Afro Blue

Afro Blue – Dee Dee Bridgewater

Trio Records – 1974

Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American Jazz singer. She is a two-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award -winning stage actress and host of National Public Radio’s syndicated radio show “JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater.”

Born Denise Eileen Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, she grew up in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his play, Denise was exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a rock and rhythm’n’blues trio, singing in clubs in Michigan. At 18, she studied at the Michigan State University before she went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With their jazz band, she toured the Soviet Union in 1969. The next year, she met trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, and after their marriage, they moved to New York City, where Cecil played in Horace Silver’s band.

In the early 1970s, Bridgewater joined the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra as the lead vocalist.  She performed with many of the great jazz musicians of the time, such as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and others. Performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1973. In 1974, her first very own album, entitled “Afro Blue”, appeared…

 To my knowledge, this is her first outing as a solo artist. “Afro Blue”  has a very minimalist sound to this fine collection of melodies. Dee Dee certainly doesn’t want in the vocal stakes as can be highlighted by the seven minute title track (sampled to perfection by Pete Rock for Slum Village’s “Once Upon A Time”.)

I know that “Little B’s Poem” is a particular favourite of D.J. Gilles Peterson and I can only concur with that opinion, with this track being as fine a piece of jazz as anyone could ever want to hear. “Love From The Sun” is another personal favourite, along with her mellow version of the evergreen “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”. The whole show finishes off nicely with a drop dead slow version of ‘People Make The World Go Round’ that will maybe change your mind as to which version is better.

In the same year as her first album was released she also performed on Broadway in the musical “The Wiz”. For her role as “Glinda the Good Witch” she won a Tony Award in 1975 as “best featured actress”, and the musical also won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

Discovering a new found love for stage acting she subsequently appeared in several other stage productions. After touring France in 1984 with the musicalSophisticated Ladies, she moved to Paris in 1986. The same year saw her in Lady Day as Billie Holiday, for which role she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she returned from the world of musical to jazz. She performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990, and four years later, she finally collaborated with Horace Silver, whom she had long admired, and released the album Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver.

Her 1997 tribute album “Dear Ella” won her the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and the 1998 album “Live at Yoshi’s” was also worth a Grammy nomination. She has also explored on This is New (2002) the songs of Kurt Weill, and, on her next album J’ai Deux Amours (2005), the French Classics.

Her album Red Earth, released in 2007, features Africa-inspired themes and contributions by numerous musicians from the West African nation of Mali. Which she  performed as a headliner at the San Francisco Jazz Festival .

On December 8, 2007  Dee Dee performed with the Terence Blanchard Quintet at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

 She still tours frequently, including overseas gigs around the world.  2009 found her opening the Shanghai JZ Jazz Festival, in which Dee Dee covered a good deal of tunes associated with Ella Fitzgerald, along with Ellington compositions and other jazz standards.

Bridgewater is mother to three children, the oldest of which serves as her manager and runs her record label. Her youngest daughter China Moses (from her second marriage) is also a fantastic singer and occasionally shares the bill with her mother.

This album is a classic. Buy it if you can afford it, Right here.

or

HERE

@320

Enjoy.

Marchin’ On

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the lack of posts as of late, Expect to see a lil more posting over the next little while. My good friend “Reza El Rico” has been expanding his food service empire….He just opened a homemade Ice Cream Shoppe in Toronto’s Kensington Market. It’s Called “Mr. Cream“….And it’s amazing. Go grab a waffle cone.

I on the other hand have a less reasonable excuse for my lack of work…I’ve been drinking.

You see, For the first time in a long time, I’ve been selfish with my time. Anyone who really knows me can tell you… That is not the norm.

I’m the go-to guy when your chips are down, when you need advice, a shoulder to cry and/or lean on.

My life for the last few years has been a whirlwind of outpouring my efforts into things that help other people… My family, My (Ex)girlfriend, My friends, hell….even you, (if you are reading this)…I make nothing from this website, I do it all for free and believe me brother…It has cost me a lot. I’ve been collecting records for over 20 years and i’ve paid for each and every one in more ways than you could imagine.

I had an epiphany while i was swimming in the Caribbean in January, So over  the last few months I’ve made a lot of changes to my life…

1. I realized that I hadn’t seen enough of the world…

-So I’ve been travelling as much as possible.

2. I realized that I wasn’t healthy…

-So I changed my diet.

Since March I’ve lost around 40-45 lbs, gone from a 36″ waist to a 30″ and I just joined a Gym and my very first Yoga class is next week. (Gonna fix that slouchy teenage posture…)

3. I realized that I wasn’t happy with the people around me…

-I cut them off, hard.  “So Bye-Bye to all you groupies and gold-diggers”…

It’s a lot easier to run when you let go of all that dead weight.

