Something Smooth For The Weekend: Lamont Dozier

Lamont Dozier: Shine and All Cried Out
From: Black Bach [ABC, 1975]

Lamont Dozier: Trying To Hold On To My Woman
From: Out Here On My Own [ABC, 1974]

Switching up styles today with some downtempo delights to smoooooooooth you into the weekend. Maybe it's the 6 month British winter or just a general shift in tastes but I've found myself getting into the groove of mid seventies lush soul more and more over the last couple of months. I'm well aware that one listener's soul is another listener's shite so I'm not going to submerge you in it but did feel an overwhelming urge to post up some solo output from Lamont Dozier.

Originally making an impact as part of the Motown golddust team Holland-Dozier-Holland, Lamont's solo output is best known nowadays for the unfadeable Going Back To My Roots. However, Dozier actually had a pretty successful solo career which isn't bad going considering that most members of groups have a hard time making an impact after the split and when you're part of one of The Great Teams it must be even more of a bitch to prove your own worth.

Part of this is no doubt down to Dozier's role as the production wizard within the team, a talent he shows no sign of having lost on his 1975 album Black Bach. The most obvious parallel Dozier seems to be pulling with his album title is in the lushness of the musical structure he brings to the table and you can't fault him in this department.

Shine kicks off the album with aplomb as the artificial crowd calms down and the music begins, starting with a crescendo of strings Dozier switches up the melody with supreme confidence, reducing the layers of sound down before bringing it back up for the chorus.

All Cried Out hits me in my saccharine week spot. A track that hooks me from the get go and featuring a melody that rises and falls with the lead guitar I could just listen to a loop of this all day.

As a bonus I just couldn't resist featuring Trying To Hold On To My Woman from Dozier's earlier Out Here On Our Own. I forgot to crop off the interlude so you get a nice minute or so of string laden funk before the tear jerker kicks in. I'm a big big fan of "I've screwed up please give me another chance" ballads, the more overblown the better, and think this holds it's own commendably. This song is also a great example of the expressive set of pipes Lamont has as he delivers his vocal absolutely beautifully.

As it goes I've just noticed that Art Decade posted up Going Back To My Roots two weeks ago (great minds etc etc) so consider that an additional bonus track here. Also, while the originals seem tricky to come by you can pick up a best of Lamont pretty cheap from the usual places.

There you go, my ode to sweet smooth soul. Be interested if any readers want to step up to rep their own private mellow gems.........

Well Fertilized Funk: Compost

Compost: Thinkin and Take Off Your Body
From: Take Off Your Body [Columbia, 1971]

Back with the funk in a big way today my friends. We've featured Jack DeJohnette's percussion work in various groups a number of times on EarFuzz previously but today I'm turning the spotlight on to one of his earliest works leading a group with the 1971 album Take Off Your Body by Compost.

Also featuring the talents of Bob Moses and Jack Gregg, the album offers up a wide range of styles from softly softly jazz soul ballads to all balls to the floor manic funk.

Thinkin is undoubtedly the highlight of the record but it's fair to say that it would be the highlight of many records released in that period. An absolutely fantastic example of how to do a great funk tune the DeJohnette penned piece starts off slowly via the bass and builds up to speed in no time. I particularly love the breakdown two minutes in which works brilliantly as the drums come back in over the horn section.

I mentioned balls to the floor manic funk earlier and here it is. Take Off Your Body, written by Bob Moses, is a tune filled with hard as they come double time drumming, horns, congas and multitude of other instruments while the band plead with their muse to undress. It sounds like it could be a mess, hovering on the edge a number of times, but I'm a big fan of tracks with this chaotic energy and think this pulls it off with some to spare.

The record's yet to be reissued and seems to be pretty rare though when it does turn up on ebay it doesn't pick up much of a hefty price (seen it go for $10 more than once). I've yet to get my hands on the only other album Compost put together, Life is Round, any heads up on whether it's worth checking out would be much appreciated.

Get Your Rachmaninoff

Preludium Cis Moll
from the album Variations On Classics on Supraphon Records (1982).
Also appears on the compilation Strange Breaks and Mr. Thing on BBE Records (2008).

All The Things You C# - Charles Mingus
from the live album Mingus At The Bohemia on Debut Records (1955).

After spending 10 years in my youth playing classical piano, you would think I would know more about classical music. However, I spent probably 9.9 of those years thinking I'd rather learn to play jazz piano and Frank Sinatra ditties. More the shame for me I guess, but I will say I what little I know I enjoy. And everything I know is decidedly older than Sergei Rachmaninoff (the latest of anything I ever played was Tchaikovsky). Luckily, many others studied where I never ventured and today here's two "covers" of Rachmaninoff's famous Prelude in C# minor (check out this wikipedia entry with audio of Rachmaninoff being recorded by Thomas Edison).

