Wednesday MidDay Medley
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Spinning Records With Marion Merritt

Mark welcomes Marion Merritt, of Records With Merritt, who joins us as “Guest Producer” to share sonic discoveries and information from her musically-encyclopedic-brain. Marion Merritt is our most frequent contributor to WMM. She grew up in Los Angeles, and St. Louis. She went to college in Columbia, Missouri. She studied art and musical engineering. She saw Talking Heads on their first U.S. tour when they played One Block West, in KCK, in 1978. For over 18 years Marion has joined us on WMM. Marion is also the proprietor of Records With Merritt, at 1614 Westport Rd. in Kansas City, Missouri. More info at: http://www.recordswithmerritt.com.

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Dimitri From Paris – “Prologue”
   from: Sacrebleu / Yellow Productions – Atlantic / June 11, 1996
   [Debut studio albumm from Dimitri from Paris was born Dimitrios Yerasimos, on October 27, 1963. He is a French music producer and DJ of Greek descent. His musical influences are rooted in 1970s funk and disco sounds that spawned contemporary house music, as well as original soundtracks from 1950s and 1960s movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, La Dolce Vita and The Party, which were sampled in his album Sacrebleu. Dimitri fused these sounds with electro and block party hip hop he discovered in the 1980s. // Contrary to his musical pseudonym, Dimitri was born not in Paris but born in Peckham, South London, to Rûm parents (Greeks of Turkey), Dimitri grew up in France where he discovered DJing at home, using whatever he could find to “cut and paste” samples from disco hits or in to montages heard on the radio, blending them together to make tapes. This early experimentation helped him launch his DJ career. // He started out by DJing at the French station Radio 7, before moving on to Skyrock and finally to Radio NRJ, Europe’s largest FM radio network, in 1986. There, he introduced the first ever house music show to be broadcast in France, while simultaneously producing under the direction of sound designer Michel Gaubert, runway soundtracks for fashion houses such as Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermès and Yves Saint-Laurent. He also released two solo EPs from 1993 to 1994 and contributed to the Yellow Productions compilation La Yellow 357. // In 1996, Dimitri gained worldwide recognition with the release of his first full album, Sacrebleu, released on Yellow Productions. A blend of diverse influences including jazz, original film soundtracks, samba, and organic house, Sacrebleu sold 300,000 copies worldwide and was named Album of the Year by UK’s Mixmag magazine. // In 2000, Dimitri followed Sacrebleu up with A Night at the Playboy Mansion (Virgin) and Disco Forever (BBE), followed by My Salsoul in 2001, After the Playboy Mansion in 2002. In 2003, Cruising Attitude was released, to be closely followed by his first outing on UK’s premier dance music label Defected: Dimitri from Paris In the House. // He has followed a somewhat glamorous musical path by recording soundtracks and advertising campaigns for fashion houses Chanel, Jean-Paul Gautier and Yves Saint Laurent and remixing hundreds of artists as diverse as Björk, The Cardigans, James Brown, Michael Jackson, New Order and Quincy Jones. He also did the music for the anime Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase and mixed the soundtrack for the French luxury dessin animé Jet Groove produced by Method Films. // 2005 saw Dimitri go back to his Funk and Disco roots, with Japanese hip hop producer and über collector DJ Muro for Super Disco Friends a double CD mixdown. In 2006 he offered his House of Love outing to Valentine’s Day’s lovers. Later on Dimitri produced Los Amigos Invisibles “Super Pop Venezuela” album which grabbed a nomination for a Grammy Award. // 2007 saw the release of the Cocktail Disco project with longtime partner BBE, a handful of disco classics remixes and other surprises down the line. // 2009 saw the release of the Night Dubbin’, a post-disco R&B compilation remix album.]

3. Fela Kuti – “Roforofo Fight”
   from: Roforofo Fight / Jofabro / 1972 [Knitting Factory / 2022]  
   [Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; October 15, 1938 – August 2, 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the pioneer of Afrobeat, an African music genre that combines West African music with American funk and jazz. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa’s most “challenging and charismatic music performers”. AllMusic described him as a musical and sociopolitical voice of international significance. Kuti was the son of Nigerian women’s rights activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. After early experiences abroad, he and his band Africa 70 (featuring drummer and musical director Tony Allen) shot to stardom in Nigeria during the 1970s, during which he was an outspoken critic and target of Nigeria’s military juntas. In 1970, he founded the Kalakuta Republic commune, which declared itself independent from military rule. The commune was destroyed in a 1978 raid. He was jailed by the government of Muhammadu Buhari in 1984, but released after 20 months. He continued to record and perform through the 1980s and 1990s. Since his death in 1997, reissues and compilations of his music have been overseen by his son, Femi Kuti.]

