Red Fridays At U Hall – Washington, DC 08/06/10

Friday, August 6th, 2010
Red Fridays
Featuring special guests
Sam “The Man” Burns
& Cosmo Baker
@ U Street Music Hall – 1115 U Street NW – Washington, DC

Washington DC / Philly / New York / RIP Bobby Hebb

So this week I have 3 events which I’m psyched about. Of course obviously it’s the first Saturday of the month so we’re going to be at Southpaw for The Rub. Plus this month we have one of my good homies and certified member of the Tice Squad, Steve1der throwing down with us. Good times, as always, so definitely come through.

Then on Sunday I will be rocking in my hometown of Philadelphia at (in my opinion) one of the best rooms in the country, Silk City. Silk City is one of the places that I got my start as a DJ and I’m so happy that it’s still around, and as well as still relevant. The Sunday party is pretty much a strictly house and classics affair so get ready cause we’re gonna make it happen on that level. Philly is where I got my soul…

Friday will be my first appearance at Washington DC’s U Street Music Hall this Friday. For those who don’t know, UHall is owned by my homies Tittsworth and Will Eastman. Great dudes, great DJs, and friends of mine, so I’m honored to be rocking at their spot. And I’ve heard it’s one of the best rooms in the country, so I’m ready to go. Also I will be rocking alongside some of my favorite DJs, Deep Sang & Meistro, as well as the DC legend Sam “The Man” Burns, so I am truly truly honored.

The night is Red Fridays and is again a strictly house and classics affair, and I’m very happy and honored to be involved with this. Last time in DC I played with my man Sharkey at LMW and it was a great time and such a dope party. But that time I was definitely playing more along the lines of a hip-hop set. So this time around my DC people will be seeing a different facet of me. But the thing is with me is that there’s just as much a part of my DJ lineage with house and classics as there is with rap music. That’s one of the things about growing up in Philly – as a DJ you learn to incorporate all of that stuff into your repertoire, and you become a better DJ because of it. Nowadays where everyone is a “open format DJ” I’m grateful that I mess with dance music because I truly love it, and not by a sense of necessity.

Check out the interview that I did with Marcus Dowling for the DC based www.tgrionline.com site. TGRI stands for “True Genius Requires Insanity” and so I’m with that: Mention the name “Cosmo Baker” in a circle of DJs, and cats get quiet and speak in hushed tones. I’ve seen it happen too many times to forget. It’s a quiet borne of reverence, borne of a man who is supremely talented at his craft, a guy who is a trademark of excellence in blending music that bridges genres and brings people together... Pretty cool, so check it out in full here.

Also, here’s a cool article that was written about me in the Washington Post: “When U Street Music Hall set out elevate the level of dance clubs in Washington, one of the first ideas was a homage to the beloved underground house club Red. Since then, Red Fridays have followed the same formula as their namesake, a spectrum of deep and soulful house sounds delivered by veteran locals and big stars to feed the appetites of serious dancers. This week’s pairing of must-see spinners is Philly’s doctor of records Cosmo Baker and D.C. house grandfather Sam “The Man” Burns. Baker is one of the best open-format DJs in the game, who mastered rocking a vast variety of genres on vinyl before digital DJing made it much easier. There’s really no genre of music he can’t play convincingly and none he hasn’t studied extensively. Booking a vibe chameleon like Baker for a house night is an intriguing choice that will lead the dance floor in unexpected directions, as a skilled musicologist can connect house to elements of funk, disco and jazz”

Rest In Peace Bobby Hebb… A lot of old school music legends passing these days. Bobby Hebb wrote a perennial classic, “Sunny” back in 1963. My mom used to tell me about how Bobby wrote the song in response to the assassination of JFK. I only recently learned that on the same day JFK died, Bobby’s brother was stabbed and killed. No wonder the song is so impassioned. So let me connect the dots here. Bobby Hebb released the original “Sunny” in 1966.

10 years later, German based disco group Boney M released their version.

In 2003, Mark Ronson came out with “Ooh Wee” that samples the Boney M version.

Breakbeat Tuesday – No Time To Burn

So this Breakbeat Tuesday thing has really taken off and I’m pleased to announce that the column is soon going to be syndicated on a bunch of other sites. Also, be on the lookout for several guest entries for BBT starting very soon with some of your favorite DJs, producers, artists and just all around “folk.” But let’s get started with this week’s entry.

Now I’ve mentioned this before but my man ESPO aka Steve Powers was really instrumental on putting me on to a lot of records back in the day. I would lamp over his house in West Philly and he basically sat me down in front of the turntable and would be like “Okay, now you LISTEN to this Funkadelic record and LEARN IT.” So I am forever beholden to this dude for putting my head on at the right place and right time. For the few people out there who don’t know who dude is , get your shit together. And while you’re at it, stop messing around and buy his book. So anyway, this is a record that he put me up on, from Black Heat’s “No Time To Burn” album.

