AFRO-AMERICAN SWEET SOUL MUSIC: March 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

Rocky Mizell & The Sugar Rock Band - Rocky Mizell & The Sugar Rock Band (1977)

By Papa Funk

VERY RARE GEM

AND EXCELLENT SOUL/DISCO/FUNK

"A MUST HAVE BEFORE DIE"

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The Mizell Brothers - Mizell

By Papa Funk

## A BOMB ## Blue Note

**VERY,VERY GOOD GEM**

** A MUST HAVE BEFORE DIE **

** The Mizell Brothers **

On a list of the hottest jazz-funk producers of the 70s the name Mizell has to be right on top. With their Sky High Productions the Mizell Brothers gave us some of the finest jazz-funk and R&B records ever produced. Their distinctive, unique style gave music a whole new quality, resulting in a fascinating groove that has always held its appeal.

Larry (b. February 17, 1944) and Fonce (b. January 15, 1943, d. July 5, 2011) were born and raised in Harlem, New York, and Englewood, New Jersey. At college, they formed a singing group known as The Vanlords, with the other members being Freddie Perren and John Butler. Some years later, Larry and Fonce both graduated from Howard University in Washington DC. Among their teachers was Dr. Donald Byrd, who recognized their talent and played an instrumental part in the inception of their careers.

Fonce Mizell started off as a member of Motown's famous production team The Corporation. Together with Freddie Perren, Deke Richards and Berry Gordy Jr., Fonce helped write and produce many of the Jackson Five's early hits, such as 'I Want You Back' and 'ABC'. Fonce also wrote and produced for other Motown acts, including Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas, and Bobby Darin. Some years later, Fonce and Freddie Perren would write and produce Edwin Starr's soundtrack to the blaxploitation movie 'Hell Up In Harlem' (Motown 1974), on which brother Larry appears on Arp synthesizer.

Before that, Larry had worked with Donald Byrd on his Grammy nominated 'Black Byrd' album, which became the biggest-selling album in Blue Note history at the time. From then on, having moved to California, the brothers were working together, producing a string of fantastic records with their company, Sky High Productions. Most of them were released on Blue Note, Fantasy and CTI. They include classic jazz-funk like Donald Byrd's 'Street Lady', Bobbi Humphrey's 'Blacks And Blues' and Johnny Hammond's 'Gears', deep soul-funk and R&B like Gary Bartz's 'The Shadow Do', L.T.D.'s 'Love To The World' and Rance Allen's 'Say My Friend', as well as huge disco hits like A Taste Of Honey's 'Boogie, Oogie, Oogie'.

On most of the Sky High Productions records, the Mizell Brothers accompanied the artists (Byrd, Humphrey, Hammond and Bartz) on their own instruments. While Fonce plays clavinet and trumpet, Larry can be heard on piano and synth. In addition, Larry and Fonce often provide the backing vocals and vocal arrangements, which are a distinctive feature of many Sky High Productions recordings. Obviously, they hadn't forgotten the vocal harmonies from their college time.

Younger brother Rodney Mizell (b. August 16, 1957, d. December 30, 2013) was a top-notch drummer and bass player. He joined his brothers in songwriting on L.T.D.'s 'Love To The World', Rance Allen's 'Say My Friend' and other albums.

By the end of the decade and after some A&R work with Elektra, the Mizell Brothers disappeared from the scene. They kept writing songs occasionally, but became much less prolific than during the 1970s. Today, they still run their publishing company Alruby Music in Pasadena, California (named after their parents Alphonso and Ruby).

Marvin Gaye - Where Are We Going (1972)

The Mizell Brothers' 70s productions have become popular sampling objects for today's kleptomaniac DJs. But there's no doubt: The originals just can't be beat! So look out for the Sky High Productions label and get into the groove! You're gonna love it!

R.I.P...

We Will Never Forget You !!!

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Raices - Raices (1975)
By Papa Funk

** VERY,VERY RARE **

Excellent Latin Jazz

"Jazz Fusion, Latin Jazz, Jazz Funk"

