Jimmy McGriff - Black Pearl (1971)

One of my favorite stores to buy music CDs & DVDs had a Blue Note Trip compilation in their racks years ago and I bought it.

Weeks ago another Blue Note Trip volume took its place at the store and it joined the other one in my collection.

Like I wrote in my post about Jazz Amnesty Sound System, I had not thought of Jazz music since about 10 years ago when I was Jazz Director for Concordia University's radio station. 

This song from Jimmy McGriff's Black Pearl, among a handful, stuck with me and might have a similar effect on others.

Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy was not only young and raw but cool because he was a member of Saturday Night Live. When I think of Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s, it is obvious Eddie Murphy was the cast member of utmost importance to me. 

 

Joe Piscopo by default was second because he appeared to be Murphy’s closest friend and relatively talented equal on the show.

Some of my only chances to catch Saturday Night Live would be when I would be babysat by a close family friend’s older sister.  To be awake after 11pm on a Saturday night at 8-10 years old was Wonderland. The only issue was getting over the hurdle of the late WPTZ News 5 broadcast to finally watch the coolest show on television. The 30 minutes was an eternity until the SNL opening sketch. On most cases, we would fall asleep during the broadcast. Do you think I slept during the original SNL broadcast of the Buckwheat Has Been Shot sketch sequence?

I’m sure that was the first night the grown-ups returned to see us kids awake and full of vigor as if it were Saturday 1pm. Would the parents understand we just watched the funniest SNL sketch involving Eddie Murphy? Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince told you the answer decades ago. 

I was slighty worried we could have been punished for not being asleep upon their return but that sketch would have been worth it.

As hilarious as the James Brown impersonation on Delirious or Comedian is, the visual of Celebrity Hot Tub is priceless.

The Best of Eddie Murphy provides other great comic Murphy moments including as James Brown as Annie.

 

Eddie Murphy is scheduled to return to Saturday Night Live by mid-February 2015.

The Headhunters

The legendary jazz-funk group The Headhunters releasing a new album shortly will be some pleasant news indeed.

The group's story begins with their work with Herbie Hancock.  The group members played on a number of  Hancock's classic albums. The 1973 album Head Hunters bearing the group name is essential listening.



I was fortunate to find a copy of Survival of the Fittest with one of my personal favorite 70s jazz-funk cuts called If You Got It, You'll Get It.

God Made Me Funky is quite surely the group's signature song but is epic in proportion. Thankfully Paul Walter's Under The Influence compilation gives a 7" edit that allows me to drop other funk bombs during my Suite Delight show.

There is another Headhunters album called Straight From The Gate that I only know by its cover. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I can post this song that is on that album.



The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 1-2am EST on CKUT 90.3 FM.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

Below is a playlist from one of my last guest DJ fill-ins for CKUT's The Goods.  

Click here to download other archived episodes.

DJ Solespin - The Goods (April 2014) Playlist:

 

1. Aries: Planetary Motivations 
2. Black Heat - Love The Life You Live
3. The Ohio Players - Walt's First Trip
4. African Music Machine - Black Water Gold
5. Dyke & The Blazers - Let A Woman Be A Woman
6. All The People - Cramp Your Style
7. Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Fire Weaver
8. The Blackbyrds - Blackbyrds Theme
9. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Try Me
10. Paul Simon - Mother & Child Reunion
11. Greyhound - Black & White
12. Jackie Mittoo - Toronto Express
13. Ken Boothe - Look What You've Done To Me
14. Delroy Wilson - Ain't That Peculiar
15. Eric Donaldson - Cherry Oh Baby
16. Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Israelites
17. Tomorrow's Children - Sister Big Stuff
18. The Bar-Kays - In The Hole
19. Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude
20. The 5 Stairsteps - Dear Prudence
21. The Band - Up On Cripple Creek
22. Al Green - I'm Glad You're Mine
23. Gene Chandler - Groovy Situation 
24. Q65 - Get Out of My Life Woman
25. Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm - Gettin' Nasty
26. Clarence Reid - Masterpiece (Kenny Dope Edit)
27. Bo Diddley - Hit Or Miss
28. The Headhunters - God Made Me Funky
29. Richie Havens - Handouts In The Rain
30. Bill Withers - Kissing My Love
31. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - I Second That Emotion 

Aries Spears

I love stand-up comedy, especially good stand-up comedy. I believe it is the highest form of comedy there is.

A movie or play may be called a comedy but may not bring the laughs to our liking. The true test of a stand-up comedian’s talent is how much he can make you laugh whenever they perform.

During the 2009 Just for Laughs Festival, the Uptown Comics Tour performed at Metropolis. It was fantastic and the last great night of stand-up comedy I’ve had. I hadn’t laughed that much in a long time and needed it too.




