July 2008 Archives
JACKSON CONTI: THE SOUTHLAND MEETS SÃO PAOLO
Tags: brazilian
Jackson Conti: Upa Neguinho
From Sujinho (Mochilla, 2008)
The music and rhythms of Brazil have been a passion of Brian Cross (aka photographer B+) for years, but even more intensely since 2002, when he traveled to São Paolo to film Brasilintime, a documentary celebrating the country's sonic culture. Like B+'s first documentary, Keepintime, he's drawn to the kinetic complexities of percussion and he's encouraged collaborations between U.S. DJs and drummers and their Brazilian counterparts. The Jackson Conti project is very much in that vein, pairing the über-prolific Los Angeles producer Madlib with famed Brazilian drummer Ivan "Mamão" Conti.
Conti, better known as Mamão, came to fame as the drummer for the jazz fusion trio, Azymuth, and the way he and Madlib put together Sujinho plays to both men's strengths. Mamão laid down a series of rhythm tracks - pure percussion - which Madlib then sat with and eventually reworked into the final songs here. Fans of Madlib's YNQ style will be pleased here: lots of mellifluent keys and off-kilter rhythmic twists but Conti's drumming anchors the songs, providing a strong, organic core that allows Madlib to creatively swirl around.
"Upa Neguinho" was the first single off the album and it's a cover of a popular bossa nova track, best associated with Elis Regina (on the Jackson Conti version, Thalma de Freitas helms the vocals. You can hear Conti's thunderous drumming from jump - dropping hard and heavy - before Freitas' voice comes soaring in, lightly complemented by Madlib's sprinkling of keys. The overall song is bright and cheery in the best traditions of bossa nova but Mamão's drums layer a dazzling thicket of polyrhythms underneath that's a few steps more complex than some of the bossa you may be used to. Be sure to check out "Tijuca Man" too for some rawer, more uncut Mamão madness.
LINGERING IN YOUR EAR: CALIFORNIA SOUL
The 5th Dimension: California Soul
From Stoned Soul Picnic (Soul City, 1968)
Marlena Shaw:California Soul
From Spice of Life (Cadet, 1969)
Marlena Shaw:California Soul (Diplo Remix)
From Verve Remixed 4 (Verve, 2008)
There's some kind of a generational and/of cultural divide that separates people when they hear Marlena Shaw's version of "California Soul." For spliff-smoking, Jansport-toting, sample-spotting types, the reaction is likely to be, "oh snap, that's Gangstarr's 'Check the Technique'". For wine-sipping, khaki-sporting, stock-trading folks (note: the two groups are not necessarily mutually exclusive these days), they may be more apt to say, "hey Chad, isn't that the song from that Dockers commercial?" (see this amusing series of ad remixes). Whichever camp you fall into, it's hard to deny the "classic" status of the song, by which I mean the song isn't simply awesome but also indelible; one of those examples of where a cover song >>> the original. In this case, due credit goes to Shaw's piercing vocals but they wouldn't be nearly as impressive without those signature strings, to which you have to nod to Cadet's in-house arrangers, Richard Evans and Charles Stepney - two more examples of how Chicago has been positively blessed with musical genius over the years.
At the same time, you also need to acknowledge that the song was written by none of those folks. For a long time, I erroneously thought "California Soul" was a Gerald Wilson composition, but actually, his was a cover as well. The originators behind the song are actually Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, aka Ashford and Simpson whose career in the '70s tends to obscure their songwriting talents in the 1960s. There's some debate over when the very first version of "California Soul" appeared given that Ashford released the song as a single for Verve in 1968. However, the first big hit version of the song belongs to 5th Dimension, off their Stoned Soul Picnic LP and there's a vague consensus that says Ashford and Simpson wrote the song for them first. Regardless, Nick's own single is fairly obscure whereas the 5th Dimension had a legitimate hit with theirs, though not nearly as big as when Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell tackled it (and the list hardly stops there - the song's been covered at least a dozen times. Ashford and Simpson were prescient in coming up with this line, "it's all in the air/you hear it everywhere.")
I have to admit: when I first heard Diplo was going to remix the song for the Verve Remixed 4 compilation, I didn't really think one could do much more to a song that's been worked over so many times but I was more than pleasantly surprised by his take on it. I wrote this back in June and it bears repeating here: "instead of piling on, he pulls back, keeping the audience anticipating - but never quite delivering - the crashboombam they expect, at least until the very end where he brings back those gorgeous strings again." Indeed, this is Diplo's most unexpected move - the breakbeat is part of what made the song so appealing, especially to hip-hop fans, but Diplo chooses to downplay the drums throughout the song. He'll still kick them in when needed but he finds a way to make the rhythm on here move without relying strictly on lowering the percussive hammer. He does, however, very wisely use the strings to full effect, especially at the end of his remix where they come screaming back in (unlike the original where you only ever hear them at the very beginning). As the song goes, "no matter what you do, it's gonna grab hold of you."
