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Dennis Coffey isn’t quite an unsung hero. He has of late been garnering some attention, though. As a part of that, C. Fuller’s gone ahead and worked up a mix of Coffey’s guitar antics.
Boss indeed.
BLOGLOAD: Premium Blend Vol. 01
Township Sounds From The Golden Age Of Mbaqanga
NEXT STOP... SOWETO
With Next Stop... Soweto, Strut trace some of the amazing music that often only appeared on short run 45s at the time; rare lost gems deftly culled from the '60s + '70s South African "township jive sound." Featuring music recorded primarily for the local market, the album takes the listener far beyond the accepted township jive template into fusions with jazz, gospel, rumba, funk and traditional mining songs. It delves into the golden age of mbaqanga. Jazz had been a fixture in South African music since the ‘50s and jive (or mbaqanga) initially emerged a decade later as a fusion combining elements of rural Zulu music and harmony vocal styles with Western instrumentation. You can hear influences from American R&B and '60s rock and surf, in the same way ska and rocksteady developed in Jamaica. And if you like desert blues from Sahara, you will also like the fusion of mbaqanga.
Various Artists
Black Man's Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti
Released by Now-Again Records
To begin describing the epic importance of Fela Kuti is to write a doctoral thesis on the history of African music from before his birth to the present day. To understand the impact the music of a person such as Fela is to consider the history of struggle, prejudice, racism, and political disenfranchisement as an understandable whole. In the music of Fela Kuti, we see these positive undercurrents of political awakening, consciousness, activism, empowerment and liberation. These values are what make the messages embedded in the work of Fela ...
Julien Dyne
Pins & Digits
Released by BBE
Julien Dyne is a drummer from New Zealand who has worked with artists like Fat Freddys Drop and Nathan Haines. He has also been involved with Red Bull Music Academy. He brings a range of styles to Pins & Digits; it has a cosmic club vibe with Dyne's percussion, rich brass, Rhodes, bass, vibes and electronics. Pins and Digits features guests spots from some of New Zealand’s most talented musicians including the vocal talents of Mara TK (Electric Wire Hustle). He is a musician who can play organic funk, jazz and soul, and rock a MPC and an array of analog synths. On Pins & Digits he tries to find a balance between these styles: club grooves with an eclectic range of percussion, programming and synth, and down tempo compositions. The big bass, brass and futuristic keyboard sounds are pleasant to your ears, but all this eclecticism also makes it sound a little dated, as if he’s borrowing too much from others. You can easily hear Dilla, Spacek and Flying Lotus lurking in the shadows.
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One of the unheralded partnerships in jazz is vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and sax player Harold Land. The two would work in a variety of styles together over a pretty long span of time. For whatever reason, though, Land wouldn’t ever become a huge name. And it doesn’t make too much sense after taking a listen to “Going Down South.”
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