Artist: Tarika Blue
Title: The Blue Path
Year: 1976
Label: Chiaroscuro
Format: Vinyl LP (Original)
Flwrpt Rating of this Record: 5.0/5.0
Review
One of my top 10 records of all-time…The Blue Path, by Tarika Blue.
This album embodies the “groove”. Killer grooves, midnight grooves, deep grooves etc…all of it lives within the sound of this particular LP. Mellow in its overall tone, but definitely sneaks in some upbeat jams, as well as a little latin flavor. Back when this NYC jazz outfit was playing the circuit, they had a very small following (hence the rareness of any of their work found on wax)…this was mainly due to the fact that the NYC jazz scene was still dominated by purists of the craft. Tarika Blue was FAR from purist, experimenting with their sound…mastering something new, which ultimately made them waaaay ahead of their time. One thing to note about this record is that it uses female vocals only, and a lot of times when we’re dealing with fusion bands, that’s what tends to be the way to go. I think it works quite well, especially since the grooves tend to be so deep, it’s nice to layer a soft voice on top.
Anyway…too much to express, I’m always excited about this record…hopefully you will be to. Enjoy…
Check out the sound!
Dreamflower
Revelation
You’ll Be With Me
Design
Reeeeeeeeally basic album cover, but cool. A few small things that I like here, the time of day in which they shot the cover, capturing all of the beautiful colors in the sky, the light reflections and glares, and how they captured the mellow mood of a NYC cityscape (but simplified it)…preparing the listener for the journey ahead.
The placement of the type, LIKE. The font itself, not so much.
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Additional info on Tarika Blue
11 Comments
hey darien,
Does the “blue path” album have some of the same songs as tarika blue’s s/t album? I have the s/t which features “dreamflower” and was wondering if there is any overlap. One of my favorite fusion albums for sure! Thank you for posting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPrWMWSLTw8&feature=related
*Hating on this find…extra hard*
love this…nice!!!!
cool
Had me at the 2 second mark then 2 seconds later realized that one of my all time favorite badu songs more than samples the melody. Anything with “blue” in the title is almost always good.
These are gold. Thanks for posting them.
I’ve had my eye out for this one and their s/t that last few years. I’m with the person who commented earlier, isnt dreamflower on their first? Thanks for posting.
i love them…..
I thought for sure that the photo was the same as the one from Donald Byrd’s Stepping Into Tomorrow. But it’s not. Just very, very close.
Sorry,
Beautiful Post,Fantastic Blog……………..But The Download Links?????????????????????????
Thanks Guido/LF
Great find, as always.
Is it just me, or does anybody else hear Erykah Badu’s “Didn’t ‘Cha Know?” in “Dreamflower”?