We have reached an agreement with “Mr. Bacon Fat” to release some of his more funky soul tracks from the 60s, originally released by Fortune, Avin, Sport, Wingate, Ric-Tic, Checker, Chess etc. (Featuring previously unreleased songs – tracks # 6, 7, 8, 16, 23, 27 and 28.)

    What do the american TV series That 70s Show and Third Rock From The Sun, Alex Chilton, Ween, Swingers, and the first album recorded enterely in a car have in common? One man. Ben Vaughn. Composer, producer, recording artist. A man Village Voice decribes as having a "sound so pure and spontaneous it sounds instantly classic."

    Be it sitcoms, TV commercials, film soundtracks or radio play, somewhere in the world right now, Vaughn's music is being heard. Since 1986, he has been winning fans with his unique take on pop culture. Eight albums and a ten year career in Hollywood hace allowed Ben's music to travel to the far reaches of the earth. And with his latest, he brings it al together. Perfectly.

    Designs In Music encapsulates this journey. Inspired by late-night drives to his weekend getaway in the Mojave Desert where the only station he cold pick was Palm Springs easy-listening station KWXY, Ben felt ready to combine everything he had learned through the years into one recording: The magic of those late-night broadcasts as well as his years spent as a composer producer and recording artist are represented equally in this project. But with a vitality that is in the moment, the now.

    "It's obviously a tribute," says Ben, "but it's not a pristine re-creation of something from 1962. I wasn't really interested in making that kind of record. To me, instrumental music is a vibrant art form that's always ready for new ideas. And I've got a ton of them."

    Ideas that explode in a pallet of many colors, of saxophones and trumpets, clarinets and trombones, of boss organ, bongos, wordless falsetto vocalizing, and Ben Vaughn's own tough yet warety guitar work.

This album compiles Boris Gardiner’s two first solo albums, “Soulful Experience” and “What’s Happening?” (both 1970). Gardiner added a SOUL feeling to the Jamaican reggae ever since co-leading The Upsetters with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Reputed Studio 1 session bass player and singer, nowadays Gardiner is also a producer for the studio. A beautiful, enjoyable blend of reggae and soul music.

Of all the -many and excellent- Cuban “descargas” that ever have been, this one we proudly present you has been the most influentual, hot and important of them all -and allegedly the first one. Which is the logical accomplishment of an outstanding musician and conductor.

Israel “Cachao” Lopez has been compared with Duke Ellington by sociologist Raúl Fernández, who explains that this double bass player transformed Cuban music in the same way that “the Duke” did, making Jazz evolve from a dance form into a more abstract style for the listener. Fernandez argues that Cachao had the same influence in Cuban music. For the first time, Cuban popular music was presented as a music that could be actually listened to, rather than just danced to.

This “miniature” Descargas, recorded in 1957 live at the studio for the Panart label -after the success of the live sessions of the same name at the Tropicana club-, were named that way because of the maximum time (from two to three minutes) that the musicians had to record each piece, and they really were equally influenced by Son and Rumba rather than only by Jazz.

These fabulous live acts brought fame to many of the musicians involved in them, such as Tata Güines, a master percussionist, whose influentical conga style was required in New York. So was Cachao, who flies to New York to be part of the Tito Rodríguez orchestra from 1964 to 1966. Admiring personalities include Andy García, who has been fighting to get Cachao nominated for the Grammys and claims this album to be the best “bogaloo” recording ever made.

The Cuban Regime would end with these Jazz sessions in the 60’s. But we still have here the wonderful, unique Cuban jazz flavor, trapped and recorded at its peak in Cachao’s “Descargas”,  presented here in TWO DIFFERENT LP’s (number 1 being the original album and number 2 songs from the same 57-61 era) and a digipack CD (which combines both LPs). 3 different ways to feel the heat of the best Cuban music.

While you were listening to some high school teacher, these guys were sharing stages with the Stones and the Beatles. Cannibal & The Headhunters were born as a 4-piece vocal band in East L.A. and became immortal with their "LAND OF 1000 DANCES" -and that glorious "na-nananana" part. The song climbed to every U.S. chart and soon - when Richard "Scar" Lopez, Bobby "Rabbit" Jaramillo, Joe Jaramillo and Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia (whose nickname was born when he bit another kid during a fight) were 15, 16, 17 and 18 years old- the band was requested to tour with the Motown Revue, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Righteous Brothers and many other bands all across the U.S. They also appeared on a number of television shows such as American Bandstand, Shebang, Hollywood A Go Go, Hullabaloo and Where The Action Is. In this anthology you'll find not only the radio-edited version of that hit single, but also a long-lost unedited version (the one they originally cut) and a live version crediting all their might.

