Favorite Recordings

For many Disco and House music producers and listeners, Leroy Burgess might be one of the most important figures and inspiration, however being clearly quite unknown to the mass. Born and raised in Harlem, his musical knowledge was picked up informally through his mother (a classically trained soprano) and the infrequent family reunion with his mom's cousin, legendary Philly soul arranger/producer Thom Bell. It resulted in a 50 years musical career, which started in the late 60s within the Black Ivory band, under the shoulder of famous producer Patrick Adams. The list of project and artists he’s contributed to whether as a singer, musician, arranger, writer or producer is then incredible: Inner Life, Dazzle, Logg, Aleem, High Frequency, Change, Universal Robot Band, Rick James, Ben E. King, Eddie Kendricks, Narada Michael Walden are just a few of them. His influence to the Disco and Boogie musical movement is quite unequaled, and in the 90s he became also part of the Garage and House movement, collaborating with acts such as Blaze, Glenn Underground, and Cassius.Since 2016 and a special gig at the festival “Nuits Sonores” in Lyon (France), where he was invited by MCDE, Leroy Burgess started touring Europe, backed by a band composed of musicians from the French city. He says himself that it’s part of “the best musicians he had the honor to play with live”. In 2018 at the New Morning in Paris, Pascal Rioux from Favorite Recordings, could confirm this feeling, while he also realized knowing most of these musicians, who collaborated to project from the label such as Mr Day or The Dynamics. There was not much more needed to launch the idea of some Leroy Burgess’ new recordings with the band, reviving the 80s analog production golden-age.Today Favorite Recordings is thrilled to present Work It Out / Til I Found You, new 2 tracks single by Leroy Burgess & Saving Coco, produced and composed by The Bernard Brothers and Bruno “Patchworks” Hovart. The Bernard Brothers is a Paris/London based production duo comprised of Elliott and Nevil Bernard. Elliott (aka Seiji Ono) and Nevil (aka Koji Ono) are also involved in running London reissue label, Melodies International. Bruno “Patchworks” Hovart, is a famous French producer, who’s proven over the past 15 years, his place amongst the finest producers of groove music in all genres through various projects such as Voilaaa, Mr President, or Uptown Funk Empire to name just a few.

Two years after an acclaimed first album, Al Sunny and Favorite Recordings proudly present Planets, carrying on their collaboration and bringing it to another level.Al Sunny is a young and talented singer/musician/composer emerging from the French soul music scene. During his conservatory studies, he refined his knowledge and confirmed his desire to write and compose. He quickly matured the music that he truly loves, inspired by artists such as Tim Maia, America, Al Green, and Al Jarreau. Giving birth to the majority of his compositions through his guitar, he always seeks to bring his songs’ melody to the forefront. During his studies he kept experiencing live performing on different scenes and confirmed his choice for a musical career, while also meeting many brilliant musicians, including Florian Pellissier, who later introduced him to Pascal Rioux and Favorite Recordings.It resulted in 2017 in Time to Decide release, a dazzling first album establishing Al Sunny’s music and writing style, looking towards the 70s and 80s Westcoast movement, infused with Blue-Eyed-Soul, Pop and Folk flavors. Built on the same influences, Planets is made of 8 new compositions (including a CD and digital bonus), and is clearly a continuation of its cadet, asserting Al Sunny’s talent and singing skills.Fully recorded live and analogic in Paris, this new album also stands out by an impressive level of production, faithful to some classics of the genre. Mixing catchy melodies, soulful vocals, warm and heavy bass, strong beat and beautiful guitars and keyboards harmonies, Planets just perfectly meets the AOR and Modern-Soul golden era standards.