Street Rap

Let's end the week with the funky soul jazz gem "Street Rap" by Chicago based group Maulawi. This track was featured on the only album ever recorded by the group, which was led by saxophonist Maulawi Nururdin, back in 1974. Even though Maulawi only recorded one record with his group, he had been a band leader since the sixties, playing with other Chicago based musicians like Jack DeJohnette, Richard Muhal Abrams, Amina Claudine Myers, as well as the group The Art Ensemble of Chicago. The album Maulawi features a nice blend of spiritual jazz, funk, and avant-garde undertones that make the mid-seventies record a very interesting and unique recording. Universal Sound, a sublabel of Soul Jazz Records, released a well put together re-issue of the Maulawi LP back in 2005, which might be a little easier to hunt down over the original release issued by Strata Records, Inc.. Overall, a solid track and amazing record definitely worth checking out. Enjoy!

Maulawi - Street Rap

Smiling Faces

For those that didn't make it out to last Saturday's Go Bang! party, you certainly missed a fun night. I want to thank all the people that came out for the night, as well as resident deejays Sergio and Steve Fabus for having me play. If you are ever in San Francisco on the fourth Saturday of the month, you must get out and experience Go Bang!. Definitely one of the best disco parties I've ever deejayed and/or attended. I will be posting my deejay set from that night sometime later in the week so stay tuned…

Until then, here is the track that I opened my set with in Jazzy Jens' re-edit of The Undisputed Truth's funky 1971 classic "Smiling Faces Sometimes". This dancefloor friendly edit can be found on a twelve-inch release put out by G.A.M.M. (GAMM069) The re-edit twelve also features a solid Latin flavored edit on the B-side. Easily one of the better re-edit twelves of the year so far. As with almost all G.A.M.M releases, this record should move fast on shelves, therefore I highly recommend snatching it up while it's still in print. Enjoy!

The Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes (Jazzy Jens Re-Edit)

Horse Meat Disco III

When it comes to throwing disco parties, there probably is nobody out there doing it better than the London based DJ collective Horse Meat Disco . For over seven years now resident DJs James Hillard, Jim Stanton, Severino, and Filthy Luka have been putting on packed residencies at The Eagle in London’s Vauxhall, Lux in Lisbon and Tape in Berlin. These incredible parties are inspired by the music and culture that surrounded the New York club scene during the 70's and early 80's. The DJ collective have once again teamed up with Strut Records to put out the third Horse Meat Disco compilation, full of rare disco gems and edits. This amazing compilation includes superb originals like T.S. Monk's "Candidate For Love", "Seconds" by Salsoul Orchestra feat. Loleatta Holloway, Two Tons of Fun's "Just Us", Idris Muhammad's "For You Love", and many others. The compilation also features a number of great edits including Todd Terje's reworking of Claudja Barry's "Sweet Dynamite", Ron Hardy’s famed and previously bootleg-only cut-up of First Choice’s “Let No Man Put Asunder, as well as a funky edit by Leftside Wobble titled "Grapevine Boogie". I highly recommend picking up a copy of this compilation, as it is easily one of the best disco compilations of the year.

Here is a very interesting video of Jim Stanton and James Hillard of London's Horse Meat Disco collective speak about the history of the 'sleaze' disco subgenre, and the UK's unique perspective on American dance music.



Purchase the Horse Meat Disco III compilation by clicking here.

Simbareré

Let's get the week going with the funky Brazilian gem "Simbareré by the duo Antonio Carlos & Jocafi. This amazing track was featured on the group's 1972 album Cada Segundo and was later included on Strut's superb 2000 compilation Club Africa 2. A great track with a funky Afro groove. Enjoy!

Antonio Carlos & Jocafi - Simbareré

Go Bang! This Saturday!

This Saturday July 23rd I will be a guest deejay at this month's Go Bang! party. We will be celebrating Paradise Garage Legend Larry Levan's birthday (which is actually on July 20). To pay tribute to the deejay pioneer, I'll be doing a full-blown seventies-era disco set that will include Levan favorites like The Peach Boys' "Don't Make Me Wait", Salsoul Orchestra's "How High", Sparkle's "Handsome Man, Logg's "I Know You Will", Double Exposure's "Ten Percent" alongside some more rare titles starting at midnight. A party not-to-be-missed!

