Boogie Brats & J.U.i.C.E. present... "ROCK THE GROUND FOR HAITI"
Boogie Brats & J.U.i.C.E. present... "ROCK THE GROUND FOR HAITI"
@ J.U.i.C.E.
CARECEN Building
2845 W 7th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
SUN, FEB 28, 2010, 1-7PM
ALL AGES | $10 donation or a pair of shoes
DONATIONS GO TO PARTNERS IN HEALTH & SOLES4SOULS
Bboy/Bgirl Jam | Popping Battle for cash, gear and trophies
DJ KENZO . DJ RENATO . DJ MILAGRO . DJ MEGATONE
www.rampartjuice.com
CARECEN Building
2845 W 7th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
SUN, FEB 28, 2010, 1-7PM
ALL AGES | $10 donation or a pair of shoes
DONATIONS GO TO PARTNERS IN HEALTH & SOLES4SOULS
Bboy/Bgirl Jam | Popping Battle for cash, gear and trophies
DJ KENZO . DJ RENATO . DJ MILAGRO . DJ MEGATONE
www.rampartjuice.com
4 New Beats
Kee Ya Oya - the hardest beat I made in a minute...
Patience-another banger, both this and Kee Ya Oya were sampled from a Hugh Masekela joint.
Look In Your Eyes & Foxy were the last two joints sampled off the Wes Montgomery album I was sampling during my last post.
Mike Ladd - Vernacular Homicide
Mike Ladd - Vernacular Homicide (Discogs)
Mike Ladd makes genius music. Or at least I feel smarter when I listen to it. Which isn't saying much really. But the depth of creativity ML has shown over the span of his 10 albums and the list of collaborators he has worked with speak for themselves. I first heard of Mike Ladd on the "Bladerunners" collab with him and the still functional Company Flow on the Tags Of The Time 2.0 LP. Soon after that, he dropped the Welcome To The AfterFuture biznass and the Infesticons joints, solidifying his niche in the spoken-word, galactic funk, vintage synth world.
From his website:
"
Mike received his B.A. in Black expatriates in the Nineteenth century from Hampshire College and an M.A. in Poetry from Boston University. As a Fellow at the Institute for Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University, Mike produced and directed Blood Black and Blue, an audio documentary/performance about Black police officers in the United States. In 2005, Mike completed a fellowship at the Asia Society, where he, along with pianist Vijay Iyer, created a musical/theatrical/visual installation entitled “In What Language”, a project about people of color in relation to globalization in the context of airports. They most recently put up their new installation, Still Life with Commentator, which was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (B.A.M.) for 5 nights of performances. He has been published in several literary magazines including Long Shot Review and Bostonia. His work is also featured in the book Swing Low, Black Men Writing and several anthologies, including, Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, In Defense of Mumia, Bum Rush The Page, Por La Victoire and Everything But the Burden. Mike Ladd now lives in Paris with his wife and son."
A1-Red-Eye To Jupiter
A2-The Last Word
A3-Take It All In
B1-Takes More Than 41
B2-Poseidon's Reigns
B3-Northampton
Mike Ladd - Vernacular Homicide
Carmen McRae - November Girl
Perhaps I love this album so much because her voice, the lyrics, her delivery, the star-studded Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland big-band playing behind her (one of the few with a vocalist they ever did). It could also be because I found a sealed copy of the "I Grandi Del Jazz" pressing of this album for a buck in a MacArthur Park area thrift shop. Or maybe because it was recorded the day of my birthday, 10 years previous on November 3rd, 1970, in London, England.
To be honest, I don't even listen to the majority if the album, but "Handful Of Soul" is my anthem. One of my favorite tracks of all time as Carmen breaks down the meaning of what Soul is... "Dear Death" is incredible as well. Powerful, with a whole lotta soul in that cut, sounding like...death. The mood created is something to be experienced, her singing to death about the entity stealing her loved one. "I Don't Want Nothing From Nobody" gets busy too, more of a standard big-band cut, but her style and braggadocio about handling her own business is right on.
"A fistful of dollars don't make a man a man/it's something more precious than gold
A man's got the world in his hands/with a handful of soul..."