There was a strong roster of comics including In Living Color’s David Allan Grier, host Kevin Hart and headliner Aries Spears. My favourite Mad-TV cast mate was Aries Spears. The sheer fact he was performing live in Montreal made my being there a foregone conclusion. Luckily he hung around after the show for autographs and pictures. I got more than that. I got a station ID to use for my The Suite Delight radio show.

Michael Fassbender

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of X-Men: First Class and the star of the show for me was Michael Fassbender as Magneto.   

I respect Ian McKellan’s acting and was happy to see him in the role of Magneto opposite Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier. As an older man and actor, he brought a certain majesty to his Magneto and I appreciated that.

Fassbender's brilliant portrayal of Magneto nearly matches the menace of Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter. I had not heard of Fassbender before that film and I was curious to know if he was as good in his other movies as he was in First Class. He brought to the screen the danger that I imagined of the Magneto character and I winced with every scene.

 

Michael Fassbender's performance inspired me to take to my blog and write about him and Magneto. 

I haven’t been this interested in an actor or his work since Edward Norton’s Primal Fear. I was always curious to see Fassbender’s other films to see what else he has done or is capable of doing on screen.

Fassbender was in as many as four films in 2011 and I was hoping he would be nominated for one in particular called Shame.  I wanted to see it in the theatre but couldn’t get around to it.

A trip to my local video store showed me that there were others that wanted to see Fassbender's films. All copies of Shame were rented the day I stepped in there.

I went to the video store again the following week and picked up the lone copy on the shelf that was waiting for me. After watching the film, I can understand why he wasn't nominated. The role and subject matter were a little too uncompromising and I believe that may have hurt Fassbender's chances.

Prometheus has an all-star cast but Fassbender once again is surely the most intriguing of the actors.  I was sure to see that one as well but did not enjoy it.

Fassbender was Oscar-nominated at least twice since this blog post was drafted.  

Marvin Gaye: The Real Thing - In Performance 1964-1981

When Sam The Record Man in Toronto was closing, I browsed the store for longer than my peeps waiting for me could have liked or tolerated. 

To my delight, I picked up a DVD collection of his performances. 

Although I already had Anthology, my knowledge of Marvin Gaye’s music was somewhat limited to select 1960s songs.



The DVD opened me up to You’re A Wonderful One. The song is quite possibly my favorite of Marvin’s solo 1960s songs. 

I liked the song so much that I added it to a show playlist dedicated to my god-daughter.

Marvin Gaye

 

Marvin Gaye’s death is among the most tragic of all the celebrity deaths of the last 50 years.  



I was too young to understand the magnitude of his death on music history but was instinctively aware he was important and that he will be missed deeply. It would take me about 15 years to understand what a loss we suffered that April of 1984.

I saw his name on old 7” singles while growing up and distinctly remembered Sexual Healing was a huge hit in the summer of 1982.

If What’s Going On is Marvin’s socio-political, spiritual masterpiece, Let’s Get It On is Marvin’s celebration of sex. What a talent to respectively produce music dealing with the cerebral and carnal elements of humanity.

My consciousness of Marvin’s music pretty much stopped at Let’s Get It On. I never heard Trouble Man except for the single. I’m not too familiar with I Want You but I love the song almost as much as the late Robert Palmer must have. I owned the Marvin Gaye live album containing all 11 minutes of the great Got to Give It Up. I heard Here, My Dear once years ago and understand the story behind that album. A copy crossed my crate digging or purchasing path. I have Midnight Love twice somewhere in my collection.



The first week of April marks Marvin’s anniversary because he died close to his birthday.

In the immortal words of Diana Ross, we are missing you Marvin.

History repeated itself because I filled in for WeFunk just before the 2013 holiday season began in November.

To hear what I did as fill-in host, click play on the Cloudcasts below.

DJ Solespin - WeFunk (November 2013) by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Illusion

I've heard it said that a reader doesn't choose a book, a book chooses a reader. In my case, I'm talking about vinyl albums and not books.

I went to the modern equivalent of Canada's Wonderland for record collectors, the Montreal Record Convention one year. 

I always enjoy record conventions. There is always the element of surprise as to what records, CDs & magazines you can find and whether you'll be able to afford them. I was picking through crates of records priced at $3 each and came across the album cover photo you see below.

To understand why I'm writing about this album is to understand that these five gentlemen represent a look I consider to be the epitome of classic rock. The hair is long and wild. The clothes are funky and I would dare say interchangeable among the band members. They are posing in a graveyard which is already curious and unusual. From the moment I saw the cover, I was sold. What also sold me was the band name. I love great band names and I like The Illusion. I figured there would be some great psychedelic rock on it without having heard one song.

I bought a K-Tel/Ronco compilation record with an Illusion song on it but never heard it. As I found the album and put the faces to the band name, I was undoubtedly going home with the record.

I sampled the first side of the album and was barely impressed with that I heard. I didn't flip the side for fear I'd be totally let down. I grabbed the K-Tel/Ronco record to make sure The Illusion hit song was on The Illusion album I bought. It was thankfully the last song on the second side.

