Joyce to Motown as part of the Delicates.
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Soul Gramophon Session #12
I am the Black Gold of the Sun
Bobby Byrd
Byrd was the leader of The Avons, a group James Brown joined in the mid-1950s after being released from prison with financial support from the Byrd family. The Avons were later renamed The Flames and then The Famous Flames, from which Brown later emerged as a star.
As a long-running right-hand man, Bobby Byrd performed an invaluable function in the James Brown show, warming up the crowds as a solo singer, then retreating to the sidelines as a backup vocal group.
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Money Runner
The Temptations
The Temptations are an American vocal group who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group’s work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 10 hit single “Cloud Nine” in October 1968, pioneered psychedelic soul, and was significant in the evolution of R&B and soul music.The band members are known for their choreography, distinct harmonies, and dress style. The Temptations are among the most successful groups in popular music.
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Northern Fire
Soulful Proclamation
Hustle!
Ella Weez
Jukebox Heroes
Chocolate Milk
Chocolate Milk was formed in 1974 in New Orleans, LA after the emergence of the bands Kool & the Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire. The eight-piece band included lead singer Frank Richard, Saxophonist Amadee Castenell, Trumpeter Joseph Fox, Guitarist Mario Tio, Bassist Earnest Dabon, Pianist Robert Dabon and Drummer Dewight Richards. The band also worked as the studio band for songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint, following the tenure of The Meters as Toussaint’s band.
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Soulful Proclamation
Hustle!
Ella Weez
Commodores
The Commodores originally came together from two former student groups, the Mystics and the Jays. Together, a six-man band was created from which the notable individuals were Lionel Richie, Thomas McClary, and William King from the Mystics; Andre Callahan, Michael Gilbert, and Milan Williams were from the Jays. They wanted to change the name. To choose a new name, William King opened a dictionary and randomly picked a word. “We lucked”, out he remarked with a laugh when telling this story to People magazine.
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Canned Funk
Ella Weez
Eddie Harris
Eddie Harris was an American jazz musician (tenor saxophone, also piano, vocals, other instruments, composition). Although he was the first jazz musician to receive a gold record for a release from his album Exodus to Jazz.
At the end of the 1960s, Harris, who can be considered one of the pioneers of fusion music, experimented with an electrified saxophone by replacing brass mouthpieces with saxophone mouthpieces.
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Pluck it
Sweet Soul Music
Joe Farell
Joseph Carl Firrantello began his clarinet training at the age of eleven and switched to tenor saxophone at the age of sixteen. As a sideman he also worked with Ray Barretto, Billy Cobham, Chick Corea and “Return to Forever”, Santana, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter and others. He recorded a number of albums for CTI in the early 1970s. These recordings, especially “Moon Germs” from 1972, document the energy and sensitivity of his playing on soprano and tenor saxophone and flute, and are considered by some to be classics of the era.
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Canned Funk
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey “Herbie” Hancock is a jazz pianist and composer as well as an Oscar and Grammy winner. Hancock’s improvisation is characterized by a sparkling “funky style” and the use of expressive cross rhythms. Many of his compositions have become classics and serve other jazz musicians as a basis for improvisation. These include Watermelon Man, Cantaloupe Island and Maiden Voyage, all of which appeared on the Blue Note label in the 1960s.
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Money Runner
David Holmes
David Holmes is a Belfast born DJ & producer. In his varied professional life, he has produced over seven of his own albums and twenty film soundtracks.
Other productions include Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers, John Spencer Blues Explosion and Cashier No. 9, plus David has remixed U2, Doves, Manic Street Preachers, St Etienne and Primal Scream among others.
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Funky Hot Grits
Breakestra
Breakestra is a band from the USA. The members of the band are Loslito, Miles Tackett, Mixmaster Wolf, Davey Chegwidden, Patrick Bailey, Todd Simon and Double G. They were born in 1996. Their style consists of funk, afrobeat, classic funk rock, acid jazz and deep funk. The Breakestra have played so many covers of the aforementioned grooves that the only way a musician could be in the group is if they really knew how to play.