"Raices? Never heard of that!" All the better I say, if we are talking about Julio Iglesias' album of the same name. But don't you worry, for I want to introduce you to an album which typical Exotica fans – even those who own several hundreds of genre-related LP's and releases – probably do not even know of. Raised brows are pretty much expected by me, for the release date of 1975 alone tells you that something must be fishy about it: the Exotica craze was long gone at the time and only partially survived in the transformed states of Jungle Jazz and Funk. Funny, as these two genres are exactly what the septet of Raices (meaning roots) has in mind on their self-titled eight-track debut which, alas, is also their final release in this formation. Released on Nemperor Records, recorded in Miami and supervised by The Doors's regular producer Bruce Botnick, the aforementioned two genres are spiced with bold doses of Exotica, namely the occasional birdcalls, ritualistic but melodious flute tones and an unexpectedly large amount of exotic percussion instruments: coconut shells, cabasas, quikas and other devices join the more usual bongos, congas and bamboo rods. In tandem with funkier instruments such as the electric piano, the Moog synthesizer and the claviochord, Raices create seven unique pieces and one rendition that mostly evoke life in the jungle. A friendly plastic jungle of neo-savages, mind you. But nonetheless a tropical jungle of the heart. The band setup comprises of bandleader, flutist and percussionist Rafael Cruz, bassist Roberto Puras, the three additional percussionists Sammy Figueroa (co-founder of the band), Gonchi Sifire and percussionist-saxophonist Juan Melendez, guitarist Carlos Melendez as well as pianist Amaury Lopez. Indeed, four of the band members are percussionists, and you hear their impetus in every second: while this is a jazzy album with many rhythmical changes, they do not present all too complex patterns. It is the entanglement of the instruments and the different tonality of each ingredient that make the difference. Likewise, the incessantly perceptible Funk genre reminds of another Exotica-Funk band of the 70's, the British Mandingo project. If you distantly like their music, chances are that you adore Raices as well, even tough their approach is much dreamier and softer. But anyways, here comes Raices.

The point of departure and gateway to this largely unknown gem is called Lenguas, written by Amaury Lopez. Background chatter, chants and clap(trap)s provide the expectedly joyful way of life, but this remains the only clichéd instance of this original cut, as Juan Melendez's fast-paced saxophone notes mesh with the plinking high plasticity of the decidedly exotic percussion. Several shakers, high-pitched triangle-like instruments and Rafael Cruz's allotted bass droplets create a thick but not overly complex accompaniment that shows the high number of percussionists involved in the creation. Amaury Lopez's own piano chords transport a warm-hearted, non-Latinized majesty. The best thing, though, is the occasional polyphony of the saxophone notes that is caused by one of the vocalists mimicking the timbre of the saxophone via his voice, thus adding a gleeful ornament to the seven-to-eight-note riff of the main melody. Lenguas is rounded off by a frantic percussion prowess, and it is a joy to be captured by the tribal scheme of this showcase section. Lenguas is a superb opener thanks to its rather silky if also jumpy soprano saxophone and the percussion-related craziness. The high tempo enthralls the listener immediately, as does the large amount of percussive devices. The following Karmanalia by Juan Melendez decreases the tempo and offers a more melodious approach. His paradisiac eleven-note melody on the flute is both smooth and carefree, providing a technicolor jungle setting which is further augmented by classic drums, upwards spiraling Moog synthesizer blebs and a sleazy wah-wah guitar backing by Funkmaster Carlos Melendez. Fans of Mandingo will rejoice, as this track is based on their well-known formula of 50% Funk and 50% Exotica. The middle section sees an improvised flute melody by Juan Melendez which conflates with refreshingly gelid electric piano crystals. The flow of the arrangement is breathtaking, the flute never piercing or spiky, but perfectly embedded in-between the lush soundscape. This is a marvelous 70's take on the Exotica genre; so great!

Side A continues with the 7+ minutes long aural diorama of Amaury Lopez's Bamboo, not to be mixed up with the occasional Exotica songs of the same name. As its long runtime suggests, the composition traverses through many metamorphoses and rhythmic shifts. It opens with utterly dreamy electric piano chords in tandem with mysterious wind chimes, mellifluous cymbals, ticking bamboo rods and chirping birds of the Tropics before it moves over to the eclectic main melody as created by saxophone bursts and aqueous electric piano accentuations. The focus on the percussion side is again perceptible, for the melodious interplay is often paused in order to let the percussionists unleash large amounts of congas, glittering triangles and hollow coconut shells. The saxophone is much more jazzy and lively on this song, but never is it towering over the soundscape. I still prefer the conga-focused aorta with the gorgeously ethereal synthesizer infusions, but regardless of my personal taste, Bamboo depicts – better yet: transfigures – a phantastic journey through a resplendent jungle in Brazil. Its uplifting vibe is enchanting, and the clear-cut addition of electronic devices does not turn this Tropical Jazz anthem sour, but adds deliberately artificial filters to the arrangement through which the soundscape becomes even more auroral. A huge favorite of mine, it never gets boring through the course of its runtime. Up next is Parallax, a song co-written by Amaury Lopez and Gonchi Sifire. It expands and alters the intrinsic style with English lead vocals by Sammy Figueroa whose voice reminds me of Don Tiki's legendary frontman Delmar DeWilde. This tune is about a blend of Far Eastern tone sequences with graceful spirals on the clavinet which are both sunset-colored and truly good-spirited. Amaury Lopez is able to prevent his piano chords from being too Latinized or jazzy. Parallax is hence another marvel, even more so since so many things could have gone wrong due to its focus on the piano structures, but no, the tonality is catchy and unexpectedly free from any kitsch whatsoever.

