Jazz in the late 70s / early 80s (jazz goes pop, jazz goes disco)

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i've decided grover washington jr = the man

Hmm, interesting... where else could you talk about this?

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 20:34 (twenty years ago)

So is there anything else in Sun Ra's catalog that is similar to "UFO" then?

Nope, nothing so overtly in the disco vein. Ra's late 70s output is fairly diverse-- there are solo piano joints and freeform synth freakouts alongside the groove items. Re. the latter, I dropped some suggestions in a recent article for Deep Water.

― doug watson (solid air), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:23 (twenty years ago)

Thanks Doug. Great article. I love that track so much, I wish he'd explored more in the same vein.

― matt2 (matt2), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:08 (twenty years ago)

does anyone have those sun ra disco tracks to ysi? "Constellation", "UFO"? thanks. should i search out Sleeping Beauty, On Jupiter, Strange Celestial Road, and Other Side Of The Sun? my tolerance for crazy free blowing is pretty low these days (mostly why i've never really gotten into sun ra)

― team jaxon (jaxon), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 19:30 (twenty years ago)

I love Ornette, and have heard just about everything that he's done, but Dancing In Your Head is truly awful.

― Brakhage (brakhage), Thursday, 2 March 2006 02:05 (twenty years ago)

u r out of yr mind. one of my favorite albums

― team jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 2 March 2006 03:42 (twenty years ago)

Jason, here's a YSI of "UFO." Don't know about any of the other stuff, but I also have a low tolerance for crazy free blowing and this has none of it. It's part of why I love it and part of why I wanted to know if there was anything else like this in the Sun Ra discography. I guess it sounds like maybe the answer is no, sadly. I love, love, love the bass in this and will probably shell out the money for the vinyl re-release just to have a better sounding version of this song. Anyway, here it is:

http://s53.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=28HL211JB8FE231G3M8MB7X41P

― matt2 (matt2), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:28 (twenty years ago)

jaxon - I know, it actually doesn't sound that much different from some of his other records. You'd think I would like it, but there's something about it (Jerry Garcia?) that I don't like - it just lies there and burbles dissonantly. It took me a long time to 'get' Coleman but that one just eludes me.

― Brakhage (brakhage), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:31 (twenty years ago)

Jerry Garcia isn't on this record. he's on Virgin Beauty. That record has a lot in common w/Dancing In Yr Head, but way worse

― team jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:35 (twenty years ago)

I don't know if "sleeping beauty" and "strange celestial road" necessarily totally fit into the discussed 70/80 jazzboogie vortex, but they are definitely the Sun Ra records that have stuck w/me the most as my interest/tolerance for 'freer' stuff has waned, and i would say definitely worth seeking out. "Strange celestial road" in particular is possibly my favorite Ra record, the production is very cool and there are some very nice 'straight'-er marshall allen solos, IIRC

― b'angelo, Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:36 (twenty years ago)

Thanks for the tips B'angelo. I'll have to check those out as well.

― matt2 (matt2), Thursday, 2 March 2006 18:27 (twenty years ago)

jaxon - maybe that explains it, I was mixing the two up - thanks

Sleeping Beauty and On Jupiter never made it to CD, did they?

― Brakhage (brakhage), Thursday, 2 March 2006 18:37 (twenty years ago)

I listened to Virgin Beauty again this morning and yeah, it's definitely got that lethargic Grateful Dead vibe about it. This was recorded after Ornette's live gigs w/ the Dead, right? It's also surprisingly accessible, relatively speaking. "Lies there and burbles" seems a fair enough descriptor.

Sleeping Beauty and On Jupiter never made it to CD, did they?
ArtYard did vinyl pressings of both Sleeping Beauty and On Jupiter. No legitimate CDs exist yet.

― doug watson (solid air), Thursday, 2 March 2006 19:18 (twenty years ago)

I know 1986 hardly qualifies for the early 80s, but I picked up "Mudfoot" by The Leaders (featuring Lester Bowie, Chico Freeman, Don Moye & Cecil McBee, along w/ 2 others I can't think of) the other week and found it to be quite enjoyable.Minor 80's slickness but still energetic, with the last track on side 1 sounding like something off "Another Green World". Anyway, well worth $2.99.

― Sparkle Motion's Rising Force, Thursday, 2 March 2006 21:45 (twenty years ago)

I don't know if this article is completely appropriate to this topic, but it does include a few enthusiastic comments about some of the records that are.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 2 March 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

Sun Ra, "Sleeping Beauty," title track, ysi

― b'angelo, Friday, 3 March 2006 01:31 (twenty years ago)

Here's my lil mix of what I call
'Yacht-Pop': Ubersmooth Coastal Jazz/Pop/R&B circa '80 - download or stream

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 3 March 2006 02:54 (twenty years ago)

rawsome. do you have a tracklisting?

do you dj around the bay?

― team jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 3 March 2006 03:16 (twenty years ago)

tracklisting here. & yeh.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 3 March 2006 09:11 (twenty years ago)

uh... HERE!

