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At long last, Mr. Jacob Korn gets drafted into Team LPH! Technically, he's been in our orbit since 2015, when he remixed a Leo Wölfel track for LPH WHITE, but it's only now that we're presenting an EP of originals by him. About time!

My Business is classic Korn—a little nerdy (intricate arrangements; twisty, turny top-line melodies), a little ravey, a little goofy, a little feisty, and a lotta fun. Four sure-shot firebombs that'll slip into any set, hand in glove, real nice.

Try 'em out. Wield 'em well.

Avant Garde, Repetitive, Minimal, Stoner Rock, Religious.

A french trio called France, using drums, bass and amplified hurdy-gurdy. They perform only live, in the middle of the audience - turned in to face each other - full on smoke machines and strobes. And they play only one 'song' for the duration of their hour-long set. And it's the most transfixing live experience of intense physical and mental focus. The distorted hurdy gurdy plugs France's sound into the country's history of folk music and popular festivities, of communal trance and immersive pleasure. The rhythmic basis is pretty much the same throughout the whole live. One doesn't need to actually be tripping balls for the auditory illusions to start coming thick and fast. Those who've stayed for the whole duration of their performances know they've shared something. However disparate the phantom forms each might have discerned in the midst of the howls and groans. Gigs like this you leave feeling you're not quite the same person who went in, even though you'd be hard-pressed to pinpoint precisely what has changed. One certainty remains at least, that there is still a France we can believe in. David McKenna (The Quietus). The Release: Initially released as a 50 copies CD-r in 2009, swiss Mental Groove has teamed with french Standard-Infi to reissue this classic live performance onto glorious vinyl edition. The 45 minutes are radically sliced onto the two sides. The recording is raw and the mastering is fat. The first two pressings made in 2014 and 2015 were distributed confidentially and during the numerous live performances of the band. They are long time sold out and sought after.

Alan Abrahams aka Portable aka Bodycode is an artist very much defined by his past and his journey from South Africa to Paris via Berlin and Lisbon has seen him develop into a critically acclaimed producer, singer and video artist working with some of the biggest players in house and techno.Part of his constant drive to evolve and challenge himself, this autumn Abrahams launches new project RANGEr, teaming up with London label Waella's Choice for the debut release. The five tracks on Portable Presents RANGEr are a delicate mélange of jazz , soul and electronic and one of Abraham's most explicit nods to his South African roots.
On the A-side, the EP makes a steady start with 'Bazokonwaba' accompanied by a lullaby from South African a capella group Korus, hailing from the small township of Mbekweni in the Western Cape. They also feature heavily on the EP's most exuberant moment in 'Nomaliso' - already a favourite in Esa's recent Boiler Room - and the more languid B-side opener 'Indaba' with a choir of cowbells all harmonizing in unison. 'Reset' and 'Vessel' provide a self-reflective conclusion to the EP, holding their own as instrumentals with Cameroonian bass player Stan on bass and Parisian saxophonist Chisneg lending a hand on the latter. Early support from Tama Sumo, Lakuti, Gilles Peterson, Rinse FM, Esa, Stamp The Wax, Dimensions Recordings

On Kings Chambers sixth release Samo DJ brings his cheap Streetboxx sampler to Hidden Operators studio and they team up for some dancehall beat making and live mixing under the (obvious) name Streetboxxer.

Samo DJs releases on labels like L.I.E.S, The Trilogy Tapes, and of course his own Born Free label. But this ragga infused EP will not come as a surprise for those who have heard his excellent dancehall mix for Red Light Radio earlier this year.

The legendary Finnish pianist/composer Olli Ahvenlahti returns with his first new jazz album in 31 years! The new album "Thinking, Whistling" will be released 8 Dec by Helsinki's We Jazz Records.

The new record finds Ahvenlahti teaming up with the Jaska Lukkarinen Trio, one of the most highly-regarded ensembles in Finnish jazz. From funk-influenced acoustic jazz to heartfelt ballads, the band are delightfully in a world of their own, drawing from Ahvenlahti's effortless pianism and the trios natural swing.

As Ahvenlahti sums it up: "For me, jazz music has always been about three things: melody, harmony and rhythm."

Olli Ahvenlahti is one of the living legends in the Finnish jazz scene. His debut album was released in 1975 by the famed Love Records. DJs are likely to know him from such highly-regarded rare groove classics as "Grandma's Rockin' Chair" and "Countenance". The new album "Thinking, Whistling" presents Ahvenlahti's knack for writing catchy jazz music with a solid groove base, plus his more introspective side through the heartfelt ballads found on the new record.

