Category Archive

by Cousin Geoff

I’m rolling out a new feature here on Cousins Vinyl.  It’s called “Guess That Sample”.

It’s really a shame that sampling is pretty much outlawed now in hip-hop; it’s killing the genre.  Sampling is what the art is based on - not only is it a tribute to the funk and jazz that came before it, but it’s how it was born in the first place.  It’s probably why I gravitate towards the old school stuff, yeah - I grew up on it - but I really have no interest in listening to most of today’s rap: some bullshit negative lyrics backed by a generic, synthetic beat made by the same two or three guys that sell ‘em to all the top rappers.  It’s garbage - give me the old stuff with heavy samples any day.

A lot of times I’ll be listening to a 70s funk or jazz album and I’ll have one of those - ”hey! that’s the sample off the so and so record!” - moments.  Justin and I just drafted a bunch of 70s jazz/funk records off a collection we bought recently.  I was listening to this Rasta Afro-funk group called Cymande tonight, their self-titled debut album, and I heard a sample I recognized right away.  It’s from their song, Dove.

Listen to it and see if you can guess who sampled it.  Then click “read the rest…” below to get the answer and hear the track that it’s featured on.

Read the rest of this entry »

For Sale Soon

James Tatum (James Tatum Trio Plus), Contemporary Mass on private press jttp records.  VG++/VG++ (close to NM), super clean. 

In addition to playing the jazz piano, James Tatum holds a masters in music education from the University of Michigan, and is a composer, lecturer, and lifelong educator and promoter of jazz music.  In 1987, Tatum formed the James Tatum Foundation For The Arts, which provides funding and support to Detroit area youth who are involved in music and art.  James is a true ambassador of jazz music and education who deserves as much recognition for those contributions as he does for his incredible talents as an innovative jazz pianist.

We recently found this record by him, Contemporary Jazz Mass.  The intro was comped by Jazzman, off their “Spiritual Jazz: Esoteric, Modal, and Deep Jazz From The Underground 1968-1977″.  At first, I didn’t think I was going to like this record, but I was in the right mood this evening and I really got it.  You have to concentrate, you have to be alone, and you have to really listen, and then it takes off.  It’s perfectly and painstakingly arranged, but it’s still free and features plently of improvisation.  It’s extremely sacred and serious, yet it’s still funky and spaced-out.

The back of cover explains the album well:

“…Having converted to Catholicism some ten years ago, Tatum was deeply moved by the reverence, and the impressive beauty of the music.  As he became more involved with the church, it’s parishoners, and it’s music he recognized a chance to further explore the ‘Mass’ through a jazz interpretation.  Mr. Tatum believes the ‘jazz form’ of music could add another dimension, by using instrumentation and vocals to relate emotional feelings.  In composing the Mass, he attempted to convey the amicable, harmonious feelings exhibited by his parishoners: poetry of family living and brotherly love set to music.  James Tatum was commissioned by St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church of Detroit, Michigan to compose the mass.  The premiere performance was presented May, 1973 marking the first time in the United States that a Jazz Mass was celebrated by a Cathoic Priest from the Archdiocese of Detroit…”

I’m not sure how many of these were pressed, but it’s a pretty rare and sought after LP that we’ve never seen before.  It’s another one of those records that I hate to give up, but at least I got to enjoy it once before we have to sell it.  Check out a few samples from the album, and look for it go up for sale soon.

Intro:

Alleluia:

Offertory:

Kiss of Peace:

by Cousin Geoff

This record was an early, early find for me in my record hunting hobby that has now grown into our mighty Cousins empire.  I can remember it like it was yesterday.  I was out garage sailing, and it was getting late, almost 11:00 AM.  I had been at it since early in the morning, driving around, newspaper close by, digging and scouting and hunting.  In those days, going garage sailing was our main way of finding records.  This was before Cousin Justin and I were even partners. We would just sell under the same name and then get the money for our records. 

So I was out driving, way south of Ypsi, almost to Milan, about to go home and call it quits, but I decided to stop by one last sale and check it out, a total country bumpkin sale and I found this record somehow.  I almost sold it, because it goes for good money, but I liked it so much I had to keep it.  Turns out, it’s still one of my favorite records, especially because of the song I’ve Never Found a Girl.