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Funky Hot Grits
Fonka Donk
Orgōne
With a lively, evocative set of covers and original material, Los Angeles-based ensemble Orgōne brought new attention to the funk revivalist and jam band circuits when they launched their recording career with Ubiquity Records in the mid- to late 2000s. Orgōne’s sound hosts a myriad of groove-oriented styles, including but not limited to deep funk, ’60s Memphis soul/blues, Fela-inspired Afro-beat, hip-hop, Latin jazz, and electronic dance and house.
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Forbidden Fruits
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris, blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy known as Little Stevie Wonder leading him to sign with Motown’s Tamla label at the age of 11. Wonder’s 1970s albums are regarded as very influential; the Rolling Stone Record Guide said they “pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade”. Wonder’s “classic period”, between 1972 and 1977, is noted for his funky keyboard style, personal control of production, and series of songs integrated with one another to make a concept album.
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Electric Black Man
The Wind Cries Mary
Di Melo
For the true expert on Brazilian Funk scene, no further explanation is needed for Di Melo. After all, the singer from São Paulo has been at the forefront of the genre for more than 40 years – even though he was long regarded as an insider tip along with greats such as Jorge Ben or Tim Maia. However, his first album “Di Melo“ is without a doubt one of the most significant works of the Afro-Brazilian movement of the seventies.
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Money Runner
Expresso Madureira / Dopamine
Tim Maia
Sebastião Rodrigues Maia contributed to Brazilian music within a wide variety of musical genres. He introduced the soul style on the Brazilian musical scene. Along with Jorge Ben, Maia pioneered MPB’s samba rock genre, combining samba, soul, and funk. He is internationally recognised as one of the biggest icons of the Brazilian music.
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Expresso Madureira / Dopamine
The Isley Brothers
In the 1950s The Isley Brothers was founded by the three brothers O’Kelly, Rudolph and Ronald Isley as a gospel choir in Cincinnati, Ohio. They formed a quartet with their fourth brother Vernon until he died in a car accident. Influenced by gospel and doo-wop music, the group began experimenting with different musical styles incorporating elements of rock and funk as well as pop balladry. For the next full decade, they recorded top-selling albums including “The Heat Is On” and “Between the Sheets”.
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Electric Black Man
Clarence Reid
First Rap Pioneer Clarence Henry Reid was an American musician, songwriter and producer, also known by the stage name and alternate persona Blowfly. During the 1960s and 1970s Reid wrote for and produced artists including Betty Wright, Sam & Dave, Gwen McCrae, Jimmy “Bo” Horne, Bobby Byrd, and KC & the Sunshine Band. During this period he was also a recording artist, cutting many of his own songs, including “Nobody But You Babe”.
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Canned Funk
Hustle!
Cadence
Soul Brothers Inc.
In the 1960s and ’70s hundreds of teenage funk & soul bands across the USA independently recorded and released their music. Most of them achieved only local success with their recordings, almost none of them ever made it onto the charts. This meant small runs of funk 45s which have since become highly sought after, hard to find and super collectable. One of those many bands were the Soul Bros. Inc. Out of Houston, Texas. They were likely one of the most important funk/soul groups in the city in the late 1960s until they broke up in the mid ’70s.
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Canned Funk
Hustle!
Edwin Starr
Edwin Starr (born Charles Edwin Hatcher) was an American singer and songwriter. Starr was famous for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit “War”.
He was backed by the band that would later become known as “Black Merda”. Starr remained a hero on England’s Northern Soul circuit and continued living in England for the remainder of his life.
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Hustle!
Soul Gramophon Session #4
Ike and Tina Turner
Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee. Tina quickly immersed herself in St. Louis’s R&B scene, spending much of her time at Club Manhattan. It was there, in 1956, that she met rock-and-roll pioneer Ike Turner, who often played with the Kings of Rhythm. Despite their success as a musical duo, Tina and Ike’s marriage was in shambles. Tina would later reveal that Ike was often physically abusive. In 1969, they toured as the opening act for the Rolling Stones. “Proud Mary” that reached the top 5 of the U.S. charts and won the two their first Grammy.
