Wednesday, August 27, 2014

NEW RELEASES: SOULS OF MISCHIEF - THERE IS ONLY NOW; WITCH - KUOMBOKA; DUKE ELLINGTON - MY PEOPLE

SOULS OF MISCHIEF - THERE IS ONLY NOW

A great pairing of Bay Area hip hop legends Souls Of Mischief and producer-composer Adrian Younge – akin to the cinematic hip hop funk productions by Younge for Ghostface Killah and others – but it's also the tightest, most focused work we've heard from the Souls in a while! It finds the right balance of delivering on the character-driven song cycle/concept album front – held together by interludes featuring fellow blueprint era hip hop veteran Ali Shaheed Muhammed as a radio DJ whose brief news readings move the story along – but concept aside, it's a timeless, funky jazz-fueled gem that'll stand the test of time. Includes "Time Stopped", "Womack's Lament" with Busta Rhymes, "Panic Struck", "Another Part Of You" feat William Hart of The Delfonics, "All You Got Is Your Word", "There Is Only Now" with Snoop Dogg, "Meeting Of The Minds", "Miriam Got A Mickey", "Stone Cold" feat Scarub, "The Synopsis" plus intro, outro and interludes with Ali Shaheed Muhammed, "Narrow Escape", "Finally Back" and "The Last Act". ~ Dusty Groove


WITCH - KUOMBOKA

A surprisingly great later set from Witch – one that still has some of their funky styles of a few years before, but which also seems to bring in some stronger African elements as well – in the kind of sweet fusion that was showing up in some of the hipper South African acts of the period. The sound is more late 70s, especially in the keyboards, than some of the clunkier pop that you might expect from the 1984 date – and a few really great numbers have cool moogy touches that really make the record stand out. Titles include "Erotic Delight", "Come Together", "More Sweat Than Sweet", "I Wanna See The Light", and "Kuomboka".  ~ Dusty Groove

DUKE ELLINGTON - MY PEOPLE

A great high-concept composition from Duke Ellington – one that rivals the earlier brilliance of his Liberian Suite! Like that one, vocals are a key part of this long-form work – a special performance done for the Century Of Negro Progress Exposition in Chicago in 1963 – with an all-star cast that includes Jimmy Jones both at the piano and conductor's stand; Joya Sherrill on vocals with the Irving Bunton Singers, Jimmy Grissom, Jimmy McPhail, and Lil Greenwood; Billy Strayhorn on celeste, Juan Amalbert on conga, and other familiar Ellingtonians in the larger group! The tunes have a mix of gospel and folk roots, turned towards more modern Ellington compositional modes – and almost all numbers feature vocals, including one with narration by Ellington himself. Titles include "Will You Be There", "Come Sunday", "David Danced", "Montage", "My Mother My Father", "My People", "The Blues Ain't", and "What Color Is Virtue".  ~ Dusty Groove


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