Raices - Raices

Side B is able to keep the pace. It cannot top side A, but it comes quite close in this regard. Carlos Melendez's Parata Gua Gua launches with a delicately exotic and unexpectedly truthful jungle feeling: smooth alto flutes, enigmatic shakers, wind chimes, claves and birdcalls provide a segue to a slightly more electronic approach with electric pianos and Moog synthesizers. However, the flute melody remains in the spotlight all the time, its timbre being honest and convivial. It is curiously melodious and yet hard to grasp. The awesome middle section sees an expansion of the drums and shakers and is successfully intertwined with Melendez's electric guitar which adds a maximum of Funk. And yet is the Funk approach neither sleazy nor cool, but subordinate to the mélange of flute tones. Juan Melendez truly goes wild on this instrument.

Again, I have no complaints at all. While Juan Melendez's second addition El Tropical is a conga-interspersed rhythmically shifting take with a similar focus on the flute but an even greater concentration on Latin piano notes – a first on the release –, Raices' take on Oscar Castro Neves' and Sebastiano Neto's After Sunrise places la la la chants in-between acoustic guitar scents and harmonica-fueled bonfire allusions, creating a rendition that oscillates between a deliberate loneliness and Mediterranean schmaltz. I am probably not too fond of this version due to the missing jungle scheme. And indeed am I spoiled by side A. The final piece is Juan Melendez's third contribution: Bluegarian Funk Dance turns its back to the tropical Jungle Jazz realms in favor of a metropolitan concrete jungle scheme. It adds a major dose of a heretofore unused sleaziness in the veins of Mike Simpson's Jungle Odyssey (1966). Claviochord tones clash with staccato saxophone spirals and megacity-evoking electric guitar twangs. The Moog synthesizer screeches and whirls through the arrangement and elbows everything out of its way. While the coolness factor is indeed a nice change, the Exotica flavor is low, the innocence of the junglescapes gone for good. The self-titled debut of Raices ends with the weakest tune; a tune that nonetheless provides a wonderful link to Simpson's sound of the South African soils. In this regard, Bluegarian Funk Dance is a great choice.

Raices is a gargantuan album. It remains largely unknown to most Exotica connoisseurs, and this is a pitiful state that can only be blamed on the decade it was released: 1975 is clearly influenced by the glitzy Funk genre, and the septet tries to branch off into various directions and styles. Exotica fans aren't even specifically targeted – and if they are, it is a twofold accidental coincidence – by the group, and yet are the ingredients delicious to the follower of a faux-primitive lifestyle: the pool of exotic instruments used on this debut is almost larger than life, topping off many vintage Exotica LP's, even those which contain the trigger term Percussion in their titles. Fans of Geoff Love's British session musician-based Mandingo project will fall in love with the fusion of Jungle Jazz, Funk and Exotica. Side A is a blast and features four consecutive hits in a row, each of them dreamier and more melodious than the other, while at the same time featuring dynamic percussion sections and gorgeous flute and saxophone melodies. Both of these instruments can destroy the mellowness of an arrangement if they are played over the top. This does not happen here. Each instrument is well-embedded and merges deliciously with all others. Only the final track presents overexposed electronic devices and organs, but this is due to the deep bow before the Funk genre. I therefore cannot name any top pick this time, but want to stress how much enjoyment this debut brings me. I am probably more responsive to this music due to its fast rhythms which provide a great experience while I am running. Exotica fans who are up for dynamic cuts and do not mind an injection of funkiness will be surprised about the jungle setting with its occasional bird calls, many congas and the less heard amount of sea shells, berimbaus and cachichis, the latter of which I did not even know before I encountered Raices. It is highly recommended by me, one of the lost gemstones, and unfortunately the first and final album by this band. It is only available on vinyl at time of this review's publishing date. A serious crime, for this music must be released in digital form!

