... A Reason To Celebrate

Maybe one of the hidden secrets about me is that I'm a big Joe Claussell fan. Claussell, is a New York Deejay, producer, remixer, and label owner of both Spiritual Life Music and later Sacred Rhythm Music who is heavily influenced by NY's legendary club scene of the early and late 1970's including, the Paradise Garage and David Mancuso's The Loft. On top of producing his own blends of deep house and tribal soul music, Claussell releases many inspirational mix compilations consisting of the most obscure selections of house, disco, funk, and acid-jazz songs that anyone can find. That being said, I recently came across one of his unmixed compilations titled, Music ... A Reason To Celebrate. There are many great tracks on this compilation including Larry Levan's remix of Imagination's "Changes", Dave Samuels' "New Math", and Pam Todd & Love Exchange's "Let's Get Together", however the song that just blows me away is Maynard Ferguson's 1976 album cut "Pagliacci". This track which originally appeared on Ferguson's Primal Scream LP, is a disco-funk gem, that consists of a heavy dose of latin percussion along with some serious trumpet and string layering. Without Claussell putting this track on one his compilations, it's probably safe to say, I might not have ever discovered this amazing track. Music ... A Reason To Celebrate, is not only a great compilation of good music, it's also somewhat of a musical education piece.

Maynard Ferguson - Pagliacci