New Horizons- Something New- LP- ROGER TROUTMAN!

Roger Troutman produced boogie goodness here. Their LP Something New was released in 1983, on Columbia Records. The featured song, "Your Thing (Rap)" is a boogie/rap tune (the emceeing isn't that impressive but the music is dope) which is the last track on the LP. Classic Troutman sound here: hard drums, heavy synths, but no talk box unfortunately.

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80's Fusion Jazz: JAMES DALLAS- LIFE FORMS- LP

JAMES DALLAS- LIFE FORMS- LP- PRIVATE PRESS- 1982
Admittedly, it took me a while begin checking for jazz records from the 1980s. The sound is usually very different from classic jazz of the 50's and 60's and even the jazz-funk sound of 70's Blue Note and Mizell Bros. production that is beloved in the beat digging world. Sure there's some legitimately trash 80s jazz (see G., Kenny) but there's a ton of dope jazz material, especially in the more "underground" world of private pressings.
The James Dallas LP, recorded and pressed in my hometown Milwaukee, WI, is one such very dope jazz/funk/modern soul LP. I was put onto it at Lotus Land Records in Milwaukee and was not disapointed. The record has a good combination of tracks for DJ's, such as the title reack, and producers, such as "Sidetrack" and "Stormy".
Buy an OG copy here
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James Dallas' Myspace Page

Spiritual Jazz: Doug & Jean Carn- Higher Ground LP

DOUG & JEAN CARN- HIGHER GROUND- LP- OVATION RECORDS- 1976
High quality vocal spiritual jazz LP by the husband-wife duo of Doug and Jean Carn. The players on the album are a who's who of rare groove soul-funk-jazz of the time and the near future: Doug Carn on keys and vocals, Ronnie Laws on sax, Calvin Keys on guitar, Big Black on percussion, Harvey Mason (called Harold on the record cover) on drums. Jean Carn would go on to a successful career in more mainstream soul/funk, but this shows you where she and Doug were at with there music in the mid-70s. The cover of Coltrane's "Naima" is my personal favorite track on the LP.

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