Sky High and Beyond
Riding high on the Twelve Bar playlist at the moment (track 10 I believe), is an all time jazz-funk classic, Donald Byrd's "Wind Parade" from the equally stunning 1975 album "Places and Spaces". If you don't know this record in its entirety then I urge you to dig it out as an entry point to the work of jazz-fusion trumpeter extraordinaire Byrd, a combination of the funkiest, disco and soul-tinged, r'n'b with a jazz foundation you are ever likely to come across. It is quite simply awesome. And while you are there, why not also dip in to Byrd's similarly classic early 1970's albums, from 1972's "Ethiopian Knights", to 1973's huge-selling "Black Byrd" and "Street Lady" (amazing cover art by the way) and 74's "Stepping Into Tomorrow".
If you are immediately put off by the very notion of jazz-funk then again I would urge you to start with Byrd and open your ears because the discerning music lover will always be richly rewarded by this sub-genre, itself a treasure trove for hip-hop heads over the years. Although it is true that some aspects of this fusion, at its peak in the early 1970s, are painfully hard work to listen to, with technical excellence and exploration at the fore to the expense of accessibility, it is also true that listening to the work of Donald Byrd, or contemporaries such as Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith, Herbie Hancock and Bobbi Humphrey can also be an extremely riveting introduction to more traditional contemporary jazz, again a rewarding detour to make. And, besides, whether you know it or not you are probably already familiar with the other key players in the Donald Byrd story, the production duo of Larry and Alphonse "Fonce" Mizell.
The Mizell Brothers are criminally under-appreciated as musical pioneers, due perhaps in part to their own retirement from the music industry in the early 1980s. But if ever there was a duo who deserve some hype it is these two. A recent retrospective of their years on the Blue Note label, coinciding with Byrd's purple patch as outlined above, where they wrote, performed and produced the records through their own Sky High Production for the label, is a testament to their brilliance. Itself taking content heavily from the "Places and Spaces" album, this collection is solid gold. But the Mizells' influence and input goes far beyond Byrd. Within the jazz-funk scene they also contributed significantly to career-peaking work by Gary Bartz ("Music Is My Sanctuary", Bobbi Humphrey "Blacks and Blues", Johnny Hammond Smith ("Gambler's Life" and "Gears"). And before that Fonce Mizell was a key component of Motown's Corporation production team, providing many of the Jackson 5's first hits including "I Want You Back", "ABC" and "The Love You Save", as well as a range of material for acts such as Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and Diana Ross. Damn it, the brothers even had time, before their self-imposed retirement, to pen A Taste Of Honey's classic disco hit "Boogie Oogie Oogie".
And if that wasn't enough, you will already have fallen in love with their music through samples by Tribe, Black Moon, De La, Stetsasonic, J Dilla*.the list just goes on and on. The Mizell's style is tantamount to musical perfection, with a seamless interweaving of melodies, sophisticated yet elegant and accessible rhythms, and lush soundscapes, which lend themselves equally to dancefloors or hazy lazy summer nights. As I said earlier, fusion music can be painful, often because the seams are still horribly visible.
With the Mizell's the joins are invisible, and that is their truly finest achievement. And as if combining to push the boundaries of what is possible musically, while Fonce was at Motown the younger of the brothers, Larry, was working as an electrical engineer at NASA, carrying out testing on the Apollo Programme, and thus quite literally pushing the very boundaries of human endeavour and giving an amazing credence to their soon to be launched Sky High moniker. And that, is just showing off!
If you are immediately put off by the very notion of jazz-funk then again I would urge you to start with Byrd and open your ears because the discerning music lover will always be richly rewarded by this sub-genre, itself a treasure trove for hip-hop heads over the years. Although it is true that some aspects of this fusion, at its peak in the early 1970s, are painfully hard work to listen to, with technical excellence and exploration at the fore to the expense of accessibility, it is also true that listening to the work of Donald Byrd, or contemporaries such as Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith, Herbie Hancock and Bobbi Humphrey can also be an extremely riveting introduction to more traditional contemporary jazz, again a rewarding detour to make. And, besides, whether you know it or not you are probably already familiar with the other key players in the Donald Byrd story, the production duo of Larry and Alphonse "Fonce" Mizell.
The Mizell Brothers are criminally under-appreciated as musical pioneers, due perhaps in part to their own retirement from the music industry in the early 1980s. But if ever there was a duo who deserve some hype it is these two. A recent retrospective of their years on the Blue Note label, coinciding with Byrd's purple patch as outlined above, where they wrote, performed and produced the records through their own Sky High Production for the label, is a testament to their brilliance. Itself taking content heavily from the "Places and Spaces" album, this collection is solid gold. But the Mizells' influence and input goes far beyond Byrd. Within the jazz-funk scene they also contributed significantly to career-peaking work by Gary Bartz ("Music Is My Sanctuary", Bobbi Humphrey "Blacks and Blues", Johnny Hammond Smith ("Gambler's Life" and "Gears"). And before that Fonce Mizell was a key component of Motown's Corporation production team, providing many of the Jackson 5's first hits including "I Want You Back", "ABC" and "The Love You Save", as well as a range of material for acts such as Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and Diana Ross. Damn it, the brothers even had time, before their self-imposed retirement, to pen A Taste Of Honey's classic disco hit "Boogie Oogie Oogie".
And if that wasn't enough, you will already have fallen in love with their music through samples by Tribe, Black Moon, De La, Stetsasonic, J Dilla*.the list just goes on and on. The Mizell's style is tantamount to musical perfection, with a seamless interweaving of melodies, sophisticated yet elegant and accessible rhythms, and lush soundscapes, which lend themselves equally to dancefloors or hazy lazy summer nights. As I said earlier, fusion music can be painful, often because the seams are still horribly visible.
With the Mizell's the joins are invisible, and that is their truly finest achievement. And as if combining to push the boundaries of what is possible musically, while Fonce was at Motown the younger of the brothers, Larry, was working as an electrical engineer at NASA, carrying out testing on the Apollo Programme, and thus quite literally pushing the very boundaries of human endeavour and giving an amazing credence to their soon to be launched Sky High moniker. And that, is just showing off!
posted by Twelve Bar at 6:27 PM
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