Skip to main content

The Blackbyrds - The Baby


There's a blizzard raging outside. I'm down in my basement thumbing through a stack of vinyl I've been neglecting for months. What am I in the mood for? Aha! Here it is. The Blackbyrds second record.

When jazz great, Donald Byrd, was head of Howard University's Department of Jazz Studies in the early 70s, he put together a collective of six gifted musicians and gave them flight as The Blackbyrds. Their second record, Flying Start, is loaded with jazz-funk grooves (some awesome drum breaks), Grant Green-esque lead guitar and a fair share of Kevin Toney's ARP synthesizer. The latter is what I dig the most. On this track, The Baby, Toney doubles up the synth with Joe Hall's bass to create a fat groove. For the entirety of the song, this bass/drum combination continues relentlessly, providing a perfect foundation for guitar, flute and synth pads. This is jazz-fusion at its finest. Very listenable, not too smooth and funky as hell. The perfect sound for enduring the bombogenesis that is piling up snow outside. Before you dig out, you just need to dig this!

Comments

Post a Comment

Trending Tracks

U.K. - In The Dead of Night

In the late 70s, as punk and post-punk bands spiraled towards their new wave destinies, prog dinosaurs stood paralyzed in the shadows. Bands like the Sex Pistols were meteors, igniting a global firestorm that would trigger prog's extinction. The British music press (Melody Maker, Sounds, NME, etc.), once proponents of prog darlings Genesis, Yes and ELP, now bashed any band releasing songs in odd time signatures and singing about aliens and whales. The punk revolution had turned the U.K. music industry and press on its head within a year (1976-1977). For me, this is one of the most interesting times in pop music. Although prog groups saw their audiences rapidly dwindle (Yes audiences had dropped from 20,000 to 3,000 by 1980's Drama tour), many record labels had built fortunes on the works of prog artists and were willing to foot the bill for some interesting transitional experiments. Yes' Drama , ELPs' Works , Genesis' . ..And Then There Were Three... were p...
Post a Comment
Read more

TootArd - Musiqa

TootArd are a band from the Golan Heights. Since 1967, this area has been a part of Israel. However, the inhabitants are denied citizenship. Their first album is Laissez Passer . “Laissez passers are special situation papers,” explains singer and guitarist Hasan Nakhleh. “It took us a while to realise the effect. We’re permanent residents in Israel, but not citizens. We have no travel documents. When we travel we need the laissez passer. With no nationality, we’re officially ‘undefined.’” TootArd's sound reflects this undefined status. They combine the desert blues rock of Northern Africa with reggae and various Middle Eastern styles, creating a powerful, grooving sound. If you're a fan of Tuareg groups like Tinariwen ,  Bombino or Tamikrest , you will instantly love TootArd . Try their tune Musiqa for starters. Head here to sample other tracks from their debut.
Post a Comment
Read more