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/ Esther Phillips

November 14, 2024 By Mike Duquette 1 Comment

Here There and Everywhere

As fans prepare for the release of the new Disney+ documentary Beatles '64, chronicling The Fab Four's legendary inaugural trip to America, U.K. label Ace Records has an exciting release coming that same weekend, featuring nearly two dozen Black artists paying tribute to a series of songbooks that owed so much to soul music and rhythm and blues traditions. Here, There and Everywhere: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, available November 29, is the seventh of Ace's "Black

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Blues, Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Billy Paul, Carmen McRae, Donny Hathaway, Esther Phillips, Four Tops, George Harrison, John Lennon, Keb' Mo', Linda McCartney, Margie Joseph, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Natalie Cole, Paul McCartney, Randy Crawford, Sarah Vaughan, Stevie Wonder, Syreeta, The Beatles, The Chiffons, The Drifters, The Supremes, The Three Degrees, Wings

August 27, 2024 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

From Where I Stand

Back in 1998, The Country Music Foundation teamed with Warner Bros. Records to release From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music.  The 3-CD box set was divided into three thematic discs - The Stringband Era, The Soul Country Years, and Forward with Pride - which reflected on the immense contributions of African-Americans to country music in 60 songs.  Today, the spotlight shines even more brightly on the black experience in the genre, in no small part due to the release earlier

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Country Tags: Bobby Hebb, Charley Pride, Dobie Gray, Esther Phillips, Lead Belly, Linda Martell, Ray Charles, Rhiannon Giddens, Solomon Burke, The Pointer Sisters, The Supremes, Various Artists

November 19, 2022 By Mike Duquette 2 Comments

Stream

Madonna, You Can Dance (Single Edits) / Rain (Warner/Rhino) Dance: iTunes / Amazon Rain: iTunes / Amazon Rhino keeps digitally uploading intriguing stuff from Madonna's single and remix catalogue, and this month saw two such releases: first, a bundle of mixes surrounding the Erotica favorite "Rain," then this week, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of remix album You Can Dance, an upload of the rare promo version that found all the tracks unmixed and edited to single-ready

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Categories: The Weekend Stream Formats: Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Reggae, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Charlie Parker, Duran Duran, Esther Phillips, Joe Strummer, Madonna, Melissa Manchester, Neil Diamond, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, The Clash, The Statler Brothers

October 28, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Solomon Burke The King of Rock n Soul

In recent weeks, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has launched a series of mini-box sets drawn from the Atlantic vaults including titles available now from Solomon Burke, Esther Phillips, Barbara Lewis, and Carla Thomas.  Today we're looking at the releases from Burke and Phillips, while we'll next turn to Lewis and Thomas! The late Solomon Burke (who died in 2010 at the age of 70 or 74; reports vary) lived up to his moniker as The King of Rock 'n' Soul.  SoulMusic's 3-CD set of that

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Esther Phillips, Solomon Burke

August 14, 2020 By The Second Disc 1 Comment

CCR COSMOS cover front productshot 900x

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo's Factory [Half-Speed Master] (Craft Recordings) LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP/merch bundle: Craft Recordings Online Shop Craft Recordings reissues Creedence Clearwater Revival's hit-filled fifth album - featuring "Lookin' Out My Back Door," "Run Through the Jungle," "Who'll Stop the Rain," "Travelin' Band," and "Up Around the Bend" - on 180-gram half-speed mastered vinyl (from

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Britney Spears, Bruce Hornsby, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dolores Gray, Elvis Costello, Esther Phillips, Gloria Estefan, Jonathan Richman, Michael Friedman, Nils Lofgren, Rumer, The Duprees, The Rivieras

September 6, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Cool Heat CTI

Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint is turning up the Cool Heat with a new 2-CD, 25-track collection celebrating The Best of CTI Records and featuring many of the classic jazz label's most renowned artists including instrumentalists George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, and Stanley Turrentine, and vocalists Nina Simone, Patti Austin, and Esther Phillips. Chances are, if you think of a jazz artist, it wouldn't take many degrees of separation to reach Creed Taylor. The esteemed producer

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: Bob James, Esther Phillips, Eumir Deodato, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Nina Simone, Stanley Turrentine, Various Artists

August 15, 2017 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Esther Phillips Kudu Anthology

Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records label has added another quintet of releases to its rapidly-growing Anthology series, and this batch is among the most eclectic yet, blurring the lines of jazz, pop, and R&B with Esther Phillips, Levert, Tom Browne, Kashif, and Mtume. As the premier vocalist on CTI Records' Kudu imprint, Esther Phillips (1935-1984) played a key role in producer Creed Taylor's "Cool Revolution" at CTI. A gifted vocalist, Phillips nonetheless struggled with personal demons

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Funk, Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: Esther Phillips, Levert, Mtume

June 28, 2016 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Brook Benton Home Style and Story Teller

Two late legends of soul - Brook Benton and Esther Phillips - have recently been feted on a pair of reissues from SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red. By the time Brook Benton signed with Atlantic Records' Cotillion imprint in 1968, he had already enjoyed an illustrious career at labels including OKeh, Epic, RCA, Mercury and Reprise.  The move to Atlantic paid off when his recording of Tony Joe White's "Rainy Night in Georgia" not only reached No. 1 but became a signature song for the vocalist. 

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: Brook Benton, Esther Phillips

January 29, 2016 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Phil Collins Face Value 2015

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring a host of deluxe reissues, box sets, and more! Phil Collins, Face Value: Deluxe Edition (Atlantic/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Phil Collins' 1981 classic featuring "In the Air Tonight" gets expanded to two CDs or DD with the addition of eight live tracks and four demos (plus a new, modern cover photograph echoing the original).  Ten of the twelve bonuses are new

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Ashford and Simpson, Bill Evans, Cilla Black, Esther Phillips, Harpers Bizarre, Julia Fordham, Lee Hazlewood, Phil Collins, Sister Sledge, The Hollies, The Miamis, The Paris Sisters

April 1, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

esther phillips baby im for real

As the premier vocalist on CTI Records' Kudu imprint, Esther Phillips (1935-1984) played a key role in producer Creed Taylor's "Cool Revolution" at CTI. A gifted vocalist, Phillips nonetheless struggled with personal demons throughout her too-short life. The former "Little Esther" had her first taste of success in 1949, just fourteen years old, and a taste of heroin not long after; stories of her mercurial behavior have entered into legend. But her talent was never in doubt. CTI recorded

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Jazz, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul Tags: Esther Phillips

November 18, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

dont you worry

When he established Kudu as an offshoot of his titanic jazz label CTI, Creed Taylor wore his ambitions on his sleeve.   The label was named after the long-horned African mammal and its logo adorned with Afro-centric colors, as Taylor intended to do no less than make Kudu a home for releases "indigenous to the black popular music of the United States."   Taylor always knew the importance of a visual, and much as CTi releases were recognizable for their striking, provocative cover photographs and

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: Esther Phillips, Hank Crawford, Johnny Hammond, Lonnie Smith

September 9, 2011 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

esther phillips performance

Tuesday, August 9 brought the most recent quartet of CTI jazz titles to CD from Sony's Masterworks Jazz division.  For the next batch, due October 4, the label has turned its attention to CTI's offshoot label, Kudu.  Named after the long-horned African mammal, Kudu was launched by CTI's Creed Taylor in 1971.  Taylor described his new endeavor as "a black awareness label, more commercial oriented than CTI and indigenous to the black popular music of the United States."  Even the logo's familiar

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: Esther Phillips, Hank Crawford, Johnny Hammond, Lonnie Smith

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