Various: Soul Love Now: The Black Fire Records Story 1975-1993 Die Version auf Vinyl 2LP in Standard- Auflage. Diese besondere Auflage wurde veröffentlicht in Europa im Verlag Strut In Zusammenarbeit mit Black Fire am 14. August 2020.

Strut presents the first-ever compilation featuring classics and rarities from the essential spiritual jazz and conscious soul label Black Fire from 1975 to 1993. Black Fire was founded by DJ and record producer Jimmy Gray in Richmond, Virginia, and, following the lead of other influential independent black labels such as Strata-East and Tribe, Black Fire's founding coincided with saxophonist James "Plunky" Branch's return to Richmond from New York, where he founded Oneness Of Juju. The band's 1975 album "African Rhythms" was a perfect fusion of jazz, deep African polyrhythms and empowering lyrics, and bassist Muzi Branch, a trained artist, created the first of many hand-illustrated Black Fire covers for this release. This album set the tone for a number of groundbreaking releases on the label, including Oneness Of Juju's "Space Jungle Luv" (1976) and the debuts of soulman Wayne Davis (1976) and early go go pioneers Experience Unlimited (1977). Gray continued to use his influence and strong A&R instincts to bring in other key artists - great jazz players like Byard Lancaster and Hamiet Bluiett, Ghanaian percussion master Okyerem Asante, and talented collectives like the Southern Energy Ensemble and the music-drama ensemble Theatre West. Due to personal and cash flow problems, many of the recordings had to be cancelled and only subsequently appeared on CD in the early 1990s. The compilation "Soul Love Now" collects some of the label's many highlights. It starts with Theatre West's powerful soul message 'Children of Tomorrow's Dreams', and tracks include Byard Lancaster's recording with Nigerian band Tunde Kuboye's Drummers Of Ibadan and Lon Moshe's dance jazz classic 'Doin' The Carvin' For Thabo'. Wayne Davis delivers the explosive gospel groove of 'Look At The People', while Plunky's JuJu and Oneness Of Juju are featured with three tracks spanning their careers, including a raucous, previously unreleased version of the classic 'African Rhythms' recorded in Washington DC in 1975. 'Black Fire' features extended sleeve notes with extensive interviews with musicians from the label and includes a reprint of one of the three Black Fire magazines published by Jimmy Gray that preceded the label's inception.

Album Genres übergreifend Jazz, Funk / Soul, Soul-Jazz und Jazz-Funk.