4. Piero Umiliani, Gianni Basso & Oscar Valdambrini – “Notte in Algeria (From “I piaceri proibiti”) [Remastered 2022])”
   from: Boom! Italian Jazz Soundtracks At Their Finest (1959-1969) / Decca / 2022 
   [BOOM! is an incredible compilation of 33 tracks drawn from the hundreds of soundtracks in the CAM Sugar archive from the golden age of Italian jazz soundtracks. BOOM! represents the explosion of jazz into Italian cinema in the late-1950s through the 1960s and is also the quintessential soundtrack to the economic social and cultural boom Italy enjoyed at the time. It features soloists and artists such as Gianni Basso, Oscar Valdambrini, Nunzio Rotondo, Enrico Rava, Chet Baker, and Gato Barbieri.) 

5. Riz Ortolani – “Il sorpasso (Titoli – Ripresa) (From “Il sorpasso”) [Remastered 2022]” ` from: Boom! Italian Jazz Soundtracks At Their Finest (1959-1969) Decca / 2022 
   [Riziero Ortolani (March 25, 1926 – January 23, 2014) was an Italian composer, conductor, and orchestrator, predominantly of film scores.[1] He scored over 200 films and television programs between 1955 and 2014, with a career spanning over fifty years. // Internationally, he is best known for his genre scores, notably his music for mondo, giallo, horror, and Spaghetti Western films. His most famous composition is “More,” which he wrote for the infamous film Mondo Cane. It won the 1964 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 36th Academy Awards. The song was later covered by Frank Sinatra, Kai Winding, Andy Williams, Roy Orbison, and others. // Ortolani received many other accolades, including four David di Donatello Awards, three Nastro d’Argento Awards, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In 2013, he received a Lifetime Achievement from the World Soundtrack Academy. // Ortolani was born on March 25, 1926 in Pesaro, Italy. He was the youngest of six children. Ortolani’s father, a postal worker, gave his son a violin at age 4. Ortolani later switched to flute after injuring his elbow in a car accident. He studied at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica “Gioachino Rossini” in his hometown of Pesaro before moving to Rome in 1948 and finding work with the RAI orchestra. Though the chronology is unclear, he also likely served as a musician in the Italian Air Force orchestra, formed a Jazz ensemble, and came to the United States as a Jazz musician in Hollywood, all before scoring his first film. // Ortolani married Katyna Ranieri in 1956. // In the early 1950s, Ortolani was founder and member of a well-known Italian jazz band. One of his early film scores was for Paolo Cavara and Gualtiero Jacopetti’s 1962 pseudo-documentary Mondo Cane, whose main title-song More earned him a Grammy and was also nominated for an Oscar as Best Song. The success of the soundtrack of Mondo Cane led Ortolani to score films in England and the United States such as The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966), The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968) and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968). He also scored the 1972 film The Valachi Papers, directed by Terence Young and starring Charles Bronson. // Ortolani scored all or parts of over 200 films, including German westerns like Old Shatterhand (1964) and a long series of Italian giallos, Spaghetti Westerns, Eurospy films, Exploitation films and mondo films. These include Il Sorpasso (1962), Castle of Blood (1964), Africa Addio (1966), Day of Anger (1967), Anzio (1968), The McKenzie Break (1970), The Hunting Party (1971), A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1972), Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972), The Fifth Musketeer (1979), From Hell to Victory (1979), the controversial Ruggero Deodato films Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and The House on the Edge of the Park (1980), and the first series of La piovra (1984). In later years he scored many films for Italian director Pupi Avati. // His music was used on soundtracks for Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 (1999), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), Drive (2011) and Django Unchained (2012). // In 2013, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy.// Ortolani died on January 23, 2014 in Rome, aged 87.] 