First up is jazz-funk version of the prelude by Josef Vobruba with his Orchestra. It is possible this is the Prague Dance Orchestra with whom Vobruba is most often associated, but regardless the conductor is leading a big, funky group. The growing lore of Eastern European breaks is has been upheld by this track, which I had only recently discovered and then was delighted to hear in super clean form on Mr. Thing's recent compilation for BBE. The sound is huge and the number of elements and instruments contributing is astonishing to me, or probably to many listeners who do not often venture into orchestra territory. And just listen to whomever is attacking that piano, that is fierce, brother Christian.

One of the reasons I liked the Josef Vobruba version so much is my deep love for Charles Mingus's composition "All The Things You C Sharp," which is a juxtaposition of the jazz standard "All The Things You Are" with Rachmaninoff's prelude. Here the themes mix and match throughout lending an entirely new sound to the converted whole (a blend for the ages). High school performance piano piece du jour "Claire de Lune" even gets a little love on the piano lines occasionally, even if it was not able to make it into Mingus's brilliant title. Recorded live in 1955 (hence the less than stellar audio quality) at the Cafe Bohemia, this version is from early in Mingus's brilliant run as one of the most influential and far reaching jazz composers. He had not yet matched up with drummer Dannie Richmond, and I do miss DR's snappy drumming on this one, but overall the horns perform beautifully and Mingus pushes the players around with big, grounded bass. Pianist Mal Waldron, in his solo before Mingus's amazing bass solo, most clearly states the comparisons of the two composite songs. Deep, enjoyable listening. As a side note, Mingus attempted another "mash-up" on this album playing "Tenderly" against "September In The Rain" for his "Septemberly."

(Too) Long Time Coming: Best Mixing of 2007.

Thanks to Junior for getting us back online. Way back in January I was exploring my inner obsessive nerd and compiling "best of" lists for all the most important categories: album, movie, book, science paper, etc. So while I get some more posts in order and inspired by Matt W's mix from the previous post, I wanted to hit you all with my list for the five best mixes of 2007. (I know, I know...my God it's March and all...still I hope you find something good).

The criteria: I had to hear these for the first time in the calendar year of 2007, regardless of when they were made. Everything is rate on a five star scale, with five being the best. To put things in perspective, I've only ever give a ***** rating to maybe half a dozen mixes in my whole life (for what that's worth), an average mix is ***, and DJ Trainwreck is a 0.0. So after having made my way through 83 mixes in 2007, without further ado:

Number Five: ****.5 Monk One's Wax Poetics Mix from the Scion sampler Vol. 14.

Monk One makes some smooth mixes, and he really kills this collection of neo-funk and soul and instrumental hip hop. Butter smooth transitions and super dope track selection (choosing so much from the Daptone label is dangerous but genius). I probably dug this mix out of my CD stacks more often than any other in 2007 because of how often it fit the mood I was in or wanted to be in, namely serenely happy and open minded. Plus it is always good to hear a Diverse and Prefuse 73 track, which is what this snippet starts out as (note, you'll have to turn up the sound as the gain was accidentally low when i recorded these snippets).

Number Four: ****.5 Arthur King's Pop S#!+

My better half and I do not see eye to eye on many things music wise, but we both agree that the best thing for riding in the car are these ironic mix and mash CDs. Hollertronix, The Rub, and lots of other talented and cheeky folks get PT from us while we're burning fossil fuels. And this mix where Frenchy Arthur King puts together hip hop and the 80s pop confections that "inspired" them. Blends, sample references, lyrical references, all connections get play. But King's skills are on display for the opening cut-up in the snippet and then we get into a B.I.G. run captures the spirit of the CD well. Some how AK let's all the 60 odd tracks on this mix have their time in the sun alone and still fit in lots of dense transitions.

Number Three: ****.6 Play Anything by Sound Advice

Speaking of dense transitions, Brooklyn's Sound Advice made the independent-mobile mix of the year with their all styles and blends spectacular loosely linked to 80s stalwart / extreme skiing enthusiast John Cusack. Elsewhere and K.Ross made this mix years ago, but somehow it only got around to me early in 2007. Fun and inventive, and filled with great stuff from every source you can imagine. I don't even mind that they have a U2 track in there briefly and I hate U2 with such a fervently holy passion you would not believe. You can get the whole bloomin' mix at the duo's website.