4. I realized that I hadn’t really let loose and lost myself in a moment in years.

-So I did. (Once or twice…well,maybe three times.)

…And then I remembered how much fun being ME all by myself really is.

All is well?…no?????

One of my best friends of 10 years tore a strip off my ass yesterday for not making enough of an effort with our friendship as of late, My mother accused me of not helping with the family last week, My Facebook friends number goes down a few people everyday…

All this because for once I decided to focus on myself, just for a little while….To do exactly what I want, in any given moment, as opposed to doing what everyone else wants of me all the time.

Excuse me for attempting to have a life.

The fact of the matter is…People die, Relationships come and go, Your friends will stab you in the back, Your generosity will be quickly forgotten, Your wasted time will not grow back and when the shoe is on the other foot it will not fit somehow.

Take it from me, I’m turning OLD in September (shout out to my Virgo’s) and I have NONE of the things in life that I really truthfully want.

Yeah sure, I have a nice house with a big TV, Records “like…Whoa”, more shoes than Imelda Marcos and so on and so forth…But none of that means Jack-Shit to me at this point in my life.

I don’t care who doesn’t like it, I don’t care who thinks or says anything about me…Come Hell or high water…I’ll get where I need to be before it’s too late, with or without Y’all.

I stay in motion, Forever forward,

Never looking back, Smiling through….MARCHIN’ ON.

* and on that note…

Marchin’ On – Heath Brothers

Strata East Records 1976

The Heath Brothers was an American jazz group, formed in 1975 by the brothers Jimmy on tenor saxophone, Percy on bass, and Albert “Tootie” Heath bringing up the rear on the drums as well as pianist Stanley Cowell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tony Purrone on lead guitar and Jimmy’s son Mtume (Of “Juicy Fruit” fame) on percussion joined the group later.

This is the Heath Brothers’ only album for the Strata East label, and man, is it a tough one to find…borderline Holy Grail.

If you only listened to the A-side of this album, you’d find it to be a pleasant, straight-ahead jazz LP, with the warm flute of Jimmy Heath, rich bassline strumming of Percy Heath and labelmate Stanley Cowell cameoing on piano and mbira. “Maimoun” is just a gorgeous, mellow song closing out the first side and their cover of “Watergate Blues” isn’t bad either.

But flip the record over and add on the four part “Smilin’ Billy Suite” and you have the makings of one of Strata-East’s greatest albums. Sure, it helps that Q-Tip sampled “Suite II” for Nas’  Hip- Hop classic “One Love”, thereby introducing the album to the rest of the world… But like Monty Alexander’s “Love and Happiness” (get to that nugget later on…I promise.), the sum of the song is far greater than the sample. By this point in time and thanks to the internets, most folks have heard “Suite II” in some form, fashion or another – Hell…Redman swiped an entire 16 bars of the song on “Supaman Lova Pt. 3”. Catch up.

Cowell’s use of the mbira thumb piano on this tune is just mind blowingly fantastic, giving the whole song a different vibe from the traditional jazz instrumentation.

As a fan of all things Bass, it’s always surprised me how little love “Suite I” receives. While almost all the suites use the same basic melodic riff as a common anchor, “Suite I” focuses mostly on Percy Heath’s basslines before his brother Jimmy’s relaxed flute drifts in. “Suite III” is also pretty solid – much more dramatic and dissonant, largely thanks to Albert Heath’s playing of an African double reed woodwind. “Suite IV” brings back the major refrain once more, this time on sax, with a lighter, more upbeat feel than the previous three Suites. All in all, an undeniable masterpiece of the soul jazz era and one of the most sought after samples in the history of hip hop. The heath brothers went on to record 8 more (in my opinion) amazing albums before Percy Heath passed away in 2004.

Drop some cash,buy this album.

(Yes $150+ is a lot of money for a record, it’s an investment in your ears.)

Grab a copy here.

Or

HERE

@320

See… I’m not that selfish.

D Train

D Train (You’re The One For Me) – D Train

Prelude Records – 1982

“D Train” was a collaborative effort between the band’s namesake James “D. Train” Williams, who was featured as the lead vocalist and songwriter, and Hubert Eaves III, a keyboardist and producer who performed the instrumentation on the recordings. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Williams himself was a R&B/dance producer as well. He and Eaves met during high school and began performing together, although Eaves would spend most of the 1970s as a member of the R&B band Mtume. (Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy…ring any bells?)

However, by the 1980s, he and Williams had teamed up again. The group named themselves “D. Train” after a nickname Williams had acquired as a football player in high school.

D. Train released their first single “You’re the One For Me” in late 1981. The track became an instant success, hitting #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart that year; it has been remixed and re-released successfully several times since, and was contemporaneously covered by Paul Hardcastle with vocalist Kevin Henry in the United Kingdom and more recently interpolated by Westcoast MPC heavyweights Exile and DJ Day.

