The Basement Rug

This is one of a great string of albums from 1968-1974 that express the frustration of those victimized by the American “ghetto” institution. Most of these albums are long-forgotten (especially the jazz albums), but thanks to the interest of the DJ subculture, re-issues are bringing these gems back on to turntables and CD players everywhere.

Review by Germein Linares:

It is often difficult to gauge the relative importance or message of an artwork, years or decades after its initial release. Truly impressive are those works that not only retain their Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, but also find relevance and significance with the present. Listening to the re-release of 1968’s Eddie Gale’s Ghetto Music, one not only senses the social awakening of the late 1960s, there is an equal and unfortunate awareness of our current cultural waste. Francis Wolff, co-founder of Blue Note, felt so strongly about this album that he personally financed the production and release of this music in 1968, after recording Gale on Cecil Taylor’s Unit Structures and Larry Young’s Of Love and Peace.Along with its companion piece, Black Rhythm Happening, Eddie Gale’s Ghetto Music fell victim to the chaos following Liberty Records’ takeover of Blue Note. Both pieces never appeared beyond their initial releases, until now.

The good people at San Francisco-based Water Music have taken the initiative and re-released Eddie Gale’s Ghetto Music on CD. The success of the album stems from its unique use of folk, blues, gospel, soul and jazz to create a wildly vibrant, urban force. “The Rain,” with Joan Gale’s soft, assured delivery, sets the pace for the entire album, as it morphs from a single guitar strum into a massive entity of sound, rhythm, and swing. Surprising, since 17 musicians appear on the album, is the precision and efficiency of the music.

On “Fulton Street,” for example, the feel of the famous Brooklyn street is captured immediately by the child-like voices pronouncing its name proudly: “Fulton Street, baby!” Then, the low down riff comes in, the singers mimic the sound of the horns, they interchange riffs, and someone runs here, somebody else goes there, and you feel it, you’re on Fulton Street, baby. It welcomes you.

Once in, it may well be difficult to relinquish the sensation of songs like “A Walk With Thee” or “The Coming of Gwilu.” Both burn as deep, groove as hard, as anything else on the vaunted Blue Note catalog. For that reason, those that rarely venture outside the hard bop fringes of Blue Note will be most rewarded by the music here, as it presents new possibilities without abandoning the “Blue Note sound.”

Track listing:

1) The Rain
2) Fulton Street
3) A Understanding
4) A Walk With Thee
4) The Coming of Gwilu

Personnel:

Eddie Gale - trumpet, soprano recorder, Jamaican thumb piano, steel drum, bird whistle; Russell Lyle - tenor saxophone, flute; Judah Samuel, James “Tokio” Reid - bass; Richard Hackett, Thomas Holman - drums; The Noble Gale Singers: Elaine Beiner, Sylvia Bibbs, Barbara Dove, Joann Gale, Evelyn Goodwin, Art Jenkins, Fulumi Prince, Norman Wright, Edward Walrond, Sondra Walston, Mildred Weston - vocals

Matti Oiling? Now that’s a handle I won’t soon forget. This 320kbps rip was done from the original vinyl from the Finleavy label (1970) and offered up at Orgy In Rhythm.

Original liner notes:

Can you imagine a lathe-hand who does lathing in his time off? Or a brick-layer who lays bricks for relaxation after his day’s work? Hard to picture, isn’t it? But I do know a number of professional musicians who relax by making music after a hard and sometimes quite exhausting session at the studio. But the difference lies in what you play in your leisure time. The musicians performing on this record have found a musical form that brings satisfaction and variation and gives them the chance to experiment and to create something new and still untried. That’s real work therapy.

Matti Oiling - a first-class drummer - has gathered around him a number of fellow musicians whose vision and musical comprehension are harmonious and whose ways of thinking run parallel. They are all musicians of the young generation, to whom pop music and jazz music are equally close and whose artistic resources provide them with an opportunity of blending these musical elements. And when they want to make music, the music they make is pervaded by a sense of cheerfulness and humour.

