Eccentric Soul: The Tragar & Note Labels

iTunes Review

Another fantastic entry in the Numero Group’s ongoing Eccentric Soul reissue project, The Tragar & Note Labels documents the productions of Atlanta entrepreneur and record producer Jesse J. Jones. After trying, and failing, to break into the Los Angeles music scene, Jones returned to Atlanta to assemble a roster of homegrown musical talent whose output is notable for its passion and originality. If some of these recordings are a touch rough, with missed notes and slightly off key horn lines, it only adds to their stirring immediacy. Like the Numero Group’s explorations of local scenes in Miami, Columbus, and Chicago, The Tragar & Note Labels is remarkable not only for the quality of the music that it compiles but also for the vivid portrait of the local Atlanta scene evoked by cuts like Franciene Thomas’ vulnerable “I’ll Be There” and Eula Cooper’s near psychedelic “Heavenly Father.” While other soul reissue labels place an undue emphasis on obscurity for obscurity’s sake, the Numero Group seems to have a knack for uncovering high quality recordings rich both in musical quality and compelling historical context and The Tragar & Note Labels represents another of its triumphs.