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 3 March 2006 09:12 (twenty years ago)

shoot. http://www.nonchalance.com/music/jrktrx.gif

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 3 March 2006 09:12 (twenty years ago)

that Yacht Pop comp was cool. i'd never heard that Lee Oskar before. definitely tracking that down. you should upload that to the DJs post your mixes for download thread and tell them it's some banging techno.

― team jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 3 March 2006 22:39 (twenty years ago)

"Sleeping Beauty" is one of the best tracks i've heard in a long time. very wonderful. how's the rest of the album?

― team jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 3 March 2006 22:40 (twenty years ago)

you know, I'd have to listen again to fully remember, I haven't spent a ton of time w/it. I don't recall any of it being drastically different in tone/style, sort of the same nice drowsy comfortable groove that is a little out but not too far. 'sleeping beauty' is def. the standout, though, probably my favorite june tyson/ra track, at the least

― b'angelo, Friday, 3 March 2006 22:46 (twenty years ago)

also, this prompted me to re-dig out 'sunlight,' which I think is going to mean that most of my weekend is going to take place on Magic Herbie Island

― b'angelo, Friday, 3 March 2006 22:49 (twenty years ago)

God you guys are tempting me, this is exactly the kind of stuff I am craving lately but know nothing about. Keep talkin'.

Can anyone recommend stuff with piano in?

That Sun Ra video on the You Tube thread was insane, in a very good way.

― Bimble The Nimble (Bimble...), Saturday, 4 March 2006 22:07 (twenty years ago)

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/images/local/toenails/4f2365f1-3695-424c-b4d1-6826b8a31b68.jpg

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Saturday, 4 March 2006 22:16 (twenty years ago)

A bit beyond disco maybe, but Herbie Hancock released a bunch of great electro albums throughout the 80s, with "Rockit" becoming his biggest hit.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 4 March 2006 22:52 (twenty years ago)

http://www.orlyowl.com/nerdorly.jpg

Geir, do you even read? it's right there in the first post, bro

― team jaxon (jaxon), Sunday, 5 March 2006 02:23 (twenty years ago)

have you heard poopoo lala by ayers Jaxon?

i just spent a coupla hours in the store listening to a bunch of this stuff. i had to listen to "Poo Poo La La". it's fucking hillarious. "let me kiss you on your poo poo la la". like wtf?! who told him that was a good idea for a song?
http://s21.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2JOEKBGNP3WFU32R26V1XC6918

i ended up getting George Duke's "The Aura Will Prevail". a bit fusiony, but the songs with vocals are rad. and there's an MF DOOM sample on here.

― team jaxon (jaxon), Sunday, 5 March 2006 02:58 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

I just picked up Charles Earland's "Earland's Jam" from 1982 featuring Mr. Codpiece Larry Blackmon on it. I haven't had a chance to listen to it (why aren't offices equipped with turntables?), but I'm quite excited. Excited enough to post about it with nothing really to say about it except that it has a royally good cover.
http://i19.ebayimg.com/02/i/07/04/f9/02_1_sbl.JPG

― matt2 (matt2), Friday, 23 June 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

So I finally listened to this (I can tell you've all been waiting to hear about it), and I'd just like to recommend that anyone who comes in contact with it stick to side two. Track one on side two "Earland's Jam" is pretty run-of-the-mill, with a boring chant something about Earland and Cameo. The last three tracks "Marcia's Waltz", "Animal", and "Mercy" are fine early 80s jazz-funk-disco jams, and pretty much all you need to hear on this one, although "Laser Lips" on side one is okay. The schmaltzy covers of "Guilty", "Never Knew Love Like This Before", and "You Belong to Me" are not at all necessary, sadly, because something tells me that an early 70s Earland would've done something more interesting with them.

― matt2 (matt2), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

That's not the one with Randy Muller on it, is it?

There's a spectacular Earland track ("Ahead of Your Time") buried on The Great Pyramid, an otherwise middling-to-poor album. I've never seen it pop up on a compilation of any sort. It's on this mix, in case anyone's interested (most ot it's applicable to this thread, though it's mostly early/mid '70s).

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

I see no mention of Randy Muller anywhere in the credits. I'll have to check out that mix, it looks great.

― matt2 (matt2), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

As far as Earland's best, funkiest soul-jazz, I think you need to go back to the early 70s for Living Black! Earland gets sooooo much out of phellow Philadelphian Grover Washington that it is just amaazing.

― J Arthur Rank (Quin Tillian), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

Grover Washington is the man.

This is the best thread I've read in a week. Ahh..

― trees (treesessplode), Thursday, 29 June 2006 00:14 (nineteen years ago)

I've catalogged a pile of tracks I refer to as "R&B Jazz". It's somewhat Disco, somewhat Brazilian, sometimes a popish ballad, and occasionally, not even by proper Jazz groups. But I wasn't sure what to call that period after Funk Jazz and Fusion, but prior to what was deemed contemporary in the long run.