To Learn more about this Saturday's Go Bang! party, visit the Facebook event page.

Guinéan Disco

Here is a rare Afro funk gem titled "So I Si Sa" by the Guinéan based band Super Boiro Band. This funky track was released as a 45 RPM single back in 1974. The group went onto release a number of solid Afro-flavoured gems throughout the seventies including the full-length albums Niaissa & sa trompette, En super forme, and a self-titled record in 1975. The track "So I Si Sa" can also be found on the compilation Guinée 70 : The Discotheque Years, which is part of the African Pearls series put out by the French label Discograph. Enjoy!

Super Boiro Band - So I Si Sa

Telling Stories

Here is the laid-back funky gem "Stories" by the group Chakachas. This rare cut was featured on the group's 1972 self-titled album and has a sound that is very much in the same vein as their notable disco classic "Jungle Fever", which was released around the same time. A perfect track to throw on during these warm summer months. Enjoy!

Chakachas - Stories

The Best of Quantic LP Revealed

Resident designer for Sofrito Lewis Heriz has just recently revealed the upcoming artwork for the The Best of Quantic LP (shown above), which will be released this September off of Tru-Thoughts Recordings. You can pre-order a copy now be visiting the label's website. I'm also recommending, if you haven't already, check out some of the other artwork by Lewis Heriz which can be found at his website www.lewisheriz.com. In my opinion, he is right now producing some of the best event posters and LP covers out there.

Safari Music

Let's start the week off with a funky tropical gem titled "Safari" by the Afro-funk group Ashantis. This mid-tempo Afro cut was featured on the group's amazing 1977 self-titled album. The record includes other great tracks like "Disco Play", "Everybody", and "Long Journey" just to name a few. Overall, a great track and a great record worth being included on anybody's wishlist. Enjoy!

Ashantis - Safari

Flight Of The Shaolin Afronauts

As I've mentioned countless times over the past six months, 2011 has been a great year for funky new Afro-centric music. Many fresh new group's have been arriving on the scene with some solid new releases that have been nicely capturing the sound of seventies-era Afro funk and Afrobeat.

One of the best new Afro funk tracks of the year, in my opinion, is "Journey Through Time" by the group The Shaolin Afronauts. This funky track is featured on the group's superb debut album Flight of the Ancients, which was just released off the UK label Freestyle Records. The new LP features some other standout gems including "Kilimanjaro", "Shira", and the title track "Flight Of The Ancients" to name just a few. I find that many of the songs off the record have a sound that falls somewhere in between the heavy Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and the Ethio-Jazz grooves of Mulatu Astake. Definitely a new group and record worth checking out! Enjoy!

The Shaolin Afronauts - Journey Through Time

Calypsoul

Even though a few years have past since it's release, I thought I would feature a track titled "The Little You Say" by The Revolution Of St. Vincent from one of my all-time favorite compilations in Calypsoul 70. This well crafted comp was released by Strut Records back in 2008 and features a funky collection of rare seventies-era gems from within the Caribbean region. Some of the highlights include Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Orchestra's version of Gwen McCrae’s "90% Of Me Is You", Duke's Afrobeat-flavored "Freedom in Africa", Juan Formel & Los Van Van's latin gem "A Ver Que Sale", Biosis Now's funky "Independent Bahamas", Boris Gardiner's psychedelic organ-based jam "Negril" and the superb disco cut by The Checkmates titled "Disco Groove". The compilation was compiled by Duncan Brooker, the man behind Strut’s Nigeria 70 selections. Unfortunately, this album was only released in CD/ Digital format, leaving us vinyl collectors scratching our heads. Hopefully the people over at Strut will possibly consider doing another edition of this Caribbean focused compilation in the future, with of course a vinyl format release. Regardless, there has been a number of amazing compilations that have been released over the past couple of years that have focused on this culturally and musically rich region, however there might not be a better compilation that has paid homage to the area's more dancefloor friendly gems than Calypsoul 70. Enjoy!

