Milwaukee Soul Museum
A collection of some of the rarest and best Milwaukee African-American soulful expressions pressed to vinyl in the 20th Century
Sinbad “Run Jesse Run” LP (Dulang, 1983-4)
One of the rarest MKE soul LPs, Sinbad’s sound is an interesting mix of conscious soul, jazz, and funk. The group was supposedly somewhat of a house-band to the silver naugahyde-decorated Blues Estate on Holton Street. Sinbad was led and produced by Robert Graham (RIP)
Various Artists “Jesus Is Alright” (Hummingbird, 197?)
A mix of vocalists and groups here, featuring a combination of original and interpolated secular tunes re-done as gospel. The credits after songs seem to indicate the artist instead of the songwriter. As far as I can tell this is the only known copy of this no-album-art LP release on Ben Witherspoon’s venerated MKE Hummingbird label
Penny Goodwin “Portrait of a Gemini” (Sidney, 1974)
A fantastic set of soulful jazz vocals featuring a handful of tracks recorded and arranged with Richard Evans from Chicago. “Too Soon You’re Old” is a adaptation of an old Jewish proverb - here Penny and Richard turn it into a rare groove anthem
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Dazzle “Layin’ In The Shade” EP (Sweet Thing, 1981)
Dazzle, formerly known as C on the Funk, were a family group of teen siblings - the Smiths. After making an excellent 45 as C on the Funk (In the Disco/A Place) a few years earlier they re-christened themselves Dazzle and cut this ultra-rare EP. Unfortunately all known copies have a few pressed-in skips and jumps - possibly why it’s so rare (many times flawed pressings were simply thrown away). Andrew Morgan of PPU Records in Washington DC did some great work editing out the flaws and releasing a properly licensed reissue in 2013.
Will Crittendon
The Haynesville, LA native came to Milwaukee as a child. He would go on to found the Black Arts Theater, and would stand as a central figure in the city’s Black Power musical renaissance of the mid-to-late 1960s. His self financed 1968 LP released on Dave Kennedy’s Raynard imprint contains very loose and free flowing flute and conga-led pieces. He also produced and wrote an extremely rare single for female vocal group Brenda & The Afroettes around the same time. The single features a composite mix of Motown Girl Group sounds with avant jazz harmonies and militant pro-Black lyrics. Will left Milwaukee for NYC around 1970 and produced the excellent Sweet Breeze 45 on Willpower before garnering a serious name for himself as a Disco producer by the mid 70s.