Sylvester - Living Proof

Beyond category.   Double LP recorded at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, on 03/11/1979.  Sylvester  - the Queen of Disco?  Labels are misleading.  This is a performance.  No lip-synching, no backing tracks -- full string orchestra and backing band.  Far from one-dimensional this captures his re-workings of the Beatles, Leon Russell, Billie Holiday, Thelma Houston, and Allen Toussaint songs.   It's an honest performance that doesn't hold back.  

Personnel: Sylvester (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Eric Robinson (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Tip Wirrick, Ralph Wash (guitar); Randall Pratt (harp); Leslie Drayton (strings, horns); Terry Adams , Kathy Walters, Barbara Riccardi, Marjorie Prescott, Adrienne Blackshere, Mary Anne Meredith, Ellen Dessier, William Pyncron, Stephen Gehl, Serban Rusu, Melinda Wagner, Emily VanValkenburgh, Melinda Ross, Julianne Feldman, India Cooke, Carl Pedersen, Patrice Anderson, Kenneth Harrison, Nathan Rubin, Edward Bogas, John Tenney (strings); Marc Baum, Jay Stolmac (flute, saxophone); Mel Martin (baritone saxophone); Ross Wilson (trumpet, trombone); Frederick Berry, Allen Smith, Dean Boysen (trumpet); David Sprunk (French horn); Dan Reagan, Julian Priester, Wayne Wallace (trombone); Michael Finden (keyboards); Patrick Cowley (synthesizer); Kelvin Dixon (drums); Rick Kvistad (timpani); David Frazier, Gus Anthony Flores (percussion); Izora Rhodes, Sharon Hymes, Jeanie Tracy, Martha Wash (background vocals).

Tracklist
Overture
Body strong
Black birds
Medley - Could it be Magic /A Song for You
Happiness
Loverman
Sharing something...
You are my Friend
Dance Disco Heat
You Make Me Feel Mighty Real
Can't stop Dancing
In my Fantasy
Can't stop...(reprise)

The last three songs are not included in the CD reissue.

Barry Manilow and Leon Russell (but Donny made it his).   Soaring and soulful....Izadora Rhodes and Martha Wash make this  - how they sing around Sylvester turns this into a beautiful expression of soul.  I feel this. 
 
Medley - Could It Be Magic/A Song for You

 

Arthur Blythe - Lenox Avenue Breakdown

1979 - Columbia release.  One of the coolest album covers of all time.  Why important....the most popular year for disco was 1979 - disco was everywhere and at the top of the charts.  Discofied theme songs and intros were commonplace on American television.  Who would think a jazz masterpiece would be recorded '79?  

This might be the last of the jazz classics.  This is also the last of the modern classics that didn't have a Marsalis name attached to it (written with tongue in cheek).  I've never been a huge fan of the alto saxaphone.   Blythe and Bartz are the two exceptions.....the more interesting question is where does the tuba fit into jazz.  And when has "Blood" Ulmer sounded so in the groove yet restrained?  No doubt that Blythe is impressive but the team of players working together carry the day.  Great example of a septet going off in a disciplined way. 

Personnel: Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone); James Blood Ulmer, Cecil McBee (guitar); James Newton (flute); Bob Stewart (tuba); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Guilherme Franco (percussion).

Tracklist
Down San Diego Way
Lenox Avenue Breakdown
Slidin' Through
Odessa

There is nothing I can say that can't be better said by listening to this composition. Bass parts carried by a tuba....Steady one drop rhythm....Boom ba boom. And James Newton channeling Roland Kirk.  Awesome.

Lenox Avenue Breakdown

Airto Moreira - Fingers

I never thought the cuica could be funky until I heard this.  Airto - master percussionist, sideman extraordinaire....king of the talking drum.  CTI release, 1973.  Creed Taylor with production credits.  Small ensemble with large sound.

Personnel: Flora Purim on percussion and vocals; Airto Moreira on percussion and vocals; David Amaro on guitar; Hugo Fattoruso on keyboards and harmonica; Jorge Fattoruso on drums; and Ringo Thielmann on electric bass.

