Posts Tagged ‘James Brown’
End-of-Week Mixtape: Christian McBride’s Non-Jazz Playlist
A Friday item, in which we feature a playlist suggested by one of our critics—or by a friendly guest.
Christian McBride has laid down records with so many jazz icons that to list them here would be sort of obnoxious. (It would also require us to discuss the latter-day work of Sting.) Suffice it to say that whatever jazz greats were alive in the ’90s, McBride played with them—and made their records a better place to spend some time.
Mike West, City Paper’s jazz guy-in-chief, calls McBride “the most revered bass player of his generation.”
More important, perhaps, is McBride’s statesmanlike work as a bandleader and composer. McBride’s new band, Inside Straight, which backs him on this year’s Kind of Brown, represents a return to a traddier brand of music (what the bassist describes as “right down the pike, straight-ahead, swinging jazz”) after the forward-leaning funk of the Christian McBride Band. Not to say that the dude’s playing it safe or anything…but if John McLaughlin wanders into Blues Alley this weekend, he’s not gonna hear anything to turn his hair unwhite.
Still! A man’s allowed his guilty pleasures. In anticipation of his four sets this weekend, I phoned McBride to solicit a playlist of his favorite non-jazz songs. Predictably, they’re heavy on the low end. (Hey, a bassist has to look out for his own.) Also predictably, one of the songs is by Sting.
Playlist & videos below the interview.
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End-of-Week Mixtape: #FridaySoul!
Dear Arts Desk readers,
As approximately 62 of you know, I’ve been spinning a Friday Soul mix via the old Twitter account. Man is it groovy! I’m even linking to videos. The playlist so far:
- Otis Redding, “Shake” (live at Monterey Pop, 1967)
- Raphael Saadiq, “Let’s Take a Walk”
- Laura Nyro, “And When I Die”
- James Brown, “Super Bad”
- Buddy Guy, “Feels Like Rain”
- Mofro, “Ho Cake”
- James Cotton, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, “Got My Mojo Workin’” (hey, we’re branching out)
- The Impressions, “Long Long Winter”
- Rod Stewart, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”
- Bettye LaVette, “You Don’t Know Me At All”
- Van Morrison, “I’ve Been Working”
- Curtis Mayfield, “People Get Ready” (some live version from, I think, 1974)
Eclectic, see, yet accessible. But it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings! (No Aretha jokes, if ye please.) Just point the browser of your choice in this direction, make like a lemming, and follow along. Suggestions are appreciated. As are witty remarks concerning my inclusion of Rod Stewart…or the fact that a number of these tracks don’t necessarily qualify as soul.
Below the jump: the remainder of the mix, updated incrementally.
Gimme Some Funk: Original P at Fort Dupont Park
I saw Original P with openers Ken Staton and his James Brown Revue for free at Fort Dupont Park in Anacostia Saturday night July 18. I was not intending to write it up, but it was such an exciting and interesting event that I gotta share. Yes, it was just an oldies tribute show, but it was one with the headliners doing an impressive job of delivering the best of the P-Funk catalogue for the 4,000 or so folks in attendance, many of whom happily sang along. Opener Ken Staton and his James Brown revue are a local act that did well-sung and played but otherwise unsensational takes on James Brown hits. “Original P” (photo is from a Baltimore 2007 show) is a large band that includes two founding singers from George Clinton’s 1955 formed Parliaments, Grady Thomas and Fuzzy Haskins, who stayed with George through the 1970s and beginning of the ‘80s glory days of Parliament and Funkadelic. Likely, for financial reasons, they split off from George around 1998 with two other original Parliament vocalists, Calvin Simon and Ray Davis. Since then, Simon left the group to become a gospel solo artist and Ray Davis died. Their group does not include well-known George Clinton associates Bootsy Collins or Bernie Worrell.
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What’s New @ Red Onion
Oh, it’s time to get out your X-Mas LPs. Two nights ago, Mingering Mike was having me track down “White Christmas” by the Drifters and a sweet James Brown yuletide favorite. Thank G-d for iTunes as the Drifters track was AWOL on Amazon. And thank G-d for Red Onion, the record shop just got in a batch of X-Mas favorites from the Beach Boys, Ernest Tubb, and Lou Rawls. Not to mention the Charlie Brown Christmas LP that everyone must listen to. If that’s not your bag, he’s got a special sale on most Numero LPs which make great gifts! And of course, tons more new arrivals:
