Patrice Rushen - Straight from the Heart.

My friend who normally plays folk and electronics sounds /noise made an R&B playlist few years back. It was so unexpected I still remember it. On it was Forgot Me Nots which despite being Rushen's most popular commercial hit, I had kinda forgotten about it. The film Men in Black ruined this track for me.

Forget Me Nots has that 90s R&B sound a decade earlier. Apparently when she delivered this album to the record label, they didn't like it. With a uni degree and 7 albums behind her, she was only 28 when she made this in 1982 and nominated for a grammy. Incredible really when you think about it.

The ballads on this are hard work but the rest is solid.

#vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #jazzfunk #soulfunk #R&B #PatriceRushen

Patrice Rushen - Pizzazz

I've been trying to find a second-hand copy of her soul disco album in the wild for a few years with no luck. I didn't think it would be a particularly hard record to track down. I was thrilled to find a copy at the smokelovers record fair last weekend. 

It's now left me with a dilemma where to put this. She's known as a jazz pianist and R&B. My records are sorted by genre and I have her early jazz works in jazz. My partner tells me this is why genre sorting fails. This is why our records are not combined. 

I've written about Patrice Rushen before - powerhouse and way underappreciated etc. Just go read the wiki about this album and what some men thought at the time. Ugh. This copy is a first pressing and has a cut out in the corner. Makes me sad it wasn't a hit or dead stock in it's day. 

#patricerushen #vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #soul #funk 

Patrice Rushen - Prelusion

I'm not a huge jazz piano fan. But I like Patrice, I like when she plays, and I like this. Repressed for the first time in 51 years this was recorded when she was 20yrs old. Incredible she went from high school talent show at 17, preformed at Monterey Jazz Festival in 1972, to then composing and recording her own album shortly after. The album features Joe Henderson on Tenor Saxophone and ends with a surprise synth jazz funk track Puttered Bopcorn. I never thought I'd find a copy of this on vinyl and thank goodness the repress sounds good.

#vinyl #records #nowplaying #nowspinning #PatriceRushen #jazz #Prelusion #jazzfunk