Tracklist

Fingers

Romance of Death
Merry-Go-Round
Wind Chant
Parana
San Francisco River
Tombo in 74

When you mix Brazilian traditional instruments with rock, funk, and jazz this is what you get.  The tone of the cuica carries this...I don't think I've heard it played like this anywhere else.

Fingers

Les McCann - Hustle to Survive

The defination of soul jazz.  Hustle To Survive (1975, Atlantic).  McCann was past the glory days of Swiss Movement but this is a nice record.  Sometimes when you peak early (Swiss Movement and Layers), this kind of record becomes more of the reality.....got to hustle to survive.  This is that attempt to recapture that earlier magic.  There are some fantastic moments here...Herbie Hancock plays his ass off.  Love McCann's voice.

Personnel: Les McCann (vocals, strings, Clavinet, keyboards, synthesizer); Shiela Raye (vocals, percussion); Miroslaw Kudykowski (guitar, organ); Herbie Hancock (piano); Jimmy Rowser (bass guitar); Harold Davis (percussion).

Tracklist
Us
Changing Seasons
Got to Hustle to Survive
Butterflies/Everytime I See a Butterfly
Says Who Says What?
Will We Ever Find Our Fathers
Well, Cuss My Daddy
Why Is Now
Let Your Learning Be Your Eyes

Us is a burner....pure and simple.
Us
 

Bernie Worrell - All the Woo in the World

"I talk by playing, not by words." - Bernie Worrell

My argument: George Clinton is a musical promoter par excellence with a hell of an ear.  This is not to downplay his significance. But the innovation within Funkedelic is Bernie Worrell....it was his work with synthesizers that made the P-Funk foundation and structured the sound..from arrangements to production.  This is the discipline of the sound.  Without it - this is a group that doesn't make it out of Detriot and sustain its success.  A classically trained pianist driving black rock.  As an artist, he is criminally overlooked.

All The Woo In The World was the debut album by Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell.   Released in 1978 by Arista Records. The P-Funk cast of muscians is present throughout the album.  Interesting to pair Bernie Worrell and Junie Morrison together...sparks fly.   History will judge this music. 

Tracklist
Woo Together
I'll Be With You
Hold On
Much Thrust
Happy To Have
Insurance Man For The Funk
Reprise: Much Thrust"

Personel: Bass - Billy Nelson , Rodney Curtis; Drums - Gary Mudbone Cooper , Jim Wright , Tyrone Lampkin: Guitar - Bootsy Collins , Catfish Collins , Eddie Hazel , Garry Shider , Glen Goins , Junie Morrison , Michael Hampton: Keyboards - Bernie Worrell: Lead Vocals - Bernie Worrell: Saxophone - Maceo Parker: Trombone - Fred Wesley; Trumpet - Richard Griffith , Rick Gardner
Vocals - Bootsy Collins , Brides Of Funkenstein , Garry Shider , George Clinton , Junie Morrison , Parlet.

Hold On is such a beautiful and complex song.  Written by George Clinton and Worrell. Worrell on lead vocals, Fred Wesley's great trombone intro and sustained melody, and Junie Morrison on keyboard.  Etheral.   "I'll be your co-signer".

Hold On

Defunkt - Defunkt

1980 release.  "Virtuosity in search of a concept"....think of a merging of  punk, jazz and dance music.  This is the group that jump started the underground New York funk music scene (Talking Heads, etc.). Influential without a doubt.  Led by trumpet player Joseph Bowie -- the son of a St. Louis-based music teacher, the brother of big band arranger Byron Bowie, and late trumpet player of the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Lester Bowie. Album has the original version of "Strangling Me With Your Love" and a version of Chic's "In the Good Times".  Their second album Thermo Nuclear Sweat featured Vernon Reid on guitar. 