There’s not much other vocals on the album besides this song, but it’s Marvin and his Uptights blowing feel-good 1969 San Francisco psych-funk until your toes curl.  It’s loud Saturday music, it’s getting ready to have a party at your house music, it’s happy Dragon-Monster Soul music.

Check out the liner notes from the back of the album:

I always said if I ever had the chance to write liner notes for an artist-I would have a ball doing it-I have read a lot of album backs and it seems there is always something interesting to say and use the most in descriptive words from?-funk-and I’d say yeah!  Well now it’s my turn and I do have someone I can testify for-Marv & The Uptights, able to raise a suave, sophisticated, mellow gathering to a high fever pitch-rocking with much Boss Soul-not being sacrilegious, but for those who missed church, this album will take you-giving you that head nodding, toe tappin’, hip shakin’, finger poppin’, soulful feeling-just let yourself go-Marv & The Uptights is mighty funky and how do you really decribe that.  It’s like when you, well you how it is when-uhhhhh-coming up on the-let’s see-I know what it is but I just can’t uhhh, how about funky as barrels of hot asphalt-I think you get the picture-check ‘em out-Marv & The Uptights-and you’ll dig much Infinity.

-Bob White KDIA Oakland, Calif.

Yeah, Bob!  Were you high by any chance when you wrote those notes? 

Check out the song, I’ve Never Found a Girl.  If you like it as much as I do, note that AL Green also does a great version on his Let’s Stay Together album.

 By Max Conroy

Hong Kong Blues by Hoagy (ne Hoagland) Carmichael was recorded for Decca in 1942; he penned it and recorded it in ‘39 originally.   It’s a unique side recorded by one of the most highly regarded song writers of the first part of the last century.  Two of his biggest hits were Georgia on My Mind and the A side of this single Stardust. 

The song is a cautionary drug tale about “a very unfortunate colored man who got arrested down in old Hong Kong…for kicking Buddha’s gong.”  Kicking Buddha’s gong is a dated term for smoking opium. It took me a second to realize what he was singing about when I first heard the song.  It’s fairly subtle till the end of it where he actually mentions opium.  He doesn’t mention any specifics about the drug or his habit, only that he cannot leave Hong Kong for his home, which he tells everyone is in San Francisco, but is actually in Tennessee.  The geographic centering of the song is kind of strange in that he’s not from San Francisco but later in the song where Carmichael switches from the narrator’s third person to the first person testimonial, he keeps mentioning San Fran as his home.  Also, how would an unfortunate brother end up in Hong Kong in the 1930s? 

All of this gives one the impression that Hong Kong is opium addiction itself.  The only specific moment where you can really put yourself in his shoes is where he sings:

“Won’t someone believe me/I have a yen to see that bay again/But when I try and leave/Sweet opium won’t let me fly away.“ 

He’s asking his fellow opium enthusiasts in the den to take his desire to quit drugs seriously, but he’s obviously ignored. Also, the use of the word ‘yen’ is a pun here as it comes from the Chinese words for ‘addiction’ and ’smoke’.  Carmichael once described his voice “…as the way a shaggy dog looks…I have Wabash fog and sycamore twigs in my throat.”  His inflection and the first person voice in the middle of the song made me assume that Carmichael was black, so I was surprised to see a picture of him, white as can be.  Another strange thing about this song is that it’s difficult to discern exactly when he’s singing this in relation to his incarceration.  He doesn’t lament getting arrested and still has hope that he’ll make it home, so I’m inclined to think that he’s speaking before he got arrested. 

In the chorus he sings that he needs someone to love him.  When I first heard this, I thought that it was such a 1930s view of drug addiction that finding a good woman could save you from yourself and drugs, but if you listen to the rest of it, he’s asking to find someone that loves him so they can take his body back home.  Pretty grim stuff.  There’s also a part where he begs for fifty dollars to get home with, but one is left with the impression that he’d blow it on dope.

This music is great for the depressant glow of a burgeoning alcohol buzz, alone.  The white jazz comes out a bit more on Stardust, but it’s still worth a listen eighty-one years after it was written.

Hong Kong Blues:

Stardust:

by Cousin Geoff

The Sun Messengers are one of my favorite local bands.  I’ve written about them a couple times, and cheered them on at Pistons games, where they serve up the funk as the resident house band.

So, I was excited to not only find a 45 by The Sun Messengers that I had never seen, but lo and behold it was another Tigers song to add to the collection.