I’m going to start with Phillip Guilbeau, who was a trumpeter and session player that was most known for recording with legends such as Count Basie, David “Fathead” Newman, Hank Crawford and Ray Charles (he was soloist on the landmark 1961 album “Genius + Soul =  Jazz.”). Guilbeau recorded a ton of music during the 60s and by the time the early 70s had rolled around, Guilbea became involved in the latest evolution of sound, funk music. He was living in Washington DC and was the trumpet player for the group The Young Senators. The Young Senators were the top-rated R&B group in the area after the release of their hit, the Guilbeau penned “The Jungle” after which they were asked to tour as the backing group of Eddie Kendricks. Kendricks was so enamored of their sound that he recorded his seminal album “My People… Hold On” with the Young Senators as the band who played all the music, including what is widely considered the first ever Disco song, “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind.”

Gilbeau was still very active in the DC community which was a hotbed of talent that included Chuck Brown’s Soul Searchers, and another group that Gilbeau discovered, Black Heat. Black Heat was in the community and, had ties with The Young Senators. Gilbeau took Black Heat to Joel Dorn at Atlantic Records, whom he had known from his days as session player for Ray Charles and Hank Crawford. The funk outfit was signed and, with Dorn on production, Atlantic (which was always a very forward thinking imprint in general) was ushered into the future with a brand new sound. Black Heat recorded 3 albums before they disbanded, but not before leaving their mark.

Espo pulled this record out and put it in my hands in what was probably 1990 or 1991 and told me “Do not tell anyone what this record is or share it with anyone.” I looked at it with the wild dudes on the cover with all the flames and the words “No Time To Burn” across the front and I swore I was looking at the baddest shit I had ever seen. When he placed the vinyl on the turntable and “You Should’ve Listened” came on with it’s heavy funk and overall ATTITUDE (that’s a common theme with me I think) I was beyond excited. But then when right past 2 minutes the song revs up and launches into one of the baddest breaks I had ever heard it was game over. Just furious drumming, with percussion where you can definitely see the DC sound, and the very beginnings of what would eventually become Go-Go music. Espo looked at me and was like “I told you, so so keep this under wraps.” That was probably the beginning of a long stretch of time where I blacked out my labels and was very secretive about my records. Well the pendulum swings again and here we are, with me sharing this with the world. Not that this is a Secret Squirrel break at this point or anything, but I think you know what I mean. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind Steve. I figure the Statute Of Limitations for Funk Breaks expires around the 20 year mark. But thanks, my dude. This one is a killer.

Black Heat “You Should’ve Listened” (Atlantic, 1974)

Breakbeat Tuesday – But What About Boston

So I been on the run a bit this week – I just got back from Boston where I did a Sheen Bros show with my partner in crime 4th Pyramid and the man who holds it all together, the illustrious Tamir Z. Brown. It was great and I got the chance to rock with my homies from up in Boston, the one and only Kon as well as 7L & DJ Beyonder – collectively known as The BladeRunners. I’m going back up to Boston on Saturday to rock out with 7L again so it should be dope.

I forgot to drop this week’s Breakbeat Tuesday so I’m gonna send this one out to Boston. I was actually trying to think of an artist that had a breakbeat that was a Boston native. I swear, the only thing that I could think of was Aerosmith “Walk This Way” and I am NOT about to get all up here on this site and talk about freaking Aerosmith and Walk This Way, son… Although this is a pretty dope video of them, with a fresh break at the front and Joe Perry going all in on the talk box circa 1977.

So I just decided to think out the box a little bit. This here is a song by Hamilton Bohannon, a drummer, songwriter and producer from Georgia. You probably know him from his biggest hit “Let’s Start The Dance” which is like a 13 minute percussive disco stomper that just basically murders every dancefloor dead. Bohannon was born and raised in Georgia and, after getting a job as Stevie Wonder’s tour drummer, settled in Detroit to work as a drummer and producer for Motown. After they relocated to Los Angeles, Bohannon stayed behind and released his first record, 1973’s “Stop & Go” on Dakar Records, based out of Chicago. So how does that tie in with Boston?

The Stop & Go record became really popular after it was sampled for Boston rapper Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs (or should that be B.U.L.L.D.O.G.S. – Black United Leaders Living Directly On Groovin’ Sounds) for 1991’s “I Got To Have It. The amazing Awesome 2 aka Teddy Tedd & Special K as well as Joe Mansfield from The Vinyl Reanimators all have production credit for the song so I’m not sure who actually mined the sample. But it’s dope not hype it’s dope… I actually bought a copy of the vinyl about 10 years about from Tony Triple Double and Diplo (yeah, Diplo was way into old records before he became a club and techno superstar DJ. He still is though quiet as kept.) So yeah, there you go. In a roundabout way I guess this Bohannon record does rep Boston in a sense. At least it does in my Private Mind Garden. And yeah, I know it’s not a “breakbeat” per se but whatever dude…

Bohannon “Singing A Song For My Mother” (Dakar, 1973)

Bonus beats from my homie DJ Deep Sang out of Washington DC. There’s obviously been a brand new disco movement happening for a few years now and Deep Sang, along with his partner Meistro, have holding it down in DC for a minute. These dudes are dudes, know their music, and are awesome DJs. Deep Sang hit me off with this really tasteful and useful edit of Bohannon’s “Let’s Start The Dance” a few years ago and it’s always gone over well with my dancefoors. You can check more about Deep Sang and his crew and how they hold it down in DC – shout to Dirty Bombs and also my man DJ Stylus as well. Now here’s the music!

Bohannon “Let’s Start The Dance” (Deep Sang’s Edit) (CDR, 2008)