Donny Hathaway: "Everything Is Everything"

For some reason I slept on Donny Hathaway records for the longest time—I knew he was one of the legends of his era, and along with Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, the main reference point for a new generation of neo-soul artists, three decades later.  Yet until I heard this album, I was a bit unconvinced.  That ended quickly, from the opening moments of the funky title cut, on through the raw toughness of “The Ghetto” and beyond—THIS is what everyone had been talking about.  It’s a concept album, a vocalist’s album, a piano album, a musician’s musician’s album—all of that and so much more, ‘cause I can’t say it no better that the man himself did—“everything is everything.”  Essential.