If you collect vintage 70's soul-jazz vinyl, there is a good chancethat you already own a record that features the amazing vocal talentsof Dee Dee Bridgewater. Whether it be Roy Ayers, Norman Connors, BillyParker or Carlos Garnett - Dee Dee is the glue that fuses these artiststogether.Although best known for her jazz work, Dee Dee has had a wonderfullyrich and varied career encompassing soul, musicals, gospel, andunderground disco from the 70's to the present day. She is still activeas a vocalist, composer, and producer and remains one of our favouritevocalists at Mr Bongo HQ.We take things back to the early years of Dee Dee's career with herdebut album 'Afro Blue'. Recorded in Tokyo in 1974, the album wasreleased exclusively in Japan via two different Japanese labels (Trio Records in 1974 and All Art in 1985 respectively). Each release hadunique cover art and we have opted to present the album in its original1974 form.
'Afro Blue' features an exquisite collaboration of American andJapanese musicians, such as Cecil & Ron Bridgewater, Motohiko Hino andproducer Takao Ishizuka. The result is a sublime deep soul-jazzmasterpiece with timeless versions of 'People Make The World Go Round','Love From The Sun', and 'Afro Blue'. It is arguably one of the finestalbums in its genre.This record has long been a sought-after item for DJs and collectorsalike, so we are delighted to finally make this wonderful music from anunderstated great available to all.