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Electic 3
The Big Tweed
Ripple
An interracial Michigan soul-funk band, Ripple had an R&B hit in 1973 with “I Don’t Know What It Is but It Sure Is Funky” and made several other recordings for the GRC label in the mid-’70s. They were an eclectic hodgepodge of influences circulating in soul music at the time — sometimes they can sound like a more pop-inclined version of Kool & the Gang, other times they sound like a less distinctive variant of Stevie Wonder. Their brand of funk was neither too raw nor too slick, with liberal pop and jazz influences. Those who like just-pre-disco funk will probably enjoy the group.
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The Watts Breakaway
Deodato
Eumir Deodato has participated as pianist/keyboardist, producer, or arranger in over 450 albums, and has won 16 platinum records. The list of top artists with whom he has collaborated is too extensive to cite. At 12, Deodato started to learn the accordion. Two years later he began his studies on piano, orchestration, arrangement, and conducting, and started playing in dances and nightclubs. His arrangement for “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (Richard Strauss), written in 1973, was included in the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.
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Evolution
The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble
The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble is a heavy, original, instrumental soul band based in San Diego. They draw influence from the masters of the style from the past and modern day. In June of 2015 they released their debut self titled album on Colemine Records. The album was very well received. SFSE has shared the stage with Lee Fields and the Expressions, New Mastersounds, Monophonics, Kamasi Washington, and many other touring bands. They perform live regularly all over California and beyond.
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Expresso Madureira / Dopamine
The New Mastersounds
One of the cornerstone acts of the U.K. retro-soul scene, the New Mastersounds play taut, old-school instrumental funk with a contemporary energy and an enthusiasm that has earned them rave reviews and led them to collaborate with a number of major acts in Britain and the United States. At the end of a 2015 tour, the band entered Nashville’s analog-centric Welcome to 1979 studio. In front of an invited audience they performed ten tracks from their catalog, as well as a cover of Grant Green’s arrangement of James Brown’s “In the Middle”.
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Kool & The Gang
After five years of session work and some stylistic changes the band called themselves “Kool & the Gang” in 1969. Robert Bell’s nickname “Kool” was adopted. With soulful disco funk Kool & the Gang regularly climbed the charts in the 1970s and 1980s. On their albums, the band received 31 gold and platinum awards, as well as double platinum for the long-playing album Emergency in 1985. The Brazilian musician and producer Eumir Deodato contributed significantly to these successes. Brass parts, the disco foundation and the vocal lines were typical for other hits of the group like “Fresh” or “Celebration”.
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Cookin‘ on 3 Burners
Cookin’ On 3 Burners was founded in 1997 by Jake Mason (Hammond organ), Dan West (guitar) and Ivan Khatchoyan (drums). Australia’s hardest hitting Hammond Organ Trio – joining the dots between Deep Funk, Raw Soul, Organ Jazz & Boogaloo.
For albums and live performances, the band draws on many different guest singers and musicians, including Daniel Merriweather, Tex Perkins, Kylie Auldist, Harry James Angus of Cat Empire and Jason Heerah of Electric Empire.
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Funk all them
Quantic Soul Orchestra
The Quantic Soul Orchestra is a live band project of musician and DJ, Will Holland. Holland has recorded under several names, most notably Quantic. The band’s line-up changes from album to album. Will Holland plays guitar and bass, and performs some of the percussion. They are signed to the Tru Thoughts label and have released three albums to date as well as a collaborative album with renowned funk and soul artist Spanky Wilson.
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Funk all them
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American soul and rhythm and blues singer who reached the peak of his popularity in the 1960s and was also active as a composer of hits such as “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”. Burke has been described as the genre’s “most unfairly overlooked singer” of its golden age. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler once referred to Burke as “the greatest male soul singer of all time”.
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Funk all them
Jukebox Heroes
Curtis Harding
Blues, rock, hip hop, punk, soul: Curtis Harding tries everything. This results in collaborations with Coel Alexander, Joe Bradley (both Black Lips), Danny Lee (The Night Beats), and Cee-Lo Green. Even Outkast’s Hip Hoppers turn to Curtis for some remix backups. Between all the collaborations and engagements, Curtis Harding always finds time to write his own songs. In 2014, Curtis finally has enough material together to take the next step: recording a solo album. The album will be released in his home country in the same year. The album is called “Soul Power”, and that’s exactly what it sounds like: emotional and full of energy.
