City Life (Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series) - The Blackbyrds (Vinyl)

2014 vinyl LP pressing reissue. City Life, arguably The Blackbyrds' best album, hit #1 on the Billboard Jazz Chart and #3 on the Billboard Soul Chart upon it's original release in 1975. Produced by legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, the album showcases the Blackbyrd's' unique jazz-funk crossover sound and includes the runaway hits "Happy Music" and "Rock Creek Park," which stand even today as pinnacles of the '70s jazz-funk movement. A testament to it's lasting appeal, "Rock Creek Park" from the City Life album has been sampled numerous times by groups such as de la Soul, Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, N.W.A, Massive Attack, Ice Cube, Heavy D, Nas and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Tone Loc and most recently, Wiz Khalifa. This often-sublime album is primed for rediscovery by fans of '70s funk, soul, jazz and fusion.