6. Charles Stepney – “Gimme Some Sugar”
   from: Step On Step / International Anthem  / September 9, 2022
   [Charles Stepney (March 26, 1931– May 17, 1976) was an American record producer, arranger, songwriter and musician. Stepney is noted for his work with artists such as The Dells, Ramsey Lewis, Rotary Connection and Earth, Wind & Fire. // He started his musical career as a jazz piano and vibraphone player, and began work for Chess Records as a musician and arranger. In 1966, Charles Stepney and Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records’ co-founder Leonard Chess, created the band Rotary Connection. Stepney went on to produce the group on the Chess vanity label Cadet Concept. These were their 1967 self titled debut album, 1968’s Aladdin and Peace LPs and 1969’s release Songs. He also produced the group’s 1970 album Dinner Music and 1971 LP Hey Love. According to writer Paul Bowler: “The six albums that Rotary Connection recorded under Stepney’s guidance proved revolutionary; a glorious fusion of styles made essential by the simpatico nature of Stepney’s lush string arrangements and [Minnie] Riperton’s multi-octave, quasi-operatic vocals.” // Stepney went on to produce Rotary Connection lead singer Minnie Riperton’s 1970 debut album Come to My Garden. Commenting on Minnie at the time he said that she “has a soprano range of about four octaves, a whole lot of soul, she’s good-looking and she’s got the experience of Rotary behind her.” // During 1970 Stepney also wrote, produced and conducted a Classical Jazz Symphony entitled “Cohesion”. “Cohesion” was performed by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Ramsey Lewis Trio and Minnie Riperton in Minneapolis, Minnesota. // Stepney worked with a wide range of other performers at Chess. He began producing soul group The Dells on their 1968 album There Is. He later produced the group’s 1969 release Love is Blue and their 1971 LPs Like It Is, Like It Was and Freedom Means. He also worked with blues musicians Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf , and singers Terry Callier, Marlena Shaw, and Deniece Williams, on their albums. He is credited as a musician or producer on albums including The Soulful Strings – Paint It Black (1966) and Groovin’ with the Soulful Strings (1967); Muddy Waters – Electric Mud (1968) and After the Rain (1969); Howlin’ Wolf – The Howlin’ Wolf Album (1969); Marlena Shaw – The Spice of Life (1969); Terry Callier – Occasional Rain (1972), What Color Is Love (1973) and I Just Can’t Help Myself (1974); Phil Upchurch – Upchurch (Cadet, 1969) and The Way I Feel (Cadet, 1970). // Stepney began to collaborate with the Ramsey Lewis Trio as a producer on their 1968 LP Maiden Voyage. The album included the song “Les Fleur” written by Stepney and later recorded by Riperton in 1970. He also arranged on the Trio’s 1968 album Mother Nature’s Son and 1969 LP Another Voyage, and co-produced the 1970 album The Piano Player. // With the Trio was a young drummer named Maurice White who in prior played with Chess Records. White went on to found and lead a new band called Earth, Wind & Fire. Stepney eventually worked as an associate producer on the band’s 1974 release Open Our Eyes. // He then performed on Ramsey Lewis’s 1974 album Sun Goddess and produced his 1975 LP Don’t It Feel Good. Additionally Stepney coproduced with Maurice on Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1975 albums That’s the Way of the World and Gratitude. Stepney then went about coproducing with White on EWF’s 1976 album Spirit, Ramsey Lewis’s 1976 LP Salongo, The Emotions 1976 album Flowers and Deniece Williams’s 1976 LP This Is Niecy.]

7. Charles Stepney – “Daddies Diddies”
   from: Step On Step / International Anthem  / September 9, 2022

8. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – “The Real”
   from: Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees / A Records / June 24, 2022
   [The Band’s 19th album and one of two released this year including THE FUTURE IS YOUR PAST. The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led and started by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990. // The group was the subject of the 2004 documentary film called Dig!, and have gained media notoriety for their tumultuous working relationships as well as the erratic behavior of Newcombe. The collective has released 19 albums, five compilation albums, five live albums, 13 EPs, 18 singles as well as two various-artist compilation albums to date. // The bandname is a portmanteau of deceased Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones and the 1978 Jonestown Massacre.]

9. Tess Parks – “Wow”
   from: And Those Who Were Seen Dancing / Fuzz Club / May 20, 2022
   [Anton Newcombe recorded two albums with Toronto singer-songwriter Tess Parks: I Declare Nothing in 2015, and the eponymous Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe in 2018.]

