Minnie Riperton¿s Come to My Garden

<p><i>Come to My Garden</i> (1970) introduced the world to Minnie Riperton, the solo artist. Minnie captivated listeners with her earth-shattering voice’s uncanny ability to evoke melancholy and exultance. Born out of Charles Stepney’s masterful composition and Richard Rudolph’s attentive songwriting, the album fused a plethora of music genres. A blip in the universe of fusion music that would come to dominate the 1970s, <i>Come to My Garden</i> also featured the work of young bandleaders like Ramsey Lewis and Maurice White, thus bridging the divide between jazz and R&B.<br><br> Despite fairly positive reviews of the album, even in its many re-releases, it never garnered critical attention. <i>Minnie Riperton’s Come to My Garden</i> by Brittnay L. Proctor uses rare archival ephemera, the multiple re-issues of the album, interviews, cultural history, and personal narrative to outline how the revolutionary album came to be and its lasting impact on popular music of the post-soul era (the late 20th to the early 21st century).</p>