Label : LET Music
Value :
An obscure album from Larry T. And The Family, and a great one too! The album's from the early 80s, but maybe feels a bit more like the group in the mid 70s.
Taste :
Larry T. And The Family - Where does the answer lie
By Electric Looser
Label : Themes International Music
Value :
Released in the same year as Synthesis over on KPM, 1974’s Synthesizer and Percussion
is its essential companion piece. “This record features the many
distinctive sounds of the ARP Synthesizer plus percussion in various
moods and tempos” is the even more underwhelming than usual library
record sales pitch for Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett’s second
collection of what is basically minimal G-funk, with overtones of
primitive acid house. This is ridiculously good.
This is one of
Hawkshaw and Bennett’s wilder joints and aeons ahead of its time.
Bennett’s tough drums provide the underpinnings for the prominent bass,
keys and bubbling synths high up in the mix, alongside Hawkshaw’s
deranged clavinet-funk-rock. There are heavenly break loops galore.
Taste :
A. Hawkshaw & B. Bennett - Mile High Swinger
A. Hawkshaw & B. Bennett - Oddball
By Electric Looser
Label : Blue Note
Value :
An incredible record – the kind of album that no fan of funky jazz should be without! This album is far and away one of the greatest ever cut by Brother Jack McDuff – and it's a baroquely complicated batch of funky jazz cuts that's still light years ahead of any other record! The tracks are much longer than you'll find on Jack's other work – and the group plays these lines that are laidback and trippy, yet which still have a tremendous amount of funk in them. Guitar sets the tone, spacing out over the drums of the great Joe Dukes; electric bass rumbles at all the low, dark spots; flute and tenor sax cut some sharp edges in the void; and the organ of Brother Jack comes in over the top, and soars with cosmic lines of sound!
Taste :
Brother Jack McDuff - Oblighetto
By Electric Looser
Label : Blue Note
Value :
Tony Allen and Art Blakey have a lot in common. As pioneering percussionists, each represents peak performance in their respective fields—Allen as the premier drummer in Afrobeat and Blakey as the one who put the “hard” in hard bop. Yet that each one is defined by a unique instrumental technique is also what separates the two. Art Blakey was one of jazz’s heaviest hitters, his rhythmic style lending an otherwise “cool” sound more than its share of fire and passion. Yet Allen’s role in Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 was almost the inverse, his rhythmic consistency almost trance-like against the exclamatory sound of Kuti’s saxophone and choir of vocalists. They’re musicians connected by a common strand of sonic DNA yet what they do is distinctively their own.
To hear Allen take on the music of Art Blakey in a new EP, A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, is then a pretty interesting proposition. By and large, this brief, albeit mighty release is a reflection more on Blakey’s impact on jazz than Allen’s interpretation of it, necessarily. The set contains four tracks which were made legendary in the hands of Blakey, whose punchy, snare-heavy approach gave them an extra bit of intensity thereby helping to usher in an era of hard-bop in which jazz had moved on from more laid-back jam sessions to outright shredding. Few tracks are as emblematic of this shift as “A Night in Tunisia,” which Blakey sped up and cranked to its limit. Allen, however, puts his own identifiable spin on it, his light-wristed patter leaning more on his signature Afrobeat sound than its more manic source material. Similarly, “Moanin'” has a head-nodding groove seemingly fit for a ’70s-era detective feature; this isn’t cool jazz, but damn is it cool.
The versions of “Politely” and “The Drum Thunder Suite” that Allen leads are similarly intoxicating, the latter in particular. In fact, that’s one area where Allen’s performance most strongly seems to channel Blakey’s own. Allen and his band lose themselves in a stunning take on the rhythmically driven career standout of Blakey’s, its sound as majestic and urgent as ever. Allen and his band aren’t in the business of playing Blakey’s music exactly as he did, though this is music treated with reverence and affection. It draws a line from ’50s and ’60s era jazz to ’70s era Afrobeat and continues onto the present, all the while, the sound losing none of its power or appeal along the journey.
Taste :
Tony Allen - Politely
By Electric Looser
Label : PSI
Value :
A rare set from French keyboardist Martial Solal – and one of his few funky records! The set features Solal on electric and acoustic piano, playing in a trio that includes Bernard Lubat on drums and Henri Texier on bass – and the tunes on the set have a rolling funky feel that's great all the way through. A number of tracks seem to blend the acoustic and electric piano using overdubs, creating a nice counterpoint on the keys – one that fills out the sound a lot more than a typical trio album, and which puts Solal at the head of some very tasty grooves!
Taste :
Martial Solal - Locomotion
By Electric Looser
Label : Capitol
Value :
One of the greatest albums ever by studio genius David Axelrod! The album's one of Axelrod's first on his own – cut for Capitol Records at a time when he was working with some of the label's biggest selling soul acts – like Cannonball Adderley and Lou Rawls – turning their already-successful sounds into super-hit material by adding some nice funky touches, and excellent baroque production. This album lets Axelrod fully explore his talents for larger studio arrangements and complex yet soulful instrumentation. The record is subtitled "an anthology of awareness after birth, based on the 18th century poems of William Blake" – and it features incredible arrangements conducted by Don Randi, played by a host of excellent LA jazz and studio players. The overall sound is spacey and dark, with nice touches of funk, and plenty of cool instrumental passages that have been sampled over the years by hip hoppers and other producers.
Taste :
David Axelrod - A Little Girl Lost
By Electric Looser