This is comment from a cat named Rickey Vincent that lays it out for me:

"If you listen to that early 80's Miles Davis, where he tries to get into some spastic funk/jazz with a nasty edge, and basically leaves you unsatisfied...DEFUNKT gets you all the way there...What Miles was trying to do, Defunkt was doing...What Kelvynator was trying to do, Defunkt had it down...I have an Ornette Coleman album from around 1980, with a stanky electric bass guitarist underneath Ornette's horn...seriously trippy funk...for my money, even Ornette was working toward what Defunkt had mastered..."

Personnel: Backing Vocals - Clarice Taylor, Janos Gat (tracks: A4) , Michael Riesman, Backing Vocals, Percussion [Additional] - Charles Bobo Shaw, Bass - Melvin Gibbs, Drums - Ronnie Burrage, Flute, Saxophone - Byron Bowie, Guitar - Kelvyn Bell , Martin Aubert, Keyboards - Martin Fischerm Trombone, Vocals - Joseph Bowie, Trumpet - Ted Daniel.

Tracklist
Make Them Dance
Strangling Me With Your Love
In The Good Times
Blues
Defunkt
Thermonuclear Sweat
Melvin's Tune
We All Dance Together

Hard rock, jazz...what is this?   Took skills to play this that's all I'm sayin.  Classic with the trippy flute battling with a guitar.
 
Melvin's Tune

Bernard Wright - Nard

The Master Rocker.  1981 - his first release.  Wright, was product of Jamaica, Queens' R&B/funk scene....contemporary of Tom Browne and Lenny White.  This is teenage funk - he was 16 when this came out.  Known as a jazz musician but the album is more R+B groove.  Several instrumentals.... the irony being a Jamaica, Queens homeboy ended up being the fuel and sampling product for the G-Funk hiphop era. 

Personnel: Bernard Wright, keys, vocals; Dave Grusin, Don Blackman, keys; Ronnie Miller, guitar, keys; Bobby Broom, Henry Grate Jr., guitar; Jimmy Owens, Al Flythe, Ed Jackson, horn section; Marcus Miller, Barry Johnson, Buster Williams, Steve Teele, bass; Charley Drayton, Dennis Chambers, Roy Haynes, Mike Flythe, Howard Grate, Buddy Williams, drums; Crusher Bennett, percussion.  Patti Austin and Luther Vandross are credited as background vocals on the album.

Tracklist
Master Rocker
Firebolt Hustle
Haboglabotribin'
Spinnin'
Just Chillin' Out
Bread Sandwiches
Music Is The Key
We're Just The Band
Solar

Wright, Grusin and Blackman go off on the keys.....always loved the fender rhodes. 

Haboglabotribin'

 
 
 

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Blacknuss

1971 Atlantic. This isn't a jazz album.   This is a soul album.  Kirk is serious  - it's an album of mostly interpretations of pop songs but this is not a commercial pop jazz album.  Not covers......interpretations.  Kirk is making a point and getting to the roots of jazz.  The counter argument, at the time of its release, was this was too "populist" a recording.  Too "Pop". The argument is silly.  This is a workout..growls, chants, wild energy....the first time I heard this it stopped me in my tracks. 

Personnel: Rahsaan Roland Kirk (vocals, guitar, flute, stritch, manzello, tenor saxophone, trumpet, gong); Cissy Houston, Princess Patience Burton (vocals); Cornell Dupree, Keith Loving, Billy Butler (guitar); Charles McGhee (trumpet); Dick Griffin (trombone); Richard Tee, Sonelius Smith (piano); Mickey Tucker (organ); Khalil Mhrdi, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie (drums); Arthur Jenkins, Jr., Arthur Jenkins , Richard Landrum (congas); Joe Habad Texidor (percussion).

Tracklist
Ain't No Sunshine
What's Goin' On 
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
I Love You Yes I Do
My Girl
Which Way Is It Going
One Nation
Never Can Say Goodbye
Old Rugged Cross
Make It With You
Blacknuss

Title track - a blues jam with vocals by Kirk and Cissy Houston and Sonelius Smith on piano....check his runs.  "Jump up and down on it!"

