BLUE EYED SOUL: ANDREW LEWIS BAND-THE BLUE ALBUM

ANDREW LEWIS BAND-THE BLUE ALBUM- LP- RICHMOND RECORDS- 1977
I found this record in the jazz section in a local record spot and threw it on the turntable expecting late-70's fusiony jazz/funk/rock. But I was surprised to hear more straight up soul/funk type tunes, certainly with a jazz/rock influence (hey it's an all white band with one brother on vocals) but definitely not the crazy fusion sound I was expecting. I wanted to post the whole LP up here, but upon further listening there were a couple of skips on my copy, so I picked my two favorite joints on here to share instead. "Midnite Man" is a very dope horn-heavy with some potential sample moments, while "A New Day" is a slice of some real nice mellow soul. And if anybody has a cleaner copy they'd like to share with me, please let me know (oduckworth@gmail.com).

"MIDNITE MAN"

"A NEW DAY"

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.

Get it here

Milwaukee Record Finds: The Lost Generation LP

The Lost Generation: Young, Tough and Terrible

One of the best things about record digging is that you always seem to make the best finds when you least expect it.  A quick trip to the record store yesterday yielded a few nice finds, but the gem of the group was this Lost Generation LP, a tough-to-find soul LP produced by Eugene Record, of Chi-Lites fame. Heard about this group from the Soulman Mixtape, "Coolin'" which included the joint "This is The Lost Generation", which is the real burner on the album, plus the instrumental is included which is real nice for beat-making purposes...

The Lost Generation- This Is the Lost Generation (Vocal)

This Is the Lost Generation (Instrumental)

Montage Project One

Private press LP out of Wisconsin, produced by M.L. Productions out of West Allis, WI (a suburb of the great city of Milwaukee) recorded and released in 1978. This LP has a great jazz-funk-soul feel, enhanced on most tracks, by the vocals of lead singer Marcia Cunningham. The real burner on the album is a mostly instrumental song entitled "Bahia Honda", a funky, uptempo jazz track with some real nice Latin-flavored vocal harmonies and lots of changes throughout the track. Reminds me a little of "Brazilian Love Affair" era George Duke material, but without as much synthwork and a little less obvious in Brazilian influence. The band's focus on percussion and rhythm is felt throughout as all the tracks move nicely. Recommended for those who can get there hands on it. Listen to "Bahia Honda" below.

MP3- "Bahia Honda"