Rough and rugged Jahtari 7-floppy disc with a rudebwoy riddim by the rub-a-dub hacker team Art & Naram, well known in the community for their Red Robin productions. Epic drunkard's tale by the fast chat originator himself on the A-side - Peter King is heading down to the pub this time, returning from Maffi's Killah Tape EP' with even more story twists, odd rhyme meters and a recipe for disaster. Jammed straight to an 8-track cassette deck in the Jahtari studio, mixed by disrupt and coming with an high density dub on the flipside. LOAD...... Limited 500 copies edition!

After decades in the making Finders Keepers Records present the first-ever pressing of Serge Gainsbourg's most elusive and coveted soundtrack studio recordings - co-written, arranged and orchestrated by the genius Jean-Claude Vannier (Histoire De Melody Nelson) during what many consider to be the dynamic duo's most definitive creative period.Believed to have been lost in a studio fire by Gainsbourg enthusiasts for over forty years (a myth that also shrouds Morricone's lost Danger Diabolik soundtrack) the misplaced master-tapes for the drug-fuelled/Mai 68 cash-in/road-movie Les Chemins De Katmandou have been widely considered the final audio jigsaw piece in an immaculate discography/filmography thus earning this soundtrack bone-fide Holy Grail status amongst the most avid disc detectives.Featuring the original crack team of Paris based players now recognised as French library music royalty, this LP epitomises the inimitable musical direction and expert psychedelic pop musicianship that graced classic Gainsbourg/Vannier soundtracks like La Horse, Cannabis and Sex Shop. Laying the stylistic, future-proof foundations for subsequent decades of forward-thinking Gallic funk mastery. Comprising Vannier's signature recipe of thick plucked bass lines, close-micced drums, biting Clavinet and Eastern influenced strings and percussion (and a sprinkling of subtle traditional French instrumentation) the soundtrack to Les Chemins De Katmandou (aka The Road To Katmandu or The Pleasure Pit) captures Vannier and Gainsbourg in the first year of their creative partnership capturing their unique embryonic energy.

The latest release from Bjarki Runar's bbbbbb label sees Bjarki delving back into his vast archives and shines a light on a bizarre detour during the early days of the label that involved
a peculiar commission from the Icelandic state. Bjarki introduces the story; 'It was back in 2015 and we were only just putting together the original plans towards making bbbbbb a label. While this was happening, I got a call from a friend who was
working for a local tech start-up and marketing company. They'd been contacted by the Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture who came to them with a weird proposition.
They were looking at the idea of marketing Icelandic lamb as this user-exclusive commodity for high end restaurants, the same way they do with Kobe beef in Japan. His marketing company was going all in with this idea of creating an elite herd of sheep that would get the 5-star treatment - fresh food and beer, shampoo and geothermal baths for their fleece, and entertainment such as TV and music for when they were in the hills. That's where I came in'. The initial meeting between Bjarki and the marketeers however didn't go as smoothly as they hoped; 'When I met my friend and his team, they were going to have music pumped through a series of remote speakers across the hillside' Bjarki explains. 'But when they showed me what they were going to play to them, I almost fell of my chair laughing! It was all this
cheesy, easy listening, orchestral Icelandic bullshit. I said to them 'This is nonsense! Why are you bringing me into this project if that's all you're going to be playing' In the end, I told
them I would completely redo all the sounds and music they were going to be using. I was going to drag the Icelandic sheep into the 21st Century'. Bjarki was as good as his word. Over the summer of 2015, he spent several weeks at farm
locations near Kirkjubæjarklaustur and Reykholtsdalur, walking the hills and playing a variety of sounds and beats to various flocks of sheep to see what the best approach was. It
was tough going at first; 'At the beginning, I was working totally blind', Bjarki explains. 'Imean how can you possibly know what sort of modern music and sounds Icelandic sheep
would go for' But Bjarki persevered and he found certain sounds and tones made the sheep more active and engaged.
From this point, he began to make tracks that would encapsulate what the lambs were drawn to the most. 'A track like Soda 'Sugarlicious' for example, came about when I started
playing Candy Crush on the hillside. As I kept playing, the sheep began to gather around me showing interest in the bright chintzy sounds coming from my laptop and that deep voice that
would keep speaking to you. I simply put together a track that was all shiny colours and heavy on the chimes. The sheep fucking loved it!' A track like 'Drab' meanwhile was suited
for less sunny moments. 'I got caught in a nasty rainstorm, so I started playing these synth lines I had made, along with an improvised kick drum. The mix of the softness of the tones
along with the hit of the bass cased the sheep to follow me all the way back to the farm I was staying at. The farmer wasn't too impressed with that, but the flock was completely
hypnotized'. In the end Bjarki, amassed several tracks ranging from soft ambient to gnarly hardcore bangers to present to the Ministry. But in the end, they decided not to go with the whole
proposal. 'These people were fools', Bjarki says. 'They just couldn't get their heads around doing something completely different, that was a bit of fun yes, but was completely done in a
serious manner. We all spent weeks doing this stuff so yeah, it was a bit gutting'. In the end though, there is a silver lining to this story as these efforts were not wasted for we can now hear the best of Bjarki's efforts from this admittedly weird project on a limited 12'release that marks a storming 2017 for the bbbbbb label.