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Funk all them
The Poets of Rhythm
Until today the Poets Of Rhythm are organized around their founding members Boris Geiger (percussion, vocals) and the brothers Jan and Max Weissenfeldt (guitar and drums). In 1992 they released their first single “Funky Train”. By this time, the constantly changing poets staff had long since expanded to include alto saxophone, trumpet and organ. The following year the debut album “Practise What You Preach” was released. Further albums often appear under the numerous pseudonyms of the band: The Pan-Atlantics, Organized Raw Funk, Bus People Express, The Woo Woo’s or The Soul-Saints Orchestra.
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Ella Weez
The Watts Breakaway
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. While Franklin’s career did not immediately flourish, she found acclaim and commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966. Hit songs such as “Respect”, “Chain of Fools”, “Think”, ““You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”, and “I Say a Little Prayer”, propelled her past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as “The Queen of Soul”.
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Funk all them
Jukebox Heroes
Alive
Gift To The Sun On Dead End Street
Pleasure
Pleasure was a merger of two Portland outfits. The Oregon residents got a lucky break when trombonist Wayne Henderson, a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, saw them performing in a Portland club – Henderson was impressed with what he heard, and his enthusiasm led to a deal with Fantasy, where he produced four of the band’s six albums. The bands funk was tough and gritty, they were as gutsy as Tower of Power and the pre-J.T. Taylor Kool & the Gang, both of which are influences on Pleasure’s debut album, “Dust Yourself Off”, came out in 1975.
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Swollen Goods
Quincy Jones
The musician and film producer who was convinced at an early age to explore music by his teenage friend Ray Charles. He played in various bands through the 1950s, began composing for film and television in the mid-1960s and eventually produced over 50 scores. He has worked with famous musicians such as Michael Jackson or Aretha Franklin. Dollars (1971) is until today one of the coolest soundtrack album. The soundtrack, originally issued on Reprise Records, is composed and produced by Quincy Jones and features performances by Little Richard, Roberta Flack and Doug Kershaw.
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Money Runner
Salt Popcorn
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes is a man with a dark voice. Today he is best known for his musical milestone “Theme From Shaft”, the title song of the famous Blaxploitation film from the 70s, whose much copied guitar look has become a true soul cliché. It awakens dreams of fast cars and cool men in black suits. Stax released Hayes’ first solo album “Presenting Isaac Hayes” in 1967, but Hayes’ commercial breakthrough as a solo artist came with his 1969 record album “Hot Buttered Soul”.
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Hustle!
Ray Barretto
Ray Barretto was the most important conga player. He came to Salsa as Conguero of Tito Puente where he replaced the shortly before retired Mongo Santamaria. In the 70’s he was on the road a lot with the “Fania All Stars” besides his solo projects. He received a Grammy for his Salsa in 1989 together with the singer Celia Cruz for their joint album “Ritmo En El Corazon”. Barretto died in 2006.
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Cucaraca Macara
Donny Hathaway
Hathaway worked as songwriter, session musician and producer for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records in Chicago. He released his first single of note, “The Ghetto, Pt. 1”, which he co-wrote with former Howard roommate Leroy Hutson. Perhaps Hathaway’s most influential recording is his 1972 album, “Live”, which has been termed one of the best live albums ever recorded. Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York in 1979.
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Jukebox Heroes
Alive
Wilson Pickett
In 1955 Pickett moved to Detroit, where he sang in various church choirs. After In The “Midnight Hour” from 1965 to 1971 he was followed by Hit auf Hit, including the well-known “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”, which was also interpreted by the Rolling Stones and later became a big hit for the Blues Brothers. Many of his hits were written by Pickett himself with Steve Cropper as co-author. From the early 1980s, Pickett was more likely to come into conflict with the law.