Number Two: ****.6 Special Herbs Box Set by MF Doom

Something totally different from the other mixes on here is the 3 disc mix of beats MF Doom has produced for his long and well (internet fan boy) chronicled career. Doom is an exciting MC and in concert comes across as the most talented, brilliant homeless man you've ever stopped to talk with. But the genius of his beats never fully hit me until I was nodding along to collection, which is somewhat loosely mixed together by Doom with little to no cutting or blending. Maybe it is more of a compilation, but it is something beautiful. Doom beats are instantly recognizable as Doom beats and for that reason they can get lumped together and somewhat ignored, but for me it really clicked the subtle variation and cohesive vision throughout his work. Unique and yet extensive, now that is hard to do. This snippet is from the middle of the first CD, but maybe I should have picked something from the third CD which focuses on his time in KMD. Get your own copy.

Number One: ***** Gaslamp Killers by Gaslamp Killer

And finally the mix of the year. And a ***** effort to boot, maybe J Rocc should be nervous? Evidently this mix is also a few years old, but I'd never heard of GK until starting blowing my mind last year. His production has super tight drum programming while often pushing those drum samples to the point of distortion, but he kills with the intricate upper layer of melody or tone recalling early DJ Shadow (less introspective maybe) or RJD2 (but harder). This mix is hard core drums for over an hour, just blasting away at you with the lovely percussion. Some of them you'll recognize easily, others are from records I've never sniffed and probably never will.

Honorable mention mixes: Mason and DJ Zeph - Hip Hop Bebop; DJ FaceMe - Bingo Wings; J Rocc - Taster's Choice 5; and DJ Platurn - Best of ATCQ.

It's good to be back. Lots more posts coming. I hope you enjoy this.

Hip Hop Served With Love: Black Spade

Black Spade: Tale Of 32 and Her Perfume She Wore
From: To Serve With Love [OM Records, 2008]

Late pass in effect today so bear with me.

I'm always moaning that, as much as I appreciate the promotional music sent through to me by companies, so many of the promos are not my thing that I quickly lose faith in checking it out.

Well, it'll teach me to pay more attention to what I get sent as I've had this Black Spade album sitting in my In Tray (otherwise known as my coffee table) for a few weeks now. After picking it up and flicking through I wasn't quite sure what to make of it and left it for another listen. That could have been the end of it but for an appreciation thread on Soulstrut which made me dig this out again and, what do you know, this is actually a damn fine listen from end to end.

Taking care of production and mic duties, Black Spade's album is very much a one man affair but works hard to avoid repetition in sound or subject matter. Flitting between singing and rapping Spade's production style seems based in underground rap while his mcing maintains a level of bravado more akin to mainstream style. Production wise I'm hearing an undeniable Dilla influence with the heavy muffled drums and off kilter loops but there's no doubting that Spade is bringing his own take on production to the table. You can find more about the man behind the music here

Tale of 32 showcases Spade's more straightforward rap side with a great flowing beat and a bassline that simmers below before occasionally bubbling up over the beats as Spade delivers a smooth undulating rhymeflow on top.

When I saw a song titled Her Perfume She Wore my first thought was of Herbie's I Thought It Was You and I was delighted to find out that this name check was intentional. Black Spade uses the slightest of references with the chorus hook and a couple of chord changes that pay tribute to the funk disco classic. This track falls into the group of songs where Spade showcases his singing talents and is something I heartily support. There's no denying the man can rap but I'm really feeling his singing voice over these type of beats. Hot stuff.

The reason this is late pass related is that the album actually came out yesterday, if you're a fan of this type of hip hop, and I know many of you are, I would definitely check this out.

Sonic Explorations in Jazz: The Varitone

Eddie Harris: Eddie Sings the Blues

From: Eddie Sings the Blues [Atlantic, 1972]

Eddie Harris: Silver Cycles and Smoke Signals

From: Silver Cycles [Atlantic, 1969]

Eddie Harris: It's Crazy and Theme In Search of a T.V. Commercial

From: Plug Me In [Atlantic, 1968]

Eddie Harris: Listen Here and Sham Time

From: The Electrifying Eddie Harris [Atlantic, 1968]

Don Patterson with Sonny Stitt: Donny Brook

From: Donny Brook [Prestige, 1969]

Landon "Sonny" Cox: Chocolate Candy

From: 45 [Bell Records, 1969]

Jerome Richardson: Soul Cry Part One and Two

From: 45 [Verve, 1968]

I have been digging the intoxicating sounds of Eddie Harris for quite some time. It all started with this album called "Eddie Sings the Blues" that I picked up for a couple bucks at a local record store. I had heard of Eddie Harris before, but never owned anything by him. So, I thought why not give it a chance for the highly affordable price of $3. Once I threw this on the record player, the hypnotic sounds elevated me to another world. There was no turning back now! I had to see this one through to the end, and one of the most fantastic songs was waiting for me to discover it's natural beauty. The title track "Eddie Sings the Blues" is twelve-and-a-half minute tour de force of creative spontaneous energy propelled by wicked guitar solos, sublime orchestration and the fascinating "singing through the saxophone"technique that Eddie incorporated into his repertoire on several other occasions. I am including it here for your listening pleasure, since it was my introduction to Eddie's magnificent soundworld.

