Breakbeat Tuesday – Special Guest The Gaff & An Introduction

Greetings, all… and welcome to my brand new version of my website!I think it was about time that I moved into the 21st century and stopped having a jawn that was like 1997 HTML. Anyway, I’m really glad to have this up finally and it was a ton of work. But I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of my cousin Jonah Birns who designed this whole thing, and made it happen for me. He’s extremely talented and should get recognized for his work. Check out his site -the super super dope The Long Years – and drop him a line if you’re with it. Like I said, he really deserves the recognition. Also big shout to my friends Mike Davis AKA Mike The 2600 King of Twelve Car Pileup / Burlesque Of North America for the design of my fly logo that you see about, and also my main man Kenny Rodriguez who took the photo above (and all the official photos) that you see of me. Now there are a few things that I’m going to have to tighten up on the site but we’re off to the races for the most part. Expect the site to actually be going into overdrive with tons of brand new and cool content. AND, as an added bonus, you can finally leave comments on the jawn so if you like something, please let me know, and if there’s something that you want to see, don’t hesitate to ask. Now, with that all said, let’s delve into one of the site’s most popular features. It is Tuesday, after all…

This go-round for Breakbeat Tuesday, I have the pleasure of introducing you to my man The Gaff. Gaff hails from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada, AKA the REAL Great White North. To be honest with you I didn’t really have any idea as to what it was like up there until several months ago when I got a chance to rock at the club where Gaff has his residency, Scratch. I was blow away with the openness and receptiveness of the people. As it turns out, Gaff has been steady serving the residents of that town with a healthy dose of rare and obscure funk and goodies, eventually training his denizens to get down to the most excellent and bizarre.

So as we got to know each other, it happens that we both posted on the same record collecting website (#NerdAlert) and had a bunch of mutual friends. Then as we got to speaking about music and – in particular – record collecting, I found that this motherfucker has like some of the deepest crates of almost anyone that I have ever encountered. Just 2 weeks ago I sent him the MP3s of a very rare Turkish freakbeat record from the early seventies and he promptly sent me back a photo of him pulling it out of his stacks, saying “Oh you mean this one?” And the first time I was in Saskatoon I went over to his house to have a vinyl listening & ripping session with Vinyl Ritchie and Gaff and Ritchie just decided that he had to hit me off with a CTI 7″ of Deodado’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” Oh, and did I mention that Gaff makes some seriously DOPE party breaks? Okay, woith no further ado, I present to you Breakbeat Tuesday with special guest The Gaff:

When Cos asked me if I’d like to contribute to one of his “Breakbeat Tuesdays” shortly after looking through some records at my crib during the summer, I didn’t hesitate given I have my own private “Vinyl Ripping Mondays.” Upon going through one of my “playout” 45 boxes, he holds up Mel Torme’s “Comin’ Home Baby” and says “What’s the deal with this one, like, THE dude Mel Torme?” – And I’m like, “You know this song bro, it’s classic.”

Mel Torme “Comin Home Baby” (Atlantic, 1962)

Torme’s version released in 1962 whopping in at over 140 BPM, is a vocal take on a tune composed by Ben Tucker and recorded the year before with Herbie Mann at the Village Gate in New York, 1961. Ben played bass in the Village Gate session, and what a beautiful Latin infused session that was!  Recorded with flute, 2 percussionists, bass, drums and vibraharp, the Village Gate session was heaviily influenced by a concert tour to South America earlier that year.  Mel Torme (following the advice of his producer) popularized it the following year, singing it (with lyrics written by Bob Dorough of “3 Is The Magic Number” fame) on his debut Atlantic album, in which he also played the drums, and churned out a song & arrangement to be covered for the ages. Comin Home Baby has been covered numerous times, in various countries around the world, in a variety of styles.Peep Melvin Taylor’s funky contemporary guitar workout below:

I personally first heard it many years ago on the Herbie Mann “At The Village Gate” LP, and only after hearing some other cover versions did I come across the Mel Torme vocal original… COVERS, COVERS, COVERS. At some point in the mid 70’s, in one of the miracles of “covering” standards, some Japanese individuals were led to rethink the tempo, speed up the herbie mann arrangement, make it funky, keep it classy, put in some drum breaks and latin percussion for good measure and give you, in my beat-diggin opinion, the sweetest version in almost 50 years of the songs existence, easily trumping other versions by regular digging favourites (Booker T & The MG’s, The Peddlars, Soulful Strings, & Quincy Jones to name a few.)