A1-November Girl
A2-Just Give Me Time
A3-'Tis Autumn
A4-A Handful Of Soul
B1-Dear Death
B2-I Don't Want Nothing From Nobody
B3-You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me
B4-My Kind Of World
Carmen McRae - November Girl
Keith Jarrett - Facing You
Keith Jarrett - Facing You (Discogs)
I'm taking a sudden break from drum albums to listen to one of the greatest piano composers and improvisers to ever bless the keys. Jarrett is best known for his incredible live concerts, and this album is where he set out and went against the grain of the new fusion turn of the jazz scene that at the time was going louder and larger. He took it solo, non-electric and began his new path, recorded here in 1971 in a 5-hour studio session. This is the album where the 27-year old Keith Jarrett said goodbye to the electric piano forever, and his love affair with the grand piano began.
As far as the songs themselves, consider it Jarrett beginning the affair that would last until now with the grand piano, with compositions that have incredible depth and feeling, having much less improv than his later work. This is the road to Koln.
A1-In Front
A2-Ritooria
A3-Lalene
B1-My Lady, My Child
B2-Landscape For Future Earth
B3-Starbright
B4-Vapillia
B5-Semblence
DJ Frane - Digging Society Radio Mix
DJ Frane has put out a trio of albums I love; Frane's Fantastic Boatride, Electric Garden Of Delights, and Journey To The Planet Of Birds. His first being a staple of my experimental days, and the last two being necessary for the years I spent living in Humboldt. Constant rotation for a constant meditation, if ya dig. Frane still stays busy, spinning at various venues in LA, Supercuts with the 45 King DJ Renato (and B-boy cypher killer) at the Mountain Bar on Wednesday being his residency, with other gigs all over the area. He's also on the radio a couple times a month, giving a taste of his digs. Frane's albums are gems for beatheads and DJ-concept albums, and are seriously slept on by fans of both. Here's some folks in agreement:
"LP of the Year" -VICE
"Thelonious Monk-like in the off kilter brilliance of his compositions" -WAX POETICS
"DJ Frane marinates in simmering herbal funk erotica" -HIGH TIMES
"A less pretentious, yet just as progressive, DJ Shadow" -ALTERNATIVE PRESS
"Some of the most inventive examples of mind-expanding hip hop production in the last decade" -OC WEEKLY
"Some of the best, funkiest instrumental hip hop you're ever going to hear" -URBNET
"Laces THC vividness into every sonic element" -PORTLAND MERCURY
"Top Ten Albums of the Year" -SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN
"One of the best instrumental hip hop albums ever" -EXCLAIM!
"Frane puts the THC in Technics" -THE STRANGER
"You need this record in your life!" -MODART
"Blissful aural intoxication" -RHAPSODY.COM
"Excellent music for hot tub chilling" -XLR8R
"Intoxicatingly raw!" -URB
Of course the only time I got to kick it with Frane, I was out of herb. Such is life.
DJ Frane - Digging Society Radio Mix
Art Blakey - Drum Suite
Art Blakey - Drum Suite
Well, since I'm a little bit of an Art Blakey junkie and enjoyed listening posting the last album, I thought I'd post another one. This recording was done in 1956-1957, and was ahead of its time as far as far as the Fela Kuti-style Afro-beat fusion was concerned. The 3 A-side songs were all first-take burners, "Sacrifice" having the players reciting an African chant before the drums and piano kick in, and "Cubano Chant" and "Oscalypso" are Afro-Cuban tracks with intricate grooves and funky, funky bass. "Cubano Chant" has a really catchy call and response between the players and the pianist (Ray Bryant), and is probably my favorite cut off of this LP for that reason. Another gem of info on this album is that the cellist (Oscar Pettiford) plays his cello through a guitar amp on the last song of the session, "Oscalypso, and created a really interesting distortion effect (which is fun to play with on a sampler) if the drums and rhythms weren't enough!
The B-side is also solid, being 3 tracks recorded for the Blakey Hard Bop album with an early arrangement of the Jazz Messengers. All these songs are hard-bop, and good hard-bop at that, but when putting this LP on, it's really, really hard for me to flip the record when it's finished and go into the bop. Nothing against it, but if it was up to me, I would have continued the Drum Suite sessions for a full album and found another bop album for the B-sides. Of course, that might just be being greedy.
