crazed monkey

After a long haitus, Ed is back with another selection of rare groove tunes:

1. Space Lady - Lonnie Liston Smith
2. The Master Rocker - Bernard Wright
3. Double Dutch Bus - Franke Smith
4. Fat Mama - Herbie Hancock
5. Sing Sing - Gaz
6. The Breakdown - Rufus Thomas
7. Different Strokes - Syl Johnson
8. North, East, South, West - Kool & The Gang
9. Rapture - Blondie
10. Higher Ground - Johnny Hammond

And as an extra treat, here’s his current top five tracks:

1. The Bottle (Groovefinder remix) - (Bootleg)
2. Make a Change (Dub the Tech mix) - Miguel Migs Dub Plate Sessions 2
3. Spirit (in dub) Jay-J remix - Brent Laurence - Black Vinyl
4. DUBRAZIL - “Her Name Was Rio” Cosmic City’s 5am Dub - Jordan Fields
5. Out of Sight - Flash Atkins - Bosh Recordings

Eddie C is a friend of mine from university who now DJs in Banff.

Posted on May 15th, 2003 in culture, music - No Comments »

The Globe And Mail: Nina Simone, 70.

Nina Simone, the jazz great whose raspy, forceful voice helped define the civil rights movement, died Monday at her home in France, according to her U.S. booking agent. She was 70. […]

Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, N.C., was a classically trained pianist whose songs ranged from blues to spirtuals to classical fare. But she gained fame in 1959 with her recording of I Loves You Porgy, from the musical Porgy & Bess.

It was that recording of I Loves You Porgy which introduced me to Nina Simone. I had previously only heard Ella Fitzgerald’s 1958 recording of that tune, which she made with Louis Armstrong. Quite frankly, Ella’s swinging rendition is almost laughable compared to Nina’s soulful and heartfelt delivery, which still brings tears to my eyes. Nobody could swing like Ella Fitzgerald, but nobody could emote like Nina Simone.

Posted on April 21st, 2003 in culture, music - No Comments »

I just got back. The Mix Master Mike portion of the event could not have been any more hip-hop. If it were, a rift in the fabric of space would have opened up and brought Kool Herc forward in time from the precise moment where he invented that musical genre.

Posted on February 27th, 2003 in culture, music - No Comments »

The one they call Eddie C now represents the Plate Tektonics Crew and tears up Banff, Alberta, Canada four nights a week:

• Sunday: House music and dub at Saltlik in Banff
• Monday: House music at La Palette in Banff
• Thursday: Deep soul and martini house at Zona’s Bistro in Canmore
• Friday: Funk, soul, disco, 45s, dub, down-tempo, etc. at La Palette in Banff

If you find yourself in Banff on a skiing holiday this winter, be sure to check out either one of these nights. These are all restaurants so be sure to bring your appetite for both food and music. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

Posted on February 26th, 2003 in culture, music - No Comments »

The Globe And Mail: Too easy on the ears. It’s no surprise to me that Diana Krall won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album last night. Next to Kenny G, her music has to be the most bland, inoffensive “jazz” (if you can call it that) on the market, and everyone loves it. As Duke Ellington said, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” and new jazz just doesn’t have it.

You would never hear Diana Krall sing the original lyrics to Cole Porter’s “I Get a Kick Out of You”, complete with the reference to cocaine, or Ethel Waters’ “My Handy Man” or even Sonny Burke’s “Black Coffee”. Why? Because these tunes might actually offend someone. Heaven forfend! Jazz is about human experience, raw emotion, and sometimes it isn’t pretty, but it’s real. Jazz used to be about all those things, with politics, sexism, and racism sometimes thrown into the mix. That’s what made it contemporary and interesting, and it’s still interesting provided that you don’t listen to the bland pap that’s been churned out these past twenty years or so. Jazz needs to revisit its roots and rediscover the energy it lost.

Speaking of energy, I heard a track off of Miles Davis’ 1974 Carnegie Hall recording, Dark Magus, on the radio last week and felt that it was a necessary purchase. On a lark, I ventured up to Vortex Records at Yonge & Eglinton before heading home tonight and, miracles of miracles, it was there. Needless to say, I scooped it up, along with Nefertiti. The recording is very much like others I have from that time, ie. Pangaea, Agharta and Bitches Brew, but is even more frenetic and relentless in its assault of drums, wah-wah, and horns, if you can believe that. On a first listen, I think this one is right up there with On The Corner in terms of my favourite Miles Davis albums from the seventies.

One of these days I am going to sit down with my Miles Davis albums, my Herbie Hancock albums and my Miles Davis second quintet albums (which also feature Herbie Hancock) and write a series of posts comparing them. I’d also like to do the same with my Bill Laswell albums. That will never happen as it would encompass almost thirty albums and be way too much work.

Posted on February 24th, 2003 in culture, music - No Comments »