Phyllis Hyman

The 9-CD box set Old Friend: The Deluxe Collection 1976-1998 traces the late Phyllis Hyman's musical journey by bringing together her studio albums as originally released on the Buddah, Arista, and Philadelphia International labels plus select bonus tracks including collaborations with Barry Manilow, Norman Connors, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Grover Washington Jr., and Michael Henderson.  It's very much in the mold of Cherry Red/SoulMusic's 2020 box for Phyllis' onetime Arista labelmate Dionne Warwick, with expanded editions of numerous albums.  Many of those have been reconfigured from past reissues on SoulMusic and other labels.  This release follows SoulMusic's 2017 two-disc anthology of Hyman's Buddah and Arista recordings.  Nick Robbins has remastered the audio.