Cannibal and the Headhunters' style was molded on the soulful sounds of 60's Motown vocal groups, and their approach was absorbed by many Mexican American groups in East Los Angeles at the time, which shaped this community's own music scene, creating a style of its own known as the East Side Sound. In despite of the fabulous success of "Land of 1000 Dances" Cannibal & The Headhunters were much more than a one-hit-wonder case. These kids hit hard and they recorded their good share of amazing classics. And here is the proof: a complete compilation showing all their might and talents, mixing rock, doo-wop, Soul --all in that East L.A. chicano style. ¡A bailar!

The place is packed, the chicks are silky and smiling. Fingers snap for action or ice or attention. There's a halo of anticipation, a ground swell of involment... then silence... a Dimming of house lights... Announcement... This is a LIVE perfromance.
The whole scene captured ìliveî for posterity, the one-time-only becomes forever. For the players, it's no longer just another date, the explosion is pure and perfect. Everything comes together.

Cal Tjader ghas lived with ìliveî audiences since his early days as a drummer with Dave Brubeck, and since then he stepped out as a leader for many years after that, he has been followed by crownds and creative players who have helped build for Tjader's group its great reputation as in-person performers.

This time is the Lighthosue Club at Hermosa Beach (CA) february 20 1969. And the star players are Armando Peraza (congas), Joe Kloess (electric piano), Paul Wraburton (bass) and Mike Buono on drums... With Cal (on vibes) they are PLUGGED IN to the life and times and demands of an audience in love with their playin. Cal indulges his listeners. He feeds their very presence. He covers the floor and ceiling and walls with miraculous warmth. He presses nerves, he underscores the primitive potential of the moment. He and the group lay it all down Fresh and Free... They radiate.

In addition to the original release, we have added  7 songs from a shown in Aspen, Colorado a year before, also with Armando on precussion that will please you all.

Cal Tjader was an accomplished jazz swinger who always slipped between music’s cracks. He was one of the first to successfully introduce Latin dialects to the jazz language, which accorded him great popularity -and, tipically, critical disdain. Born in St. Louis 1925, Tjader was first heard in Dave Brubeck’s trio and later in George Shearing’s hugely popular quintet. Tjader kicked off his own recording legacy at Fantasy Records and switched to the high-profile Verve Records label in 1961, yielding such classics as BAMBOLEATE (also available from Vampisoul).

This Vampisoul 2-in-1 set (two complete albums on CD, a selection from them on LP) catches Tjader mid-career in the first two of his three albums on Skye Recordings, the label he owned with fellow musicians Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo. SOLAR HEAT was recorded in January 1968. Tjader is beautifully framed here by Gary McFarland’s crystalline arrangements and João Donato’s gorgeously understated organ. Tjader and McFarland are ideally matched here, particularly on the pop covers of “Never My Love” and “La Bamba” and McFarland’s own “Fried Bananas” and the entrancing “Eye Of The Devil”.

Recorded eight months later, CAL TJADER SOUNDS OUT BURT BACHARACH is a curious collection that continued Skye’s reputation for putting a pretty polish on pop perennials. Tjader sounds out an offbeat set of Burt Bacharach originals with a rhythm section of L.A. studio musicians and an ever-subtle sprinkling of overdubbed horns and strings. What’s most interesting here is that Bacharach’s harmonic and rhythmic complexity is nearly absent -although “Moneypenny Goes For Broke” (from the James Bond score CASINO ROYALE) hints at it– forcing the listener to consider the composer’s gift for melodic writing and Tjader’s melodic approach to playing. This is particularly evident in the way Tjader handles the tunes made popular by Bacharach’s most cogent muse, Dionne Warwick: “I Say A Little Prayer,” “You’ll Never Get To Heaven” and the hymn-like “Message To Michael.”

Cossa Nostra was formed by very different young personalities who just had in common a strong desire to “make it” outside of their Mexican frontiers, way up the Rio Grande. Rudee Charles (called Rudee Bantú Black), from the artificial-showesque Gay Crooners, Norma Valdés, blues woman of depurate singing and ambitions, Gillermo Briseño, a skilled piano and guitar player destined to go later to the “nueva cancion”, Javier Flores Zoa (star bass player), Jorge “Abelino” Guerrero, and Malena Soto –a willing singer with a supreme talent for dancing; all these youngsters together managed themselves to record two LP’s (”COSSA NOSTRA” and “ADOPTA UUN ARBOL”, both published in Raff Records) and spent long periods of time touring the USA and Panama. This was their attitude since at the beginnint of the 70’s it was clear enough that Mexico did not offer a future for musicians but this future was in the model of Carlos Santana. Besides, the US audiences were ready and willing for new, latin sounds. But after a couple years of endless touring, tired of hunger and hard times, they returned to their land and resigned themselves to end their music adventure. Fortunately, they left a wonderful recorded legacy.

