Minnie Riperton: "Come To My Garden"

A Cadet release in everything but name, put out by the GRT label, Cadet’s parent company.  The natural outgrowth of Stepney’s work with Rotary Connection was to collaborate on a Minnie solo album, although I was never sure why they only did this one together, as it was brilliant and certainly left the door open for future possibilities.  Another important piece of the puzzle was the involvement of Riperton’s husband Richard Rudolph, a long-time songwriting partner of Stepney’s for Rotary Connection and Riperton’s co-writer for the remainder of her career.  Rounding out the equation was the ’69-’70 version of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, the same one that recorded “Another Voyage” as discussed above.  Together these potentially disparate factors created vivid, breath-taking music, with my favorite moments found in the epic, symphonic-funk grandiosity of opener “Les Fleur,” the folk-jazz melancholy of “Rainy Day In Centerville,” and the Rudolph-penned title track.  Stepney and the Lewis trio crafted a musical backdrop for Minnie’s dazzling vocals that is now defined as “baroque soul” or “chamber soul,” but at that time had no terminology associated with it, as it was so completely and refreshingly new, the end result of which was (and still is) a wondrous, beautiful record.