Raul DeSouza - "Sweet Lucy" 1977

Well it was a very busy December, and unfortunately did not meet up to my 4 posts per month goal.

At least I can start the 2010 year off with an excellent, but seemingly forgotten album by Raul DeSouza.  This  LP was produced by George Duke, and certainly was responsible for getting a fair amount radio airplay. I always liked the the Title song "Sweet Lucy", but never purchased the LP.  I got this LP in the mid 90's as an audiophile pressing from a company called ATS out of Germany.  I was very impressed with the audio quality of this pressing.  But the music... this LP contains RD's biggest hit ever: "Sweet Lucy". It received a fair amount of air play in 1977 and 1978, mostly from disco and jazz radio stations, as this track certainly rides the line between the two genres.  This is the longer version at 5:27, most of the radios played a shorter version at around 3 minutes or so.   I believe the trombone and keyboard solo were cut and some choruses removed.  There are other great songs, such as Lonnie Liston Smith's "A Song of Love" and the engaging and complex "Wild And Shy" with a nicely done Freddie Hubbard solo.  This LP is definitely worth the listen, so enjoy!

Download 192 kbps WMA

 Sweet Lucy by littlejazzarium 

Credits

Bass - Byron Miller , Embamba (tracks: 6, 7)
Drums - Leon Ndugu Chancler
Guitar - Al McKay
Keyboards - Dawilli Gonga (tracks: 1, 2, 6) , Patrice Rushen
Mixed By - Kerry McNabb
Percussion - Airto* (tracks: 4, 6, 8)
Producer - George Duke
Synthesizer - Ian Underwood
Trombone - Raul De Souza
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Freddy Hubbard* (tracks: 2, 3, 8)

Backup Vocals - Deborah Thomas (tracks: 1, 2, 5)
Lynn Davis (tracks: 1, 2, 5)
Sybil Thomas (tracks: 1, 2, 5)
Victoria Miles (tracks: 1, 2, 5)