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Jukebox Heroes
Eddie Floyd
As singer of the group The Falcons, Floyd was replaced by Wilson Pickett and had several solo hits. His biggest hit is “Knock on Wood”, which he wrote with Steve Cropper in 1965. This song was often covered, for example by David Bowie, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Otis Redding and Ella Fitzgerald. The most successful version was written by Amii Stewart, who climbed to number one in the US charts with her Discoversion in 1979. Floyd appeared in the second Blues Brothers movie and was also on tour with the Blues Brothers Band.
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The Watts Breakaway
Swamp Dogg
Jerry Williams Jr., generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer.
After recording as Little Jerry and Little Jerry Williams in the 1950s and 1960s, he reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg, releasing a series of satirical, offbeat, and eccentric recordings, as well as continuing to write and produce for other musicians. He debuted his new sound on the Total Destruction To Your Mind album in 1970.
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The Watts Breakaway
Otis Redding
Otis Redding who died in a plane crash at the age of 26 and posthumously became one of the most influential soul singers of the 1960s. The self-composed song These Arms of Mine was recorded in no time at all and developed into his first minor hit. Until his untimely death, Otis was one of the company’s most important artists and, in the opinion of everyone involved at the time, was the musical heart and inspiration for all others involved. He became a leading figure of Memphis Soul.
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Alive!
The Souljazz Orchestra
Now celebrating its 17th year, the Souljazz Orchestra continues to be an unstoppable force. The three-time Juno nominees have been fortunate enough to bring their dynamite show to over two dozen countries across North America, Europe and Africa, sharing the stage with major heavyweights along the way, while showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, years of relentless touring have formed the Souljazz Orchestra’s live concerts into the stuff of legends – more often than not culminating in ecstatic, sweat-soaked, cathartic affairs, mixing pulsating arrangements with eruptive improvisations.
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Diaspora
The Dave Pike Set
David Samuel Pike was a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. He learned drums at the age of eight and was self-taught on vibes. Pike made his recording debut with the Paul Bley Quartet in 1958. He began putting an amplifier on his vibes when working with flautist Herbie Mann in the early 1960s. By the late 1960s, Pike’s music became more exploratory, contributing a unique voice and new contexts that pushed the envelope in times remembered for their exploratory nature.
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Earth, Wind & Fire
Founded in Chicago in 1969 by jazz drummer Maurice White. Their style is influenced by soul, funk, motown, African elements (kalimba) and modern pop rhythms, which they collected in the Christian communities of their surroundings. In particular, they became known for their brass group – the Phenix Horns. A distinctive feature of their sound is the falsetto vocals of their singer Philip Bailey from Denver, who joined the group shortly after the release of their first album.
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The Watts Breakaway
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and human rights activist. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa’s most “challenging and charismatic music performers”. In 1967, Fela went to Ghana to think up a new musical direction. That was when Kuti first called his music Afrobeat a combination of highlife, funk, jazz, salsa, calypso and traditional Nigerian Yoruba music. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States where they spent 10 months in Los Angeles.
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Diaspora
Manu Dibango
Saxophonist born on December 12th, 1933, in Douala, Cameroon, he died on March 24th, 2020, in France. Originally trained in classical piano, his musical career began in Brussels and Paris in the 1950s. 1960 finds him in Congo as a member of African Jazz led by Joseph Kabasele (Le Grand Kalle)! He formed his own band in Cameroon in 1963, moving to Paris in 1965. His international breakthrough came in 1972 with Soul Makossa.
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Hot Koki
Bill Whiters
During early 1970, Withers’s demonstration tape was auditioned favorably by Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records. Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce Withers’ first album. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks, “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Grandma’s Hands” as singles. Withers died in Los Angeles on March 30, 2020, from heart complications. He was the King of soul melodies and one of most know artist of Soul music.
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Alive!