The duo’s self-titled debut album (which prominently featured the “You’re the One For Me” title on the front cover, and the album sometimes became known by this name) followed in early 1982, and several additional singles from this effort were successful on both the R&B and Dance charts, although they were not as popular as the debut hit. Among these tracks were “Keep On,” which reached #2 on the Dance chart and a cover version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David penned “Walk On By”, that owed more to the Isaac Hayes version than to Dionne Warwick’s original recording.

In 1983, the band released their follow-up album, Music. The title track became another dance-floor anthem and is the most gospel infused of D-Train’s floor fillers.  This track nearly equalled the success of the group’s debut single. Several other singles from the album were moderately successful.

In 1984, D. Train had their only Billboard Hot 100 entry with “Something’s On Your Mind,” which climbed to #79 and was later covered by Miles Davis on his album You’re Under Arrest. The title single also cracked the top five on the R&B chart, becoming the group’s biggest hit in that market as well. Despite this success, the group would disband that same year.

Following the dissolution of D-Train the band, Williams embarked on a moderately successful solo career. Although he was billed as a solo artist, however, he did continue to work with Eaves acting as a producer and key instrumentalist. In 1986, Williams released his debut album, Miracles of the Heart, which featured a Top Ten R&B single, “Misunderstanding.” The follow-up single, “Oh, How I Love You Girl” also performed well in the R&B market. His second album, In Your Eyes followed in 1988.

James “D Train” Williams is currently a DJ for Heart & Soul Channel 51 on the Sirius Satellite Radio service based in New York.

Get on the D Train right here,

or

HERE

@320

Enjoy.

Hell Up In Harlem

Edwin Starr – Hell Up In Harlem

Motown Records – 1973

Tougher than Shaft and smoother than Superfly, this high-voltage sequel to Black Caesar explodes with enough action to incinerate New York City. Packed with machine-gun mayhem and riveting adventure, Hell up in Harlem is nothing less than a modern-day tribute to the classic 30s gangster film.

Tommy Gibbs, a fearless, bulletproof tough guy who blasts his way from the gutter to become the ultimate underworld boss. When he steals a ledger with the name of every crooked cop and official on the mob’s payroll, he becomes the most hunted man in the city. Enlisting the aid of his father and an army of Harlem hoods, Gibbs goes from defense to offense, launching a deadly attack on his enemies that sets off a violent chain reaction from Harlem all the way to the Caribbean, climaxing in one of the hottest turf-war shoot-outs in Hollywood history.

Fred Williamson returns as Tommy Gibbs, the self-styled Godfather of Harlem in Larry Cohen’s quickly made sequel to the low-budget Black Caesar. The film opens with a different perspective on the finale from the earlier film, this time with Gibbs surviving an assassination attempt with the help of his estranged father (Julius Harris), who becomes Tommy’s new chief lieutenant in his rebuilt organization. Tommy takes his revenge on those who set him up but faces a new threat from within as the corrupt DA partners with an ambitious gang member to take Tommy down. It’s not going to be as easy as they think. Shooting on NYC streets and locations, Cohen punches up the slim rise-and-fall/revenge story line with gritty action, a driving pace, and edgy, always-on-the-move, hand-held camera work. The production feels rushed at times and the performances don’t have the energy of the previous film, but Cohen doesn’t give you much time to think about it with his speeding plot and machine-gun editing, moved along nicely with help from Edwin Starr’s funky score.

Born Charles Edwin Hatcher in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942. Edwin and his cousins (soul singers Roger and Willie Hatcher) moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where they were raised.

In 1957, Starr formed a doo-wop group, The Future Tones, and began his singing career. Starr lived in Detroit, Michigan, in the 1960s and recorded at first for the small record label Ric-Tic, and later for Motown Records after it absorbed Ric-Tic in 1968.

The song which began his career was “Agent Double’O’Soul” (1965), a reference to the James Bond films popular at the time. Other early hits included “Headline News”, “Back Street”, a cover of The Miracles “Way Over There”, and “S.O.S. (Stop Her On Sight)”. He recorded more soul music for the next three years before having an international hit in “25 Miles” (1968), which peaked at #6 in the United States the following year.

The biggest hit of his career, which cemented his reputation, was the Vietnam War protest song “War” (1970). Starr’s intense vocals transformed a Temptations album track into a #1 chart success, which spent three weeks in the top position on the U.S. Billboard charts, an anthem for the antiwar movement and a cultural milestone that continues to resound a generation later in movie soundtracks and hip hop music samples. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a platinum disc.

The soundtrack to “Hell Up In Harlem” was originally due to be scored by James Brown using material from what later became his “The Payback” LP, this soundtrack by Fonce Mizell, Dennis Coffey and Freddie Perren nevertheless contains some great funk tracks. Edwin Starr is in fine form on the slowburn conga-lead “Easin’ In”, while the tight funk band can be heard to full effect on the instrumental ‘Runnin’, Also worth mentioning is the sugar daddy anthem “Big Papa” in which middle age players are having fun but are reminded of the perils of playing a young man’s game.