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Today We Have A Collection Of Clydie King

King, Clydie (1943 - )
Clydie Mae Crittendon (daughter of a Curtis Crittendon and a Lula Mae King) was born in Dallas, Texas, on August 21, 1943. She is generally thought a backing singer, but in fact has made many records of her own, some of them a surprisingly long time ago. She made her first, ‘A Casual Look’ c/w ‘Oh Me’, in the mid-1950s in Memphis, for the Bihari Brothers’ label RPM, billed as by Little Clydie King & the Teens. Soon afterwards, credited as Clydie King, she made two singles on Speciality, ‘Our Romance’ c/w ‘Written on the Wall’ (1956-57) and ‘I’m Invited to Your Party’ c/w ‘Young Fool In Love’ (1957).

Clydie King - Early Singles Collection (1956-1963)

By Papa Funk

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She made two further singles for Philips in the early 1960s (as Clydie King & the Sweet Things) plus one as by Mel Carter & Clydie King; three more in 1965 for Imperial, a 1968 duet with Jimmy Holiday and four more 1968-69 solo singles, all on Minit. In 1972 or 1976 came a shoddily packaged solo album on Lizard, Direct Me. One more single, a version of Sly & the Family Stone’s ‘Dance to the Music’, credited to Clydie King & Brown Sugar, came out on Chelsea Records in 1973, as did the album Brown Sugar Featuring Clydie King (with a heavy reliance on songs penned by Donna Weiss). As one of the vocal group the Blackberries she also made a mysteriously never-released album for Motown at the end of the ‘60s, followed by several Blackberries singles in 1973 & 1974.

Clydie King - The Imperial & Minit Years (1965-1968)

By Papa Funk

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Her prodigious back-up singing career included being a one-time member of Ray Charles’ Raelettes, singing on many of Phil Spector’s girl-group records of the very early 1960s, being among Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen, singing on Jesse Ed Davis’ second solo album, on Steppenwolf’s hit ‘Born to be Wild’, on the 1973 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee album Sonny & Brownie, tracks by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tim Rose and, while romantically linked to Mick Jagger, on the Rolling Stones’ album Exile on Main Street.

Clydie King - Direct Me (1971)

By Papa Funk

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In 1972, backed by a 31-piece Quincy Jones orchestra, Clydie followed the double-act of Carole King & James Taylor and preceded Barbra Streisand at a lavish, star-packed ‘Four For McGovern’ fundraiser at the LA Forum, the nature of which is indicated by the fact that Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn acted as ushers. Four years later King worked with Streisand again, as one of the Oreos in her movie with Kris Kristofferson, A Star Is Born. In 1977 she sang behind another diva, Better Midler, on her Broken Blossom album.

Clydie King first joined the Dylan world in 1970, when at a session of overdubbing held in LA under producer Bob Johnston’s supervision, Clydie King and fellow Blackberries Venetta Fields and Genger Blake Schackne (plus Johnston himself) sang backup vocals on a session with various musicians. Dylan himself wasn’t there. It isn’t known what tracks were worked on but the date (overnight on March 26) falls in the middle of sessions for New Morning. It was another decade before Clydie King and Dylan actually worked together. A committed Christian, she seems to have arrived in the picture in February 1980, and is thought to have become a valued singer, a moral support and a girlfriend, first working on most of the Saved sessions at Muscle Shoals in Sheffield, Alabama and then joining the backing singers on the second 1980 gospel tour, starting in Toronto that April 17 and finishing in Dayton Ohio on May 21. In general, she sang a solo number, ‘Calvary’, in the middle of alternate shows. (The backing singers also began most concerts with several jointly-sung gospel numbers before Bob Dylan came onstage, so that King was in the group singing five songs, sometimes as many as seven, most evenings.)

In October 1980, she was among those in the studio with Dylan in Santa Monica for a long session, at which 13 tracks were cut, though only six have circulated, among them a fascinating ‘Caribbean Wind’ and that great unreleased number ‘Yonder Comes Sin’. On the semi-gospel fall tour (the ‘Musical Retrospective Tour’) that followed, from November 9 in San Francisco to December 4 in Portland Oregon, Clydie was there again. A few of these concerts also began with several songs from the backing singers, King included, but this time she and Dylan also sang vocal duets on two numbers - ‘Abraham Martin and John’ (with Dylan on piano) and ‘Rise Again’. From November 19, both were being performed in the same concert. King was thus afforded a rare prominence on this tour, and the mutual respect and affection between her and Dylan was obvious.
From late March to early May of 1981 Clydie King pitched into almost all of the sessions for Shot of Love, though one of the few she missed was the last one, on May 15 in LA, at which ‘Heart of Mine’ was recorded.
The 1981 tour - sometimes called the ‘Shot Of Love Tour’ - comprised four warm-up shows in the US in June, a leg in Europe in June-July and another in North America in October-November. Concerts during the first two legs were structured much like the previous one, starting with four songs by the backing singers plus Terry Young on piano; Dylan and the band would then perform 10 to 12 numbers, followed by one song from a backing singer (with the band) and then came a further 10 to 14 songs by Bob Dylan and the band and an encore of one or two more songs with the band and one or two more by Dylan alone. The fall concerts omitted the backing-singer section at the start, and ended with the encores reversed so that Dylan’s solo songs came before one or two final numbers with the group. Within all this, Clydie King took no solo slots on the US warm-up dates, but duetted with Dylan on ‘Abraham Martin and John’ or ‘Rise Again’ each night, and, on the last concert (Columbia Maryland, June 14), on ‘Dead Man, Dead Man’ also.

