Donny Hathaway

In the early '70s, Marvin Gaye's masterwork What's Going On opened the doors for soul music's entrance into concept-album territory. But it was the mercurial Donny Hathaway who blew those doors straight off their hinges. His third album, 1973's Extension of a Man, is as lush, orchestral, sprawling and socially conscious as a Moody Blues record (or at the very least an early episode of The White Shadow). Of course, it's all a bit heavy-handed, but hey, those were the days. Just ask Pam Grier.

Like Stevie Wonder's Music of My Mind, Donny Hathaway's Extensions of a Man, produced
by Arif Mardin, is an ambitious breakthrough album that significantly broadens the musical
palette of a major black artist, fulfilling in large measure promises long-offered. But
whereas Wonder has lately concentrated on expanding the textural definitions of R&B as it
has evolved out of Motown, Hathaway shows himself to be a sophisticated traditi... More >