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JANICE'S BLUES ALLEY PRESENTS

SALSOUL ORCHESTRA



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Salsoul Orchestra

biography albums discography video

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Tangerine
Salsoul Hustle
Nice n' Nasty

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biography

The music world's prime disco big band during the late '70s, the Salsoul Orchestra recorded several of the tightest, chunkiest disco themes of the 1970s, both on its own productions and as the backing group for several prime vocalists. Organized by Vincent Montana, Jr. in 1974, the band was an experiment in fusing funk, Philly soul, and Latin music together in a highly danceable discofied style with plenty of room for solos by individual members. With arrangers, conductors, and whole sections of instruments (including up to 18 violinists) contributing to the sound, the Salsoul Orchestra routinely included up to 50 members. Though the Salsoul sound became passé in the wake of disco music's explosion and rapid commercialization during the late '70s, Salsoul was a heavy influence on house music in the 1980s and even the return of disco-inspired electronica during the following decade.

The beginnings of the Salsoul Orchestra (and Salsoul Records) lie with nominal head Vincent Montana, Jr. A longtime jazz vibraphonist, bandleader, and session man with Philly soul groups like Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, the O'Jays, and the Spinners, Montana dreamed of constructing a large studio orchestra which could fuse polished soul and brassy funk with Latin percussion and live strings. In 1974, he was introduced to local entrepreneurs Joe, Ken, and Stan Cayre (who ran a local Latin music label) by Afro-Cuban pianist Joe Bataan. With their blessing (and financing), Montana spent months recruiting dozens of musicians from the streets and studios of New York -- including more than a half-dozen percussionists alone. The collective recorded three tracks, which impressed Bataan and the Cayres so much that they decided to form a new label -- named Salsoul for its connotations of salsa and soul -- to release a full-length LP.

One of the original Salsoul Orchestra recordings, "The Salsoul Hustle," was released in mid-1975 and it placed well on the charts. Salsoul's second single, "Tangerine" (an unlikely cover of a Jimmy Dorsey tune), hit the Top 20 in early 1976 and pushed the eponymous Salsoul Orchestra LP to number 14 on the album charts. Follow-up singles like "You're Just the Right Size" and "Nice and Nasty" did moderately well on the charts but soon a glut of similar-sounding material began to flood the market, cheap imitations of the amazing instrumentation of Salsoul Orchestra members -- guitarist and producer Norman Harris, bassist Ronald Baker, drummer Earl Young, arranger Don Renaldo, percussionist Larry Washington, and vocalists Jocelyn Brown, Phyllis Rhodes, Ronni Tyson, Philip Hurt, and Carl Helm. Many Salsoul contributors played on the biggest and best disco tracks of the era, including Trammps, Grace Jones, the Whispers, Loleatta Holloway, and First Choice.

Salsoul's third LP, the slightly amusing Christmas Jollies, displayed a predilection towards the growing disco novelty trend. The slip was hardly improved upon with 1977's Cuchi-Cuchi (which teamed the Orchestra with Charo) or 1978's Up the Yellow Brick Road (a takeoff on The Wiz). After disintegrating the Salsoul Orchestra in the early '80s, Vince Montana led the studio group Montana and recorded with several pop stars of the '80s as well as dance inheritors of the '90s like Mondo Grosso and Nuyorican Soul. Though Salsoul records had long been out of print, several were brought back in the mid-'90s, as well as a prescient two-disc retrospective titled Anthology.

-- by John Bush of All Music Guide.


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LINKSYEARTITLE
Salsoul Orchestra1975Salsoul Orchestra
Nice 'N' Naasty1976Nice 'N' Naasty
Christmas Jollies1976Christmas Jollies
Magic Journey1977Magic Journey
Cuchi-Cuchi1977Cuchi-Cuchi [with Charo]
How Deep Is Your Love1978How Deep Is Your Love
Up The Yellow Brick Road1978Up The Yellow Brick Road
How High1978How High
Street Sense1979Street Sense
Christmas Jollies II1981Christmas Jollies II
Heat It Up1982Heat It Up


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discography

1975 Salsoul Orchestra

01. Salsoul Hustle
02. Get Happy
03. Chicago Bus Stop (Ooh, I Love It)
04. You're Just The Right Size
05. Tangerine
06. Tale Of Three Cities
07. Salsoul Rainbow
08. Love Letters

1976 Nice 'N' Naasty

Left Cheek
01. Good For The Soul
02. Nice 'N' Naasty
03. It Don't Have To Be Funky (To Be A Groove)
04. Nightcrawler
05. Don't Beat Around The Bush
Right Cheek
01. Standing And Waiting On Love
02. Salsoul 3001
03. We've Only Just Begun / Feelings
04. Ritzy Mambo
05. Jack And Jill

1976 Christmas Jollies

01. The Little Drummer Boy
02. Sleigh Ride
03. Silent Night
04. Merry Christmas All
05. There's Someone Who's Knocking
06. Christmas Time
07. Christmas Medley
08. Joy To The World
09. Deck The Halls
10. O Come All Ye Faithful
11. Jingle Bells
12. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
13. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
14. The Christmas Song
15. White Christmas
16. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
17. I'll Be Home For Christmas
18. Winter Wonderland
19. The First Nöel
20. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
21. New Year's Medley
22. Auld Lang Salsoul
23. I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover
24. Alabama Jubilee
25. Oh, Dem Golden Slippers
26. God Bless America
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1977 Magic Journey

01. It's A New Day
02. Short Shorts
03. Run Away
04. Guantanamera
05. Themes From Montreal Olympics, 1976: Farewell Song & Ballet Of The Closing Ceremony
06. Getaway
07. Magic Bird Of Fire
08. Journey To Phoebus
09. Alpha Centuri

1977 >Cuchi-Cuchi [with Charo]

01. Dance A Little Bit Closer
02. Let's Spend The Night Together
03. Borriquito
04. More Of You
05. El Reloj (The Clock)
06. Speedy Gonzalez
07. Cuchi-Cuchi
08. Cookie Jar
09. You're Just The Right Size
10. Only You

1978 How Deep Is Your Love

01. How Deep Is Your Love
02. Just The Way You Are
03. You Light Up My Life
04. More Than A Woman
05. Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born")
06. Yours
07. Love Letters
08. Feelings / We've Only Just Begun
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1978 Up The Yellow Brick Road

01. Ease On Down The Road
02. West Side Story (Medley)
03. Fanfare
04. America
05. Maria
06. Somewhere Interlude
07. Tonight
08. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
09. Fiddler On The Roof (Medley)
10. Fiddler On The Roof
11. Matchmaker
12. Sherele
13. Sunrise, Sunset
14. If I Were A Richman
15. Havah Nagila
16. Theme From "Exodus"
17. Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born")

1978 How High

01. How High
02. Have A Good Time
03. My Number's Up
04. I'll Keep You Warm
05. Resorts International
06. Stop And Think

1979 Street Sense

01. Zambesi
02. Burning Spear
03. Street Sense
04. Somebody To Love
05. 212 North 12th
06. Sun After The Rain
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1981 Christmas Jollies II

01. You're All I Want For Christmas
02. Deck The Halls
03. Joy To The World
04. The Salsoul Christmas Suite
05. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
06. Joyful Spirit

1982 Heat It Up

01. Columbia: The Space Shuttle
02. Take Some Time Out (For Love)
03. Seconds
04. Dance With Somebody's Body
05. You Make Me Feel Brand New
06. Comin' At Cha
07. Heat It Up
08.


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