Don Downing

"Doctor Boogie" had a so deep impact on the scene that it was at the origin of the release of a homonym album by Don Downing himself. Tony Bongiovi (which Don had the opportunity to meet through the producer Meco Monardo) arranged the release of this album by Don Downing on RS International (Roadshow) which featured some top New York session musicians, from Jimmy Young and Alan Schwartzberg (drums) to Bob Babbitt and Wilbur Bascomb (bass), guitarist Jeff Miranov, pianist Pat Rebillot, and percussionist Jimmy Maelan. The LP included "Doctor Boogie" (1978), Don's other classic "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" (1973) and five new tunes with the presence of those mentionned amazing musicians.

Lying on pure strings beauty, Don Downing's 'Doctor Boogie' Disco masterpiece was, according to me specialized media, released in 'almost obscurity', and it went from an underground hit largely played on alternative quality-music clubs to a status of radio hit in and outside Chicago.
The tune's theme brings a story of a so-called doctor with a mastery in Soul & Boogie whose lyrics had a very self-confident sight. "Uh, I'm qualified... in sleep & slap... if you feel the need now, a work is down a path..." sounds straight like Dr.

Year: 1978
Label: RS International

Mc Fadden & Whitehead

McFadden and Whitehead formed together as a group officially under the name "McFadden & Whitehead" in 1977. The pinnacle of their success came in 1979 with "Ain't No Stoppin Us Now," which went to #1 on the R&B charts, #13 on the pop charts, sold eight million records worldwide and was nominated for a Grammy Award. The duo was featured on the Oprah Show, where they sang their most famous song on an episode in which Oprah featured the top hits of the 1970s.
A great great Funky tune...Best of me...epic track!!

Year : 1982
Label : Atlantic

Ronnie Laws

Saxophonist Ronnie Laws held high profile gigs with Quincy Jones and Earth, Wind And Fire before signing with Blue Note in 1975 where his first album Pressure Sensitive yielded the hit "Always There" which is still a staple in dance clubs around the world. By Every Generation, his fourth album, Laws's writing and production was getting so sophisticated and R&B-oriented, that he was moved to United Artists Records. With writing and producing partner William Jeffrey, Ronnie produced state-of-the-art R&B gems with this album, using his own band plus siblings Hubert and Eloise Laws and guests Larry Dunn, Joe Sample and Patrice Rushen.
This tune is perfect....;) Enjoy

Year : 1980

Label : Blue Note

Apollo

Apollo was founded by Kerry Gordy and Benny Medina in late 70's. Teena Marie was originally in the group as the female lead but dropped out right before the band released their first single for Motown entitled Astro Disco. The group graced the covers of teen magazines, performed on national television shows and performed over 200 concerts in Asia alone according to executives in Motown.





Year: 1979
Label: Gordy (Motown Records)

The Live Band

Hello dear family N friends. Don't pass by without checking this wonderful "2 Step" groove from 1982 on TSOB (The Sound Of Brooklyn). The LP contains 8 wonderful songs, something worth to check out as soon as possible.





Year: 1982
Label: TSOB

Mellow Madness

Punchy disco soul from North Carolina's Mellow Madness, a group of high school friends whose fortunes weren't made by their late 70s and early 80s musical adventures, thus they have laid in the file marked 'very obscure' until Keb Darge rediscovered this fantastic effort. Dusted down and re-mixed by Kay-Dee partner-in-crime Kenny Dope, the tune is ripe for today's collectors and eager vinyl converts. Super uptempo funky soul, with a fat beat whacked underneath.

