Album of the Day

A singer, songwriter, keyboardist and arranger, Donny Hathaway was among the most gifted figures in 1970s R&B, even if he was sometimes overshadowed by Roberta Flack, a friend and frequent duet partner. With one side recorded at L.A.'s Troubadour club and the other at New York's The Bitter End, LIVE is the ideal showcase for Hathaway's many talents. The 1972 Atlantic collection shows him with a top-flight soul-jazz band working the crowds masterfully on original songs (“The Ghetto,” “We're Still Friends”) and revelatory covers (Marvin Gaye's “What's Going On,” John Lennon's “Jealous Guy”). Donny Hathaway was just 33 when he died (on this day in 1979), but the inviting performances on LIVE are enough to ensure that he'll be remembered for decades to come.