There are also standouts in the soft moments. “Don’t it Feel Good to Be Free” will bring a sense emancipated bliss as you think about chains being broke that bonded you to obligatory helplessness (unemployment, imprisonment, bad marriage, etc). “Like We Used to Do” is one of the best Father and Son songs you’ll ever hear with its warm floating groove and Edwin’s nicely refrain plea to reunite with his son (you won’t find too many songs like this in today’s jaded  music atmosphere). “Mama should be here Too” is almost as good as it could qualify as the “Dear Mama”  of its day. Then there’s the necessary slow jams of” Our Love Will Never Die” and “Jennifer” which showcases the reflective and intimate side of thug love respectively.

This Banger of a soundtrack has been sampled by,

PRT, Ice -T, Tone Loc, Digable Planets, Jamiroquai, DMX, P.U.T.S, Lily Allen, Prodigy, Dj Food, Snoop Dogg and even the french house duo Air….just to name a few.

Step your pimp game up right here,

or

HERE

@320

Enjoy.

Together Brothers

Together Brothers – Barry White and the Love Unlimited Orchestra

Pye Records – 1974

The steamy summer of 1974 Galveston, Texas is the backdrop for this Blaxplotation Classic, starring Lincoln Kilpatrick as “Billy Most” a misunderstood, troubled, cross dressing ex-con, who misguidedly obsesses over yearning to birth, suckle, nurture and rear his own progeny. Yet, due to obvious gender issues, is rendered incapable and sublimates by kidnapping a young Black boy to call his own.

The missing boy however has attachments to a community of teen youths, led by H.J. “Ahmad Nurradin” and four of his fellow “soul brothers and one “Good-Cop”, “Mr. Kool”, played by Ed Bernard of “Police Story-circa 1974”.

The storyline, though choppy and mellow dramatic; offers a very unreal and real snapshot of 1970’s Urban America. Big Afros, Race Based Slang, tube tops, Hip-Hugger Pants, Run-Down Shanties, Drugs, Pimps and assorted other stereotypes depicting the plight or making fun of a world left standing untouched in the wake of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement.

As a jumping off point, “Mr. Kool” a mentor to “The Brothers” is brutally murdered by our antagonist, as he rescues the young boy who is subsequently rendered unable to speak. That is where our young vigilante group “The Brothers” band together to identify the killer and assist the police, by any means necessary.

Barry White’s soundtrack to the 1974 blaxploitation film Together Brothers doesn’t match the quality of classic efforts like Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly, Isaac Hayes’ Shaft, or Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man, but it is an appealing and welcome release all the same. Mayfield’s and Gaye’s soundtracks, in particular, benefited from solid material throughout, whereas White’s soundtrack does suffer from some plodding moments; “You Got Case” and “Stick Up” recycle past funk grooves, while the main theme “Somebody Is Gonna Off the Man” is ineffectively reconfigured throughout. An eerie, Morricone-style whistling and harp interlude on “Killer’s Lullaby” intrigues at first but falters with a thin arrangement. The lightness of tone and many string-laden numbers on Together Brothers shouldn’t be a surprise, though, since they reflect White’s romantic soul style: ghetto streets flowing with champagne. In fact, on a majority of the tracks, White’s spacious and silky arrangements and the Love Unlimited Orchestra’s adroit backing are substantial enough to offset the album’s weaker moments. The vocal version of “Somebody Is Gonna Off the Man” and the soundtrack’s one hit “Honey, Please Can’t You See” are classic examples of White’s pop-soul style, while mood numbers like “So Nice to Hear” and “Can’t Seem to Find Him” benefit from strong and varied arrangements; the latter features an effective three-way collage of funk, noir ambience, and orchestral bombast. Together Brothers is a must for dedicated White fans and a respectable title in the blaxploitation soundtrack catalog.

This album has been sampled by everyone from Quad City Dj’s for “C’mon ride the train” to Oc for his classsic “My world”,  Jeru the Damaja for “Too perverted” to Lil Wayne for “Bill Gates”…and a host of others.

you can get this great album for a steal here,

Or

HERE

@320.

Enjoy.

It’s Allright…

“May you live in interesting times”

Often referred to as the “Chinese curse”, it is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse, although it may have originated among the English themselves, No known user of the English phrase has supplied the purported Chinese language original, and the Chinese language origin of the phrase, if it exists, has not been found, making its authenticity, at least in its present form, very doubtful. One theory is that it may be related to the Chinese proverb, “It’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period”

寧為太平犬，不做亂世人

But,

It’s Allright…

Things are gonna get better.