Blacknuss

Eddie Palmieri - Live at Sing Sing Volume 2

For all mankind, there should be never no walls, never no fears, only one thing in life: liberty in the coming years.  Paquito Navarro

Set two of a remarkable live album featuring Palmieri and Harlem River Drive.  Recorded live in 1971 at Ossining...up the river.....Sing Sing.  Volume 1 is the more readily availible release (the cover is white).  Both sets show a fearless bandleader and the perfect storm of sound, audience, and content.  This is salsa with swagger.  Just a massive sound. 

Personnel: Eddie Palmieri - Leader, Piano, Charlie Palmieri - Organ, Ronnie Cuber - Saxophone, Cornell Dupree - Guitar, Joe Gaines - M.C., Andy Gonzalez - Bass, Ismael Quintana - Vocals, Choir, Chorus, Raymond Maldonado - Trumpet, Nicky Marrero - Bongos, Charlie Santiago - Timbales, Ray Romero - Conga, Felipe Luciano - Talking, Jimmy Norman - Vocals, Harlem River Drive Singers with Lorene Hanchard - Vocals, Alvin Taylor - Vocals, Izzy Sanabria - Design, Harry Viggiano - Guitar, Jerry González - Percussion, Hank Anderson - Guitar (Bass), José Papo Rodríguez - Trombone, Arturo Campa - Vocals & Chorus, Arturo Franquiz - Vocals & Chorus

Tracklist

Introduction/Vamonos Pal Monte/Calle de la Vera Cruz/Mi Mujer
Introduction/Somebody's Sons/Un Rifle Oracion/Diecisiete Punto Uno
Mi Mujer Espiritual
Somebody's Sons
Un Rifle Oracion
Diecisiete Punto Uno

This is some heavy, heavy, heavy salsa/fusion/soul. Jimmy Norman's voice cuts deep.  Piercing song.  The sound of the Barrio transported to Sing Sing.  With this music, there is hope.  "Just hold on.  One day it will be alright.....everyone got to realize that you are still a man."

Somebody's Sons, Un Rifle Oracion, Diecisiete Punto Uno

 
 

La Clave - La Clave

The Clave is the rhythmic pattern that forms the basis of Latin music....it is considered the key...the identity...... the root..... the "soul" of the music. It is also the name of the instrument used to create that rhythmic sound and is comprised of two sticks that are struck together to get a cracking sound.

La Clave was a '70s Latin funk ensemble, based in San Francisco, CA, led by percussionist Benny Velarde.   The band released only one album on Verve in 1973 and reissued by Dusty Groove - it is a monster.  Incredibly tight with Latin funk versions of Donny Hathaway's “The Ghetto”, Lonnie Smith's “Move Your Hand”, and Cal Tjader's “Soul Sauce”. The album remains shrouded in mystery...this was not Verve's "sweet spot".  It should have been lost but now it's legacy is of a record with a host of funky latin touches and credits that are part of oral history. 

Personnel

Al Zulaica - Piano, Benny Velarde - Leader, Timbales, Gabriel Rondon - Guitar, Jerry Gilmor - Sax (Baritone), Joe Ellin - Trumpet, Johnny Nelson - Vocals, Lalo Schifrin - Keyboards, Luiz Miranda - Conga, Martin Fierro - Sax (Tenor), Pat O'Hara - Trombone, Tito Garcia - Vocals, Willie Colón - Bass, Willie Colón - Guitar

Tracklist

Sally Go Round The Roses

Angels Of Mercy
Move Your Hand
Latin Slide
Who You Fooling
The Ghetto
Road Runner
Soul Sauce
Baila Mi Guaguancò
Cocoa Leaf

Move Your Hand...This is just some slowed down, slinky, shit. The instrumentation is similar to the original (instruments are virtually the same) but this just seems to simmer.  It's a great take on a hell of song.

Move Your Hand