For some reason, King missed the first European concert, in Toulouse, France, on June 21, but she was there for the rest, and on her first night, in Colombe on June 23, she and Dylan débuted their duet of the old Everly Brothers song ‘Let It Be Me’, sung now as if a devotional song addressed to God, yet not without a frisson of something between the two singers. This proved a one-off, and on subsequent nights in London it was back to ‘Abraham, Martin and John’, then the Jim Webb song ‘Let’s Begin’, then no duet at all, then ‘Let’s Begin’, ‘Abraham’ and ‘Let’s Begin’. In Birmingham there was no duet either night, and after that it settled down to a routine nightly ‘Let’s Begin’, all the way through from Stockholm on July 8 to Avignon on the 25th.

On the fall tour of North America, though the backing singers didn’t start the show they did perform one number in the middle each night; Clydie and Bob started the tour by continuing to sing ‘Let’s Begin’ but soon introduced the old Tommy Edwards hit ‘It’s All in the Game’ (débuted in Merrillville, Indiana, October 19, 1981), in turn replacing this with ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on October 25, throwing in an extra ‘Let’s Begin’ at the concert after that and then reintroducing ‘Let It Be Me’ in Toronto on October 29, retaining it in Montreal and then, dropping both this and the ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ duet, returned to ‘It’s All In The Game’ in Kitchener, Ontario on Hallowe’en. After that it was mostly back to ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’, though there was no duet in Atlanta on November 15.

Clydie King - Brown Sugar (1973)

By Papa Funk

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There was no 1982 tour, but at Dylan’s Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, on June 1 that year, Dylan and Clydie King recorded a series of duets together, with Dylan on organ, guitar and bass and Jimmie Haskell on piano. None has circulated, though four songs are known to be extant: ‘Standing In The Light’, three takes of ‘Average People’, ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ and ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’. Some years later Dylan said in an interview: ‘I’ve also got a record with just me and Clydie King singing together and it’s great, but it doesn’t fall into any category that the record company knows how to deal with.’ The nearest they came to any such Dylan-King release was with the studio version of their duet on ‘Let It Be Me’, recorded at a Shot Of Love session on May 1, 1981, which was released, though in Europe only and billed as solely by Bob Dylan, on the B-side of ‘Heart of Mine’, in September 1981.

Clydie King reappeared on the promo video for the Infidels single ‘Sweetheart Like You’ and contributed to the album sessions of April 27 and 29 and May 2, this last yielding the ‘Death Is Not the End’ released on the 1988 album Down In The Groove. Her last day of action in Dylan’s professional life seems to have been at Dylan’s home studio in the garage at the Malibu house in March 1984, when she sometimes joined Bob and The Plugz at their rehearsal sessions for the ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ TV show that month, though she didn’t take part in the show itself.

Howard Alk filmed King, Dylan and the band both backstage and onstage on the fall 1981 tour, and also took copious pictures of Clydie and Bob together in 1980-81, several of which are published in the large-format booklet with the 5-LP box set Biograph in 1985, one of which, reproduced full page, has a quiet air of intimacy about it, at least on Ms King’s part. Howard Sounes’ Down The Highway: A Life of Bob Dylan, published in 2001, claimed that at some point Bob Dylan even bought her a house. Perhaps she’s still in that house today.

Clydie King - The Other Side -

(Rushing To Meet You) (1977)

By Papa Funk

"MUST HAVE BEFORE DIE"

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I've spent a little time researching the Baby Grand catalog and can tell you it'struly bizarre with the same releases appearing multiple times; sometimes with different artwork; sometimes with the same catalog numbers ... who know what was going on.
Anyhow, here's a perfect example of how goofy it can get. Having released "Steal Your Love Away" (itself a reissue of an early Tiger Lily album), Baby Grand reissued the album a second time with the same catalog number and track listing, but different artwork.

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