A1-Sacrifice
A2-Cubano Chant
A3-Oscalypso
B1-Nica's Tempo
B2-D's Dilemma
B3-Just For Marty
A-Side Players
Art Blakey - Drums
Jo Jones - Drums
Ray Bryant - Piano
Oscar Pettiford - Cello
Candido Camero - Bass
Sabu Martinez - Congas
Jazz Messengers
Art Blakey - Drums
Bill Hardman - Trumpet
Jackie McClean - Alto
Sam Dockery - Piano
Spank deBrest - Bass
Art Blakey And The Afro-Drum Ensemble - The African Beat
Art Blakey And The Afro-Drum Ensemble - The African Beat
Well, now that I have posted some albums and told a (very) short history of how the African rhythms came to the US and entered the world of jazz, and feel borderline guilty about posting the Jackie Davis Hammond Can Cha-Cha album, it's time to get back on the classic tip. I can make it an easy transition though, because the great Art Blakey says that this 1962 recording was his first with drummers from Africa.
There's really not a lot of explanation or write-up to be had on this album, it features a bassist, Ahmed Abdul-Malik (one of the first to incorporate Middle-Eastern and Nothern African styles into jazz) and Yusef Lateef, who was doing his own foray into avante-garde and roots jazz at the time, on the reeds. Other than that, it's straight-up percussion, polyrhythms, exotic instruments, and intricate interplay that spans continents.
From the liner notes:
"For one thing," Art explains, "this is the first time I've been able to use so many African drummers along with American jazzmen. Secondly, unlike most gatherings of drummers, this is really an ensemble, not a cutting contest. The music came first, not egos. Third, I'm convinced that these performances show that it is possible to blend African and American rhythms without strain or self-consciousness. One test was that these were spontaneous performances, and as you'll hear, everybody on the session fell easily into even the most complex patterns."
A1-Prayer by Solomon G. Ilori
A2-IFE L'AYO (There is Happiness In Love)
A3-OBIRIN AFRICAN (Woman Of Africa)
A4-LOVE, THE MYSTERY OF
B1-ERO TI NR'OJEJE
B2-AYIKO AYIKO (WELCOME, WELCOME, MY DARLING)
B3-TOBI ILU
Ahmed Abdul-Malik — bass
Chief Bey — double gong, conga, telegraph drum
Art Blakey — drums, timpani, telegraph drum, gong
Robert Crowder — Batá drum, conga
James Ola. Folami — conga
Curtis Fuller — timpani
Solomon G. Ilori — vocals, talking drum, pennywhistle
Montego Joe — corboro drum, log drum, bambara drum, double gong
Yusef Lateef — cow horn, flute, tenor saxophone, mbira, oboe
Garvin Masseaux — shekere, African maracas, congaArt Blakey And The Afro-Drum Ensemble - The African Beat
Jackie Davis - Hammond Gone Cha-Cha
Jackie Davis - Hammond Gone Cha-Cha
Well, continuing with the Latin/Afro-Cuban beat theme, here's an album by 'legendary' organist Jackie Davis. Pretty much a corny-jump-on-the-Latin-explosion record with the new (at the time) Hammond organ. Gimmick on gimmick. Fortunately, there's no denying the sound of the electric Hammond, however corny the arrangements, and the rhythm section handles business. The song "Glow-Worm" has gotten around in the lounge/space pad crowd and "Manana" has more than a few fans from the Sienfeld sausage-making episode.
Jackie Davis was making rounds as a jazz-organist years before Jimmy Smith became known as the cornerstone, buying his first in 1951. Before that, he spent his time as a pianist, making enough money to buy his first piano when he turned 11, playing through college and then the Army during World War II. While gigging while in the Army, he accompanied such legends as Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan.