The varitone saxophone was an electric saxophone that was developed by H&A Selmer, Inc. in 1965. Sonny Stitt and Eddie Harris were the main practitioners of the instrument, and both of them continued to make it a staple in their recordings and live shows. The Varitone was essentially a saxophone with a built-in effects box and amplifier that could emulate the sounds of other instruments while playing along with the natural sound of the saxophone. This created a doubling effect that increased the complexity and richness of the sound, not unlike the harmolodics technique that Ornette Coleman employed in his various groups.

Effects such as tremelo, echo and reverb are only a few of the many effects built into this box. Eddie's experiments with the sound effects of the varitone saxophone can best be heard on albums such as Silver Cycles, Plug Me In and The Electrifying Eddie Harris. However, his entire discography is peppered with incendiary varitone saxophone playing that pushes the envelope of conventional jazz. The title track on Silver Cycles is one of the trippiest psychedelic jazz tunes I've ever heard, with Smoke Signals coming in at a close second. Silver Cycles layers the sound of the horn with effects such as tremelo, reverb and delay, creating a swirling sonic tapestry that sends the listener on a mesmerizing head-trip. This is definitely one of the most amazing songs ever committed to wax. Plug Me In features songs such as It's Crazy which incorporates more of a funky sound, making the sax sound like a synthesizer at times, and at other times ( like on Theme In Search of a T.V. Commercial) it sounds like an indian pungi flute. The Electrifying Eddie Harris features the uptempo latin boogaloo track Listen Here, and the groovy Sham Time with a more understated use of the Varitone that makes the saxophone sound muted.

I'm not as familiar with Sonny Stitt's work, but he is on a couple records where he uses the varitone tenor sax to great effect. One of these records is Don Patterson with Sonny Stitt entitled Brothers 4 released on Prestige Records in 1969. The one I'm featuring here is the downright funky Donny Brook which showcases Stitt's dynamic virtuosity on the varitone with organ virtuoso Don Patterson hammering the keys with an unwavering intensity.

Finally, I am featuring the only other varitone sax players that I know of: Sonny Cox and Jerome Richardson. Landon "Sonny" Cox led a trio called The Three Souls in the late 60's and released only one solo album. Chocolate Candy was released on single only in 1969 and it was to be his final commercial release. It has the signature soul jazz sound of the late 60's with a funky rhythm section and an outstanding varitone solo that seals the deal. Jerome Richardson's two part funky vamp entitled Soul Cry employs a more synthesized varitone sound. However, there are other effects used in this song that remind me of the more experimental Eddie Harris tracks. This is the end of my extremely comprehensive post on the varitone. I hope your eyes aren't tired from reading all of this. Now, check out the tunes!

Different Sounds

Different Sounds Mix

Some random tunes I have been digging recently, all bundled up into just over an hour.

A real mixture of stuff here although it all falls in to the 'out there' psychedelic side of things.

Hope you enjoy, any questions post em up.

1. The Tomorrow People Theme - Dudley Simpson

2. Prologue - Pierre Henry

3. People - Lord Buckley

4. Don Gil - Theo Schumann Combo

5. Love, Love, Love - Gerhard Heinz

6. Some Do, Some Dont - Yays & Nays

7. School For Robots - Bruce Haack

8. Eye Of Horus - P. Wilshire

9. I'm Not Shy Anymore - Wild Man Fischer

10. Bat Macumba - Os Mutantes

11. Monk Time - Monks

12. I Want To Suggest - Francois De Roubaix

13. Sock It To Me - John O'bien-docker

14. Dandylion Seeds - July

15. Ballade Pour Bonnie & Clyde - Henri Salvador

16. Dont Put Your Finger In The Fan - The Tinklers

17. Outer Spaceways Incorporated - Sun Ra

18. Azaar - Orient Express

19. Rose - Fifty Foot Hose

20. He Who Rides A Tiger - Patsy Ann Noble

21. Song For Insane Times - Kevin Ayers

22. I Want To Feel Crazy - Serge Gainsbourg

23. Moogies Bloogies - Delia Derbyshire

24. A Face - Bob

25. Turn On A Friend (To The Good Life) - The Peanut Butter Conspiracy

26. Yeah Yeah - Black Rock

27. Epilogue - ?

28. Austin Osmanspare - Bulldog Breed

29. Understood - Jacky Giordano & Robert Hermel

30. Countdown To Nowhere - Manfred Hubler & Siegfried Schwab