10. Melody’s Echo Chamber – “Unfold”
    from: Unfold / Fat Possum Records / September 30, 2022
    [Melody’s Echo Chamber is the main project of French musician Melody Prochet. // When Melody Prochet’s previous project My Bee’s Garden supported Tame Impala on their European tour in 2010, Prochet collaborated with Kevin Parker to produce her new solo material as Melody’s Echo Chamber. The material was recorded in Parker’s makeshift studio in Perth, Australia and Prochet’s grandmother’s seaside home in the south of France. The self-titled debut album was released under Fat Possum Records in 2012. // In 2013, the debut album peaked at 61 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart. Q Magazine rated the album 8/10, calling it an “intoxicating listen that’s well worth experiencing for yourself.” Drowned in Sound’s Dom Gourlay awarded the album 9/10 and stated: “Whatever happens next, she can rest assured safe in the knowledge that together with her beau they’ve conjured up one of 2012’s–or any other year in recent memory–finest debuts.” // Melody’s Echo Chamber released “Shirim” in October 2014, which was set to be featured in her next album. In December, it was announced that Melody’s Echo Chamber would play at the 2015 Levitation Festival in Austin, Texas, but her appearance was later cancelled due to visa issues. // In 2017, Prochet released a new track on YouTube titled “Cross My Heart”, with the announcement of her independently produced album Bon Voyage. It was set to be released in the same year, but was delayed as Prochet had suffered a “serious accident”, followed by the cancellation of her world tour. // In April 2018, Prochet released the single “Breathe In, Breathe Out”, and Bon Voyage was released in June. // In January 2022, Prochet released the single “Looking Backward”, and Emotional Eternal was released in April.]

11. Sessa – “Gostar Do Mundo”
    from: Estrela Acesa / Mexican Summer / June 24, 2022
    [Sessa’s songs are sung in Portuguese, with visceral, sensual lyrics in the vein of Caetano Veloso, and the melodic flourishes of Jobim. However, the music gets a deliberate minimalist treatment rarely found in contemporary Brazilian music, more reminiscent of the bareness of Leonard Cohen, with touches of tropicalia and free jazz.]

12. Adrian Quesada – “Mentiras Con Cariño (feat. ILE)”
    from: Boleros Psicodélicos/ Anti / February 21, 2012
    [Adrian Quesada is an American musician, producer, and songwriter. A Grammy Award-usic map.” // In late 2017, on the recommendation of a friend, Quesada contacted Eric Burton to sing on instrumentals he had recorded. They formed Black Pumas shortly after their first meeting, and released their self-titled debut in June 2019. Critically acclaimed, they were nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy four months after their first album was released. A deluxe version of their debut and a live album were subsequently released; as of 2022 the Black Pumas had received six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year. They played more than 60 live shows prior to and after the COVID-19 pandemic and, in addition to other television shows, they appeared on Austin City Limits, the Grammy Awards telecast, Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Celebrating America, the concert following the Biden inauguration. In early 2022, inspired by the Latin American psychedelic ballads of the sixties and seventies, Quesada recorded Boleros Psicodélicos. Set for release in June, iLe, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Girl Ultra and Marc Ribot are featured on the record, which includes classic balada music as well as Quesada’s original compositions.[9] Rolling Stone’s Ernesto Lechner wrote that with its “remarkable intensity and a mind-boggling attention to detail”, the album “promised to be one of 2022’s most gorgeous releases”.[2] The first single from the album, “Mentiras con Cariño” (featuring iLe), was released in March 2022. It was Quesada’s first solo single. // Well-known as a producer, Quesada works out of his Austin studio, Electric Deluxe. In addition the Black Pumas records, he has more than 150 production credits, including Look at My Soul: The Latin Shade of Texas Soul, his collection of original songs and re-recordings of Chicano soul classics.]

11:00 – Station ID

13. Kokoroko – “Ewà Inú”
    from: Could We Be More / Brownswood / August 2022
    [Kokoroko is a London-based eight-piece musical group led by Sheila Maurice-Grey, playing a fusion of jazz and Afrobeat. In February 2019 they were named “ones to watch” by the Guardian, after their track “Abusey Junction” garnered 23 million views on YouTube. In February 2020 they won Best Group at the Urban Music Awards. In September 2020 they played BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. // They released their debut album COULD WE BE MORE, in August 2022.]