Reza made you a mix…Summer is coming…

WWW.SHELIKES12INCHES.COM has got you covered for music…

IT ‘ S ALLRIGHT:

1 Crumb Brothers – Seat in The Kingdom
2 Irma Thomas – Anyone
3 Lorez Alexandria – I’m Wishin’
4 Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
5 Manhar & Anand – Hum Tumhe Chante Hain
6 Laxmikant Pyarelal – Love Sublime
7 Gainsbourg – Requiem
8 Whitefield brothers – Safari Strut
9 Zelia Barbosa – Funeral Del Agricultor
10 Mongo Santamaria – Kiniqua
11 Sun Ra – Call for Demons
12 Moon Dog – Lament I, Bird’s Lament
13 Grahme Bond – Sun Dance
14 Esquivel – Andalusian sky
15 Polish Opera Jazz ?
16 Redwoods College Stage Band – Family of Men
17 Kitty Winters – New Morning
18 Air – ?
19 Sister Janet Mead – He Is King
20 Ojoobeha – Dar Aseman Ashq-e-man

an hour of records you don’t have.

right….

HERE

@320

Enjoy.

Winter In America

I was hoping to post a Strata East MONSTER of an album for you, unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control (It’s actually my strange and mysterious friend Reza El Rico’s record, I am not of the chosen few. Sigh.) I’m gonna have to make you wait for it….but keep on the look out for some serious vinyl @ http://www.shelikes12inches.com

However….

I Just happened to have this lil’ Strata East record sitting around…and thought it was fitting…seeing as its freezing cold and I’m wearing a jacket indoors!…Will this weather never end?

So…here’s some heat to keep you warm….

Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson – Winter In America

Strata East Records -1974

This album was to be Scott-Heron’s and Jackson’s debut release for Strata-East Records. It also proved to be their sole release for the independent jazz label. Upon its release, Winter in America featured limited distribution in the United States and quickly became rare in print. However, with promotional help from its only single “The Bottle”, it obtained considerably larger commercial success than Scott-Heron’s and Jackson’s previous work. The album debuted at number six on Billboard‘s Top Jazz Albums chart and ultimately sold over 300,000 copies in the United States. While it was critically overlooked upon its release, Winter in America earned retrospective acclaim from several writers and music critics as Scott-Heron’s and Jackson’s greatest work together. Along with its critical recognition, it has been noted by several critics for its influence on derivative music forms such as neo soul and hip hop music, as many artists of the genres have been influenced by Scott-Heron’s and Jackson’s lyrical and musical approach on the album.

After leaving his former label Flying Dutchman Records, Gil Scott-Heron signed with the New York City jazz-based Strata-East label in early 1973, accompanied by jazz keyboardist and songwriter Brian Jackson, with whom he had worked with on his previous studio albums, “Pieces of a Man” and “Free Will”.  While some sources allege this may have been over financial or creative differences, Scott-Heron maintains the switch was due to producer Bob Thiele’s unwillingness to give Jackson co-billing.

By the time of their move to Strata-East, Scott-Heron and Jackson had achieved underground notice among R&B and soul music listeners, particularly for the political and social nature of their music’s themes, as well as Scott-Heron’s emphasis on African-American culture and social plight in his compositions.Their musical fusion of jazz, blues, soul and spoken word styles helped them earn some notice among less-mainstream black music listeners at the time.

Significant social circumstances and musical events preceded Scott-Heron’s and Jackson’s signing with Strata-East. After the decline of popularity in traditional jazz forms and the civil rights struggle, which had sought racial equality during the late 1950s and 1960s, black pride and Afrocentric sentiment by many black Americans emerged. During 1970 to 1974, the Black Panthers organization had been neutralized and pan-Africanism came into vogue.Following the free jazz and avant-garde breakthroughs of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, a creative stasis among most jazz musicians set in during the decade that led to an eclecticism where no style or conception of jazz maintained a zeitgeist among players.However, jazz fusion had gained mainstream notice for its stylistic adoption of rock and funk music, despite being the subject of controversy in jazz purist circles.

Highlighted by the works of such artists as Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock and Donald Byrd, jazz-funk also emerged in response to the growing popularity of funk, leading to a trend of funk rhythms among jazz musicians formerly of the hard bop tradition as an attempt to reconnect with their African-American audience. This factored into the popularity of Scott-Heron’s and Jackson’s work in the black underground scene, with the former obtaining a reputation as a “street poet”, while his work with Jackson served as an early recording of jazz poetry.

Scott-Heron had looked to expand on his socially-conscious, pro black-oriented themes and independently produce a more conceptual album than his previous work had envisioned.Scott-Heron’s and Jackson’s search for more creative control over their recordings prompted them to sign with Strata-East Records. Established in 1971 by jazz musicians Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell, in response to major record companies’ lack of interest in their recordings, the Strata-East label had become known for signing artists who recorded with diverse styles of jazz music with themes of social consciousness and black nationalism, as well as “minimal but eye-grabbing graphic design” for its releases.

