things and time will tell.

Pharoah Sanders – You've Got To Have Freedom / Moon Child Dopeness Galore – DG 2 005S, Timeless Records Vinyl, 10", 33 ⅓ RPM, Sampler, Netherlands, 2007 (original tracks from 1987/1989) info It's true: You've got to have freedom. And Chicago will be getting more -or a whole lot less- in this week's election. We're electing a new mayor and it will either be a Black, progressive labor leader who has fought for our schools, safety and city ... or we'll get  the latest face of white supremacist backlash against the progress our movements have made. Want to guess which team I'm on? Go vote for Brandon Johnson if you're in Chicago. If you can, please volunteer or donate . And join the party ! ________________________________________________ ...And since a party needs music: Today, some inspiration from the recently departed Pharoah Sanders.  This is a 2007 10" released in Europe to promote a Best of Pharoah Sanders compilation that drew from his 19...

Lee "Scratch" Perry – Makumba Rock (2019, 10" vinyl) Adrian Sherwood X Lee "Scratch" Perry – Time Boom X The Upsetter Dub Sessions (2019, CD) Lee Perry stayed very active in his later years, but plenty of music industry attention was always spent playing up the wild image he had built. Not making light of it at all, but at times it could leave the impression of his antics walking the line between mental health crisis and marketing scheme. In a lot of ways, many Lee Perry albums starting at some point in the 80s were selling "Scratch" the character as much as anything he necessarily contributed to the music. The result was more than a few CDs released under his name and featuring his vocal ramblings over music produced entirely by others that were far from essential (and far from the heights of Perry's most inspiring, innovative or beautiful work from earlier days). (Confession: That " Lee Perry meets Andrew W.K. " album? I admit to buyin...

The Upsetter Revue / King Scratch – Play On Mr Music / Dread Lion Label: Rock A Shacka – DBUP 001 Vinyl, 10", 45 RPM, EP, Japan, Feb 2014 info The Upsetter, Lee "Scratch" Perry, died on August 29th. The man was a giant in the history of Jamaican music, but should also be seen as one of the originators that opened the door to most modern music. A handful of Jamaican producers and engineers developed ideas and techniques that realized the potential for the producer and recording studio to become the artist and instrument. They took the Jamaican "version," reusing a musical backing track, and pushed their experiments in dub until they had invented the remix. It's hard to imagine the path to hip hop, dance music, electronica and more without their contributions. This relatively recent release of much older Lee Perry recordings is one of a handful of Scratch related odds and ends I was feeling inspired to listen to, record and share. Like Scratch's previous ...

One more visit to an off beat corner of Tony Allen's music before we move on from the legendary Nigerian drummer. In one of the previous posts I mentioned the diverse recordings he made later in life, before passing just a few weeks ago on April 30 at age 79. Long after his days with Fela Kuti, Allen was still bringing us new Afrobeat and stretching himself into electronic music, dub experiments, a return to jazz, and some surprising collaborations. Here are a couple of those collaborations that should make a good introduction if you haven't heard these groups before. (And they include a few rare tracks you may not have heard even if you're already a fan.) I didn't mean to take such a long break between posts, but life has been busy and I bit off more than I realized with these two records! I enjoyed getting reacquainted with them though, the second one in particular. It took some serious work to clean up the recording, but what a great song! It's perfect for, say, ...

From one of Tony Allen's final recordings to one of his earliest (coincidentally from another 10"). Fela Ransome-Kuti And His Africa '70 ‎– Fela Fela Fela Knitting Factory Records, Kalakuta Sunrise ‎– KFR-4007 Vinyl, 10", 33 ⅓ RPM, US, 2010 (Original LP released Nigeria, 1970)  info In their earliest days working together, Fela Kuti and Tony Allen played both the American-styled jazz that Allen would revisit in his later days (and in my previous post ) and their take on highlife, the jazzy Western African music originating in Ghana. By the late 60s, they were making the break through in new rhythms and styles that they would call "afrobeat," a change that was brought to a head during their 1969 trip to America. A ten month stay in Los Angeles, a deeper exposure to the latest funk styles, and (just as important to their new music, politics and attitude) exposure to Black power politics (partly through Fela's relationship with Black Panther Party member a...

One of the world's greatest drummers passed away Thursday. Tony Allen ‎– A Tribute To Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers Blue Note ‎– 574439 4 Vinyl, 10", 45 RPM, Europe, 2017 Tributes to Tony Allen  will understandably focus on his years leading Fela Kuti's Afrika 70 band, where the two Nigerian legends led the creation of afrobeat. They broke new ground in the 1970's and their influence has continued to grow far beyond Africa, funk and jazz, the last few decades bringing them deeply into hip hop, dub, electronic and more . Allen was 79 years old and remained active until the end. A  new album was released  just a month before he died this week. He avoided becoming a nostalgia act in his later years. His career revitalized in his highly visible 60s and 70s, he released a slew of new albums (both as a solo artist and in various bands), was signed to Blue Note, put out some important dance records and joined a band with a member of the Clash. If you're no...