Most of the musicians who gathered to record this fantastic spiritual jazz record for the Strata-East label on May 24th, 1974 had crossed each other's paths in various musical pairings over the preceding few years. Husband and wife team Dee Dee Bridgewater (vocals) and Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet) had been working together on albums like Frank Foster's "Loud Minority", and Roy Ayers' "Coffy" and "Virgo Red". Ten weeks before the "Freedom Of Speech" session, the couple had been joined in Tokyo by Cecil's brother Ronald Bridgewater (tenor saxaphone) to record Dee Dee's debut album, the beautiful "Afro Blue". Also in the studio on May 24th, 1974 was Donald Smith, (piano, vocals), fresh from recording on his older brother Lonnie Liston Smith's "Cosmic Funk" - on which Ronald Bridgewater had also played percussion. Cecil McBee (bass) was also there - just two weeks before, he'd completed his own Strata East date "Mutima", and in February he'd played on Mtume's "Rebirth Cycle" - with both albums also featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals. He'd also played on Lonnie Liston Smith's "Astral Travelling".

So 1974 was a huge year for all five of these people. Donald Smith and Cecil McBee were six months away from recording on Lonnie Liston Smith's massive "Expansions", with McBee fitting in a few Pharoah Sanders albums in between.

AND THEN, THE MYSTERY ... So with all this fervent activity, the question has to be asked ...Who was Billy Earl Parker Jr (drums), the leader of this session

Billy Parker remains unlisted as a musician on all major jazz sites. His only other recording appears to be as a percussionist on Charles Tolliver's "Impact" in 1975. Then there's nothing.

Finally, by backtracking one of those Zoom info pages, I found a summary of a "SUNY Rockland Community College" 2002 press release that no longer exists :

"Billy Parker's Fourth World Legacy Concert ...The concert, Billy Parker's Fourth World Legacy, is the eighth annual tribute honouring the late percussionist and RCC educator, Billy Parker. A long-time Rockland County resident, Parker began his affiliation with RCC in 1987, building its jazz program and maintaining his life-long tradition of teaching and inspiring others. A lifelong student himself, Parker was near completion of his doctorate in music education at New York University when he died in 1996.

But then people began to read this blog post, and in the comments, Aaron Fuller said :

"Billy Parker was my uncle. He was an incredibly talented, smart, and kind man. I'm very happy to see that folks are still enjoying his masterpiece. Just to give you a bit more information about him... He was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and then attended college at Michigan State University. He met my aunt in Lansing. They lived in NY and toured in Europe for quite a while. Sometime later they relocated to Nyack, NY and he ended up on the faculty of the community college while he pursued advanced degrees from NYU. He was an Ellington scholar. Although his name isn't well-known even among the most avid jazz fans, I think that if you were to talk to some of the great NY musicians that were around in the late 60s and 70s you would find that most knew him. He also had a huge impact as a music educator and I have no doubt that his former students are all over the place, continuing to put his love of the art into practice."

Deep Sound Channel delve deeper into the waters of ESHU. Following releases from ARC# and Tom Liem comes J&L, the team of Jocelyn Abell and Tom Liem, with a storm of emotions. Brooding, menacing, the tumult of "Uneven Tides" introduces. Steady thuds support flows of warmth, flows countered by piercing coldness in a track that is as absorbing as it is haunting. A sea of veritable tranquillity descends for "Lunar Tides." Soften, staggered basslines are punctuated with crisp skeletal cymbal. New textures come to the surface for the autumnal currents of "Ocean Tides." Churning chords reflect night skies, shifting percussion floating amidst the jetsam.