You’ll really enjoy this LP. Matti Oiling’s solo - something he cooked up himself - is called “Oiling Boiling”. The recipe, with spices, is provided by Matti himself. The “sound” idea is produced on a Lesley accessory.

Paroni Paakkunainen’s soaring imagination is a triumph. His musical skill, uninhibited and humour-imbued, is full of surprises and a wicked Mephistophelean laughter pops up in his performances. Among his many instruments is the Bengal flute - featured in the piece by that same name. He has an impressive range of musical color.

Matti Bergström - apart from his Fender bass - introduces his Bascello, which lends its very “different” sound to the item entitled “Stratosphere Inspiration”.

Nono Söderberg performs his solo “3/8 Of Nono” on his 1-Watt guitar amplifier - not to save the ears of the rest of the group but just to produce the right instrumental color.

Tuomo Tanska - organist, pianist and arranger - also appears on this disc as a composer. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is his musical vision of a classic work.

“Thanks to this record I have spent a very rewarding forty-five minutes - and listening to it, one can only feel a gluttonous delight in its surprising and revitalizing musical ideas. Pop and jazz fans will find something that distinguishes this LP record from other LPs - a terrific dose of happy music.” –Ossi Runne, Conductor, Finnish Broadcasting Company TV1

I am not sure of the date (sometime after 1970) on this funky little number but you can dowload it here. I picked it up over at Wax Poetics in their special Re:DISCOVERED section:

An apt title if there ever was one, “Blow Your Mind” opens with a shambolic, fuzz-soaked riff that might have been dreamt up by Tony Iommi or Eddie Hazel before plunging into a dirty mid-tempo groove. Philly’s Sound Experience would mellow considerably by the time that they released their first full length, but for a brief moment, they were the baddest band on the block.

More details and another download available at the Flea Market Funk blog:

The Sound Experience were formed at Morgan State College in Baltimore, MD in 1970. Led by lead vocalist Arthur Grant, and comprised of Johnny Groman, Reginald Wright, Gregory Holmes, Leroy Frailing, James Lindsey, Anton Scott, and Melvin Miles, The Sound Experience were an East Coast Funk collective that took their fuzzy guitars and wah-wah pedal seriously. Out of Morgan State they built up a fan base, and went under the wing of Stan Watson and his Philly Groove and Soulville labels. A shift to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia was made, and the Experience were on their way. Early sides were released, such as “40 Acres and A Mule” and “Blow Your Mind”, where they would draw comparisons eventually to Rasputin’s Stash, Black Heat, and of course Funkadelic.

Flea Market Funk is the latest edition to my blogroll. I was looking for some info on Sound Experience and the author of FMF just happened to publish a post on them the day before, so it was synchronicity of the best kind. I scrolled down the blog and discovered some Manu Dibango to share with you here:

Born in Cameroon in 1933, this African saxophone and piano player left for France in 1949 to finish his education. He would remain here until 1956, where he’d then move again to Brussels. Along the way, his love of Jazz would send him on a journey that would eventually lead the way for African music to be broken here in the United States in 1972. Inbetween, he played Jazz in Paris, linked up with the band African Jazz led by Joseph Kabasele, and would go on to write a song for the President of Cameroon. This tune would be for the African Football Championship, and he stuck an instrumental on the B-Side by accident, which was “Soul Makossa”. This accident of course was a huge hit internationally, and eventually got into the hands of Atlantic, which imported them from France and sold more than 150,000 copies in a week. This record would earn him a Grammy nomination, and the rest is history. Dibango would go on to release over 40 records of his African Jazz, Reggae and Rhythm and Blues fused music to critical acclaims. Over 70 years of age, this man is not stopping.

I just grabbed this from My Jazz World:

This great funky album by trumpet player Blue Mitchell originally was released in 1969 on Blue Note Records and recently re-released, players are Wilton Felder, Bob West, Fred Robinson, Al Vescovo, Paul Humphrey, John Guerin, Dee Ervin, Monk Higgins, King Errison, Alan Estes, Bill Green, Buddy Collette, Bobby Bryant, Charlie Loper, Plas Johnson. The album was arranged and conducted by Monk Higgins.