This reeissue offers both –ultra rare- Monster & Spicy Latin funk albums recorded in Mexico City in 1971 and 1972. The groove here is much more soulful funky rather than Latin funky. Heavy grooves right from the start, with hard guitar, bass, drums and organ kicking it and not letting up , sounding a little like the Black Sugar, Banda Black Rio or Unaio Black albums if you can imagine U-Roy singing along with the rhythm tracks and some strangely dissonant background singers chiming in to boot. Includes the great cuts "Nuestra Cosa" , “Get Down and Do it”, 2squeeze it tight” and "Si He Caido Fue Por Ti", with a real Meters-esque groove. And also a loose remake of CCR’s “Proud Mary” and a wicked rendition of Donny Hathaway's "The Ghetto” (“aka “Suite Latino”).

To some, Erma Franklin(1939-2002)  is simply known as Aretha's older sister or as the woman who originally sang "Piece Of My Heart". But those in the know realize her brief recording career highlights some of THE MOST IMPRESSIVE SOUL PERFORMANCES EVER TO BE PRESSED ON HOT WAX!!

Erma started a musical career well before her sister, as a member of her father’s choir when she was just seven and forming a vocal group –the Cleopatrettes, who had some success in the Detroit area- while attending high school at 14 years old. After touring the country in her father’s gospel group, Erma met up with a young BERRY GORDY –the legendary TAMLA-MOTOWN capo. Erma was set to join Motown after some recordings for CHESS at Chicago, and she was to record many of the label’s early songs... But, pressed by her father, who told her she would have to leave home if she sang professionaly and forgor her studies, she decided to study. Anyway, Erma continued to record some songs  for different labels such as Shout or Epic, after the success of her sister. But every time she decided to go for an album, some ill-fated thing would happen. She backed up Aretha on her sister’s albums, but after the success of “Piece Of My Heart” offers from record labels poured in. So she finally signed with Brunswick.

Producer/arranger Willie Henderson's versatile talents can be heard throughout the Brunswick Records catalog as well as a myriad of sides recorded during the '60s-'70s heydays of Chicago soul. Born August 9, 1941, in Pensacola, FL, Henderson's family moved to Chicago when he was a child. Taking up the baritone sax, he began backing Otis Rush and others while in his twenties. He also studied with another arranging legend, James Mack. After graduating from College, Henderson began playing around Chicago, backing Syl Johnson, Alvin Cash, and Harold Burrage. He joined the Chicago division of N.Y.-based Brunswick Records in 1968. Working with producer Carl Davis, Henderson arranged, produced, and played on records by the Chi-Lites, Jackie Wilson, Tyrone Davis, Barbara Acklin, and other Brunswick acts. There he would record, one year later, this “FUNKY CHICKEN”, credited to Willie Henderson and the Soul Explosions. And now, Vampi Soul presents, FOR THE FIRST TIME ON CD, the reissue of the impossible-to-find Willie Henderson’s album "Funky Chiken" (orig. Brunswick, 1969), with 5 BONUS TRACKS, and an exclusive LP edition on heavy 220 gram vinyl. It comprises the entire and very sought after "Funky Chiken" LP, plus three songs from non-LP Henderson singes, and two previously unreleased tracks that you can find on our release ONLY and for the first time. In 1974, Henderson left Brunswick to become an independent producer. He continued working throughout the 70's, and during the 80's he released singles on his Now Sound label. By 1999, he had formed the Chicago Music Organization and continues to produce, arrange, and occasionally perform with a band. But here, you can find the best of the very funkiest of all chicken!

“Irakere was the synthesis of every influence that had been played in Cuban music. One can’t talk about the Cuban artistic history without mentioning Irakere. It was the disclaimer of a Caribean country which took its place in the international music scene. Irareke was a tremendous source of inspiration for the young generation” - Carlos del Puerto.

Writer Luc Delannoy, author of the Bible “Caliente! - A history of Latin Jazz” and one of the world’s most recognized Jazz experts; considers Irakere as “The most important Cuban band in the latest 50 years”. And he is not wrong. The influence of Irakee in Cuban music of the latest decades is impossible to measure: more than a band, we are talking about an institution who was been a school for countless musicians who would get success worldwide since Chucho Valdés (son of famous Bebo Valdés) founded Irakere in 1973.

In 1978, Irakere won a Grammy for Latin music. Ever since that moment, they influenced every musician to come out of Cuba, both in Jazz and Dance music. In the U.S.A., Irakere became a model for the developement of new musical fussions. The impact that the band had in the NY scene with their live performance of that year in the Newport Jazz Festival was an ultimate event in the history of Jazz. Former band members such as Arturo Sandoval or Paquito D’Rivera have gained recognition and success all over the world, playing with Dizzy Gillespie or being awarded with several of the fist Grammys ever presented to Latin Jazz.

Chucho Valdés, writer of classics such as “Claudia”, has been commanding that institution for more than 30 years. Irakere created a sound that mixed Jazz, european traditional music, Rock, Funk and the rythmic Cuban traditions -which would be enriched later on with Afro-Cuban and Electronica influences.

nd in “Chekere-Son’ “, you can listen to a selection from the finest of a repertoire that has marked entire generations of musicians. Absolutely essential to understand and enjoy both Cuban music and Latin Jazz history.