The Best Of Doug Carn
Doug Carn
The Best Of Doug Carn is a fourteen-track compilation drawing from the recordings Doug Carn made for Black Jazz Records across the early 1970s, originally assembled in 1996 by Soul Jazz's Universal Sounds sublabel and reissued in March 2026 by Soul Jazz Records in a fully remastered edition with new artwork. Carn — a Florida-born pianist, organist, and composer who arrived in Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s and played on the first two Earth, Wind and Fire albums in 1971 — recorded four albums for Black Jazz over the course of the label's short lifespan, more than any other artist on the roster. As Soul Jazz Records describes him, he is "one of the most-important (and least-recognised) forces in the creation of the canon of deep and spiritual jazz music," and his Black Jazz LPs — Infant Eyes, Spirit of the New Land, Revelation, and Adam's Apple — have since achieved cult classic status among collectors of 1970s spiritual and modal jazz.
The compilation's fourteen tracks draw from across those albums and are unified by Carn's organ-centered, deeply funky yet intensely serious aesthetic — what Jazz Thing described as "unfiltered but powerful, organ-centric sound." A defining feature of the Black Jazz recordings is the presence of Jean Carn (later Carné), Carn's wife at the time, whose five-octave vocal range appears on many of the tracks. The tracklist includes original compositions such as "Power and Glory," "Chant," "Fatherhood," and "Jihad," alongside striking vocal interpretations of jazz standards — John Coltrane's "Naima" and "Acknowledgement," Bobby Hutcherson's "Little B's Poem," and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" — with a supporting cast that includes Alphonse Mouzon, Charles Tolliver, Henry Franklin, and Ronnie Laws. The 2026 reissue arrives alongside a companion compilation, The Best Of Black Jazz Records 1971–75, marking the thirtieth anniversary of both releases on Universal Sounds.
The Best Of Doug Carn is a fourteen-track compilation drawing from the recordings Doug Carn made for Black Jazz Records across the early 1970s, originally assembled in 1996 by Soul Jazz's Universal Sounds sublabel and reissued in March 2026 by Soul Jazz Records in a fully remastered edition with new artwork. Carn — a Florida-born pianist, organist, and composer who arrived in Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s and played on the first two Earth, Wind and Fire albums in 1971 — recorded four albums for Black Jazz over the course of the label's short lifespan, more than any other artist on the roster. As Soul Jazz Records describes him, he is "one of the most-important (and least-recognised) forces in the creation of the canon of deep and spiritual jazz music," and his Black Jazz LPs — Infant Eyes, Spirit of the New Land, Revelation, and Adam's Apple — have since achieved cult classic status among collectors of 1970s spiritual and modal jazz.
The compilation's fourteen tracks draw from across those albums and are unified by Carn's organ-centered, deeply funky yet intensely serious aesthetic — what Jazz Thing described as "unfiltered but powerful, organ-centric sound." A defining feature of the Black Jazz recordings is the presence of Jean Carn (later Carné), Carn's wife at the time, whose five-octave vocal range appears on many of the tracks. The tracklist includes original compositions such as "Power and Glory," "Chant," "Fatherhood," and "Jihad," alongside striking vocal interpretations of jazz standards — John Coltrane's "Naima" and "Acknowledgement," Bobby Hutcherson's "Little B's Poem," and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" — with a supporting cast that includes Alphonse Mouzon, Charles Tolliver, Henry Franklin, and Ronnie Laws. The 2026 reissue arrives alongside a companion compilation, The Best Of Black Jazz Records 1971–75, marking the thirtieth anniversary of both releases on Universal Sounds.
The Best Of Doug Carn
Doug Carn
The Best Of Doug Carn is a fourteen-track compilation drawing from the recordings Doug Carn made for Black Jazz Records across the early 1970s, originally assembled in 1996 by Soul Jazz's Universal Sounds sublabel and reissued in March 2026 by Soul Jazz Records in a fully remastered edition with new artwork. Carn — a Florida-born pianist, organist, and composer who arrived in Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s and played on the first two Earth, Wind and Fire albums in 1971 — recorded four albums for Black Jazz over the course of the label's short lifespan, more than any other artist on the roster. As Soul Jazz Records describes him, he is "one of the most-important (and least-recognised) forces in the creation of the canon of deep and spiritual jazz music," and his Black Jazz LPs — Infant Eyes, Spirit of the New Land, Revelation, and Adam's Apple — have since achieved cult classic status among collectors of 1970s spiritual and modal jazz.
The compilation's fourteen tracks draw from across those albums and are unified by Carn's organ-centered, deeply funky yet intensely serious aesthetic — what Jazz Thing described as "unfiltered but powerful, organ-centric sound." A defining feature of the Black Jazz recordings is the presence of Jean Carn (later Carné), Carn's wife at the time, whose five-octave vocal range appears on many of the tracks. The tracklist includes original compositions such as "Power and Glory," "Chant," "Fatherhood," and "Jihad," alongside striking vocal interpretations of jazz standards — John Coltrane's "Naima" and "Acknowledgement," Bobby Hutcherson's "Little B's Poem," and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" — with a supporting cast that includes Alphonse Mouzon, Charles Tolliver, Henry Franklin, and Ronnie Laws. The 2026 reissue arrives alongside a companion compilation, The Best Of Black Jazz Records 1971–75, marking the thirtieth anniversary of both releases on Universal Sounds.
The Best Of Doug Carn is a fourteen-track compilation drawing from the recordings Doug Carn made for Black Jazz Records across the early 1970s, originally assembled in 1996 by Soul Jazz's Universal Sounds sublabel and reissued in March 2026 by Soul Jazz Records in a fully remastered edition with new artwork. Carn — a Florida-born pianist, organist, and composer who arrived in Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s and played on the first two Earth, Wind and Fire albums in 1971 — recorded four albums for Black Jazz over the course of the label's short lifespan, more than any other artist on the roster. As Soul Jazz Records describes him, he is "one of the most-important (and least-recognised) forces in the creation of the canon of deep and spiritual jazz music," and his Black Jazz LPs — Infant Eyes, Spirit of the New Land, Revelation, and Adam's Apple — have since achieved cult classic status among collectors of 1970s spiritual and modal jazz.
The compilation's fourteen tracks draw from across those albums and are unified by Carn's organ-centered, deeply funky yet intensely serious aesthetic — what Jazz Thing described as "unfiltered but powerful, organ-centric sound." A defining feature of the Black Jazz recordings is the presence of Jean Carn (later Carné), Carn's wife at the time, whose five-octave vocal range appears on many of the tracks. The tracklist includes original compositions such as "Power and Glory," "Chant," "Fatherhood," and "Jihad," alongside striking vocal interpretations of jazz standards — John Coltrane's "Naima" and "Acknowledgement," Bobby Hutcherson's "Little B's Poem," and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" — with a supporting cast that includes Alphonse Mouzon, Charles Tolliver, Henry Franklin, and Ronnie Laws. The 2026 reissue arrives alongside a companion compilation, The Best Of Black Jazz Records 1971–75, marking the thirtieth anniversary of both releases on Universal Sounds.