Track List:

1) Hnic
2) Flat Backing
3) Na Ta Ka
4) Heads Down
5) Bantu Village
6) Blue Dashiki
7) Bush Girl

This is a re-post from the beginning of my blog. There was trouble with the original download, but that appears to be resolved, so I decided to re-post it for those who missed it first time around. At some point I hope to upload the 1967 Silver Throat LP, but in the meantime you can check out a great pictorial history of Bill Cosby’s musical releases over at Funky 16-Corners. The text below is reposted from the once defunct and now back again Rock City Gentlemen blog. Welcome back RCG!

This spirited set of tunes - or rather jams - documents the original and long-forgotten recording sessions made for the television sitcom THE BILL COSBY SHOW. Fronted by legendary producer and arranger Quincy Jones, THE ORIGINAL JAM SESSIONS 1969 is made up of funk, funk, and more funk. An all-star band was assembled for this project, and on “Eubie Walkin’” and “Groovy Gravy,” the bluesy guitar work of LA session great Arthur Adams adds just the right down-home flavor to the proceedings. Other tracks, such as the swinging “Toe Jam,” highlight the jazz musicians on the date, namely saxophonist Tom Scott, pianist Joe Sample, and vibraphonist Victor Feldman. The most memorable track is “Hikky-Burr.” This tune features Cosby himself scatting humorously atop an ad-lib vamp. Contagiously groovy, these spontaneous jams feel more like a party than a recording session. They are carefree, uninhibited, and at times, perfectly goofy. Who would expect anything else from the great comedian?

Personnel:

Quincy Jones; Bill Cosby (vocals); Arthur Adams (guitar); Eddie Harris, Ernie Watts (tenor saxophone); Claire Fischer, Les McCann, Monty Alexander (piano); Joe Sample (Fender Rhodes piano); Jimmy Smith (Hammond b-3 organ); Milt Jackson, Victor Feldman (vibraphone); Ray Brown, Carol Kaye (bass instrument); John Guerin, Paul Humphrey (drums).

Track List:

1) Hikky-Burr (Kincaid Kinfolk)
2) Groovy-Gravy
3) Oh Happy Day
4) Jimmy Cookin’ On Top (Interlude) - (interlude)
5) Toe Jam
6) Jive Den
7) Eubie Walkin’
8) Monty, Is That You?
9) Drawing Room, The (Interlude)
10) Hikky-Burr
11) Hikky-Burr - (Mix Master Mike, bonus track)

As noted in the review below by Richard S. Ginell, many of the songs on “Free as the Wind” are included in the 3-CD boxset. But seeing as the incredibly funky “Feel It” was not, I decided to post it here for download.

There’s a terrific reason why the triple-CD Crusaders retrospective The Golden Years included six of Free as the Wind’s eight tracks — the material. Indeed, side one of the LP version may be the strongest single side of original tunes that the band ever put together. It opens with Joe Sample’s driving, tense title cut, and flows flawlessly through Stix Hooper’s subtly funky “I Felt the Love,” Pops Popswell’s infectiously finger-popping “The Way We Was” (a high point in the Crusaders’ groove collection), and Larry Carlton’s steamy vehicle for Wilton Felder, “Nite Crawler.” Even the two tracks that the box set left out — the galvanic “Feel It,” driven by Sample’s clavinet and Hooper’s tom-toms, and “River Rat” — are as funky as you can stand it. And from out of the blue, Sample concludes the album with a lovely, wistful tune that may have become a standard, “It Happens Everyday.” When the material is this good, everything falls into place from there; the grooves are deeper, the soloing by all five Crusaders is more melodic and probing, and while Sample provides a few brass and string arrangements, this is just harmless decoration, neither a necessity nor a hindrance. This would be the Crusaders’ high-water mark in the post-Wayne Henderson years, and it can stand tall with anything they’ve done.