The label had also been known for carrying out the management concept of “condominium”, originally conceived and penned by Cowell, which presented artists with the authority and responsibility over their recorded material independently, as well as the ability to assign the master tapes over to the label for distribution. This allowed artists signed to Strata-East a greater amount of control over their recordings than major labels at the time had offered. Music journalist Kevin Moist later wrote of the label’s “condominium” concept, stating “The idea was to try and develop an independent cultural space outside of the mainstream that could function self-sufficiently and be genuinely participatory for its members. The goal was to live in an engaged way where art, society, spirituality, and politics could all come together holistically in an integrated existence. That (sub)cultural renewal is embodied in the kind of music midwifed by Strata-East.” The label’s philosophy for artist management and recording ethic worked to the advantage of artists such as Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson.Scott-Heron and Jackson were able to release more aesthetically personalized recordings for Strata-East than most mainstream labels would allow.

Winter in America was intended to represent Scott-Heron’s use of the season of winter as a metaphor and concept of his view of the issues facing society during his time. The title was also meant to represent the urban sociological themes featured on the album, which had surfaced on most of Scott-Heron’s previous work. Scott-Heron referred to the title as the “overall atmosphere of the album”, as well as the metaphor for the overall theme of the album. Winter was conceived amid social, economic and political issues in the United States during the early 1970s, including stagflation, the 1973 oil crisis that had great effect during the winter, the 1973 stock market crash, the Watergate scandal, and urban decay. He further elaborated on the social concept of winter and Afrocentricism, as it relates to living during times such as these and how the title reflects on the time itself, in the original LP liner notes:

“At the end of 360 degrees, Winter is a metaphor: a term not only used to describe the season of ice, but the period of our lives through which we are travelling. In our hearts we feel that spring is just around the corner: a spring of brotherhood and united spirits among people of color. Everyone is moving, searching. There is a restlessness within our souls that keeps us questioning, discovering and struggling against a system that will not allow us space and time for fresh expression. Western iceman have attempted to distort time. Extra months on the calendar and daylight saved what was Eastern Standard. We approach winter the most depressing period in the history of this industrial empire, with threats of oil shortages and energy crises. But we, as Black people, have been a source of endless energy, endless beauty and endless determination. I have many things to tell you about tomorrow’s love and light. We will see you in Spring.”

—Gil Scott-Heron

This album has been sampled by a bevy of Hip-Hop heads, including:

Lords Of The Underground, The Jungle Brothers, Milkbone, Aloe Blacc, Atmosphere, BDP, Mellow Man Ace and even dance artists S’Express and “Mr. Rico Suave”  Gerardo have lifted a sample or two.

I implore you to purchase this record. A must have for any fan of great music.

get it here.

Or…

HERE

@320

Enjoy.

Sinbad

 

Weldon Irvine – Sinbad

RCA Records – 1976

 

 

Keyboardist Weldon Irvine looms large in the pantheon of jazz-funk, profoundly influencing the subsequent generations of hip-hop artists for whom he served as a collaborator and mentor. Born in Hampton, VA, on October 27, 1943, Irvine was raised by his grandparents in the wake of his parents’ divorce, and while his grandmother played standup bass in a series of regional classical ensembles, her husband served as dean of the men’s college at Hampton Institute. Irvine began playing piano as a teen, and while he later majored in literature at Hampton, music remained his first love, especially after discovering jazz. Upon settling in New York City in 1965, he was recruited into Kenny Dorham and Joe Henderson’s big band, a year later signing on with Nina Simone as the legendary singer’s organist, bandleader, arranger, and road manager. The two also wrote songs together, and after seeing a performance of playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s “To Be Young, Gifted and Black”, Simone instructed Irvine to compose lyrics for a song of the same title. After two weeks of writer’s block, the words came to him in a flash of inspiration, and the finished song would later merit cover versions by performers including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Donny Hathaway on its way to becoming the best known of his approximately 500 published compositions.