I immediately played Together and loved it. I have yet to hear the other tracks on the second side and maybe with subsequent listens will come to like the album as much as I do Together.

In retrospect, I am blogging more about the song Together by The Illusion rather than the album by The Illusion. We never know what can inspire us to do anything but maybe if we followed the song's theme, the world can be a better place.

Please make yourself familiar with the link below for more.

http://suitedelight.podomatic.com
 
Below is a playlist to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download.

Playlist:

1. Dave Cortez & The Moon People – Happy Soul (w/a Hook)
2. Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm – Funky Mule
3. Bo Diddley ‎– The Shape I'm In
4. Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter
5. Harmonica Paul ‎– Motherless Child
6. Ramsey Lewis ‎– Mighty Quinn
7. Lonnie Mack - Memphis
8. The George Benson Quartet ‎– Benson's Rider
9. Clarence Carter - Snatching It Back
10. James Brown ‎– Nose Job
11. Five Stairsteps & Cubie ‎– We Must Be In Love
12. David McCallum - The Edge
13. Dyke & The Blazers ‎– You Are My Sunshine
14. Otis Redding - You Left The Water Running
15. Johnnie Taylor - Love Bones
16. The Staples Singers - If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)
17. Wilson Pickett - Take That Pollution Out Your Throat
18. Robert Palmer - Pressure Drop
19. Ken Boothe - My Love
20. Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
21. The Illusion - Together
22. Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky
23. Patrice Rushen - Givin' It Up Is Givin' Up
24. Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man
25. Buddy Miles - Down By The River
26. Donovan - Season Of The Witch
27. Gary Bartz NTU Troop - Celestial Blues 

Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On (1971)

What’s Going On is one of the most important albums ever recorded and is the most important album in soul music history. 


Marvin Gaye Whats Going On from SeDivine Eye on Vimeo.

Only Stevie Wonder’s early 1970s classic albums and Michael Jackson’s juggernaut Thriller enter the discussion as contenders for soul album of all-time.

A-Trak

I had the privilege of attending the Igloofest kickoff with A-Trak among the night's headliners.

The lesson was learned on the night of my first Igloofest to dress extremely warm. I wore my warmest winter coat, a tradition I would follow up to this day.

A-Trak was already on the stage by the time I finally made it to join the large partying crowd.



I was lucky to have found a copy of Sunglasses is a Must, the comprehensive and entertaining look into A-Trak’s rise to prominence. It is interesting to note his transition from hip hop DJ dynamo to dancefloor groove director. Although my transition mirrors his by my incorporating electronic music in my repertoire, I knew next to none of A-Trak’s set with the exception of two songs.



I was caught up in taking photos and watching the youthful crowd dance around me for most of my time at Igloofest but was not that pre-occupied to wonder when Barbra Streisand was going to drop. The answer arrived at the end of A-Trak’s set when he brought the song in. I was very happy to hear it as was the crowd swarming me.



I thank the good people of Igloofest for putting together the best and only reasons to party in the Montreal winter cold.

Bonobo - Black Sands (2010)

Black Sands represents an album done right. 

If I were able to do so, I would frame a vinyl copy of Bonobo's Black Sands and hang it on the wall. The only problem with that is not being able to play the album unless I had another copy. 



At present, I have neither a vinyl copy of the album or frame to speak of. At least I made my point about how I feel about the album.

I love Kong, Eyesdown and any other track featuring Andreya Triana.

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

I saw the name Marvin Gaye on old 7” singles while growing up and distinctly remembered Sexual Healing was a huge hit in the summer of 1982. 

As I was exploring the late 1960s/early 1970s sounds, I did some research on Marvin Gaye’s music and history.



The duets with Tammi Terrell were the most magical. They looked and sounded perfect for each other. Because their timeless chemistry is still felt and perceived to this day, it is very easy to romanticize their recordings and one can only imagine them as the Romeo & Juliet of Motown Records. 

They were probably marketed as such but it is not a far stretch of the imagination to see them as lovebirds making music for lovebirds. Terrell dying in Gaye’s arms while on stage could on hand invite comparisons of Romeo & Juliet but it was responsible for Marvin Gaye creating his own masterpiece, What's Going On, which could be considered the musical equivalent of Shakespeare’s great literary works.

Labelle

I was told not too long ago that Labelle’s Lady Marmalade was the #1 single on Billboard’s chart during the week of my birth.

A little research on my part confirmed that fact and explained why I gravitate towards Labelle the way I do.

Nightbirds and Phoenix are easy enough finds.

What I aimed for was their album with the cover version of Cat Stevens’ Moonshadow.  I first heard their rendition on a Mastercuts compilation and was blown away.  That discovery was again made during my initial days of branching out from the more obvious and accessible funk and soul tracks.  

To my knowledge, their version of Moonshadow can be found on their album from 1972. I found that album reissue a few years ago. It was the most expensive of all my Labelle albums