Those ever-reliable people at Ace/Kent records have a wonderful quartet of albums lined up for Summer release. First up there’s a MITTY COLLIER Chess retrospective. The collection features all the A- sides of Ms COLLIER’S 15 Chess singles along with the best B-sides… essential for Chicago collectors. Then, there’s a remarkable 22 track look at the work of JAMES BROWN as a producer. With cuts from people like BOBBY BYRD, VICKI ANDERSON, YVONNE FAIR, THE POETS and TAMMI TERRELL (when she was known as TAMMY MONTGOMERY), the set shows the GODFATHER in a new perspective. Third up, Kent offer another collection of 60’s cellar club soul-jazz – ‘Further Adventures Of Mod Jazz’, featuring swinging contributions from heroes like JACK McDUFF, HANK JACOBS, DEE CLARKE, JERRY BUTLER and BILLY LARKIN. Finally there’s the tremendous ‘Always Something There’ – a compilation of BURT BACHARACH songs and productions to celebrate the great man’s 80th birthday. So many great recordings on this one – including LOU JOHNSON’S original take on ‘Always Something There To Remind Me’, which up to now has been hard to locate on a legal, properly-licensed CD. Full reviews soon on www.soulandjazzandfunk.com