LOUIE RAMIREZ: LATIN SOUL SPECIALIST
Tags: boogaloo, latin jazz
Louie Ramirez: Chin Chon Chow
Jimmy Sabater: Times Are Changin'
Both from Louie's Grooves (Vampisoul, 2005)
When it comes to the big names in the Latin soul/boogaloo era of the late 1960s, the late Louie Ramirez isn't as well-known a figure as say, Joe Cuba, Pete Rodriguez or Joe Bataan. Those artists were responsible for some of boogaloo hits and as a result, they continually appear on anthologies and compilations highlighting the movement. However, while Ramirez may not have been as obvious a household name, it's hard to imagine a more prolific and deeply embedded talent in the Latin soul scene. Ramirez was a bandleader and musician in his own right but also a gifted composer and arranger and even when his name didn't headline an album, his influence was everywhere else on a record. He was some what of a journeyman - having recorded, in some form or other, for any number of labels including Tico, Fania, Speed and Mercury to name a few.
Louie's Grooves, to the best of my knowledge, is the first compilation that even tries to do Ramirez's work some justice. Grooves judiciously selects from a variety of Ramirez's projects which includes material from some of his solo albums but is equally stacked with composition and arrangement contributions for everyone from Jimmy Sabater (former singer with the Joe Cuba band) to percussion legend Sabu Martinez to piano great Charlie Palmieri.
The variety captures just how diverse the musical styles were under the umbrella of Latin jazz and soul. For example, the curiously-titled "Chin Chon Chow" comes from Ramirez's own Vibes Galore, a 1966 album for Alegre which showcases his slick, mambo-influenced talents on the vibes. The strong back rhythm hints at the coming boogaloo wave as well, not to mention the catchy (though however non-sensical) chorus.
One of Ramirez's greatest compositions was "Times Are Changin'" a fast, funky boogaloo recorded by vocalist Jimmy Sabeter for his Solo album on Tico. Few Latin songs of the era better spoke to the political and social turmoil of the '60s than this one; Ramirez makes that clear with lyrics that talk about, "it's time for freedom/it's time for rights," very much tapping into the Civil Rights Movement and other social change sweeping across America at the time. Musically too, "Times Are Changin'" is well-named given how the song switches up at various points, not just in interpolating the "Sunshine of Your Love" riff but also midway through when the song slides into a heavier Latin percussive bridge that rides out until the end.
MISSY DEE: FRESH FOR '81
Tags: old school
Missy Dee & The Melody Crew: Missy Missy Dee
From Don't Stop: Recording Tap (Numero Group, 2008)
Missy Dee and the Melody Crew's "Missy Missy Dee" is a lost slice of early hip-hop that captures not just the vibrancy of the times but also its hesitancies. Recorded in 1981 but kept underwraps until 1983, "Missy Missy Dee" can only said to have been barely released. Tap Records pressed it up but it had no distribution (ah, if only Missy Dee had a myspace page back in the day), thereby consigning it to be instantly forgotten, especially amidst the flood of other releases vying for attention.
The single was one of the many potential hits squandered by Jeremiah Yisrael - a North Carolina-born, New York-based, would-be music visionary, erstwhile actor, health food mogul and eventual founder of a pseudo-Jewish temple known as the Brotherhood of Wisdom. Sufficed to say, Yisrael was a man of many interests and passions. As a producer and label head, he was also incredibly prolific, leaving behind dozens of reels of tape long after his days in the music business had ended. However, only a tiny fraction of his recordings ever saw the light of day, including "Missy Missy Dee," an 8 minute cut full of sass and charm that it could have easily been an old school classic with the right push but instead is consigned to a long list of forgotten, buried rap efforts.
Musically, it's clear "Missy Missy Dee" comes out of an era where the line between hip-hop, funk and disco was barely perceptible. The driving groove behind the track could just have easily been something that bubbled up from Enjoy or Sugarhill's house bands. (In fact, Yisrael had taken the original masters to Sugarhill to query Sylvia Robinson's interest but nothing transpired.) It's not a particularly sophisticated arrangement but like many early rap songs of its era, it distills the bouncy groove of disco to its basic components - a bouncing bassline, bright guitar accompaniment and some well-placed handclaps - and rides it out for all eight minutes.
Missy Dee herself was Denette Scott, a female MC talent recommend to Yisrael by another short-lived rap group, the Fabulous 3 MCs (their song for Tap, "Rub a Dub Dub" also appears on the anthology). Backing her were the Melody Crew, thrown together at the last minute: Apple C, Easy and Lady T, aka Tanya Barns of Kurtis Blow's crew. Despite the relative inexperience of the assembled group, Missy Dee and the Melody Crew put together an impressive effort, especially on the chorus where the ladies craft a hook that follows the rhythm track with a slick synchronicity. As the Melody Crew say: "we're so damn fly/all you guys won't deny."
Recording Tap, expertly and lovingly compiled by the folks at Numero Group, finally gives "Missy Missy Dee" the shine it deserved (they've also released the song on its own 12"), alongside over a dozen other Tap recordings spanning from the 1960s through early '80s. Tap in.