Blind Jack embarks on another journey around secret cities, this time we drop into Wuppertal, capital of 'Bergisches Land' in Germany. Famous for the space-age Schwebebahn and the Lego Brücke. We invite Mr. Mauke 'Colkin' to the team and he dishes out some seriously deep dreaminess that would happily get you around the Schwebebahn in a day-dreaming trance. Also featuring the divine vocals of fellow Wuppertal resident Maria Basel.

Anthone and Katsunori Sawa team up again under their BOKEH alias delivering a 12" single on The Weevil Neighbourhood.

On A side "Lancashire", BOKEH explore the realms of Drum & Bass tempo challenging the how-low-can-you-go with extremely deep subs while "Fast Fiver" on the B side doubles up on your regular 4/4 while on a heavy dub chord's leash.

The release comes on black vinyl. The center label artwork is done by Lee Noble (No Kings Records/ Bathetic).

We hope you like this Ep as much as we do, ReSolute Label
Resolute Label's tenth release, The Nest EP , features the head honcho himself, Elon. Written and produced entirely in Nest's Brooklyn based studio, this EP is a collaborative project that showcases vintage gear such as the TR-808, 909, Prophet 6, TB-303 and SH-101 to name a few. The EP kicks off with the title track, a stripped back number featuring arpeggiated synths, warm pads and 303 stabs, co-produced by Bulgarian live maestro, KiNK, an industry vet who needs no introduction. On A2, Elon teams up with the machine obsessed Italian, mass_prod, for
Fractious , a techno number with swirling synths and reverberated vocal stabs that echo throughout. On the flipside, Elon collaborates with techno don Alexi Delano aka ADNY to produce Flirtface , a groovy 303 bassline track with resonant synth licks that keeps the mood rolling. The B2 vinyl exclusive track, Meander , features a second collaboration with KiNK.
Offered as a digital exclusive and co-produced by David Scuba, Last Call features a modulated bassline and intricate drum programming that effortlessly rolls along.

Move D (David Moufang) and Jordan GCZ (Jordan Czamanski) are back again on wax after a hiatus since their 2015 live in Seattle album, on Further Records. Here they team up again for 2 ice hot and slow burning studio jams - recorded this year in Amsterdam ... immerse yourself..TIP!

After a thorough testing on dancefloors across Asia, we have put together four tracks most in demand, all edited by the Homesick team and their close friends.

The wait is finally over. The greatest living female voice in African music, Oumou Sangare releases a new album "Mogoya" (meaning "people today") on a new record label with an all-new production team and a wonderful new set of songs.

The power of Oumou's voice and the potency of her message remain as strong as ever and, while her sound is rooted deep in the continuity of Malian tradition, Mogoya has a strong new sound. Co-produced by Andreas Unge in Stockholm and by the French production collective A.l.b.e.r.t. (who have worked with among others Air, Tony Allen, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Beck, Franz Ferdinand) in Paris, it draws on a rich musical heritage whilst also looking to the future.

"We wanted to emphasise the raw power of Oumou's voice and songs. We wanted to find a new modernity" says co-producer Ludovic Bruni, one of the three members of A.l.b.e.r.t. with Vincent Taurelle and Vincent Taeger.

On the album, traditional African instruments - the kamele n'goni (harp), karignan (metal scraper) and calabash percussion - are augmented by electric guitar, bass, keyboards and synths with Tony Allen on drums. As Oumou puts it, "This time round I wanted to go for more of a modern sound, to satisfy young people in Mali but being careful, all the while, to respect my culture and tradition".

The songs describe what Oumou knows best human relationships. She addresses difficult topics with incredible frankness - jealousy, ingratitude and betrayal never afraid to sing about the day-to-day problems faced by African society, particularly women.

Oumou has a high international profile, touring all over the world, collaborating with artists such as Alicia Keys, Tracy Chapman, Bela Fleck and Dee Dee Bridgewater and featuring on the soundtrack of Toni Morrison's Beloved. She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation and has three businesses in Mali a range of SUVs called 'Oum-Sang', a hotel in Bamako and 'Oumou Sangare 769, Rice', grown in her own fields.