There happen to be 2 prominent break laden flute instrumental covers of the song that I know about, both on rare & obscure LPs – one from Japan, oozing smooth class, and one from Finland with a rawer funk sound. Since I think people should do some of the work themselves, Cosmo gets both versions, and you the people get the other one… Definitely not cheap to produce!  We actually used a scan of one of the photos from this book for the inside cover of the Trip Beyond album. The material on the “groove” side is all covers, super groovy covers actually of “Venus,” “House Of The Rising Sun,” Lalo Schifrin’s “The Cat,” “Comin Home Baby” etc… The last tune being the highlight with an intro break and even longer mid-track break – my ideal as a break loving / backspinning DJ. This cover is pure class, and I’ve used it for all sorts of occasions, namely to flip the sound of the night into a more classy affair – the sound of that flute FILLS a room!

But then again, I use cover versions of songs in almost every occasion as a DJ anyways… which leads me to go on to say that playing cover versions (hopefully from records you own) has always been a great way to stand out with a unique sound as a DJ. Enabling a person to really express their records / skills / knowledge as a DJ with their own sound and taste, popularize or bring back tunes, while still playing the melodies that people know and keep them dancing (or grooving depending on your time slot and engagement.) It blows me away that in 2010 we can rip a rare record, change it’s sonic structure to suit our needs, and instantly have “virtual doubles” to cut up (via Serato,) not having to wait to find a 2nd copy of a rare record with a break or loop. Every day that I rip records at home I feel like a kid in a candy store that gets everything two-for-one! More reason than EVER to go to your local record store, and buy a break knowing that you can rip it, flip it into an mp3 and cut it up in a matter of minutes. Record digging is a lifestyle and hobby unto itself aside from DJing (yet totally complementing it) and I’d like to give a big thanks to Cos for spending all this time educating the masses with this column.

Also, can I make some Breakbeat Tuesday guest requests Cos?  3 dudes I’d love to see what they bring to the table are Supreme, Uncle Nu, and Anonymous (Sampo) – 3 people who’s digging tastes have influenced ALOT of people including myself each in different ways over the years… (Okay I will work on that my dude – C)

Word! GAFF

Love (Unknown Artist) “Coming Home Baby” (Victor Japan, 197?)

Word, thank YOU Gaff! That’s is dope and efinitely doing the knowledge. I look forward to rocking with you again my man. And for those of you who don’t know please make sure to check out The Gaff’s Soundcloud – he has got funky shit for days! Thanks again for tuning in for yet another Breakbeat Tuesday!

Breakbeat Tuesday – You Done Did It

So it just happened by chance that the past 2 Breakbeat Tuesdays were with songs featuring one of the greatest drummers of our time, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie so this week I decided to dedicate solely to this man who is one of the greatest of all time and without a doubt one of the godfathers of the breakbeat.

To say that Pretty Purdie changed the game is an understatement. His unique innovations in drumming changed the way that not only the instrument was played in pop music but also in the way that it was recorded. And his innovations in rhythm and time are invaluable. Let’s not mention that his drumming can be found on basically the laundry list of the GOATS of music – James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Gil Scott Heron, Steely Dan, Curtis Mayfield, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Hall & Oates, The Rolling Stones and so on and so on.

When I was in school (and yes, I went to college for this music shit haha…) one of the things that I studied was the ancient African tradition of spacing, breath, time or air interspersed between the notes in music and how that empty space was just as important if not more to the construct of the song. The notes, beats, melody are the materials that the song is made up of but the empty space between all of that, the “ups” or the “ands” is actually where the song truly lives. I don’t want to go to far into it because that’s like thesis material, but point being, Purdie has a philosophy with his drumming that is pretty much exactly this. He calls it his “ghostnotes” as you can see in his explanation here.

