One of our specialties at Jazzman is focusing in on the obscure and often previously slept on regional based sounds across America. This time our radar was honing in on state of Virginia and its Norfolk Sound. Many celebrated musicians have contributed to ‘The Norfolk Sound’, but Lenis Guess was probably the most active, prolific and influential showman of the soulful ‘60s and ‘70s. This collection of unique recordings captures the essence of the multi-talented entertainer, singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, band manager and label owner – a calm, cool and collected quintessential music man about town.
This limited edition boxset features 3 different 7 inches with a total of 6 tracks highlighting not only the rarest and most in demand of Lenis Guess’ recordings, but the best. We’re delivering some of the funkiest and most soulful releases on the DPG, Peanut Country and SPQR labels right to your doorstep. Despite being a relatively well-known and highly-respected soul/funk musician back in VA, releases such as “Why, Why, Why’d She Leave Me” have reached holy grail funk status and are now are practically impossible to find. The gritty, fast moving, charismatic “Working For My Baby” is guaranteed to immediately fill any funk, soul and RnB dancefloor. Every single track in this collection touches on a different facet of Tidewater talent. Due to the obscurity of these original releases, while some were celebrated locally when they first came out, most of these incredible funk 45s haven’t been heard outside of the Tidewater region. As a result not only have the vast majority of collectors and soul fans been unable to enjoy the music, but for over 30 years Lenis himself has not had the satisfaction, pride and joy felt, heard and enjoyed by many. So we decided to put things right. With his help and assistance, we have created a boxset that displays a wide showcase of soulful talent from funky rare grooves to beautiful ballads. Recorded across the ‘60s and ‘70s, we reveal in our detailed liner notes from our exclusive interviews the story behind Lenis Guess, Frank Guida, the Raw Soul band and the entire Norfolk Sound, and how a small-time group of musicians from coastal Virginia came to entrance soul fans and collectors the world over with such a superb yet under-appreciated masterpieces.