By 1961, Davis had released 9 albums for Capitol Records before leaving to record 2 albums for Time Warner. By the time the early 60's were over, and the music became heavier with the times, Davis's recording career was finished. He continued playing for the next 30 years even without having any new major releases until Hurricane Andrew came and caused severe damage to his health and finances, leading to a series of strokes and heart attacks. Jackie passed away in 1999. (http://www.spaceagepop.com/davisj.htm, http://www.jackiedavis.info/)
A1-Ain't She Sweet
A2-A Woman In Love
A3-Rain On The Roof
A4-Heat Wave
A5-In A Little Spanish Town
A6-Then I'll Be Happy
B1-Lady, Play Your Mandolin
B2-I Got Plenty Of Nuttin'
B3-The Glow-Worm
B4-Perfida
B5-Love Is Just Around The Corner
B6-Manana
Jackie Davis - Hammond Gone Cha-Cha
5 New Beats
5 new beats.
1-Up At It
2-Detroit
3-Prayer
4-Georgia
5-Airness
All sampled from the same Wes Montgomery LP, all drums & samples sequences on the Roland MV-8800, tidied and EQ'd up in Ableton Live. More to come...now that I'm the Music Production Coordinator at rampartjuice.com, I've made it a weekly goal to have 3 new beats a week.
1-Up At It
2-Detroit
3-Prayer
4-Georgia
5-Airness
All sampled from the same Wes Montgomery LP, all drums & samples sequences on the Roland MV-8800, tidied and EQ'd up in Ableton Live. More to come...now that I'm the Music Production Coordinator at rampartjuice.com, I've made it a weekly goal to have 3 new beats a week.
Perez Prado - Greats And Other Latin American Favorites
Perez Prado - Greats And Other Latin American Favorites
Rezo de Santo - Ritmo de Santo de la tierra de Africa en Arará
Rezo de Santo - Ritmo de Santo de la tierra de Africa en Arará
Since I'm on a Afro-Cuban binge over here, I'd thought I'd post this LP up. This is a LP of Orisha music, which is the music of the Yoruba belief system, this one being specific to the practices in Cuba. Well, the part about the Orisha music is true, but this album has an illustration of a Jesus-looking character holding a chalice (Holy Grail?) and a sword (defender of the Holy Grail?), with a robe on and a white cloak over that with some sort of gold locket holding it over his shoulders. He is wearing a crown of bricks and has a star coming out of the chalice, while an extremely large apple hovers in the air next to him. On the back there is an old man with leprosy who has 2 dogs licking his scabs while he struggles with his crutches. Christian religious symbols abound, but I am no theologian, so I don't know what to make of them, and all that Christianity doesn't have much to do with Yoruba.
Of course, as Catholicism is known to do, it could have adopted the African traditions, and incorporated them into it's own teachings as a means of subversion. The slaves the Spanish brought to Cuba were allowed to keep their African traditions, customs and especially music, which is where the strong African roots of Cuban rhythms come from, and why it was the percussionists from the Caribbean who brought the African grooves to American jazz.
So what it all comes down to is that this oddball record sounds like an African drum and chant album, with introductions to the songs in Spanish. So it's cool. If I understood Spanish better, I would probably understand this album better and have a better write-up, but I don't so I get to play pseudo-historian and cover artwork critic. Here's a write-up by All Music Guide, if it helps:
"A somewhat strange recording on a somewhat strange label, the singing is classic lucumi with a particularly fine leader. But instead of drums, the accompaniment is provided by a large chromatic version of the marimbula -- an oversize finger-piano. Perhaps the leader invented it. Anyway, it's an extremely intriguing release and a considerable rarity since the LP vanished a decade ago. Introductions are in Spanish. ~ John Storm Roberts, All Music Guide"
Mongo Santamaria - Watermelon Man
Mongo Santamaria - Watermelon Man
Mongo is one my favorite Afro-Cuban percussionist, and everyone knows they've had a share of the heavyweights to choose from. Born in Havana in 1927, his name Mongo means "Chief of the tribe" in Sengalese. He dropped out of school at age 17 to plays drums with the group Bolona y Sus Muchachos.
In the 1940s while Havava was still drenched in tourist money pre-Castro, Mongo started playing the nightclub scene there before moving onto Mexico City. Chano Pozo and a few other Afro-Cuban percussionists had arrived in New York City around that time, who in 1947 was playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie. Pozo was killed in 1949 over a bag of weed, but the doors had been opened.
1949 was also the year Birdland opened, and the same year Mongo arrived in NYC. He came with a partner, Armando Peraza, who were billed as the Black Cuban Diamonds. He was soon playing with Perez Prado and Tito Puente while Peraza headed to the golden West, playing Cali jazz with George Shearing.