14. Ferry Djimmy – “Be Free”
    from: Rhythm Revolution / Acid Jazz / June 15, 2022
    [Ferry Djimmy Biography by Thom Jurek: Benin’s Ferry Djimmy is known, if at all, for a small handful of wildly energetic records issued during the early to mid-’70s. These include a pair of singles for France’s Pathe label, and Rhythm Revolution, an obscure, self-released, classic Afrobeat album composed of eight raw, garage-funk selections from Benin, sung in the Yoruba language. In addition to his singing and composing, Djimmy was a formidable multi-instrumentalist, proficient on guitar, saxophone, drums/percussion, and keyboards. Though it is rumored that only 200 copies of Rhythm Revolution survived a warehouse fire, its reputation was preserved by Beninese, European, and Caribbean DJs who spread the word. England’s Acid Jazz label acquired the rights and remastered and released it in 2022. // Djimmy’s life was as legendary as his music if not more so. He was born Jean Maurille Ogoudjobi in 1939 in Benin, one of 44 children (not a typo)! He acquired his nickname from the Yoruba phrase meaning “please forgive me,” as he was a smart, precocious, and unruly child. By some accounts, his household was quite musical and he began experimenting with several instruments early on. Whether or not he had formal lessons is not known. // After graduating from college in the late ’50s, Djimmy became an elementary school teacher. A tall, imposing, athletic young man, he moonlighted as a boxer. When not doing either he indulged in the emerging nightlife scene in Cotonou, where local folklore, Congolese rhumba, highlife, and adaptations of Cuban rhumba, merengue, and son were enjoyed by local audiences who also appreciated blues, jazz, and R&B from the West. // During the 1960s Djimmy emigrated to Paris, where he joined the police force as a beat cop. In his spare time, he jammed with other musicians in nightclubs and began establishing a reputation as a formidable vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. He served as a bodyguard to future French president Jacques Chirac, who was just beginning his political career. In 1971, he managed to secure a contract with Pathe and released his first two singles: “A Were Were We Coco” b/w “Egbemi Black” and “Aluma Loranmi Nichai” b/w “Toba Walemi.” While they received some airplay and made juke boxes in bars and cafes attended by African emigres, Djimmy’s songs generated little interest and by 1974 he’d returned to Cotonou. // By the time he’d come back, Benin was under the leadership of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kerekou, whom Djimmy met shortly after re-entering the country. He resumed playing gigs on the Cotonou nightclub scene. Kerekou was impressed by the young musician’s charisma and tall, unique look and the pair became fast friends. Kerekou thought he saw in Djimmy a personality that would attract the younger generation with a funky musical message that they’d appreciate more than political speeches. He provided Djimmy with a modest budget to create his own company, Revolution Records. // During the mid-’70s, Benin was under the revolutionary spell of Fela Kuti’s Nigerian Afrobeat and Djimmy was no exception. He learned its musical language inside and out and combined it with the other sounds he’d been exploring in clubs. He recorded Rhythm Revolution in Cotonou at the Satel studio. Deciding to focus his energies on the rawness and immediacy of his musical vision, Djimmy played most of the instruments himself: guitars, saxophones, keyboards, and drums/percussion. // Rhythm Revolution was unlike anything that had previously emerged from Cotonou. It offered eight self-composed exercises in raw, polyrhythmic funk, psychedelic blues, garage R&B, and more, all sung in Yoruba. Though its influences –- James Brown, Fela, Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton, Mandrill, and others -– its rhythmic sensibility and revolutionary lyrics were rooted deeply in the struggle of Benin. Its album cover, designed by artist Gratien Zossou, was inspired by the anti-apartheid struggle of the African National Congress in South Africa and the Black Panther Party in the U.S. It captured the radical spirit of the times in much the same way Kuti’s album art did. // Kerekou desperately wanted the album to succeed to further his own political agenda. He and Djimmy designed the release campaign to donate proceeds from sales to a medical and service organization ministering to Benin’s disabled community. The set received airplay on state-run radio and Kerekou ordered his entire administration and department ministers to buy copies. Few obeyed the dictum, but it hardly mattered: the record didn’t sell and the project was a total commercial disaster. After the marketing plan for Rhythm Revolution failed to even recoup its recording costs, let alone export Marxist revolutionary zeal to the masses, Kerekou gave up on Djimmy. // On the advice of Fela, Djimmy and his family moved to Lagos, Nigeria in 1977. They often visited one another, and Djimmy also hung out with highlife star Orlando Julius, Sierra Leone’s Afropop pioneer Geraldo Pino, and juju music progenitor King Sunny Ade. In early 1980, the Beninese musician got to meet his longtime idol and hero, Mohammed Ali, who was in Lagos on a state visit to convince Nigeria to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. // After his time in the spotlight ended, Djimmy formed a family band called the Sunshine Sisters of Africa. They toured locally and regionally and issued two albums for Nigeria’s Tarentone label, Africa in 1983 and African Dish in 1985. They recorded a number of other tapes that were never released. Djimmy, a heavy cigarette smoker for most of his life, suffered a massive heart attack and died in May 1996 at home in Lagos. His entire recorded output consisted of Rhythm Revolution and the Pathe singles. // African and English DJs kept the spirit of Rhythm Revolution alive by spinning its tracks –- some bootlegged on cassettes — in clubs, while the album fetched fantastic sums when it could even be located. Nearly 50 years after its original release, the U.K.’s Acid Jazz label licensed the recording and remastered it from physical sources. It added singles and unissued tracks and re-released it in 2022.]

