Back in the groove for a new year, a mild enough Sunday night to make for an enjoyable ride South, and the unexpected pleasure of having X-Press 2 legends Rocky & Diesel live in the Mi-Soul studio standing for the wandering Ross Allen, (as hence he shall be known!).
I was excited to be kicking off with a "new discovery" that my girlfriend, the wondrous DJ Launette, had been more on the case tracking down than myself, though if truth be told we'd both heard Andrew Ashong play it at one of the Penge "Jazz In A House" parties. A vocal version of "Teen Town", which is an immediate winner, especially if like me you're a fan of both Weather Report and jazz harmony vocal groups. Anyway it was a nice way to kick off a new year, which hopefully will have plenty of thrills in store, musically and otherwise. However for the opening salvo of 2015 I loaded up some retro bullets, some not so old and others relatively ancient. Going off at a slight tangent from the norm, this edition of the "jam" has less soulful vocals, a touch of Disco, some odd-step spoken word, and a great Beatles cover version.
For no particular reason other than they seem to suggest themselves for selection I pulled out a broken beat classic, a slice of kinda "deep house" which was literally I believe an "under the radar" release from trumpeter Roy Hargrove, and the last vinyl releasee from The Rebirth whose album we hotly anticipate this year. All tunes that still sound fresh to me, and are at least vaguely contemporary. Though it's always shocking when you realise something like The New Sector Movements tune is now old enough to drive a car.... lol.
Then there's an unlikely Australian groove, the album has such a terrible cover it's hardly something anyone would look twice at, so I'm grateful that I heard it rather than saw it first!! From Australia to a guitarist from Trinidad a singer from the Netherlands and a pianist from Pittsburgh....picking up the rice in a church where a wedding has been!!
Second hour, a dreamy "Dreamflower", a Fender Rhodes odyssey from Mr. Barron, an old GP fave from Dingwalls back in the day, and a poetic homage to dancing feet, rounded off by a Herbie tune that more than any other from his early work was portentous of things to come.
Last half hour gets a little disco, jazz-funk, Latin to see us through.... until next week.
Hope you enjoy it as much....
Peace, love, and blessings for the new year.
P.x
1. University Of Miami Jazz Vocal Ensemble - Teen Town
2. New Sector Movements - Voonga Vonge
3. Roy Hargrove - Universe
4. The Rebirth - Love Issue
5. Stylus - Natural Feeling
6. Michael Boothman - Maya Mosquito
7. Henry Franklin - Blue Lights
8. Monika Linges - Running
9. Frank Cunimondo Trio - Eleanor Rigby
10. Tarika Blue - Dreamflower
11. Kenny Barron - Dawn
12. Conjure - Papa La Bas
13. Phavia Kujichagulia - Fancy Footwork
14. Herbie Hancock - Succotash
15. Flora Purim - Angels
16. Tommy Stewart - Fulton County Line
17. Hot Salsa - It's The Rhythm
18. CJ&Co - We Got Our Own Thing
19. Norman Connors - Mr. C
