In preparation for swine flu I've been studying the following:Breathless - Shankar Mahadevan, Breathless
You can also watch the video, which is well worth your while:
The secret is, he doesn't take a breath the entire song (from 0:40-3:00), for a total of 2 and 1/3 minutes of lung power. I am up to 1/6 of one minute and have yet to catch any pigs.
That was $$. Blog is killing, keep it up--please. Even if you get busy. This is big.
ReplyDeleteYour Ramsey post reminded me of another cat who made the "crossover" from jazz to...funk, or something: Roy Ayers (http://www.viddler.com/explore/GStrongRAW/videos/8/). With the benefit of hindsight it starts to look a little tragic how so many jazz men and women threw down their axes in the funk ring come mid70s when everyone suddenly decided that the scene was dead (or maybe just not lucrative) and made shitty "crossover" music that ended up appealing to just about nobody (SAY http://www.weblo.com/music/images/artists/full/Herbie_Hancock_48f74a99bf941.jpg TO http://www.vinylrevinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/herbie_hancock.jpg). How would music be different today if they had never strayed?
So who was successful at 'the leap' besides Ramsey and Roy? I mean successful artistically, sorry George "Breezin'" Benson (that one really hurts. Early GB is dope.) SO, Rich JC, countless anonymous readers---Eddie Harris? Miles, duh. Uh...John Klemmer? Dude is kind of a beast, I swear.
On another tack, I was hoping Rich JC and the thousands of SomeQuality loyalists could relay the somequality that makes this clip so...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1IuD6F3R5I
YRS
NateS
NateS
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Roy Ayers, perhaps more so than RL embraced the funk. Really just locked it in and went after it. I've got something on him planned. I'm interested in the rest though. I've never heard Harris' crossover work, and would be into exploring some Klemmer, any pointers? I know you've got years of late night jazz jockeying under your belt, so I'm sure you can suggest something.
And that Pow. Hard to say, as I work with audio quality exclusively at this point. I agree though:
some...
thisistoogood (one breath)
ReplyDeleteEddie Harris was definitely one of the first to come to mind, but man, there are SO many "jazz" artists that recorded tons of x-over material, and, IMO, in that mix there are TONS of great R&B tracks by those we tend to primarily consider "jazz" artists.
ReplyDeleteHell, almost every R&B cat in NOLA in the 60s & 70s came up playing "jazz". Seriously-almost all of them. And that goes for much of the rest of the country too. Booker T & The MGs and the rest of the Stax instrumentalists played in jazz bands at night after they left the studio.
Nowadays we view jazz, soul, funk, blues, and rock as separate entities with distinct, albeit vague, boundaries, but most interviews I've read/heard suggest that these cats viewed music as more of seamless continuum. It was all just "the blues".
Some great x-over by "jazz" artists:
Eddie Harris - How Can I Find Some Way to Tell You: http://www.divshare.com/download/7322586-720
Lonnie Smith - All In My Mind (on that Stevie Wonder tip): http://www.divshare.com/download/7322587-b9f
Donald Byrd - Love's So Far Away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF0NpcclvqM
Bernard Wright - Just Chillin Out (Miles Davis' Solar appears on the same album):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMWHrWHWMQc
Idris Muhammad - Disco Man (drummer on countless Prestige/Blue Note jazz sessions in the 60s): http://www.divshare.com/download/7322825-c5b
Oscar Brown, Jr. - Feel The Fire (put lyrics to The Work Song et al): http://www.divshare.com/download/7322894-d0f
Joe Thomas - Funky Fever: http://www.divshare.com/download/7323141-344
& oh so appropriately - Eddie Harris' I Need Some Money: http://www.divshare.com/download/7322588-faa
disclaimer: this is only jazz artists who were well-known when they went x-over; go deeper and there are tons more. also doesn't include jazz artists covering pop songs, or vice versa.