She has released six albums on the World Circuit label: Moussolou, meaning "women"(1990), Ko Sira (1993), Worotan (1996), Oumou (2003), Seya (2009) and Kounadi (2012).

Music is at the absolute centre of Oumou's life: "without it I'm nothing and nothing can take it from me" and Mogoya represents an exciting new chapter in her career, something which she approaches with a mixture of boldness, humility and confidence."It was new for me because my music has never had this kind of arrangement and sound before. I've been totally in the tradition for years now so to get out of that and have a look around elsewhere was a total pleasure," Oumou Sangare.

After two hip-hop albums (Got To Get Down in 2016 and Impact in 2017), the unpredictable Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra comes back to its fundamentals with a new instrumental album:
MORPHEUS which repositions the band in the spirit of their previous spatial, almost cosmic albums Last Odyssey (2012) and Pulsion (2015), both released on Ubiquity Records and acclaimed by spiritual and fusion jazz lovers, library music fans, as well as rare grooves diggers (ALVO's first 4 vinyl albums now being out of stock).
Each new ALVO new release is a millesimal which evolved and learned from its predecessors.
Masta Conga, who's still leading the herd, has for main purpose to explore the musical space-time, gaining ground on never before revealed tracks, followed by his now faithful team of atypical and
farseeing musicians.
Compared to Miles Davis and his On The Corner by Wax Poetics, the band dives again in this realm of psychedelia and beyond', in particular with the contribution of Indian musicians. Twirling
around violins, superimposed patchy keyboards and effects, just as if their conductor wasn't already sufficiently influenced by Pierre Boulez and others such as Hiroshi Murakami... The result is however more uncluttered and loaded with multiple vibes than its predecessor Pulsion, which already carried the ceremonial characteristics of cult movie soundtracks. Tracks Moksha',
Air' and Morpheus' are the perfect demonstration, and far beyond their names. Simple grooves, lunar, but terribly efficient, emphasized by a mix that puts focus on these fiddly contributions of ethnic instruments, on percussions and horns on a drip of delay, reverbs and other space-echoes.
On the other side, the very rhythmic Descarga Uno', Descarga Dos' and Super Dopamine' show that the Parisian crew hasn't lost its good habit to look around latin, ternary, and syncopated
rhythms, in the ALVO only style! A new millésime, a Grand Cru maybe, but for sure to taste and appreciate in all weathers including space ones.

Seven years into its celebrated journey, Life and Death assembles its third and most adventurous compilation to date - Displaced Soundtracks. For the first instalment in a new series, DJ Tennis has given free rein to some of his most trusted contemporaries, enabling many of today's most respected dance music producers to display their hidden talents as composers. Gathering music from a long-aborted film, the collection stands as another bastion of Life and Death's perpetual evolution. Duncan Gray embraces dissonance, Black Merlin, Appleblim and Artefakt go interstellar and Fango channels post-punk squat music. Hades Rocket showcases the expertly-sequenced synth work that has graced Simian Mobile Disco's illustrious career, while Redshape revisits all the right sides of 80's Wave and Library music. Danny Daze and synth-savant KINK embrace non-standard tempi with great success, while Axel Boman delivers sitar-laced gospelhouse without a bass drum. Elsewhere, your favourite producer's favourite producer, Stimming, team's up with pianist Lambert and the pair learn to fly. Inspired and challenging, Life and Death ventures into their eighth year confidently, constantly evolving without compromise.

Legendary James Brown's protégée Martha High teams up with mighty Japanese Osaka Monaural to pay homage to "JB's Funky Divas" in her new album "Tribute to My Soul Sisters".

Original Funky Diva Martha High has been an integral part of James Brown's life and career for more than 30 years. She was his backing vocalist, hair stylist, payroll master and his always loyal and reliable confidant.

The idea for this project was hatched back in 2014, when Martha was visiting producer DJ Pari, head honcho of the Soulpower organization and manager of soul legends like The Impressions, Lyn Collins and Marva Whitney. While reminiscing about tours with her fellow James Brown veterans, Martha felt that a tribute to the great soul sisters of the JB Revue, better known as "James Brown's Original Funky Divas," was very much needed.

"I looked up to these ladies of soul," says Martha, "Given the opportunity and the pleasure to perform their songs, is my way of saying: thank you, you're not forgotten. To record the music of the Funky Divas, would mean a lot to Mr. Brown. He always wanted the world to know he had powerful women on stage that could hold his crowd while he was off the stage. They were just as powerful and funky as he was."