Sweet Soul Music
The O’Jays
The O’Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. The O’Jays made their first chart appearance with “Lonely Drifter” in 1963, but reached their greatest level of success once Gamble & Huff, a team of producers and songwriters, signed them to their Philadelphia International label in 1972. With Gamble & Huff, the O’Jays (now a trio after the departure of Isles and Massey) emerged at the forefront of Philadelphia soul with “Back Stabbers” (1972)
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Super Fine
Betty Wright
Soul singer, songwriter and background vocalist, born 21 December 1953 in Miami, Florida; died 10 May 2020. Sister of Milton Wright, Phillip Wright, Jeanette Wright, and Charles A. Wright. Her best known song is the million-selling “Clean Up Woman”, which was written by TK producers/writers Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke, in 1971, when she was 17. Another hit, “Tonight Is The Night” was originally released in 1974, but became a bigger hit in 1993 when it was released again after the success of “Knockin’ Boots” by Candyman, which sampled the song.
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Jive Elephant
Jimmy Hendrix
A self-taught guitarist, Hendrix began his musical career backing such R&B greats as Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, The Isley Brothers, and B.B. King. Brought to London from New York by former Animals bassist Chas Chandler, Hendrix quickly established himself as the brightest new star on the burgeoning progressive rock scene of the early ’60s. Along with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell he formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. After a landmark appearance at the Monterey Pop festival, their debut album Are You Experienced was released in September 1967. Hendrix earned international acclaim as a premier rock instrumentalist and innovator of his generation.
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Third Rock
Monophonics
Raised amid the Bay Area’s rich musical culture, Monophonics has proudly carried on the tradition of music native to their hometown, which flourished during the birth of psychedelia. Monophonics were formed in 2005; originally a instrumental ensemble comprised of guitarist Ian McDonald, bassist Myles O’Mahony, saxophonist Alex Baky, trumpeter Ryan Scott, and drummer Austin Bohlman, the band has recently added the dynamic soul vocals of keyboardist Kelly Finnigan. The result is a psychedelic soul & heavy funk sound, which harks back to the stylings of the late 60’s and early 70’s, all while keeping its feet planted in the present.
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I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun
The Big Tweed
The Mighty Mokambos
Their many incarnations have released dozens of 45s and several albums. They have collaborated with musical legends such as Afrika Bambaataa, Lee Fields, Ice-T, Charlie Funk, Peter Thomas or Kenny Dope, put new talent like Gizelle Smith and Caroline Lacaze on the map, brought Caribbean steel drums to funk clubs with their alter ego Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, and have toured through all civilized parts of the continent and beyond for the better part of the last years.
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Shirley Davis & The Silverbacks
It’s a kind of ethio-funk-space-soundscape, perfectly punctuated by tightly arranged horns, rich in texture and detail and with some slick gear changes. It’s this quality and blend of interesting styles the Madrid band employs. Davis has been living in Australia, her home since her late teens. Now relocated to Madrid, she has wasted little time finding her new direction, building on her experience of working with heavy funk luminaries Deep Street Soul and Osaka Monaurail and influenced by friendships with Sharon Jones and the late Marva Whitney to produce first-class albums of funk and soul.
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Front Row Romeo
The Killer Meters
The band was originally the brainchild of Virgil Howe aka Sparo who has released his own album on Scenario records and is also known as one of the original DJ’s on the legendary London pirate station Itch FM. Virgil and other members of the band also garnered attention for their dope musicianship and most of them have been honing their skills further doing sessions with acts such as Little Barrie, Shawn Lee and The Future Sound Of London to name but a few.
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Played it right, Rusty?
Rare Earth
Rare Earth is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan. According to Louder, “Rare Earth’s music straddles genres and defies categorisation, slipping seamlessly between the two seemingly disparate worlds of classic rock and R&B.” The band was signed to Motown’s subsidiary label Rare Earth. Although not the first white band signed to Motown, Rare Earth was the first successful act signed by Motown that consisted only of white members.
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Super People
I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun
The Commodores
In 1968 the group was formed while all the members were in college at Tuskeegee Institute. After being discovered by Berry Gordy, the Commodores went on to sell over 60 million records for Motown. With hits like “Machine Gun” and “Sail On”, the Commodores became proven artists for five decades. The Commodores aren’t just any group. They have staying power. Just like their hit song “Brick House,” the Commodores have created a foundation that just won’t budge.
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Rapid Fire!
The Performer