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.