Year : 2008
Label : Kay Dee US

Roy Ayers

Born: September 10, 1940

Once one of the most visible and winning jazz vibraphonists of the 1960s, then an R&B bandleader in the 1970s and '80s, Roy Ayers' reputation s now that of one of the prophets of acid jazz, a man decades ahead of his time. A tune like 1972's "Move to Groove" by the Roy Ayers Ubiquity has a crackling backbeat that serves as the prototype for the shuffling hip-hop groove that became, shall we say, ubiquitous on acid jazz records; and his relaxed 1976 song "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" has been frequently sampled. Yet Ayers' own playing has always been rooted in hard bop: crisp, lyrical, rhythmically resilient. His own reaction to being canonized by the hip-hop crowd as the "Icon Man" is tempered with the detachment of a survivor in a rough business. "I'm having fun laughing with it," he has said. "I don't mind what they call me, that's what people do in this industry."

Growing up in a musical family -- his father played trombone, his mother taught him the piano -- the five-year-old Ayers was given a set of vibe mallets by Lionel Hampton, but didn't start on the instrument until he was 17. He got involved in the West Coast jazz scene in his early 20s, recording with Curtis Amy (1962), Jack Wilson (1963-1967), and the Gerald Wilson Orchestra (1965-1966); and playing with Teddy Edwards, Chico Hamilton, Hampton Hawes and Phineas Newborn. A session with Herbie Mann at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach led to a four-year gig with the versatile flutist (1966-1970), an experience that gave Ayers tremendous exposure and opened his ears to styles of music other than the bebop that he had grown up with.

After being featured prominently on Mann's hit Memphis Underground album and recording three solo albums for Atlantic under Mann's supervision, Ayers left the group in 1970 to form the Roy Ayers Ubiquity, which recorded several albums for Polydor and featured such players as Sonny Fortune, Billy Cobham, Omar Hakim, and Alphonse Mouzon. An R&B-jazz-rock band influenced by electric Miles Davis and the Herbie Hancock Sextet at first, the Ubiquity gradually shed its jazz component in favor of R&B/funk and disco. Though Ayers' pop records were commercially successful, with several charted singles on the R&B charts for Polydor and Columbia, they became increasingly, perhaps correspondingly, devoid of musical interest.

In the 1980s, besides leading his bands and recording, Ayers collaborated with Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, formed Uno Melodic Records, and produced and/or co-wrote several recordings for various artists. As the merger of hip-hop and jazz took hold in the early '90s, Ayers made a guest appearance on Guru's seminal Jazzmatazz album in 1993 and played at New York clubs with Guru and Donald Byrd. Though most of his solo records had been out of print for years, Verve issued a two-CD anthology of his work with Ubiquity and the first U.S. release of a live gig at the 1972 Montreux Jazz Festival; the latter finds the group playing excellent straight-ahead jazz, as well as jazz-rock and R&B. Richard S. Ginell, Rovi...
This tune is just TOP!!!THE PURE ESSENCE OF FUNK...A must listen ;)

Year  : 1978
Label : Polydor

Chanson

Not many info about this amazing band...just relax and take it easy...let the FUNK entertain you!!!
Enjoy

Year : 1978

Label : Ariola

Joe Thomas

Joe Thomas was one of five children and grew up in an environment filled with Gospel music. Both his parents are ministers. The Thomas family moved to Alabama when Joe was two and he grew up as an active member of the church and sang in the choir, played guitar and eventually directed the choir. In the late 1980s, he started playing in local bands in Alabama. He eventually moved to New York City to pursue a musical career.

While working in a gospel music store and singing in a church, Joe met producer Vincent Herbert and recorded a three-track demo. Joe released his debut album, Everything, in 1993. It spawned a number of hit singles, including the #10 R&B hit "I'm in Luv." Joe signed with Jive Records for his 1997 album, All That I Am, which reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 album charts and No. 4 on the R&B charts. All That I Am eventually went on to sell over a million copies in the U.S.

Joe released his fourth album, My Name is Joe, in 2000. It became his most successful album, reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It eventually sold over three million copies. In 2001, his Better Days album was released, reaching No. 32 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on the R&B charts. His And Then ... album came out in late 2003; it reached No. 26 on the U.S. album charts and No. 4 on the R&B charts. Producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, The Underdogs, Cool & Dre, Tim & Bob and Bryan Michael Cox worked with Joe on his sixth album, Ain't Nothing Like Me, which dropped in April 2007.
This is one of my favourite songs...amazing style and cool smooth touch ;)

Year : 2009

Label : Brantera Music Group, Inc

James Brown

"Get Up Offa That Thing", sometimes subtitled "(Release the Pressure)", is a song performed by James Brown .

