Djouls.com - Music You Don't Hear On The Radio

The Souljazz Orchestra - Manifesto

The Souljazz Orchestra - Manifesto
(CD/LP) Do Right! Music, 2008-09-23

Yes, the rumours are true: the Souljazz Orchestra is releasing a new album, entitled Manifesto, on September 23rd 2008, once again through Do Right! Music. This one blends the heavy afro-sounds of Freedom No Go Die with a good dose of tropical highlife, dirty funk, and big band jazz. A 7" vinyl single, featuring two of the tracks on the album, will be coming out ahead of time, in July: look out for that.
Our summer tour is just about finalized: we'll be hitting England, Scotland, Austria, Hungary and Denmark for the first time, returning to France once again, and of course doing a few shows in Canada as well. Highlights: playing Bayonne with Erik Truffaz, performing Joe Zawinul's Birdland in Vienna, hitting the Cargo in London, playing the Big Chill in Hereford with fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen, sharing the Fiest'A Sète stage with the likes of Charles Walker, Gwen McCrae, Kid Creole, and Éthiopique legend Mahmoud Ahmed.
(Source : souljazzorchestra.com)

Tracklisting :
01. Parasite 5:15
02. Kapital 9:40
03. People, People 4:22
04. State Terrorism 4:14
05. Interested Benevolence 5:47
06. Grasshopper & Toad 6:25
07. Amen 7:38

Links :
souljazzorchestra.com
myspace.com/souljazzorchestra
dorightmusic.com
myspace.com/mydorightmusic

Bronx River Parkway - San Sebastian 152

Bronx River Parkway - San Sebastian 152
(CD/LP) Truth & Soul TS609, 2008-07-29

Tracklisting :
01.El Resbalon
02.Agua Con Sal
03.La Valla
04.Nora Se Va
05.Donde
06.San Sebastian 152
07.Me Toca
08.Para Los Rumberos
09.Mi Corazon
10.Song For Ray

Links :
myspace.com/bronxriverpkwy
truthandsoulrecords.com
galacticfractures.com/?p=14

Band Members :
Sammy Ayala - vocals
Jose Parla - vocals
Chris Mendoza - vocals
Ernesto Abreu- timbales, congas, vocals
Quincy Bright - bass
Nick Movshon - drums
Leon Michels - Saxophone, organ
Toby Pazner - Rhodes, vibes
Aaron Johnson - trombone
Michael Leonhart - trumpet
Yoshi Takemasa - congas
Marcos Garcia - percussion, vocals

Press Release :
Bronx River Parkway was intially formed in 2001 when they released the 45 single "Quines Que resolverlo" on the Latin Express imprint of Soul Fire records. A couple years later they released there second single "deixa Pra La" on Truth & Soul, the label they currently record for. Recently, in February of 2006, Pablo Rodgriguez of candela records, brought BRP down to Puerto Rico to cut a record with the help of some legenday musicians that make their home in PR. Original members Leon Michels, Quincy Bright, Jeff Silverman, and Nick Movshon were joined by Sammy Ayala, Tito Cruz, Pupi Rodriguez, and Local 12 among others to make a landmark modern Latin Soul record which has sparked a new interest in both the band memebers and their fans. Now residing in New York, the band has expanded to include a solid core group of 8 musicians fronted by the legendary Sammy Ayala.

People Under The Stairs - The Om Years

People Under The Stairs - The Om Years
(2xCD) OM Records, 2008-07-22

Info :
A double-disc offering from Om of People Under The Stairs back catalogue classics. Features album tracks as well as compilation tracks and vinyl-only b-sides. Get ready for the new FUN DMC album with some old P...