15. Ferry Djimmy – “Love Love ”
    from: Rhythm Revolution / Acid Jazz / June 15, 2022

16. Cleveland Francis – “Hot Sun”
    from: Beyond the Willow Tree / Forager Records / June 15, 2022 
    [Beyond The Willow Tree is a hauntingly beautiful anthology of folk songs chronicling the experience of a young black man growing up in the segregated south. A balanced mix of covers and originals, Cleveland Francis’ body of work seamlessly blends deep, soulful vocals with the stripped down acoustic instrumentation of folk. In the late 60’s Francis coined the term “soulfolk”, playing his genre bending music across college campuses and coffee shops while earning a medical degree at William & Mary. // These songs serve as a missing link between soul and folk music, suppressed by the harsh political landscape of a music industry heavily influenced by racial stereotypes. “If you were black, you played blues or soul music … I wanted to play folk music,” Cleveland professed. // Included in this double LP set is Cleveland Francis’ entire 1970 self released album Follow Me, featuring the original artwork and liner notes printed inside the gatefold. The second LP takes you Beyond The Willow Tree with unreleased demos recorded in 1968 along with one 45 only single recorded in 1970. // “These recordings are a look into my soul through a long and lonely journey to understand feelings of my childhood, poverty, racial segregation, bigotry, war, love and hope. It represents my attempt to express and come to terms with all that I have seen and felt as a Black man growing up in America.” – Cleveland Francis]

17. Cleveland Francis – “Both Sides Now”
    from: Beyond the Willow Tree / Forager Records / June 15, 2022 

11:25 – Underwriting

18. Us3 – “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”
    from: Hand On the Torch / Blue Note / 1993 [Music On Vinyl / 2022}
    [Us3 is a British jazz rap group founded in London in 1992. Their name was inspired by a Horace Parlan album, titled Us Three, produced by Alfred Lion, the founder of Blue Note Records. On their debut album, Hand on the Torch, Us3 exclusively used samples from the Blue Note Records catalogue, all originally produced by Lion. // Us3 was created by London-based producer Geoff Wilkinson. Formed in 1992 alongside production partner Mel Simpson, Us3 had two previous incarnations.The first, a limited edition white label 12″ release in 1990 called “Where Will We Be in the 21st Century”. The release garnered the attention of independent label Ninja Tune, resulting in NW1’s 1991 12″ “The Band Played The Boogie”, featuring UK rapper Born 2 B. It sampled a dancefloor tune of the burgeoning jazz dance scene, Grant Green’s “Sookie Sookie”, originally released on Blue Note Records. // London’s Kiss FM added “The Band Played The Boogie” to its playlist and Wilkinson then received a call summoning him to EMI Records’s offices in London.[citation needed] Wilkinson avoided a lawsuit and was granted rights to the archives of Blue Note Records. One of the resulting demos, recorded in March 1992, was “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”, featuring UK trumpeter Gerard Presencer. It sampled Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”. Two years later, it entered the US top ten and was included on Hand on the Torch, the first Blue Note album to achieve platinum status (1,000,000 sales) in the US.// More touring followed, but personnel changes within Blue Note’s parent company, Capitol Records, allowed Wilkinson to leave and sign to Sony, working with the A&R executive that initially signed him in 1992. Blue Note samples were not included and two new vocalists joined the group: rapper Michelob, and singer Alison Crockett. However, before the album was complete, a major personnel change at Sony left Us3 in limbo.]

