Willie Mitchell, the soul, R&B, rock and roll, pop and funk music producer and arranger who ran Royal Recording in Memphis, Tennessee and was best known for his Hi Records label of the 1970s, which released albums by a large stable of popular Memphis soul artists, including Mitchell himself, Al Green, Syl Johnson and Ann [...] Related posts: George Michael of “The George Michael Sports Machine”...
In all this time that I've been doing the Saturday Sample, I'm not sure why it took me this long to get to breaking down the Beatnuts. But now, finally, I've decided to tackle Juju, Psycho Les and the former member Kool Fashion's '94 single "Props Over Here" off their debut LP Street Level. The group mixed samples from Donald Byrd and Booker Little's "Wee Tina" and MC Shan's classic...
Only fitting that if I fit another blog post in before the New Year, it's a review of the year's most lauded books - I don't think there are any particular spoilers in this, unless you're unaware of the history of the Tudors! Popular and critical favourite for this year's Booker, it's little surprise that "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel has received such acclaim, as its in many ways a tour de...
By Christopher Booker "Little of this extraordinary story been reported by the BBC or most of our mass-media, so possessed by groupthink that they are unable to see the mountain of evidence now staring them in the face. Not for nothing was Copenhagen the city in which Hans Andersen wrote his story about the Emperor whose people were brainwashed into believing that he was wearing a beautiful suit...
Al Di Meola - Cielo E Terra/Soaring Through A Dream (Bgo Uk/Zoomstar ) Al Haig - Ingluwood Jam 1952 (Indies Japan/Zoom ) Al Haig - Clef Session 1953 (Phantom ) Al Haig - Piano Interpretation (Phantom ) Antoinette - Verbal Crush (Pyramid ) Art Farmer - To Sweden With Love (Phantom ) Art Farmer Quartet - To Sweden With Love (Warner Japan/Zoom ) Art Pepper - Original Quartet 1952 (Phantom ) Art Tatum...
The 40 entries are here. This was a very interesting, amusing, and enlightening experiment! I think I will run a competition like this again next year. The two cash awards go to (in alphabetical order): 1) Paul Bennett for his...
I'm old. So my earliest experiences buying music involve going to record stores in the Washington, D.C., area to pick up LPs. I frequented The Turntable near my home and the Soul Shack downtown. But, more often than not, I found myself browsing the bins in a store just south of Dupont Circle called Discount Records and Books...
Nessa ncd-26 Trumpeter-composer Wadada Leo Smith’s second of two dates for Nessa Records is a true embodiment of the AACM Great Black Music aesthetic.Procession of the Great Ancestry is a very mature record, Smith’s concept of rhythm-units clearly defined, ripening aesthetically yet tied to a sense of history. By the early 1980s, Smith was resident in [...]
Boots of Leather will perform at RVAjazzfest with Steven Bernstein, Fight the Big Bull, and Glows in the Dark on February 21, 2009, 8pm, at The Camel. Tickets are $10, all ages welcome. by Nathan GoodwynDrummerBrian Jones wants to record 40 records by the time he's 40. Last week, he turned 36. He's...
Hank Crawford, another of the cadre of {{Ray Charles = 5648}} saxophonists who went on to their own fame, died on January 29. {{David "Fathead" Newman = 9844}} and Leroy "Hog" Cooper, Crawford's colleagues in the Charles band, died earlier last month. Crawford's alto, Newman's tenor and Cooper's baritone saxophones were integral to Charles's big band in the 1950s and early '60s...
Hank Crawford, another of the cadre of Ray Charles saxophonists who went on to their own fame, died on January 29. David "Fathead" Newman and Leroy "Hog" Cooper, Crawford's colleagues in the Charles band, died earlier last month. Crawford's alto,...
From the very beginning of the American Republic, the position of African Americans has been central both to our peril and our promise. Jefferson and Madison knew it. Abraham Lincoln realized it and it brought him back into politics in...
Bookends – Booker Little, with Booker Ervin beside him in the frontline on a 1960 session, originally issued under the leadership of Teddy Charles. Recorded at the Museum of Modern Art, some fiery blowing here. The track: 'Scoochie.' Ushered in by a sharp burst of drums from Eddie Shaughnessy, who drives the band on throughout. Booker Little takes the first solo, twisting a sure-footed elegance...
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