Tracklisting CD1 :
01. Intro
02. San Francisco Knights
03. 43 Labels I Like
04. Time to Rock Our Shit
05. The Cat
06. We'll Be There
07. Youth Explosion
08. Code Check
09. Give Love a Chance
10. Jappy Jap
11. The Suite for a Beaver Part 1
12. O.S.T. (Original Soundtrack)
13. Empty Bottles of Water
14. The L.A. Song
15. Hang Loose
16. Acid Raindrops
17. The Breakdown
18. Montego Slay
19. Yield
20. Play it Again / Outro

Tracklisting CD2 :
01. Invisible Blunt
02. I-15
03. Tour Guide
04. Schooled in the Trade (Instrumental)
05. Big Daddy Brown
06. Hang Loose Pt 2
07. Sunroof (Instrumental)
08. The Bomb Combo
09. Afternoon Connection
10. Out Da Club
11. We'll Be There (10 Seconds Remix)

Links :
putsonline.co.uk
om-records.com

Press Release :
Om is proud to present People Under the Stairs “The Om Years,” a two disc collection featuring fan favorites and a disc of B-sides and rarities never before released on CD.

The first ever Om retrospective of dusty breaks and funky rhyme classics from People Under the Stairs, or The P (as their fans know them). Called “The dopest of dope” by hip-hop fans the world over and featured in every magazine, website, blog, radio station you know, The P stand as one of the greatest hip-hop groups ever.

If you’re a new jack, now’s the time to check The P out for the first time, or go back and re-discover why you loved them so much in the first place.

The musical dope continues…

Medeski Martin and Wood - Zaebos: The Book of Angels Vol. 11

Medeski Martin and Wood - Zaebos: The Book of Angels Vol. 11
(CD) Tzadik TZ7368, 2008-07-22

Info :
Focused, ecstatic and wildly improvisational, the trio of Medeski Martin and Wood is one of the most popular and vibrant instrumental ensembles of the last few decades, playing to packed houses from Budokan to Bonnaroo and back again. Original members of the earliest Masada units (reaching back to 1993), they are a natural choice to interpret the lyrical Book of Angels, and here return to the fold like three prodigal sons. Ten exhilarating and creative arrangements of Zorn compositions that alternately groove, lope, shred and burn with a fiery passion.

Tracklisting :
01. Zagzagel
02. Sefrial
03. Agmatia
04. Rifion
05. Chafriel
06. Ahaij
07. Asaliah
08. Vianuel
09. Jeduthun
10. Malach Ha-Sopher
11. Tutrusa'i

Links :
< href="http://www.mmw.net" target="_blank">mmw.net
< href="http://www.myspace.com/medeskimartinandwood" target="_blank">myspace.com/medeskimartinandwood
< href="http://medeskimartinandwood.shop.musictoday.com/Product.aspx?pc=MWCD40" target="_blank">medeskimartinandwood.shop.musictoday.com
< href="http://www.tzadik.com/volume.php?VolumeID=483" target="_blank">tzadik.com
< href="http://www.myspace.com/tzadikrecords" target="_blank">myspace.com/tzadikrecords

Additional personnel :
Anonymous 13: Voice, Viola
Rich Doucette: Sarangi
Shahzad Ismaily: Bass
Jai Young Kim: B3 Organ
Jason Schimmel: Guitar
Monica Schley: Harp
Ches Smith: Drums, Congas
Tim Smolens: Cello, Upright Bass
Trey Spruance: Baritone Guitar, Electric Guitar, Organ, Percussion, Synth, Autoharp, Piano, Bass
Adam Stacey: Clavinet
Timb Harris: Violin, Trumpet

Sir Victor Uwaifo - Guitar-boy Superstar 1970-76

Sir Victor Uwaifo Guitar-boy Superstar 1970-76
(CD/2xLP) Soundway Records SNDWCD/LP0120, 2008-07-21

Tracklisting 2xLP :
A1. KiriKisi (Ekassa 24) 3.53
A2. Igboroho (Ekassa 5) 2.58
A3. Idogo (Ekassa 42) 7.15
A4. Agho 3.34
B1. Obodo Eyo (Ekassa 12) 3.23
B2. Mother Witch - Shu'Husu'hu 3.30
B3. Talking Instruments (Ekassa 8) 3.09
B4. Edenederio (Ekassa 40) 5.17
B5. Akuyan (Ekassa 46) 3.11
C1. Dododo (Ekassa Number 1) 5.20
C2. Do Lelezi (Ekassa 22) 5.56
C3. Atete (Ekassa 38) 3.56
C4. Happy Day From Me To You 2.48
D1. Ebibi (Ekassa 28) 5.10
D2. Egbe Natete 3.36
D3. Iye Iye Oh 3.05
D4. Madaka 3.18
D5. West African Safari. 2.58

