Newport News, Virginia (Vinyl LP)

Esther Marrow began singing professionally in the early 60s and her big break came in 1965 when she was asked by Duke Ellington to take part in his ground breaking Concert of Sacred Music at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Marrow toured with the Duke Ellington Band as well as Harry Belafonte and came to the attention of Bob Thiele who recorded and released this debut album on his Flying Dutchman label in 1969. Musically, it’s a compelling mix of funk and soul, occupying similar terrain to Alice Clark’s great album that was released on Mainstream in 1972. For example, Jesse Stone’s ‘Money Honey’ is given a crunching funk arrangement and is one of three tracks that tempt collectors to pay big money for an original copy. ‘Walk Tall’ and ‘Chains of Love’ are the other two. ‘Chains Of Love’ was originally recorded in Detroit by J. J. Barnes and became a Northern Soul classic. ‘Walk Tall’ is one of the album’s highlights and features music originally written by pianist Joe Zawinul and performed by Cannonball Adderley, with lyrics written by James Rein and Esther. It has become something of a jazz standard, but no version ever bettered this original track. Add to the mix the lush string driven power of tracks like Peaceful Man, Mama and a tilt at the classic What A Wonderful World and you have a truly wonderful album. Pressed on 180gm vinyl we have remained faithful to the original pressing replicating the Flying Dutchman label style and gatefold sleeve.

Condition
Media: Mint (M)
Sleeve: Mint (M)

Our Grading Standards
We grade all vinyl using the Goldmine standard:
Mint (M): Perfect, unplayed condition.
Near Mint (NM): Nearly perfect with minimal signs of handling.
Very Good Plus (VG+): Shows light signs of play but plays with minimal surface noise. The most common grade for collectable vinyl.
Very Good (VG): Noticeable marks and some surface noise, but still an enjoyable listen.
Good (G): Heavy wear — for collectors only.

All records are graded visually and by play. Media and sleeve are graded separately.

About Peckham Soul

Visit our physical store at Linnégatan 2, 413 04 Göteborg.
Mon–Tue 11:00–18:00 · Wed–Thu 11:00–18:30 · Fri 11:00–20:30 · Sat 11:00–17:00 · Sun Closed.

We're a specialist vintage vinyl shop with roots in Peckham, London. From our Swedish store we ship across Europe and the EU. Every record in our collection is individually sourced, inspected, and graded. We stock soul, funk, jazz, reggae, punk, indie, psych and beyond — always original pressings, always honestly described.

Shipping & Returns
We ship carefully packed in rigid mailers to protect your record in transit. If a record arrives not as described, we'll sort it — no hassle.