Tribe – Dedication (LP)

Soul Jazz Records are issuing this album as a one-off pressing special orange coloured vinyl edition, fully remastered and with exact reproduction artwork especially for Black Friday 2024. In similar vein to groups such as Mandrill, Jimmy Castor Bunch, The Blackbyrds, Pleasure and Kool and the Gang, Tribe blends together elements of funk, jazz, rock, latin and soul music into a unique sound (their first album was aptly named ‘Ethnic Stew’). ‘Dedication’ is a fantastic long-lost album of deep funk, soul and jazz from the group, originally released independently in 1977 and out-of-print for over 45 years. Tribe was the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Earl J Foster, who put together the band along with producer Big Dee Ervin in 1974. Aside from Earl Foster the band features Clyde Jardine Powell on bass, Billy Soto on guitar, Jimmie A. Clapper on sax, Benjamin Taylor and Harold Clayton on vocals and Harold Davis on drums. The group made three albums, but ‘Dedication’ remains their tour de force, a fantastic slice of spaced-out funk, jazz and soul.