Tracklisting CD :
01. KiriKisi (Ekassa 24)
02. Igboroho (Ekassa 5)
03. Idogo (Ekassa 42)
04. Egbe Natete
05. Edenederio (Ekassa 40)
06. Obodo Eyo (Ekassa 12)
07. Talking Instruments (Ekassa 8)
08. Agho
09. Iye Iye Oh
10. Mother Witch - Shu'Husu'hu
11. Atete (Ekassa 38)
12. Ebibi (Ekassa 28)
13. Osalobua Rekpama
14. Do Lelezi (Ekassa 22)
15. Akuyan (Ekassa 46)
16. dododo (Ekassa Number 1)
17. Madaka
18. Happy Day From Me To You
19. West African Safari.

Links :
soundwayrecords.com

Press Release :
CD 20 page booklet & uncoated slipcase.
20 page booklet with extensive liner notes and interviews with Victor Uwaifo plus rare photos and cover art.
Limited Double Gatefold Vinyl release.

Since 2002, Soundway Records has been synonymous with high-quality and groundbreaking compilations of music from Africa, the Caribbean and South America.

Guitar-Boy Superstar is the first survey of the long career of the legendary Nigerian musician, artist and poet Victor Uwaifo, one of Nigeria's greatest stars - a long-overdue release that puts Victor Uwaifo next to other Nigerian greats better known in the West.

Victor Uwaifo's mission to spread and preserve the cultural heritage of ancient Benin (Modern day Edo State, Nigeria) has seen him work as a commissioner for cultural affairs in his native Edo State, a University lecturer, acclaimed bronze sculptor and poet as well as a highly successful musician. He has been awarded Nigeria's highest cultural tribute - the order of the Niger, and continues to teach and work today with an energy that has not abated for nearly fifty years.

Cutting his musical teeth with Victor Olaiya ('The evil genius of Highlife') in the early 60s, he went on to form his own band - The Melody Maestros, producing Nigeria's biggest ever selling record with Joromi in 1965,for which he was awarded Africa's first Gold disc. He has continued to produce some of the most popular and engaged music in Nigeria ever since.

This album focuses on his early 1970s musical output. Uwaifo invented a unique style of highlife music that he called 'Ekassa' - based on ancient rhythms and fused with modern Highlife instrumentation and just a dash of rock and soul.

Paul Bryan - Listen Of

Paul Bryan - Listen Of
(CD) Sonar Kollektiv SK181CD, 2008-07-14

Tracklisting :
01. Listen
02. Like A Rainy Night
03. Thais
04. Feel Like I Feel
05. Window
06. A Song For A Helping Hand
07. Some Love
08. Afraid Of All
09. So Long
10. Who To Blame
11. Why She Goes Away
12. Old Rock

Links :
sonarkollektiv.com
myspace.com/sonarkollektiv

Press Release :
Music is form of Art deep-rooted in Culture and History. The sounds, the melodies and the lyrics created by a songwriter carry his subjective vision of the world and each song gives you an deep insight of the Artist's cultural ties with his country. That's why listening to music can be considered as a very meaningful form of travel. A record can take you to places you've never seen before and make you discover the Culture of a country you've never visited. The members of JAZZANOVA understood it well. Always keen on sharing their passion and their experiences they released the music of Artists coming from all over the world on Sonar Kollektiv, notably with the compilation Paz e Futebol (SK089CD/LP) that gathers some of their favorite Brazilian tunes and the Jazz compilations Romanian Jazz (SK132LP) and Nueva Vision - Latin Jazz from the Cuban label Egrem / Areito (SK166CD).
After the tremendous success of Paz e Futebol (SK089CD/LP) they decided to go one step further and to create a new collection called travel guide, as an invitation to travel and to expand your mind through the discovery of World Music. travel guide is Sonar Kollektiv's Lonely Planet for your ears and your soul.