It was released as a two-part single in 1976  ( the B-Side ), titled "Release the Pressure", is actually a continuation of the same song) and also appeared on an album of the same name. It was one of Brown's biggest hits in the second half of the 1970s, reaching #4 on the R&B, and became a staple of his later live performances .

Year : 1976

Label : Polydor

Alfonzo Jones

Alfonzo Jones, the perfect twin of Michael Jackson...his voice, his grooves...totally perfect!!!! 
I must admit i love this groovy vibes...fresh and smooth!;)
Enjoy

Year : 1982

Label : Larc Records

Teddy Pendergrass

Theodore Pendergrass (March 26, 1950—January 13, 2010), an American R&B/soul singer and songwriter, was born in Philadelphia, Pa. Pendergrass is also known as Teddy P, TP, or Teddy Bear. 

Lead singer for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. Following personality conflicts between Melvin and Pendergrass, Pendergrass launched his solo career and released the LP Teddy Pendergrass in 1977.

Here we go with one of  the best performaces ever...directly from the epic tv program " Soul Train " .

Year : 1977

Label : Philadelphia Int'l

T.S. Monk

He began his music career early in his life, honing his skills throughout the 1970s. Monk's destiny was sealed when Max Roach, with whom he studied, gave him his first drum set, before the age of ten. After earning a reputation in school as a rabble-rouser (and graduating), the young Monk joined his father's trio and toured with his dad until the elder Monk's retirement in 1975. Monk then launched into the music that had captivated him and his generation, R&B. He first toured with a group called Natural Essence and afterward, along with his sister Barbara, formed his own band. By the dawning of the 1980s, he had formed his eponymous band, which featured him on drums and occasional lead vocals. The group's début album, 1980's House of Music featured several hits that placed on the Billboard R&B chart, including "Bon Bon Vie (Gimme the Good Life)" (which featured Monk on lead vocals) and "Candidate for Love." The band went on to release two more albums throughout the early 1980s, though singles released from these albums did not fare as well as those on the début. The band broke up shortly thereafter.

Year: 1980
Label: Mirage

Funky Company

The Funky Company is an Italian band founded in 1994 by Ivano Borgazzi , pianist and composer of Reggio Emilia.

The Italian acid jazz group with Jenny's voice has a great success throughout Europe. 

Two albums recorded with the band: "Tendency of Love"in 1995 and"Everytime" in 1997. 

Among the collaborators also big international names, from JoyMalcolm in the Incognito Ernie McKone of Galliano. Here we go with a memorable vocal performance of Jenny ...

Year : 1995

Label : Family Affair

Breakwater

Breakwater was a funk and soul American band from Philadelphia, formed in 1971. The band consisted of Gene Robinson, James Gee Jones, Linc 'Love' Gilmore, Steve Green, Vince Garnell, Greg Scott, John 'Dutch' Braddock, and Kae Williams, Jr.

The band released two albums: Breakwater in 1978, and Splashdown in 1980. The latter features the song "Release the Beast", which was sampled for the Murs track "Intro" in the album Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition. "Release the Beast" was later sampled by Daft Punk for the song "Robot Rock", which appeared on the album Human After All.

Year : 1978

Label : Arista

Sunrize

Here we go with the one and only album from Sunrize – a cool little group who get some heavy help on production and arrangements from the Isley Brothers and Chris Jasper! The groove here is a nice extension of the Isley vibe of the time – a bit more bassy at points, clearly going for the ensemble funk style of the time – but also a bit smoother and mellow at different points too, with that gentle glide we love so much in later Isleys material...
This is my favourite tune...so magic!

Year : 1982
Label : Japan Edit