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Raulzinho – À Vontade Mesmo (1965) (1980 RCA Japan)

 

Raulzinho – À Vontage Mesmo
1980 RCA Japan RCA – PG-143 ||  Orig. rel. 1965 RCA Victor (Brasil)

Do you like trombone? Do you like JAZZ trombone? Do you like trombone as the lead instrument on every track of a jazz record? If you answered “no” to any of those questions, well I still encourage you to give this album a shot. Because although trombonist Raul de Souza is the leader, it’s the band itself who is the star here. As a unit they’re just unreal. In the 1970s, Raul de Souza would have a comfortable career in the U.S. making jazz-funk / fusion records.Raulzinho – À Vontade Mesmo (1965) (1980 RCA Japan)

Sparks – No.1 Song In Heaven (1979) (US Elektra 6E-186)

Sparks – No. 1 In Heaven
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | FLAC |  300 dpi scans | Synth-pop, Electronic, Disco
1.35 GB (24/192) + 806 MB (24/96)
1979 Elektra 6E-186

This is Sparks’ world and we’re all just living in it.  Their catalog is an embarrassment of riches. A group that continually reinvents itself but always remains unmistakably Sparks.Sparks – No.1 Song In Heaven (1979) (US Elektra 6E-186)

Johnny Hammond – Gears (1975) (Jazz Dispensary / Craft Recordings 2022)

 

Johnny Hammond – Gears
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz |  Art scans | Jazz-funk
2022 Craft Recordings “Jazz Dispensary” Ltd Ed. of 2000 copies || Orig.rel. 1975 Milestone

Like its predecessor Gambler’s Life, this Mizell Brothers production stands out from Hammond’s catalog for being very different from the soul-jazz / blues organ tradition that Hammond usually worked in.  The Mizells wrote all but one of the compositions here, and its definitely of a piece with the other (heavy-handed?) production work of the Mizells on contemporaneous efforts by Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Bobbi Humphrey and others. Johnny Hammond – Gears (1975) (Jazz Dispensary / Craft Recordings 2022)

Willie Colon – Asalto Navideño Vol. II (1973) (50th Anniversary Fania – Craft 2023)

Willie Colon with Hector Lavoe & Yomo Toro – Asalto Navideño Vol.II
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | FLAC |  Art scans | Folk, Holiday, Salsa
2023 Craft Recordings || Orig.rel. 1973 Fania

I wanted to get this post up before the holiday season passed, and I just *barely* made it — Jan. 6 is the end of the Xmas season in Latin America, with the holiday of Three Kings Day / Feast of the Epiphany closing things out.  If you don’t know Willie Colon and the late, great Hector Lavoe, this may not be the place to start. Not because it isn’t good, but it’s not typical of the lean, street-wise salsa sound they helped craft in the formative period of the genre during the late 60s through the 70s.

Willie Colon – Asalto Navideño Vol. II (1973) (50th Anniversary Fania – Craft 2023)