New World Generation

New World Generation were a cult New England ensemble led by composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist Lekan Parsons. Their sole release was a 1982 privately pressed, self-titled, five-song EP that hearkened back to the sounds of an earlier R&B era. Comparison's to the <a href="spotify:artist:6R9Mv0bgGE4Tqxna1q5Mrj">Roy Ayers</a>-produced <a href="spotify:artist:3KAulMlhjlTfIZD8yhMJPb">RAMP</a> album, Come Into Knowledge, and albums from the mid-'70s cosmic-soul era, <a href="spotify:artist:4QQgXkCYTt3BlENzhyNETg">Earth Wind & Fire</a>, are apt. The band played gigs in the region, and quietly disbanded. In the early 21st century, Phil Morrison, bassist for the jazz ensemble Stark Reality, sent the NWG EP to labelheads at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Stones+Throw%22">Stones Throw</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Now-Again%22">Now-Again</a> imprint. The label called Parsons and wa told that he had recorded plenty of material in the years prior to New World Generation. He spent a few years combing through the masters of other bands he'd worked with in New York and Boston, such as <a href="spotify:artist:6hiQztqG5jZqrLL83fbwCW">Universal Rhythms</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Orison%22">Orison</a>. Given the quality, and the thematic and stylistic similarity to New World Generation's music, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Now-Again%22">Now-Again</a> released a double-disc of the material as the New World Generation Anthology in late 2011.