Soul jazz or funky jazz is a subgenre of jazz that incorporates strong influences from hard bop, blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues. Soul jazz is often characterized by organ trios featuring the Hammond organ and small combos including saxophone, brass instruments, electric guitar, bass, drums, piano, vocals and electric organ. Its origins were in the 1950s and early 1960s, with its heyday with popular audiences preceding the rise of jazz fusion in the late 1960s and 1970s. Prominent names in fusion ranged from bop pianists including Bobby Timmons and Junior Mance to a wide range of organists, saxophonists, pianists, drummers and electric guitarists including Jack McDuff, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and Grant Green.
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. was an American jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five gold records and three Grammy Awards in his career. His album The In Crowd earned Lewis critical praise and the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance. His best known singles include "The 'In' Crowd", "Wade in the Water", and "Sun Goddess". Until 2009, he was the host of the Ramsey Lewis Morning Show on the Chicago radio station WNUA.
Wayne Talmadge Bennett was an American blues guitarist, best remembered for his performances and recordings with Bobby Bland between the 1950s and 1980s.
Cotillion Records was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records and was active from 1968 through 1985. The label was formed as an outlet for pop, R&B, and jazz. Its first single, Otis Clay's version of "She's About a Mover", reached the R&B charts. Cotillion's catalog quickly expanded to include progressive rock, folk-rock, gospel, jazz and comedy. In 1976, the label started focusing on disco and R&B. At that point, Cotillion's catalog albums outside those genres were reissued on Atlantic.
Maurice White was an American musician, best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter and chief producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, also serving as the band's co-lead singer with Philip Bailey.
Barbara Jean Acklin was an American soul singer and songwriter, who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" (1968). As a songwriter, she is best known for co-writing the multi-million-selling "Have You Seen Her" (1971) with Eugene Record, lead singer of the Chi-Lites.
"The 'In' Crowd" is a 1964 song written by Billy Page and arranged by his brother Gene and originally performed by Dobie Gray on his album Dobie Gray Sings for "In" Crowders That Go "Go-Go". It appeared on an episode of Dick Clark's Rock, Roll & Remember, featuring in the last week of November 1964, the month Gray's rendition was released.
Cleveland Josephus Eaton II was an American jazz double bassist, producer, arranger, composer, publisher, and head of his own record company in Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His most famous accomplishments were playing with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. His 1975 recording Plenty Good Eaton is considered a classic in the funk music genre. He was inducted into both the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
"Try a Little Tenderness" is a song written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, and Harry M. Woods.
Claus Ogerman was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall.
"Am I the Same Girl?" is a popular song written by Eugene Record and Sonny Sanders. First recorded in 1968 by Barbara Acklin, "Am I the Same Girl?" charted most successfully in the US as a 1992 release by Swing Out Sister. However, the song had its greatest impact as a 1968–69 instrumental hit single by Young-Holt Unlimited under the title "Soulful Strut".
"Don't Cha Wanna Ride" is a song by English singer and songwriter Joss Stone from her second studio album, Mind Body & Soul (2004). The track was written by Stone, Desmond Child, Betty Wright, Steve Greenberg, and Michael Mangini and is based upon a sample from the 1968 song "Soulful Strut" by Chicago-based soul and jazz instrumental group Young-Holt Unlimited. The song was first serviced to US radio on 26 July 2004, then was issued physically in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2005 as the fourth and final single from the album. The song was later included on the 2011 compilation album The Best of Joss Stone 2003–2009.
"These Eyes" is a song by the Canadian rock band The Guess Who. The song was co-written by the group's lead guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings and originally included on the band's 1969 album Wheatfield Soul. It was first released as a single, in their native Canada, where its chart success (#7), along with the influence of CKLW-AM Windsor's radio station music director Rosalie Trombley, helped land them a U.S. distribution deal with RCA Records. It was subsequently released in the U.S. in March 1969, and became a breakthrough success for the group, as it would be their first single to reach the top ten on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at number six, and would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA for sales of over one million copies. It was also a top ten hit in South Africa. While it was actually the 18th single released by the band overall, it was the first from the line-up of Cummings, Bachman, Jim Kale, and Garry Peterson as produced by Jack Richardson.
Clifford James Nobles was an American soul singer, who is best known for his instrumental hit, "The Horse".
Eldee Young was a jazz double-bass and cello player who performed in the cool jazz, post bop and rhythm and blues mediums.
"Who's Making Love" is a song written by Stax Records staffers Homer Banks, Bettye Crutcher, Don Davis and Raymond Jackson and recorded by singer Johnnie Taylor in 1968.
Charles Stepney was an American record producer, arranger, songwriter and musician. Stepney is noted for his work with artists such as The Dells, Ramsey Lewis, Rotary Connection and Earth, Wind & Fire.
The In Crowd is a live album by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, recorded in 1965 at the Bohemian Caverns nightclub in Washington, D.C., and released on the Argo label.
Isaac "Redd" Holt was an American jazz and soul music drummer. He was the drummer on the album The In Crowd which earned the Ramsey Lewis Trio critical praise and the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance.
Kenneth "Ken" Chaney was a Canadian-born American jazz pianist, composer and music teacher.