There’s good parts to this song, like the opening, and the chorus, but the singing is really pretty bad.  The front says it’s The Sun Messengers w/ Tyrone Hamilton and the Bleature Creature Choir.  This Tyrone Hamilton is, I assume, the one singing and it sort of sounds like someone wrote a song about the Tigers and then performed it at a family reunion and the family is too nice not to tell him he can’t sing worth a lick.  I’m guessing that Tyrone Hamilton was one of The Sun Messenger’s friends, and they didn’t have the heart to get someone else to do lead vocals on this track. 

That being said, I really don’t care too much.  In fact, I sort of like it better that it’s kind of bad.  It’s still an awesome song.  The label alone is worth adding to my collection.

What’s that you say, I said the Tigers won again today!

Listen to Tiger Dynasty:

by Max Conroy 

If you refer to my post about the jazz flute, you know that I’m just getting into soul/funk-jazz/fusion.  I’m crazy about the stuff.  It’s also allowed my formerly tepid interest in hip-hip to expand slightly.  It’s like punk rock for me; not the music of course but how I view it.  Some of my favorite music, proto-punk, is the music that led directly to the development of punk rock, but I really don’t like straight punk all that much.  I love the Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols, but both bands were badass rock and roll acts before they were punk.  I love all of this music that’s been sampled a ton or could be sampled if it hasn’t but can take or leave the hip-hop that’s made it famous, so far at least.  As my obsession has grown for the (I’ll call it fusion, to incorporate soul/funk-jazz) fusion over the past few weeks, I’ve purchased a shit ton of great records and thank God some of it can be found cheaply. 

I’d heard of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, but that was probably from hearing them mentioned by NPR DJs a split second, before I slammed the radio off in disgust before my appreciation of fusion.  I totally thought that they were venerated by jazzbos and that they were classic bop, but how wrong I was.  Justin hooked me up with a rough copy of the In Crowd, which is apparently an early soul-jazz classic.  After digging the album, I also noticed that reissues of it are advertized in Waxpoetics, and have noticed the record at numerous shops and online.  I thought that the record would be pricey, but since it obviously sold well for a jazz record and was on Chess’ Argo imprint, it’s insanely cheap.  Like you would pay three times what an OG copy would cost to get the reissue.  Dig the ‘In’ Crowd…

I also recently picked up Ramsey Lewis’ Sun Goddess for cheap.  The cover alone is worth the money, but the music could have been sold in a paper bag and it’d still be sweet.  It’s ten years after the In Crowd and the funk had dropped in the meantime, and it’s obvious on this record, that Lewis was hip to it.  Check out Sun Goddess, Livin’ For the City (the S. Wonder jam) and Jungle Strut…

On the Blue side of things; some Blue Note records from the periphery of their dark days can be got fairly cheaply too.  Some of these records sold very well, which makes them easy to find and cheap, but not bad at all.  For instance, Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd (the best selling record in the entire Blue Note catalogue) and Byrd’s Best are about $10 records; the cover of Black Byrd, depicting a black wedding or hoedown of some sort, ca. 1890 is worth it, and the music’s funky as can be, slightly dated, but that’s a large part of the appeal for me.  I recently acquired Grant Green’s Alive! album, which is a live gig recorded in a small club with Idris Muhammad tearing the place up on drums, for $10.  I’m not as much of a purist as the Cousins and will pick up a reissue or a comp here and there, and found a Grant Green record that was part of the Blue Note Breakbeats series for under $10.  Sometimes on these records, as with every record, there are bum tracks, but it seems more common for jazz records to me, so a comp with six of the most notable tracks by someone can be a good thing.  But I don’t necessarily think that’s true for Grant Green; I’m willing to bet that anything he did in ‘70 and ‘71 with Idris Muhammad on drums is good throughout.  Ronnie Laws‘ Pressure Sensitive must have also sold a shitload because it’s everywhere and it’s cheap.  One of my dad’s buddies gave me his record collection when I was about fifteen.  There were about fifty or so records, all early 70s stoner rock…and Pressure Sensitive.  It’s like the fusion Frampton Comes Alive, but way cooler.  Here are Grant Green’s Sookie Sookie (the Don Covay song) and Ronnie Laws’ Nothing to Lose…

by Cousin Geoff: 

FINALLY! Monday is Opening Day for the Tigers.  How sweet are we going to be this year?  Will this be the most potent offense ever assembled?  Here are some Tigers songs from their championship years to fire you up even more!