Pretty Purdie is directly responsible for so many famous recorded drum beats in history it’s ridiculous. But here are just a few that I love and want to share with the world. The first one is the ferocious “Soul Drums” off of the also titled album from 1968. Basically it’s just a soul-jazz saxophone vamp that kindly steps out of the way when Purdie is ready to come in and blow the roof off the place with absolutely THUNDEROUS drumming. See for yourself.

Bernard “Pretty” Purdie “Soul Drums” (Date, 1968)

Next up is the song “Hap’nin” from the Purdie composed soundtrack to “Lialeh.” For those that don’t know, “Lialeh” is an adult film (called “The Black Deep Throat”) in 1974. I’ve never seen it, but this is a pretty dope instrumental funk jam from the soundtrack.

Bernard Purdie “Hap’nin” (Bryon, 1974)

Last but not least is a track from the 1977 collaboration album between Purdie and The Last Poets. I think this is a great track that showcases his drumming as the sole instrument in a song and the driving force, even when it doesn’t actually stand out in front and more just rides in the background as the wave that The Poets can ride on.

The Last Poets “Blessed Are Those Who Struggle (Douglas, 1977)

Breakbeat Tuesday – Rock Rock Yall

I have so much going on right now that I can’t get into a full in-depth thing about this next record. All I know is that it’s a MONSTER, and that I played it somewhere and sometime in my set on Sunday to thunderous effect. I first heard this in the form of Kool G Rap’s “Untouchable Remix” of  “On The Run.” Someone told me it was a Ray Bryant record so I spent the next 6 months buying every record by dude I could find, until I copped “Up Above The Rock.” Like so many soul jazz records of the late 60s it was chock-filled with tepid standards of the time like “Little Green Apples” and Burt Barcharach jawns. But the title cut? Damn… So ill, and it’s been a favorite ever since in my sets. The production is very unique in it’s sound, as it’s on Cadet and they had a very distinctive sound and feel to their records at the time, courtesy of producer Richard Evans. The composition of the song is very cinematic and matched perfectly for the storytelling prowess of G. Rap’s mafia fairytales. And to me this was one of the first productions that made me think the Trackmasters had taken their shit to the next level. Anyway, a Philly DJ living in Brooklyn plays a jazz song by a Philly pianist sampled by a Queens MC at a party in Los Angeles, and all because of that, it being give to you.

Ray Bryant “Up Above The Rock” (Cadet, 1968)

And for good measure,

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo “On The Run (Untouchable Version)” (Cold Chillin’, 1992)

Breakbeat Tuesday – Records From My Brother

First and foremost, I want to send a Rest In Peace shout to Lena Horne & Frank Frazetta. Two people from another generation who changed things by just doing them – no more and no less.

A couple of days ago was my baby brother Walker’s birthday so I want to give him a shout for that. Happy belated officially up pon the site, my dude. He’s my brother but also he’s the best dude in the world and that’s real rap. We’ve always been close and it’s tough not being with him on his birthday and just in general. But he truly is one of the most amazing dudes I’ve ever had the honor to know in my life. Kind, absolutely brilliant, and talented to a depth that I don’t think that I can truly comprehend. Here’s the sucker, with our 2 sisters, our mom and yours truly.

So the other day I was having a bit of a twitter rampage – not in a bad sense really, but more in a reflective manner. So during my barrage of 140s I made the remark that this marks my 20th year in the game as being a DJ (thank you, thank you – hold your applause.) I’ll probably reflect on that in the coming months, but I’m talking about The Dude here. So I was a DJ for the majority of Walker’s childhood and adolescence and he’s always been “into it” in a passive sense. I don’t think he actually tried to DJ but after watching his older brother do his thing I know he installed turntables in his bedroom. We definitely share tastes and values as to what we like musically, which in a nutshell could be boiled down to various Moog records and The Beatnuts. And I’m sure a lot of it has to do with wanting to be just like his big brother. But in many ways he would try to emulate something that I would do and end up taking it so far and beyond that it surprised everyone. Case in point – he knew that I dug for old records. So one day when he got out of school, on his journey downtown he passed a yard sale that had records in it. He picked up a couple things including one funny looking record that had a guy screaming on the cover between to samurai for 50 cents. (50 fucking cents!)

