Professor Eddy

Kadha Bonet The other day I bought the compilation album 100 Hits Ultimate Soul (100 definitive smooth sounds), which is out on Demon Music Group. The album is really good and brought quite a few surprises to my ears. The song that I like the most is the one that I would qualify as yacht rock: 'Every Night' by Phoebe Snow (written by Paul McCartney). What a wonderful voice this woman has! The singer is best known for her 1975 song 'Poetry Man'. She was once described by The New York Times as a " contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves. " Phoebe Snow suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2010 and passed away on April 26, 2011, at age 60. For an artist whose bio reads that she was “born in 1784 in the backseat of a sea-foam green space pinto,” LA-based soul singer Kadjha Bonet’s debut album 'The Visitor' sounds a bit closer to home than that. Her sound is retro-fitted, but you only have to travel to, say, the exper...

Gary Bartz is an underrated jazz great. As a teenager Gary had played sax in his father's nightclub, sitting in with Art Blakey and George Benson. He had started on alto at age 11 and, after studying at Juilliard and the Peabody Conservatory, Bartz worked with the Max Roach-Abbey Lincoln group in 1964. He followed that up by stints with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1965-66), McCoy Tyner and Blue Mitchell. Bartz made a strong impression with Miles Davis' 1970-71 fusion group, emerging as perhaps the strongest soloist on the recording 'Live / Evil'. The altoist, who had recorded as a leader for Milestone and Prestige fairly regularly since 1967, did some of his finest work at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival (released on Prestige as 'I've Known Rivers and Other Bodies'). By the mid-seventies his recordings became funkier and more commercial. His 1977 album 'Music Is My Sanctuary' is considered one of the finest fusion albums of its generation, with...

Valida ( Instagram ) Dance music with an edge from the 1980s and a few new ones with that same vibe. The songs by Fickle Friends (intro of 'When love breaks down') and Ice Choir (vocals) sound like eighties icons Prefab Sprout. The one by by Valida is also influenced by the sound of the 1980s: “‘Stars’ is about letting go,” Valida says. “We’ve built too many walls to protect us from experiencing each other. Maybe it’s the L.A. way of life of constantly being in a car going through life behind a window. I know a lot of people who can use the extra push in going after their dreams, myself included. I wanted to create a world where love conquers self-doubt.” “Stars” is her first original since 2012, and for the native of Bosnia it represented a challenge. “One time I said to a friend that I could not write a happy song even if I tried,” she says, “but I remember adding ‘Well, maybe if I tried really hard …’” Mission accomplished. The ’80s-influenced pop anthem, co-produced by...

Picture: Cari Ann Wayman The tracks by Greg Smaha and Charms are from French Disco Boogie Sounds volume 2. After their critically acclaimed first edition, Favorite Recordings and Charles Maurice return with a follow-up. There’s a suave-looking guy on the cover, and there's some suave-sounding songs within. They are definitely the cream of the crop of the hippest spectrum of the French club scene at the start of the 1980s, brought together in a beautiful package of grooves. The songs are quite different than some of the cheesier, clunkier Euro disco hits of the time. And, opposite to those hits, there's a lot of care and craft brought to the rhythms and lyrics. Often a lot more soul elements than you might expect, and with occasional global currents that reflect the unique sound of France in the postcolonial years. Enjoy this 64th part of Groovy, Sexy and Soulful ! Tracklist: Charms ‎– Givin' It Up (1983) Princess Freesia – What’s That All About (2016) Amy Hol...