Without further ado, following DJ Pari's advice, Martha partnered up in Tokyo with one of the hottest names of the new funk renaissance: Japan's Osaka Monaurail. Deeply influenced by the work of James Brown, Bobby Byrd, Curtis Mayfield and with nine albums under their belt, Osaka Monaurail have been leading the international funk scene for more than two decades, appearing at festivals such as Montreal Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival and Womad's, as well as recording and touring with funk legends like Marva Whitney and Fred Wesley.

This unique collaboration gives new life to 13 soulful pearls, masterfully interpreted as only an Original Funky Diva can do. To name a few: "Think (About It)", made famous by the female preacher Lyn Collins, "Mama's Got a Bag of Her Own", Anna King's answer to Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "This Is My Story", of which Martha recorded the original version with The Jewels, and the soul classic "Answer to Mother Popcorn" by Vicki Anderson.

Born in Victoria, Virginia, and discovered by rock 'n roll pioneer Bo Diddley, Martha started her career with the soulful, legendary doo-wop group The Four Jewels, with whom she scored the national hit "Opportunity" in 1964. Soon, The Jewels caught the attention of James Brown and joined the James Brown Revue in 1966. The Godfather of Soul recorded and released several songs featuring The Jewels until the group disbanded. Nevertheless, Martha stayed with James Brown and continued to work with him as his personal vocalist for 32 years. She was with him at the Boston Garden during the iconic 1968 gig after Martin Luther King's assassination. She was by his side when he performed at renowned "Rumble in The Jungle" event in Zaire. Mr. Brown produced several of Martha's singles on his own People label such as "Georgy Girl", "Try Me" and "Summertime." Meanwhile Martha launched her solo career in 1979 with the self-titled debut LP for Salsoul Records. Since, she has released five albums under her name and, being one of the "hardest working women in show business", she became one of the leading singers of saxophonist Maceo Parker's legendary funky music machine, working with him for 16 years.

Throughout her career Martha has shared stages worldwide with iconic artists like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Michael Jackson and George Clinton. Martha has been carrying the torch of soul music for her whole life, like a true soul sister. Now, with this new effort, she is keeping the music of the Funky Divas going, and we are sure that the Godfather of Soul and her faithful audience would appreciate it.

Pittsburgh-born Phillip Ballou's earliest years were spent in the gospel field, after he moved to New York City in the '70s, he teamed up with Bennie Diggs and Arthur Freeman, founding members of The New York Community Choir and singer Arnold McCuller to form the group Revelation. The quartet recorded for RSO Records, scoring some R&B success in the US with tracks like Get Ready For This' and You To Me Are Everything,' touring the Bee Gees among others. Phillip also sang on albums by NYCC recorded for RCA Records and continued with Revelation until 1982.Frequently hired for sessions in and around New York, Phillip teamed up with UK soul music journalist David Nathan (who he'd met in 1974 during Nathan's first US visit) and John Simmons, formerly a member of The Reflections, another New York vocal group to write a series of songs for his own proposed solo record deal. Although a contract did not materialize, one of the songs - Ain't Nothing Like The Love' - got some interest from famed Philadelphia producer Thom Bell who presented it to The O'Jays. Ultimately, the tune was turned down by Kenny Gamble and John Simmons, by then musical director for Stephanie Mills, recorded his own version for a small independent label in 1981.Phillip continued his own musical journey, touring and recording with James Taylor and Todd Rundgren. In addition, Phillip's name graced recordings by George Benson, Billy Ocean, Kashif, Nona Hendryx, Jonathan Butler, Teddy Pendergrass and Melba Moore, in 1981, he began recording with Luther Vandross and became a part of Luther's touring band for many years, as well as singing on productions by Luther on Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick and others, continuing his association with him until Luther's 2003 stroke. Phillip returned to his gospel roots in 2004 as Minister of Music at a Brooklyn church and passed away in March 2005, aged 55. Thanks to renewed interest in the John Simmons' 1981 recording on YouTube, David Nathan has uncovered several tracks from the 1978 and 1979 he did with Phillip and John including Phillip Ballou's original version of Ain't Nothing Like The Love,' gaining its first ever worldwide release as a 7' single on Nefer Records in association with Super Disco Edits