Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth (Deluxe) Billy Valentine

• 1 We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue 05:37
• 2 Home Is Where The Hatred Is 04:51
• 3 My People… Hold On 05:29
• 4 You Haven't Done Nothin' 04:48
• 5 The Creator Has A Master Plan 07:01
• 6 Sign Of The Times 04:44
• 7 Wade In The Water 05:09
• 8 The World Is A Ghetto 06:15
• 9 No Better Than You 05:07
• 10 Lady Day and John Coltrane 04:52
• 11 We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue (Strings Version) 04:37
• Total Runtime 58:30

Info for Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth (Deluxe)

A special digital-only 'deluxe' version of the mesmerising 'Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth'. Alongside the original album, are three additional tracks, including the new single 'No Better Than You' and 'Lady Day & John Coltrane' and 'We The People... (Strings Version), which came out shortly after the album.

Originally Released in 2023... Since last September when we announced our collaboration with Billy Valentine, Bob Thiele Jr. and the Flying Dutchman label, with Billy’s peerless cover of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue’, we have been looking forward to the moment when we could share more music with you.

Earlier this month we released Billy’s take on Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’, which followed its predecessor onto Jazz FM’s A-list. Today we can share with you the news that the album ‘Billy Valentine & The Universal Truth’ is out on March 24th. It’s one you don’t want to miss.

The album sees Billy alongside a stellar cast of musicians, including Larry Goldings, Jeff Parker, Pino Paladino, James Gadson, Linda May Oh, Alex Acuña, Amber Navram from Moonchild and Blue Note recording artists Joel Ross and Immanuel Wilkins. They re-cast a series of important songs from the African-American songbook in a unique and inimitable style, profoundly influenced by the events that were going on around them throughout 2020 to 2022, when the album was recorded at the historic EastWest Studios in LA. The works of Mayfield and Scott-Heron are joined by those of Pharaoh Sanders, Prince, Stevie Wonder, War and Eddie Kendricks. It is a sonically stunning and emotionally moving record.

‘Many of the initial releases on Flying Dutchman were by important Black voices, both musical and political…. Cut to the summer months of 2020. America, in the throes of a global pandemic, was experiencing one more come-to-Jesus moment in our violent history: the murder of George Floyd. On the heels of a powerful new movement revolving around the hash-tag #BlackLivesMatter, it seemed the right time to resurrect Flying Dutchman and seed it with this collection of eight recordings by Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth.’ - Bob Thiele Jr. (Producer, Flying Dutchman)

’Since the moment we heard the first two tracks Ed and I were determined that we would release this album. It’s soul music performed at the very highest level, and one of the best records we have ever released.’ - Dean Rudland (Executive Producer, Acid Jazz)

Billy Valentine, vocals
Immanuel Wilkins, tenor saxophone
Theo Croker, trumpet
Jeff Parker, guitar
Larry Goldings, piano, electric piano, keyboards
Pino Palladino, electric bass
Linda May Han Oh, double bass
James Gadson, drums
Abe Rounds, drums
Joel Ross, vibraphone
Alex Acuña, percussion
Amber Navran, flute, vocals

Produced by Bob Thiele Jr.

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 48kHz, 24-bit. The provided 96kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

Billy Valentine
William A. Valentine (born December 16, 1925), also known as Billy Valentine and Billy Vee, is an American blues, R&B and jazz pianist and singer.

Valentine was born in Birmingham, Alabama on December 16, 1925. In 1948, Valentine replaced Charles Brown in Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, then featuring jazz guitarist Oscar Moore. In 1950 that line-up did a couple of recording sessions for RCA Victor before embarking on a 50-date tour. The "R & B Blue Notes" section of the May 27, 1950 issue of The Billboard, in announcing the tour, stated that Valentine had also recorded for Mercury Records (Mercury 8173). The note added that the Blazers would be joined by Hal "Cornbread" Singer for part of the tour. The same line-up accompanied Mari Jones, Maxwell Davies (probably) and the former Nat King Cole Trio bassist Johnny Miller for a recording session in Los Angeles in 1952.

In 1956, as Billy Vee, he recorded for King Records.

In 1958, Valentine appeared as pianist on a February 1958 New York recording session with Bubber Johnson, Eric Dixon, Charles Jackson, Skeeter Best, Ruth Berman, Wendell Marshall and Panama Francis, accompanied by a choir.

This album contains no booklet.