To inaugurate this new collection Sonar Kollektiv has the honour to re-issue the wonderful folk album Listen of of Brazilian singer-songwriter PAUL BRYAN aka SÉRGIO SÁ originally released in 1973 on the label Top Tape in Brazil. JAZZANOVA member JUERGEN VON KNOBLAUCH found the LP while record digging in Berlin 9 years ago. He played it to the rest of the collective and they all instantly fell for it. Listen Of is also a real collectors' item almost impossible to find outside Brazil. This re-release is thus a gift to all those, who have been looking for it in vain up to now.
Discovering that Listen Of , which is an album of singer-songwriter folk guitar songs in English, has in fact been produced and arranged by a Brazilian Artist has been quite a surprise for JUERGEN and there is an interesting story behind it. PAUL BRYAN is the pseudonym that Brazilian artist and musician SÉRGIO SÁ used to produce an album of British and American influenced folk tunes. SÉRGIO SÁ is a blind-born keyboard player with a long and successful musical career in Brazil as composer, producer and arranger.

Born in Fortaleza, SÉRGIO moved to Sao Paulo at the age 13 to continue his studies. He finished his primary school at a special school directed by a blind professor as well. SÉRGIO stayed for one year at the Instituto Padre Chico in Sao Paulo. At Padre Chico, since he was already a self-taught musician and played piano 'by ear', he applied to music courses as an extra-curricular activity. It was in that moment that he had his first contacts with musical theory, harmonies and rhythms. SÉRGIO considers that the lucid way in which he learned music, made him more creative, audacious and opened his way to more possibilities. In 1973 he was incited by the company Top Tape of Rio De Janeiro to enter a team of composers that were creating songs for soap operas.

Top Tape also asked him to create an album of English spoken folk songs. SERGIO adopted the name PAUL BRYAN and created Listen Of. Following the outstanding success of the album SÉRGIO became requested for musical arrangements and recordings as keyboard player. He recorded with famous artists like 'the king' ROBERTO CARLOS, GILBERTO GIL, SIMONE, TIM MAIA, HERMETO PASCHOAL, FÁBIO JÚNIOR, JANE DUBOC and THE TRAPALHOES amongst many others. In his journey SÉRGIO has had the opportunity to live in the USA, a place where his learning and professionalism strengthened. For 3 years, during the 80s, SÉRGIO worked in LA and Washington. He had the chance to work there for STEVIE WONDER and to create a few songs for him. Not only successful as an artist and musician, SÉRGIO is also the author of 2 books notably Close your eyes to see better - the limit of the senses and the senses of the limits, where he exposes his ideas to create new ways of seeing, hearing, feeling and dealing with the world, and Factory of sounds, which is a study about sound production based on his musical experience and prefaced by the Minister of Culture and Brasil legend, GILBERTO GIL.

The life of SÉRGIO is made of constant and strenuous efforts to reach his dreams and based on the belief that one should always look on the bright side of life. He would not have been so successful without this exceptional optimism.

The name PAUL BRYAN comes from an American TV-series called Iron Soul, where the character PAUL BRYAN was a patient suffering from a terminal desease. SÉRGIO was moved by this series and the strong will of this character. To compose the songs of Listen Of, SÉRGIO found his inspiration in the music of THE BEATLES, LENNON and MC CARTNEY on the one hand and hits of the American Motown label and artists such as JACKSON 5, DIANA ROSS and STEVIE WONDER on the other hand. The romantic ballad Listen was the first song SÉRGIO wrote. It peaked up the Brazilian charts in 1973. In the same year SÉRGIO co-authored the hit Don't Say Goodbye with CHRYSTIAN. The second hit of Listen Of PAUL BRYAN was Window. It was used in a Brazilian soap as well. SÉRGIO recorded 12 songs in total for Listen Of. The record also includes the songs Like A Rainy Night, which is one of JAZZANOVA favorites, the wonderful tune Feel Like I Feel that refers to SÉRGIO blindness - "My days are darker than your nights, so hear my song and understand" - and Old Rock that SÉRGIO wrote with the music of the BEATLES and PAUL MC CARTNEY in mind. Listen Of has been a huge success and sold more than150 000 copies in Brazil alone.