My phenom of a brother had just brought home Eugene McDaniels freak-folk-funk power-piece “Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse” a tour-de-force concept album that was a complete departure from music that had been heard before or since. “The Left Rev Mc D” Eugene McDaniels, hailing from Kansas City, had already become an accomplished singer and songwriter by the mid 1960s, most notably with his song “100 Pounds Of Clay.” And he saw continued success later on in life having penned such hits like Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Making Love” – which is a song a lot of you younger folk might actually think is just a D’Angelo record but actually was a huge hit when it came out in 1975. It was a #1 hit actually, and was nominated for a Grammy for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

But something happened in the mid to late 60s. The Vietnam war was in full swing and people were mad disillusioned and just generally fed up with things. Out of this environment McDaniels wrote “Compared To What” which was the first song on Roberta Flack’s debut album. Later on that year Les McCann & Eddie Harris covered it for their “Swiss Movement” album, the recording of their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The song was a runaway success, a simple protest song that took on a life of its own because it reflected the sentiments of the people and their frustrations with the direction our country was headed. And also because it was incredibly groovy. Check this video out, which after years of listening to this song, I never even knew it existed. Man is it COOKING…

So McDaniels signed onto Atlantic Records and proceeded to put out a couple of solo LPs. Both produced by the legendary Joel Dorn, the first of the two is “Outlaw” which was the first shot across the bow of Mc D’s new freak-folk-funk sound and philosophy – a philosophy that possibly can be summed up by the simple liner notes of the album: “Under conditions of national emergency, like now, there are only two kinds of people – those who work for freedom and those who do not… the good guys Vs. the bad guys” The album didn’t do so well, but less than a year later he returned with “Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse.” This ground-breaking album set the bar kind of too high in my opinion. First of all the session players that they got for the recording were the best in the business at the the time – Harry Whitaker, Miroslav Vitous, Gary King, Alphonse Mouzon to name a few – all guaranteed that the groove would be locked it. Couple that with Mc D’s provocative but deadly on-point lyrics mad this an album that people just had never been privy to before. Approaching subjects like the co-opting of black culture by white artists (“Jagger The Dagger,”) the history of American colonialism (“The Parasite,”) and racial profiling and police brutality (“Supermarket Blues,”) Mc D opened up a new door for radical subject matter in pop music. This was a door that the powers that be didn’t want opened. Atlantic was one of the biggest record companies in the world at that time. The story is that Spiro Agnew, Vice President under Dick Nixon, personally called Ahmet & Nesuhi Ertegun, founders of Atlantic and, for the sake of  not “causing public unrest” demanded that support for the album be pulled. I don’t know what happened after that but promotions immediately dried up and the album sunk like a lead balloon.

Now like I said, McDaniels went on to have a successful career as a songwriter despite this order of Executive Branch Hating. And, as you probably have figured out by now, the music on “Headless Heroes” went on to be revived for it’s second life through the world of hip-hop music. But the story about how it all came about and went down is pretty remarkable to me. So thank you Mr. McDaniels for doing what you do and changing my world in a large sense. If it wasn’t for this record I truly believe that my mind would not be what it is today. And I have my brother to thank for putting me on. Thanks dude, and happy birthday! This Breakbeat Tuesday is dedicated – and completely indebted – to you!

Eugene McDaniels “Supermarket Blues” (Atlantic, 1971)

Eugene McDaniels “Jagger The Dagger” (Atlantic, 1971)

EDIT: About 20 minutes after I posted this particular Breakbeat Tuesday post about Eugene McDaniels, I get an email from Left Rev McD’s publicist. Like… really? Yes… really. Apparently some things are happening, and that is how they like to say “what is up.” More on that to come…