LAMONT DOZIER + RICHIE HAVENS: BACK TO THEIR ROOTS

In honor of Richie Havens, who passed away earlier this week, I’m bringing back this 2010 post. -O.W.


Lamont Dozier: Going Back To My Roots
From Peddlin’ Music On The Side (WB, 1977)

Richie Havens: Going Back To My Roots
From Connections (Elektra, 1980)

One of my best moments in a club came back in the ’00s when I was at APT during a night that Chairman Mao was spinning. I had never heard Lamont Dozier’s “Going Back To My Roots” before and I was just marveling at now just how good [...]

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THE MANY FLIGHTS OF DONALD BYRD

Donald byrd

This isn’t some grand insight but what I find remarkable about the career of the late Donald Byrd was his ability to span so many different phases of jazz. For a cat who started in the bebop era, he bridged from there into post-bop, dabbled a bit in free, became one of the giants of the soul jazz era, and then became a massive force during the heyday of fusion. The vast majority of artists – of any genre – have trouble transitioning between even micro-changes in musical styles.1 Donald Byrd [...]

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CELESTIAL GROOVES: LLANS THELWELL

Llans

Llans Thelwell and His Celestials: Grazin’ In the Grass
This Guy’s In Love With You
Good, Bad and Ugly
From An ETC Holiday at the Colony Hotel (Dynamic, 196?)

Caribbean hotel albums tend to be a thankless lot: poorly recorded, full of “hits” mostly meant to appeal to tourists. It’s like K-Tel LPs but with more palms and steel drums in the photos.

This Llans Thelwell and His Celestials album is an absolute exception to that rule. As it appears on Dynamic (home to many a Jamaican artist, [...]

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RANDOM PILE: MONTY ALEXANDER

Monty Alexander Monty Strikes Again Live In Germany MPS CD 1974 2007

Monty Alexander: Chameleon
From Monty Strikes Again (MPS, 1976)

I was recently flipping through a bin of LPs I’ve pulled aside to sell but given that this bin has gotten rather ancient, I’ve forgotten what the deal is with some of the records therein. That includes this Monty Alexander album that I began to needle drop, only to remind myself: oh yeah, this is the one that had this quirky acoustic piano cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon.”

In contrast to [...]

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IT’S RAINING WHALES: ASHA PUTHLI & THE SURFERS

32 asha puthli tiara 1 kb website

Asha Puthli and the Surfers: Sunny
Angel of the Morning
From 7″ EP (Columbia India, 1960s)

It’s been a pretty remarkable last few weeks, record-wise. I’ve managed to scratch off any number of long-time white whales/holy grails off my want list and the fact that they’re all happening in the same time frame has been surprising (not to mention $$$). Rains + Pours-related.

This Asha Puthli release is one I’ve been after for at least 2-3 years (thus making it a minor white [...]

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