After splitting from Simone, Irvine formed his own 17-piece group that at different times included the likes of Billy Cobham, Randy Brecker, Bennie Maupin, and Don Blackman; in 1973, the Nodlew label issued his first headlining session, Liberated Brother, followed a year later by Time Capsule. Over the course of these records the keyboardist truly hit his stride, honing not only his singular yet skilled fusion of jazz, funk, soul, blues, and gospel — a direct antecedent of what would later be known as acid jazz — but also the social consciousness and impassioned spiritually that further defined his career. In addition to subsequent LPs like 1975’s “Spirit Man” and the next year’s “Sinbad”, Recorded with an exemplary supporting cast featuring pianist Don Blackman, guitarist Eric Gale, and saxophonist Michael Brecker, “Sinbad” explores the extremes of Weldon Irvine’s music, juxtaposing several of the keyboardist’s funkiest, most energetic grooves to date alongside mellow, contemplative performances of uncommon intricacy and beauty. Inspired in both sound and spirit by the soul-searching Motown efforts of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, complete with covers of their respective “What’s Going On” and “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”, “Sinbad” contrasts the elegant soul-jazz contours and luminous, horn-driven arrangements of the title cut and “Do Something for Yourself ” alongside the nuances and soft pastels of “I Love You” and “Music Is the Key”. The resiliency of Irvine’s vision and the vibrant performances of his collaborators nevertheless create a kind of yin-yang dynamic that enables the album’s divided soul to operate in harmony.

Irvine also began writing musicals for the stage, and in 1977 New York’s Billie Holiday Theatre produced his “Young, Gifted and Broke”, which proved both a commercial and critical smash that won a series of awards during its eight-month run. The Billie Holiday Theatre also mounted more than 20 of Irvine’s other musicals, most notable among them “The Vampire and the Dentist”, “The Will”, and “Keep It Real.”

But while Irvine focused on his stage projects, his recording career fell by the wayside, and following 1979’s “Sisters” he did not headline a new LP for another 15 years. In that time his work was rediscovered and praised by a growing number of politically minded young rappers, especially Boogie Down Productions, A Tribe Called Quest, and Leaders of the New School, all of whom sampled his vintage recordings. Unlike many artists of his generation, Irvine embraced these upstarts in turn, in 1994 recording the hip-hop-inspired “Music Is the Key” for the indie label Luv’N’Haight. Three years later he cut “Spoken Melodies”, even rapping himself under the name “Master Wel”, and that same year lent keyboard and string arrangements to Mos Def’s “Black on Both Sides”….he even gave piano lessons to rappers Q-Tip and Common. In 1999 Irvine called on Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Q-Tip for “The Price of Freedom”, a searing indictment of police brutality inspired by the death of Amadou Diallo, a defenseless African immigrant murdered in a hail of gunfire by New York City cops.

On April 9, 2002, Irvine committed suicide outside a New York City office complex — he was just 58 years old.

Irvine committed suicide outside of EAB Plaza and in front of the Nassau Coliseum located in Uniondale, New York. The location was chosen because it was the offices of his record company who were in part responsible for his desperate financial situation through refusing to pay him an advance. Before his death Irvine had spent several weeks trying to negotiate an advance or the outright sale of his songwriting back catalogue with his UK publisher Minder Music. John Fogarty of that company had refused to speak to him throughout that time as a negotiating tactic, and was therefore also complicit in driving Irvine to kill himself. In 2004, Hip Hop wunderkind Madlib produced a tribute to Weldon Irvine, “A Tribute to Brother Weldon”.

Weldon Irvine’s music has been sampled by:

A Tribe Called Quest, Dj Food, Blackstar, BDP, Leaders Of The New School, Memphis Bleek, Blood Of Abraham, Madlib, J Dilla and Dr.Dre

just to name a few…

 

Grab a copy of this Jazz Funk classic right here, If you have $120 bucks to spare…

 

 

or

 

 

HERE

@320

 

 

enjoy.

The Unbelievable Adventures Of The Mighty Reza El Rico: Saigon

We here at WWW.SHELIKES12INCHES.COM take great pains and expense to travel the farthest corners of the globe in search of those sweet drumbreaks and rarest of grooves.

Not only today, are you being graced with a post from the near mythical “Reza El Rico” but it’s also an hour long mix of music that I can promise you….you will NEVER find.

So with out any further delay, I’m gonna hand the wheel to my man Rez….

Enjoy The Mix!

 

Vietnamese Records. Is there such a thing .

I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to find records in Vietnam, but they are rare. I started my trip in the north capital, Hanoi. I walked around for days in Hanoi with no luck. No one under 35 even knew what a record was. I was carrying a 45 around with me, going to all the music stores and asking around . Most of the time people would look at me with a blank stare. I did find one CD store that had some jazz records on the wall—sealed second press jazz records from the seventies. That gave me some hope. Vietnamese records are almost impossible to find in the north because of the the communist north control and some of the records had anti communist sentiment in the lyrics and they where made by their enemy in the south. Most of the great music was produced between 1965-1975 in the American occupied south. Most of the records where traditional Vietnamese folk or theater opera type records but most of the records were influenced by american blues, funk, or surf rock. Now you kinda get why they where banned. The north ended up winning the war and these records are still illegal to posses and are banned from radio play. Most people living in the south feared having there record collections discovered when saigon fell so they destroyed almost all the records. If I was going to find anything I had to go south.