As the time goes by this record has been forgotten but it was without counting on JAZZANOVA, who proudly re-release it on Sonar Kollektiv 35 years after! And after all those years Listen Of is still a beautiful and soothing record of ballads and romantic songs. And like JAZZANOVA you will fall in love with PAUL BRYAN's Listen Of instantly too.

Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Peaceblaster

Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Peaceblaster
(CD) 13'20 Records, 2008-08-08

Tracklisting :
01. Peaceblaster '68
02. Peaceblaster '08
03. Metameme
04. Shock Doctrine
05. The Spectacle
06. Regeneration
07. Beyond Right Now
08. The Fog
09. Hidden Hand, Hidden Fist
10. The Last 50,000 Years
11. Empires
12. The New Soma
13. Oh Little Brain
14. Late For Work
15. Squishface

Links :
peaceblaster.com
sts9.com
myspace.com/sts9
1320records.com

Press Release :
This band is making electronic music relevant again, and people from all over the musical map are taking notice." – Remix

Peaceblaster, the long awaited follow-up to Sound Tribe Sector 9's Artifact, hits stores July 8. It is a clarion call from a band that thrives on friction.

"America is this beautiful, incredible place, but it has a dark underbelly," bassist David Murphy says. "And even on Peaceblaster's most ethereal songs, there's a darkness that reflects what's going on in society - it ain't all bad, but it ain't all good."

"Music measures the temperature of the people," adds guitarist Hunter Brown. "Consumerism and the corporate media have taken us all down the path of cynicism, apathy, and nihilism. If the message on the new record is anything, it's to blast that shit."

Armed with a batch of song ideas and fueled by the tension of the times, the band (which in addition to Brown and Murphy, features percussionist Jeffree Lerner, keyboardist David Phipps and Zach Velmer on drums) took a break from their masochistic touring schedule and holed up in their recording studio, determined to make the strongest album of their career. "The last few records, it felt like we were learning on the job," says Murphy, "but the new record is the job."

"Beyond Right Now," the 2nd single from their forthcoming album is currently streaming free here, where you can also check out the first single, "Shock Doctrine."

Ultimately, STS9 knows that they are just a band, playing songs. No more, no less. But they also understand music's power as a cultural force. They know that friction can be a catalyst for change. And even though they can't literally blast peace into our consciousness, they can carve out a musical space where new ideas might take hold.

"We’re just trying to get inspired and to get people inspired," Brown says. "That's what music is: a never-ending conversation between strangers. We need this conversation to help us understand the world and our place in it."

Johnny Osbourne - Truth & Rights (Deluxe Edition)

Johnny Osbourne - Truth & Rights (Deluxe Edition)
(CD) Heartbeat CDHBEA340, 2008-07-07

Tracklisting :
01. Truths and Rights 3:00
02. Children Are Crying 3:35
03. Can't Buy Love 2:17
04. Jah Promise 3:57
05. Nah Skin Up 2:57
06. We Need Love 3:41
07. Eternal Peace 2:52
08. Sing Jay Stylee 2:54
09. Love Jah So 2:20
10. Let Me In 2:54
11. Jealousy Heartache and Pain 3:25
12. Luanda - Dub Specialist 3:35
13. West Gone Black - Jah Jesco & Jucey Bravo 2:44
14. Truths and Rights (extended mix) 5:55
15. Sing Jay Stylee (extended mix) 3:51
16. Can't Buy Love/Swing Easy 6:35

Links :
heartbeatreggae.com

Press Release :
Originally released in 1979, Johnny Osbourne's Truths and Rights LP helped usher in the 1980s dancehall sound. It solidified Johnny Osbourne's popularity, and he would go on to become one of the most prolific of the dancehall reggae singers. Recorded in Jamaica and produced by Clement Dodd, Johnny was presented with a plethora of classic Studio One rhythms from the vaults on which to record. The legendary foundation label was undergoing a creative renaissance with new prototypical dancehall albums by Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott, Michigan & Smiley, Willie Williams, and of course, Johnny Osbourne. This deluxe edition includes all ten album tracks, remastered from the original tapes. A further six tracks - extended mixes, a dee-jay version, a dub version, and a bonus track from the period - have been added. The liner notes include a recent interview with Cleveland "Clevie" Browne, of Steely & Clevie fame.

