Category Archives: Records

This is probably my favorite Steve Khan record. I after first picking up one of his albums for $1 in the jazz section, mostly because of the interesting cover art. I wasn’t that interested in jazz guitarists, but this album has some groove, and moves toward rock a lot more than other fusion/smooth jazz albums. […]

Caravanserai was the fourth album from Santana and began a significant change in his career as he moved away from the blues and salsa rhythms of his earlier three albums to more explore the jazzy sound. Compared with groups like Mahavishnu Orchestra, Carlos Santana’s group approaches the music from a more accessible and tuneful direction […]

Super fusiony jazz album from 1978, the cover, the title, the music, it’s all pretty consistent. I didn’t expect this album to groove as much as it does. And the instrumentation really stands out, especially on tracks like The Art of Happiness. The title track is also pretty moody, in a futuristic journey kind of […]

Decent album by Stanley Turrentine, featuring Joe Sample, Lee Ritenour and over half of the Headhunters released in 1976. Turrentine chose a couple Gamble & Huff songs, All By Myself and I’m Not In Love to play, and some of the performances include violins, synthesizers and lots of horns. Some really ornate arrangements make use […]

The Salsoul Records label, and the Salsoul Orchestra, were responsible for a lot of the disco sound in the 70’s. And this album is just a continuous mix of that sound and employs “disco-blending”, or slip-cuing, where the songs transition immediately to the next, more or less smoothly. It is interesting to hear how the […]

Sun Goddess was released in 1974, with production on two songs by Maurice White, who had been the drummer for Ramsey Lewis’s band in the ’60s. White also co-wrote the title song, and Philip Bailey provided vocals while Charles Stepney, Verdine White and Don Myrick all contribute, making the title track and Hot Dawgit mostly […]

After a decade of performing as The Jazz Crusaders, Wayne Henderson, Wilton Felder, Joe Sample and Stix Hooper renamed themselves just The Crusaders in 1971, and later moved to the Blue Thumb label. This is their third release under that name, and first on Blue Thumb, and pushes further into crossover territory. The record label […]

Promise of a Future was a very popular album released by Hugh Masekela in 1968, and it has the #1 hit Grazing in the Grass. This was the eighth studio album from the South African trumpeter and was recorded in Los Angeles a year after Masekela performed at the Monterey Pop Festival. The horns and […]

Another amazing album by Isaac Hayes. Made after Hot Buttered Soul and The Isaac Hayes Movement, this album was recorded and released in 1970 and aside from the songs performed there is nothing to date it. …To Be Continued was the #1 R&B album for 11 weeks between 1970-1971, though its consecutive streak was only […]

I still have not been able to find another Kool & The Gang album anywhere, but Ladies’ Night is a disco Kool & The Gang album from 1979 and although its just not as good as the Kool & The Gang of five years earlier, it is not bad. Produced by Eumir Deodato, Ladies’ Night […]