It’s my second week in Vietnam and I’m sitting poolside at the Hue Morin, listening to Billy Bang and wondering if my luck will change. I went down to Dong Ba markets where they had some music stores selling modern Vietnamese CDs. I met this old man and showed him the record and he nodded yes and we where off . I jumped on the back of a scooter and We started to follow the man through the back streets of Hue until we pulled up to a gate some back alley . There where a few small dogs playing in the yard and a sweet old lady let us in . We followed her to this room filled with real to reals and gramophones . It turns out that he was the stereo repair man in Hue. He didn’t have any records but he had a friend with records in Saigon . Finally a solid lead.

It took me 4 or 5 days to adjust to Saigon before i could concentrate on looking for records . I got into a cab from my hotel armed with my portable turntable and the address from Hue. The place was on the edge of town by the airport . When i pulled up it was a restaurant i walked in and looked around and I saw a reel-to-reel in the room so i knew i was in the right place . I showed the hostess  a record and she signaled me to sit down . I waited a few minutes and a gentleman named Tran Hoang Minh appeared . He took me upstairs to a dark room filled with recording gear real to reals  and a wall of records. The only thing was that he had very little Vietnamese records: They where all French  and American rock records . Man i didn’t come all this way for Peter Frampton records . But when i got near the end i hit the jazz section he had a few Japanese press Verve and Blue Notes . Tran asked me to wait and a few minutes while he made some calls . Later a gentleman named Luong showed up he spoke perfect English and he had a load of Vietnamese records.

Loung was supper helpful and a gracious host . He invited me to his home where he had a listening room full of Vietnamese records from the 60’s and 70’s we sat there a few hours at a time going through boxes of 45’s . Luonge was a serious collector I was really lucky to meet he had a lot of knowledge on Vietnamese music.    He gave me some background on the records and all the different styles of Vietnamese music. Luonge asked me if i wanted to meet on of the producers on one of the records i liked. He was on of Luonge  friends and they met every Sunday morning for there photography club. Lounge invited my for coffee that Sunday . I was so excited i never expected to meet any of the artist  Mr  Ngoc Son helped produce over 300 records in the sixties and seventies . He is currently producing music for Vietnamese  film . He played upright bass as a teen and had an interest in jazz and blues . He was  Influenced by French and American music witch was very popular in Vietnam at the time  . It was great  meeting him to get an in site on how it was like from someone that was there involved with the music  . It was so nice meeting all these great people , I wish I had more time to spend with them , I cant wait to go back and visit my new friends in Vietnam .

 

 

 

Download the mix …

HERE

and part 2

HERE

thưởng thức

(Enjoy.)

Where I’m Coming From

 

The True Reflection – Where I’m Coming From

Atco Records -1973

 

 

“Where I’m coming From” is the sole album from The True Reflection, an excellent group from the 70s East Coast scene, from New York, transplanted to Philly…with a heavy harmony sound that should have made them famous, however Atco seriously fumbled the release of this outstanding album.

The record was cut during the prime early days of the Sigma Sound Studios, founded by recording engineer Joseph Tarsia in 1968. Located at 212 N. 12th Street in Philadelphia, it was the second studio in the country to offer 24-track recording and the first in the country to use console automation. Tarsia was formerly chief engineer at Philadelphia’s Cameo-Parkway Studios before branching out on his own. In the 1970s, Sigma Sound was strongly associated with Philadelphia soul and the sound of Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International records , which combined a driving rhythm section with a full orchestral sound of strings and brass. Sigma still operates to this day and has had some HEAVYWEIGHT artists record there. (Hell…David Bowie even recorded his album Young Americans at Sigma Sound.)

Enough about Sigma…(I’m such a studio nerd) Back to the Record….

And what a record it is….Not only does this album have a great cover with all the ingredients that I need to fork out money on a record I don’t know: Graffiti, Subways, huge afro’s and a killer typeface….The record also features arrangements by Philly greats like Norman Harris (He was a founding member of MFSB) Ronnie Baker (Bassist for the Trammps), and Vince Montana (The spiritual father of the Salsoul Orchestra), all working here in a mode that’s similar to that applied to The Spinners after they made their move to Atlantic.

It’s the band’s harmonies that really take the cake, though – as they mix together deep-rooted Temptations-esque righteous vocals with sweeter harmonies in the New Jersey falsetto mode (ironically member Glenn Leonard would go on to become a member of the Temptations….go figure.)  The style is very compelling, and kills on just about every cut. Titles include “Society”, “That Was Yesterday”, “It Really Hurts”, “Look At All The Lonely People” (My personal fav.), and the heavily sampled cut “Whispers”.

The True Reflection has been smpled by:

Brother Ali, G-Unit, 9th Wonder, Grammatik, Da Ranjah’s and the one and only Pete Rock.

 

Find out where I”m coming from, Right here.

 

 

or…

 

 

HERE

@320

 

Enjoy.