The Natural Yogurt Band - Away With Melancholy

The Natural Yogurt Band - Away With Melancholy
(CD/LP) Jazzman Records JMANCD021/JMANLP021, 2008-07-04

Tracklisting :
01. Chapter One
02. Chit Chat
03. Better Days To Come
04. Thoughts
05. Voodoo
06. Pipe Dreams
07. Latin Illusion
08. The Woods
09. A Broken Rose
10. Space Echo
11. Soft Cheese
12. Lament For Piano

Links :
jazzmanrecords.co.uk

Press Release :
THE NATURAL YOGURT BAND present their debut album "Away With Melancholy" on Jazzman Records...

We get lots of demos sent to us at Jazzman, and we listen to them all. Some of them are good and worthy of release, but we can't put out everything we just happen to like. But then every few years something comes along that is so good it gets played in the office over and over and over and over again and captivates so much we just HAVE to release it ... and the Natural Yogurt Band is it.

The cd they sent was accompanied by no credentials. There was no promo sheet name-dropping the famous DJs who are playing their music, no pretentious CV stating who plays what and who used to play with whoever; no info, no blurb and no gumph. In other words they just sent me a plain cd, which was refreshing, because at the end of the day all that matters is whether it's any good or not, right?

So what is it about their demo that we find so fascinating? Well, for starters you can hear real people imaginatively playing an ingenious assortment of real instruments. Then there are the original ideas, played out as quirky, innocent instrumentals, and their flawless execution lacks pretence and self-consciousness. You also get the feeling that they are having FUN making their music. And it comes naturally, they're not trying too hard. After a while trying I managed to finally speak to one of the chaps behind the NYB, Wayne Fullwood (ex-drummer of Little Barrie), and he explained: "We wanted to make a record that we would enjoy listening to ... a pastiche of different moods that make up an interesting album. We never thought about the commercial elements or about success and didn't even think about releasing it until later ... we weren't sure whether anyone else would like it. It's not a record that's about listening to the coolest musical tastes or name checking all the right people ... it's more about soul and feeling and what we wanted to hear on an album."

He went on to mention his tastes and musical infuences - Italian gangster films, weird Polish jazz, leftfield electronics, McDermott, Axelrod and Morricone - all the right stuff, and they've made their own auditory visualisation of what they feel is good. Oddball, leftfield, funky; yet unpretentious and effortless ... now that's what I call good music.

Reactions:
"The best album I've heard this year, like a dream line-up of library session musicians commissioned by old b-boys" DJ Format
"Authentic, psychedelic library vibes from the golden era meticulously recreated in the new millennium." Egon (Stones Throw Records)
"Most intriguing" Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics)
"'Soft Cheese' make me sick" Gaslamp Killer (Obey, Low End Theory)

Melvyn Price - Rhythm And Blues

Melvyn Price - Rhythm And Blues
(CD/LP/Download) Wax Poetics WPR004, 2008-06-30

Tracklisting :
01. Voodoo Love Dance (8:06)
02. Toward Brazil (2:41)
03. Behind Kungstradgarden (7:02)
04. Happiness Is ... (7:10)
05. Five O'Clock Traffic (3:51)
06. Last Train (5:47)

Links :
waxpoetics.com

Press Release :
"It was amazing," remarks Melvyn Price on the recording of his magnum opus Rhythm and Blues, first committed to vinyl nearly thirty-five years ago. Although the record was the result of many years of hard work and a blind leap halfway across the globe, it was one peculiar incident that foretold the evening's magical potential. "Before I went to the studio, I was going to make my lunch," recalls the conguero/trombonist. "So I broke the first egg into the frying pan and it was twins. Now I got two yolks in the frying pan. And so I broke the second egg and there were also two yolks in there. And I had a lot of food from two eggs. I said, ‘Wow, does this mean something?'"