(1973) John Klemmer - Love Song to Katherine
(1974) Hamilton Bohannon - Thoughts and Wishes
(1974) José Feliciano - Golden Lady
(1977) Earth, Wind & Fire - Runnin'
(1977) George Benson - The Wind and I
(1977) George Benson - The World is a Ghetto
(1977) George Benson - Valdez in the Country
(1978) Eumir Deodato & EWF - Tahiti Hut
(1978) Joe Sample - Rainbow Seeker
(1978) Masayoshi Takanaka - Brasilian Skies
(1978) Roy Ayers - For Real
(1978) Roy Ayers - You Send Me
(1978) Weather Report - River People
(1978) Weather Report - Young and Fine
(1979) Bob James - Blue Lick
(1979) Dexter Wansel - New Beginnings
(1979) Eumir Deodato - Knights of Fantasy
(1979) Eumir Deodato - Lovely Lady
(1979) George Duke - Brazilian Love Affair
(1979) Grover Washington Jr. - Loran's Dance
(1979) Manzel - Midnight Theme
(1979) Masayoshi Takanaka - Radio Rio
(1979) Richie Cole - New York Afternoon
(1979) The Crusaders & Randy Crawford - Street Life
(1980) Eumir Deodato - Night Cruiser
(1980) Hubert Laws - Family
(1980) Masayoshi Takanaka - Finger Dancin'
(1980) Roy Ayers
(1981) Bernard Wright - 'nard
(1981) Masayoshi Takanaka - Rainbow Paradise
(1981) Roy Ayers - Destination Motherland
(1983) Nick Straker Band - Airwaves

― PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Thursday, 29 June 2006 00:32 (nineteen years ago)

P.S. Herbie Hancock ..."I Thought it Was You"

...was sampled and turned into a Disco House song ala Daft Punk:

(1997) Sex-O-Sonique - I Thought It Was You

― PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Thursday, 29 June 2006 00:38 (nineteen years ago)

i mean this in the kindest way, because your slsk folder is kinda immaculate, but are you ocd?

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Thursday, 29 June 2006 00:47 (nineteen years ago)

I only know about half of that list. Must fix.

Okay, these two other things are more like the jazz-R&B to PW2's R&B-jazz, the interface viewed from the opposite direction (with some exceptions): At Frog Island, Rec Park 22 (aka Hot Flash/Shoulderpad Soul Vols 1 and 2).

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Thursday, 29 June 2006 01:07 (nineteen years ago)

The only thing that is frustrating about Pappawheelie amazing organization system is that he is constantly changing the folder names and contents. I can never keep up!

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 29 June 2006 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

Making this thread even better is the fact that Jason's blind bird upthread is top notch material. Why is that so hilarious?

― matt2 (matt2), Thursday, 29 June 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

i mean this in the kindest way, because your slsk folder is kinda immaculate, but are you ocd?

Surprisingly to interweb friends, I'm just a loud mouthed drunk IRL.

― PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

welcome to the club

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

P.S. Herbie Hancock ..."I Thought it Was You"
...was sampled and turned into a Disco House song ala Daft Punk:
(1997) Sex-O-Sonique - I Thought It Was You
-- PappaWheelie 2 (evieandjo...), June 28th, 2006 6:38 PM. (PappaWheelie 2)

TERRIBLE! what's with that stupid "shut up, white bitch" sample throughout it?

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Friday, 30 June 2006 02:20 (nineteen years ago)

TERRIBLE! what's with that stupid "shut up, white bitch" sample throughout it

Must be a version I haven't heard. The version I know of is pretty much just loops form the HH song sped up with heavy 90's style 909 house drums over it. Not much more really.

― PappaWheelie (aka Ike Spodermang) (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 30 June 2006 03:38 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i've heard both versions. the shut up white bitch thing is crazy.

― trees (treesessplode), Friday, 30 June 2006 04:04 (nineteen years ago)

I guess CTI kinda fits into this, if you're saying you don't mind the over-produced 'smoother' side of things. Piece of Mind by Idris Muhammad is a great track. The rest of the album ain't so bad either, although the last track (a Bob James number, I think) gets a bit slick... but definitely check the album track. Nice horns/strings/dreaminess.

― ZOT! (davidcorp), Friday, 30 June 2006 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

I picked up a recent Japanese CD reissue of Larry Young's Fuel, it is quite awesome. I don't know if it is the remastering, but this thing has tons of bass, cool sounding flattened out drums and you have to like the sexy singing.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Sunday, 3 September 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

Yesterday I bought a used vinyl copy of Sony Rollins's Easy Living from 1977. It could be considered an example of jazz goes pop, I guess, since it contains a version of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely". It's pretty nice stuff.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 197 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Some of the albums I mention are from a bit later than 70s-80s, but in very much the same spirit.

― dow, Tuesday, 9 November 2021 17:06 (four years ago)

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