The Revolution Of St. Vincent - The Little You Say

Hell of an Act to Folow

It's pretty much safe to say that Willie Bobo is easily one my favorite Latin-jazz artists. Throughout the sixties and seventies Bobo mastered the ability of fusing together Latin soul, boogaloo, jazz, and rhythmic funk grooves to produce many priceless classics. Here is one of my favorite gems from the legendary percussionist in "Always There". This funky gem was featured on Bobo's 1978 album Hell Of An Act To Follow. Even though I'm generally a bigger fan of Bobo's earlier material on albums like Spanish Grease, Juicy, and Succotash (featuring Herbie Hancock), "Always There"is easily one of his best tracks and most dancefloor friendly cuts. Enjoy!

Willie Bobo - Always There

The Seeds of Afro-Cuban Music

Here is the all-time Afro-Cuban flavored jazz gem "Seeds" by The Sahib Shihab Quintet. This was the title track to the group's 1969 hard-to-find album, which generally these days goes for quite a bit of money. However, there is no arguing that it's a true gem certainly worth attempting to hunt down. Enjoy!

The Sahib Shihab Quintet - Seeds

Deb Sombo

I won't be in front of the computer for much of the rest of the week, as I'm off to visit the amazing city of New Orleans. If anybody has any good suggestions as to record shops, restaurants, bars, and/or nightclubs I should check out on my upcoming trip, please feel free to fill up the comment box or send me an email. I would greatly appreciate it!

With that being said, I'm going to keep the rest of this week's posts short and sweet. Here is the funky jazz gem "Deb Sombo" by Jimmy McGriff. This track was originally featured on McGriff's 1970 album Something to Listen to. Easily my favorite track written by the soul-jazz organist. Enjoy!

Jimmy McGriff - Deb Sombo

The Messenger

It's hard to believe it's been over a month since the music world was shocked and sadden by the sudden passing of Gil Scott-Heron. As weeks have passed since his surprising death, there have been a number of tributes and dedications from many musicians, artists, deejays, and writers. I wanted to pay my respect to the legendary musician/ poet by featuring one of my favorite gems by Scott-Heron, a track he did back in 1974 with Brian Jackson titled "The Bottle". This amazing track was featured on the superb Strata-East released album Winter in America. For years now, this funky track has been an all-time favorite of mine. Just one of the many brilliant tracks Gil Scott-Heron released during his accomplished life. We will all certainly miss him, his music, and his message.

Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - The Bottle

TONIGHT: The Return of 'GROW UP'

Hope to see everyone out tonight to help celebrate the return of GROW UP! For more information regarding tonight's party, check out the facebook event page.

Congo Call

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I will soon be traveling to New Orleans for the first time therefore musically, I'm definitely in a "jazz" mindset. If anyone has any suggestions as to record shops, bars, restaurants, nightclubs I should check out, please email me or leave a note in the comments section.

With all of that being said, let's end the week with the funky spiritual jazz gem "Congo Call" by the Prince Lasha Quintet featuring alto Saxophonist Sonny Simmons. This brilliant track was featured on the group's 1963 hard-to-find album The Cry!. Along with Sonny Simmons on alto, the recording features Gary Peacock on bass, Gene Stone on drums, and is led by Prince Lasha on flute. The entire album is amazing from start to finish, so if you ever come across the original LP, I highly recommend making the wise decision of snatching it up. Enjoy the long weekend!

Prince Lasha Quintet feat. Sonny Simmons - Congo Call

GROW UP Returns Tues. July 5th

After a long hiatus, I'm excited to announce that next Tuesday, July 5th, the monthly disco/boogie party Grow Up returns! Resident deejays Hotthobo, Fenstar, and myself (Pat Les Stache) will be hosting the party in it's new location of Amnesia (853 Valencia Street, San Francisco). There will be no cover, therefore there is no excuses to not come out have a drink and hear some funky boogie and disco gems!

To learn more about the night, check out the Grow Up Facebook event page by clicking here.