I just found this one.  It’s from ‘84, set to the tune of Thriller, by Tom Paul.

listen to Tiger Thriller:

Another from ‘84, it’s Gino Danelli with the song Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now/Tigers.  Stay tuned for another great track by Gino coming up soon about Thomas Hearns.

listen to Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now/Tigers:

Here’s another one I just found, from ‘84, The Sun Messengers - Tiger Dynasty:

Also from ‘84 is the song Bless You Boys, I don’t have it but you can listen here.

Now we go back to ‘68 and the song Go Get ‘em Tigers by Artie Fields, off the Year of The Tiger album.

listen to Go Get ‘em Tigers:

From the Detroit sound label comes the York Mills Trio’s Sockit To ‘Em Tigers

And just for fun, check out 31 game winner and jazz organ hipster Denny McLain, doing the song For Me off his Denny McLain at the Organ LP.  Not bad - what can you play Verlander?

How excited am I?  Let me say that if the Tigers win the World Series this year, I’ll bring back my Todd Jones stache that I had last summer for an hour after I shaved my beard.  I’ll rock it for a week. 

 by Max Conroy:

Until very recently I’ve not really paid much attention to jazz.  As a matter of fact, jazz has almost bothered me for about the past decade.  I used to listen to it back in the day, from about sixteen to nineteen.  Man, reading the Beats and playing the Bird and Diz, that was it.  Also, throwing on 102.1 FM to hear Bob Parlocha, after dropping off my last friend that needed a ride home, for the hazy drive back to the nest was also pretty great.  But I got into rock and roll heavy.  And my girl can’t stand jazz and I am ashamed to say that I kind of didn’t want to hear it if I were to get into it.  NPR also ruined jazz for me for a little while there too.  I know every NPR station is different and some have very well rounded programming, but not the ones that I’ve listened to in the past, 90.5 FM WKAR in East Lansing and 91.5 WBEZ in Chicago.  Both of these stations when not playing classical or the typical syndicated shows like Car Talk, Fresh Air, and All Things Considered, play jazz exclusively.  WBEZ would play like six hours of jazz on a Sunday afternoon, starting at 11 AM, right when I’d want to hear some talk radio or a comedy show.  And they wouldn’t play any of the shit that I’ve been getting into lately at all.

Justin turned me onto Waxpoetics around Christmas time and I’ve devoured the last few issues.  I’ve, as a result, come to the realization that there is more jazz out there than bebop and free jazz.  Soul-jazz and funk-jazz are legitimate categories that I’ve been blind to as a result of my prejudice.  That’s where all the badass samples came from in the heyday of hip-hop.  I had no idea what Blue Note turned into in the late 60s: a jazz label that put out soul and funk records.  I also had no idea that there were people like Eddie Harris out there: check out the article about him in the latest Waxpoetics and also check out Swiss Movement and Silver Cycles, two of his albums.  I read about Blue Note’s Droppin’ Science record somewhere in Waxpoetics, a double record best of Blue Note’s records sampled by hip-hop artists, and ordered a copy.  I’m obsessive when it comes to learning about music, so I’ve been taking some stabs in the dark based on the list of guys on Droppin’ Science in the time that it’s taken to get here.  I found Grant Green’s Alive! at Encore and got a reissue of Lou Donaldson’s Alligator Boogaloo, which the Sugarman Three’s Sugar’s Boogaloo (one of the records that launched Daptone, the first one featuring Gabriel Roth) pays homage to.  Both kick ass to be sure. 

I’m not sure if any of you have seen the Anchorman with Will Farrell, but it illustrates what my thoughts are regarding the flute perfectly.  I tense up whenever I hear a flute on a jazz, soul or funk record no matter how appropriate to the song it seems.  One of the guys on Droppin’ Science that I looked for around town in the past week was Jeremy Steig.  I found a couple of his records at Encore, pulled one up out of the bin and quickly dropped it and piled the records on it hoping no one had seen me even looking at it.  First off, he’s a flautist (I feel strange typing that word); second he looks like a weasely, mustachioed, Yoga instructor.  I’d have to wait to get the comp in the mail to hear this guy.  When I got the record today, I was shocked to hear the hook from the Beastie Boys’ Get It Together and how raw and primal the actual song was, how rock and roll.  Based on the intensity of his playing, he sounds like he could go ten rounds with Hemmingway.