For Price, this evening would yield Rhythm and Blues: a medley of Scandinavian chops and Latin percussion that, though never making huge waves stateside, was a mild phenomenon in Price's adopted Sweden. It has spent the last three decades in relative obscurity until this well-deserved reissue.

This LP is available for download right now Wax Poetics Digital!

Born in 1946, Price grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, a working-class city on the outskirts of Detroit. Although Price played trombone in the marching band, he became fascinated by the free-folk music associated with the burgeoning beat movement of the early '60s. With a diverse musical palette, equal parts Motown and Bohemia, Price formed the Afrikan Folk Ensemble as a means of spreading a more eclectic musical message across Middle America.

As political tension stemming from the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War mounted, the Afrikan Folk Ensemble's performances gradually shifted from the intimate confines of coffee houses to the dynamic surroundings of protests and rallies. These same pressures started to take their toll on Price, who, once draft enforcers came looking, fled to Europe with a conga on his back. "Sweden was a country of jazz back then," reminisces Price. "Dexter Gordon—these people were big-time. And jazz was king! Turn on the radio, you'd be lucky to hear a James Brown tune. It was like that. Jazz was everything here." After meeting and marrying a young Swedish girl, Price would return to the U.S.—but only momentarily. With his first son on the way and social tensions mounting, the two longed for an environment more befitting for a young family.

In the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Price returned to Sweden for good. His first musical engagement was as trombonist for Al Sharpe and the Funky Flames. Sharpe, a native of Sudan, had assembled a predominately European band specializing in the pop music of Price's homeland. This would seem a natural transition into the soul-jazz styling found on Rhythm and Blues, but Price took a slightly more scenic route to arrive at this destined recording.

During the late '60s and early '70s, jazz ballet was the aerobic activity of choice for most active women. Price began joining his friend, Trinidadian percussionist Rupert Clemendore, on his gigs at the Stockholm Ballet Academy where the two would provide rhythmic accompaniment for the dancers. Price's client and eventual producer, Doris Aronsson, approached Price with a bright idea. "She said, ‘Hey, you sound great. But there should be an album made just for dancers,'" Price recalls. "So we worked on that, but no one would give us a recording contract. I went to one record company, and the man says, ‘Well, this type of record, there's no market for it.' So he gave us some materials and said, ‘Hey—just do it yourself, because it's not going to sell nothing.'"

In 1970, Price and Aronsson released Jazzbalettrytmer (Jazz Ballet Rhythm) on their eponymous Mel-Dor label to the delight of the European dance community. The following year, Price capitalized on his musical momentum by recording Rytmer II, which would be met with greater enthusiasm, crossing over into jazz markets despite sparse, primarily percussive instrumentation. By 1974, after completing two years of composition and theory training at Stockholm's University College of Music Education, Price was ready to complete his musical trilogy. Thousands of miles away from Pontiac, Michigan, Melvyn Price made a bold musical statement with a bold name: an album fit to be called Rhythm and Blues.

Despite the record's timeless nature and brilliantly simple format, few of his conspirators appreciated his leisurely progressive vision. "At that time, you would say, ‘Hey, man, it's paying so and so much or would you rather wait for the royalties?' Everyone was so desperate back then, they'd say, ‘Nah, man. I want my money now!' Some of the guys didn't even believe in what I was doing in the studio. They would just say, ‘Ah, man. Give me my money!' It was that sort of thing—cut and dry." Rhythm and Blues would do reasonably well in and around Europe, completing, for the most part, the last chapter in Melvyn Price's musical biography. He still lives in Sweden where all three of his children, Magnum, Mingus, and Marcus, are active in the Swedish music scene. They are following a path paved in part by the events of a one fateful night in 1974 when the elder Price cracked a few odd eggs.

"Maybe it was just a coincidence," Price theorizes. "But that stuck with me, because I went in to play the gig, and I always thought about that. Was it a coincidence to break two eggs? And maybe it was three; maybe the third egg had two eggs in it as well. I don't know what farm those were from..." - Jon Kirby