19. Handsome Boy Modeling School – “The Truth (feat. Roisin & J-Live)”
    from: So…How’s Your Girl? / Tommy Boy / 1999 & 2022 
    [Handsome Boy Modeling School is an American collaborative project between hip hop producers Dan the Automator (Gorillaz, Dr. Octagon, Deltron 3030) and Prince Paul (Stetsasonic, De La Soul, Gravediggaz). The collaboration originally lasted from 1999 to 2006 and resulted in two albums, featuring a vast cast of guest rappers, singers, comedians and DJs. In February 2018, the duo played a concert in New York City. // Handsome Boy Modeling School was a conceptual hip hop duo that parodied and acted as a commentary on vain, consumerist, materialistic, and self-absorbed members of upper class society, such as supermodels and people from old money. The pair often satirized upper class snobbery and perceived beauty. // In 1999, they released the concept album So… How’s Your Girl?, which was loosely based on “The Prettiest Week of My Life”, an episode of the sitcom Get a Life which starred Chris Elliott. The episode also contains the origin of the name Handsome Boy Modeling School, where Chris Elliott’s character enrolls to become a male model. In the album, Dan and Paul assume the characters of Nathaniel Merriweather and Chest Rockwell, respectively. The Rockwell name is in reference to a pseudonym used by a porn star in 1997 film Boogie Nights; the Merriweather name is likely an homage to the character Nathanial Mayweather, also played by Chris Elliott, in the 1994 comedic feature Cabin Boy.[3] Dan the Automator continued to use the pseudonym Nathaniel Merriweather alongside Mike Patton and Jennifer Charles for the collaborative project Lovage. // A number of guest musicians appear, including Róisín Murphy (one half of the duo Moloko at the time of the album’s release), DJ Shadow, Del the Funky Homosapien, J-Live, Sean Lennon, Miho Hatori (of Cibo Matto), Mike D (of the Beastie Boys) and Don Novello (as comic character Father Guido Sarducci). // Their 1999 single “The Projects” in collaboration with Dave of De La Soul and Del the Funky Homosapien was featured in the 2001 film Ocean’s Eleven. // Their second album, White People, was released in November 2004. Some collaborators from the first album returned, and new collaborators included RZA, Cat Power, Casual, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, Jack Johnson, Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta, Mike Patton, El-P, Pharrell, John Oates, Chino Moreno, Lord Finesse, Black Sheep, and comedy actor Tim Meadows. // In 2006, Prince Paul announced his retirement from Handsome Boy Modeling School due to business conflicts with Dan the Automator. // On February 14, 2018, the duo played a concert hosted by Saks Fifth Avenue, New York City, according to HipHopDX they had plans to release a new album. // On April 9, 2022, at a show in Portland, Oregon, Dan the Automator announced a third album was in the works, scheduled to be released in Fall 2022.]

20. Nico Gomez And His Afro Percussion Inc – “Ritual ”
    from: Ritual / Omega / 1971 [Mr. Bongo / 2022]       
    [Joseph Van Het Groenewoud, who would later become known as Nico Gomez, was a musician & composer from the Netherlands. He spent his youth in the Antilles, Cuba and other islands of the Caribbean, which had an unmistakable influence on his music. As a passionate musician and skilled guitarist he was familiar with the typical rhythms and melodies of this region. Later he returned to the Netherlands, before fleeing from there to Belgium in 1946 to escape from serving in the Dutch army in Indonesia. From then on he called himself Nico Ooms. It’s said that he was so obsessed with Cuban music that he changed his name to Nico Gomez – in any case, the name fit better with the Latin American music he brought to the stage. He had made a name for himself as a composer and arranger for various artists and orchestras – e.g. he wrote for Los Chakachas, a well-known Belgian Latinsoul combo. But he also conducted the Nico Gomez Orchestra. // One of the most sought-after recordings was the 1971 album Ritual by his band Nico Gomez And His Afro Percussion Inc. It is considered one of the best Afrolatin albums of the 1970s – especially once this masterpiece was (re)discovered by Djs and its popularity soared. The album is a tasty mixture of Latinfunk grooves, deep Afrosoul and Chicano rock influences like fuzzy guitar and heavy organ. // Lupita on the A-side is a cover version of the song by Perez Prado, the Cuban-born King of Mambo, who has legendary status in his adopted country of Mexico. In contrast to Prado’s elated original, Nico Gomez’s version is an absolute funk monster, driven by heavy percussions, psychedelic organ grooves, fuzz guitar, exciting brass and a deep bass line. A truly extraordinary song! //Bosq’s version on the B-side takes the original even further, adding more percussive elements and killer beats and breaks. His DJ-friendly rework has proven itself on dance floors around the world, always turning the mood into a hot melting pot.]