He later joined the slickest Cal Tjader and while playing with him recorded his first LP, Drums and Chants. He only got paid 80 dollars to make it, but it's one of the first recordings of Afro-Cuban rhythms. After that recording, Mongo got a head a steam, decided to form his own group and start recording records, landing a major pop hit soon afterwards "Watermelon Man".
From then on, history was created and made, recording over 35 albums, touring the world, a devoted world music collector and becoming a historian on his African roots, tying his religion, music and studies to Africa. He practiced the santeria religion of the Yorubus, which was religion based around the using the drums to call the major deities into the bodies of dancing worshipers.
Besides all the pop/jazz success that Mongo had, what really makes this 2xLP appealing to me is the 2nd LP, a live recording of one of Mongo's groups playing at the Village Gate in NYC in 1963. During this live set Mongo really turns the heat up, burning through the set with incredible dexterity, timing and plenty of groove.
A1-Watermelon Man
A2-Funny Money
A3-Cut That Cane
A4-Get The Money
A5-The Boogie Cha-Cha Blues
A6-Don't Bother Me No More
B1-Love, Oh Love
B2-Yeh-Yeh
B3-The Peanut Vendor
B4-Go Git It!
B5-Bayou Roots
B6-Sauvito
C1-Introduction by "Symphony Sid"
C2-El Toro
C3-Fat Back
C4-Mongo's Groove
C5-Creole
C6-Para Ti
D1-The Jungle Bit
D2-My Sound (Conga Drum Solo)
D3-The Morning After
D4-Nothing For Nothing
Congas - Mongo Santamaria
Trumpet - Marty Sheller
Flute, Saxophone - Pat Patrick, Bobby Capers, Maricio Smith
Piano - Rodgers Grant
Bass - Victor Venegas
Drums - Frank Hernandez, Kalil Madi, Ray Lucas
Latin Percussion - Kako, Chihuahua, Joseph Gorgas
Produced by Orrin Keepnews, Larry MaxwellMongo Santamaria - Watermelon Man
Deejay Analog All 45's Mix
This is an all 45 rpm, 7" vinyl mix by Deejay Analog of the Beat Hackerz. Slick from 00:00 to its end at 56:20, with not a track of filler, don't sleep on this one. This is making me feel like I really have to get my 45 game up, even though my focus is on LPs. Catch Deejay Analog at the next Beat Swap Meet in March!
Deejay Analog myspace
Deejay Analog All 45's Mix
Billy Aways - Billy Always
Billy Aways - Billy Always
Chicago-born Billy always grew up in the music scene, the gospel music scene, and was Mahalia Jackson's godson. He led his church choir at age 9, was touring by age 11, and by 14 was taken in by Aretha Franklin. In 1975 he was introduced by Evelyn Green, one of Aretha's backup singers, to Barrett Strong. The two started writing music together, coming up with a number of songs including Strong's Man Up In The Sky.
1979 Billy wrote, produced and performed his first album, Billy Always. The album was never an official release, although 2 of the songs made noise anyway; I Mean To Love You and Some Kind Of Love. After the success of these songs, Billy went on to release his official debut of the same title, Billy Always.
Billy Always is filled with smooth 80's buttafunk, along with some gospel touches on the ballads. I really enjoy the arrangements on this album, even though I'm not the biggest fan of ballads or 80's synth-funk, Didn't We Do It being my favorite track.A1-Love's Knocking
A2-My First Love
A3-I Mean To Love You
A4-Show Me That (One More Time)
A5-Didn't We Do It
B1-Suddenly
B2-It's Just Not Enough
B3-Let's Stay Together
B4-Hot As You Can Stand It
B5-It's So True
Drums - Steve Potts, Willie Hall
Bass - Leroy Hodges
Guitar - Teenie Hodges, Harold Otis, Thomas Bingham, Art Gentry
Keyboards - Michael Allen, Archie Turner, Billy Always
Organ - Charles Hodges
Synthesizer - Archie Turner, Michael Allen, Willie Mitchell
Trumpet - Ben Cauley
Trombone - Ben Cauley
Alto, Tenor Sax - Andrew Love
Billy Aways - Billy Always
