Oneness of Juju Space Jungle Luv

• 1. River Luvrite
• 2. Follow Me
• 3. Soul Love Now
• 4. Space Jungle Funk
• 5. The Connection
• 6. Love’s Messenger

When bandleader James “Plunky” Branch created Oneness Of Juju in 1975, he had spent five years working on both the West and East coasts of the U.S. The group’s previous ncarnation, Juju, had become a fixture within New York’s avant-garde jazz scene. Upon moving to Richmond, Virginia, Plunky re-grouped with a new set of musicians, fusing African percussion with funk and R&B. The band recorded two of their most celebrated albums during 1975 and 1976, African Rhythms and Space Jungle Luv.

This change of direction ushered in the most successful era yet for the band. Plunky connected with distributor, publicist and DJ Jimmy “Black Fire” Gray, and African Rhythms scored a huge local success. Plunky recalls, “A year later, with Space Jungle Luv, I moved from R&B into a more mellow, spiritual direction. The music featured a smooth progressive sound that was perfect for our singer Lady Eka-Ete’s mesmerizing, soulfully sweet vocals.

That album also introduced guitarist Melvin Glover to the group; his songs broadened our repertoire by adding celestial, harp-like tones and textures. ” The pianist from Pharoah Sanders’ band, Joe Bonner, also guested on the sessions. “With Space Jungle Luv, I was making a Pharoah kind of record, ” continues Plunky. “I wanted to deliver a spiritually uplifting message; artists like George Clinton and Sun Ra had explored the theme of space and people were looking towards the future and new technology. We were also describing the album – space music, jungle music, love songs. Among the tracks, ‘River Luvrite’ describes positive people as constituting a flow, a continuous spirit. With ‘Follow Me’, we were just saying,‘come along with us and find new places together.’”