Jeremy Steig’s Howling for Judy from Droppin’ Science, originally off of Wayfaring Stranger/Legwork

Eddie Harris’ I’m Gonna Leave You By Yourself off of Silver Cycle

Here in Michigan, winter’s coming soon, which means it’s time to dig through the jazz stacks again.  For some reason, I listen to more jazz in the cold weather, when I have to stay inside more.

In any case, we have a great jazz selection now in our store due to a bunch of collections purchased over the past 6 months.  Mention JAZZ PROMO to Justin by November 1st(email justmeyers AT hotmail DOT com) and receive free shipping off your next jazz LP purchase (no limit on records).  Winter’s coming - better hurry before I snatch ‘em up.

From the back cover, John Sinclair’s always fantastic liner notes:

The Sound of Detroit is the sound of a city on the move - from the narrow neighborhood streets to Woodward and the Boulevard, from Davison to the Chrysler to the Edsel Ford and the John C Lodge, into the city and out to the suburbs or the factories.  Detroit is the crossroads where native energy meets the industrial crunch, and the music this city has produced is known the world over for it’s intensity and drive.

The Lyman Woodard Organization, Saturday Night Special LP, put out in 1975 on the Strata label, is one that gets better with further listening.  With further listening, I mean that it needs more attention.  Like a 1975 Cadillac, it needs to be driven right - cruised, as it takes you over those streets Sinclair describes.  At first, it seems slow.  But it demands a good sitting down and letting go, and then it explodes in sonic Motor City nightscapes and textures. 

There’s a lot to this album, it’s well planned.  It sits on a certain vibe throughout - you can hear the Yusef Lateef influences, but then also the Dennis Coffey style percussion breaks and drawn out drum solo arrangements.  It’s high energy and mellow at the same time, with a subtle funk edge that keeps it going.  The contrasts between the percussion and the mellow organ, electric guitar, bass, and even mellotron work beautifully.  I picture a strange light-night hipster party in the 70s, with like-minded people lurking behind smokey shadows, moving to the grooves.  It’s an after hours record, is what I’m trying to say. 

This is Detroit jazz all the way - raw and real, gritty and pretty - with a side of funk, blues and soul.

The last song on side A has a vocal, although it’s not Lyman Woodard, it’s the drummer, Leonard King.  He sings: Creative musicians, keep on rolling right along…

Listen: Creative Musicians

January 10, 1924 - August 16, 2007

The art of the drum break.  It’s purpose is to provide the musicians, in this example of the jazz-funk genre, a literal break from the theme that has been expressed repeatedly.  The theme then reaches it’s emotional peak, falls off a cliff - the drummer is then set free to create his/her own expression based on this theme without the hinderance of other instruments, and to get all the hippies in the crowd doing their crazy dance.  Usually the bass player is the first to pick back up and join the solo drummer, followed by the rest of the musicians.  When the rest finally join in, it is with great relief and triumph, where they restate their earlier repeated expression with great enthusiasm.  The result is the song gone full circle, with the repeated musical phrase now thrust back full force, the break well needed in order to give greater appreciation to the initial theme.

For two examples of how the drum break is utilized by a pair of Detroit jazz-funk bands, listen to the , and

Read my previous post for for more info on breaks and how to breakdance.

The jazz collection that’s up now features a great selection of Modern Jazz Quartet.  Most of the covers are great examples of the lost art of record album art.  It’s also a great example of how badly we need a new digital camera.  Click on a picture to view the auction listing.

Breaking news out of Detroit: A Dearborn police officer cooks up some brownies from pot that he confiscated, panics and and calls the police, thinking he’s dead! He pleads with the dispatcher to “send rescue”, complains that time is moving really really slow, and then asks the score of the Red Wings game. True story, as reported by freep.com.
, courtesy of the Detroit Free Press.

And to think this could have been prevented had he shopped at Cousins Vinyl and had this to throw on the turntable:

According to Wax Poetics, Weather Report is one of the most innovative and soulful groups of all time.  All Music Guide said that WR “practically refined the state of jazz-rock” during their 15 year run.  And Josh recently came over to my house with a WR album in hand, ready to throw it on during a listening session.  There’s Weather Report in the air!  We have three of their albums currently in stock.  Check ‘em out:

Tale Spinnin’

Sweet Nighter

Mysterious Travelor