21. Jyoti & Georgia Anne Muldrow – “Mama, You Can Bet!”
    from: Mama, You Can Bet! / Someothaship Connect / 2022
    [For her latest album, Georgia Anne Muldrow assumes the identity of Jyoti—a name said to have been given to her by the late Alice Coltrane—for an exercise in avant-garde soul-jazz. It’s not unreasonable to believe that America’s most complete soul artist could have been a bigger star had she not consistently yielded to her most experimental proclivities. Still, it would be a tragedy to temper the instincts that brought us an album like Mama, You Can Bet!, a boundary-testing collage of piano stool lounge music, electronica, jazz fusion, and hip-hop. // Some ears will need time to adjust to Muldrow’s wildest experiments, but every track features some component worth investigating. The softly bumping “Zane, The Scribe” mixes soft percussion slaps with pulsing vibraphone. “Beamonable Lady Geemix” takes what could pass as a sad Tom & Jerry musical cue and screws it into cosmic hip-hop. The hard-edge funk of “Fabus Foo Geemix” counters the beautiful soul gospel of “Ancestral Duckets.” On the latter, Muldrow rains down storms of bellows and yodels, using her voice to add a natural texture to the suite. There are pockets of lyrics throughout the album, though. If there’s one thing that binds Muldrow’s entire discography, it’s messages of the revolution: “Maladjusted in this land/ The powers just/ Just can’t end the plan,” she sings over piano keys on “Orgone.” // For newcomers seeking an entry point to Planet Muldrow, the Madlib-helmed Seeds or more pop-focused Overload are good places to start. But Mama, You Can Bet! is not just one of the singer’s most ambitious freakouts; it’s one of her best albums yet, another bolt securing Muldrow’s underappreciated legacy.]

22. Chuck & Mac – “Powerful Love”
    from: Eccentric Deep Soul / Numero Group / 2022
    [Aubrey “Chuck” Wallace and Roosevelt Matthews came from Cairo, IL originally but cut their records in St Louis when they teamed up after Matthews left Billy Ball and the Upsetters. I would think their Ruby 45s were the earliest.// zYou’re The One is a classic deep soul duet highly regarded in all right thinking musical circles – but is so scarce it’s a pleasure to bring it to the attention of a wider audience. The interplay of the voices is superbly done and the dead slow rhythm marked by upfront horns and a bluesy lead guitar are both excellent. The bridge and the run out groove are particularly impressive – lovely falsetto phrases and gospel vocals. A real gem. // Wallace’s solo side for Ruby is a goodish uptempo funky little tune but it can’t hold a candle to the duet numbers. // I ask a question – RUBY 38975ListenPowerful Love has been included on a couple of CDs so it’s quite well known. But like the Ruby release it is a marvellous example of duo singing – passionate and thrilling. Lovely guitar touches and carefully arranged horns. The bridge again is quite beautifully done and the climax of the song as they repeat the title refrain when the song runs out is really first rate. // Matthews and Wallace returned to recording in the 80s with a very strange release under the name Hard Tymes. ListenI Ask A Question is an extraordinary track – minimal melodically and with sparse instrumentation it’s really just a vehicle for some wonderful wailing by Matthews and an uncredited female vocalist (or could it be Wallace hitting those high notes?). Both sing their hearts out in this lengthy mood piece vaguely reminiscent of Bobby Womack’s duets with Alltrinna Grayson. I find it hypnotic and strangely moving.]

23. Barbara Stant – “Unsatisfied Woman”
    from: Eccentric Soul: The Shiptown Label-2022 Numero Group
    [Before she was the Queen of the Norfolk Sound, Barbara Holmes was a teenage hopeful auditioning with a few friends inside Noah Biggs’ Nimrod record shop. Upstairs was the office for Norfolk, Virginia’s Shiptown Records, Biggs’ upstart soul label, and the place she’d call home for the next decade under the name Barbara Stant. She started out on backing vocals in the in-house Idets beehive trio, but Biggs knew that talent of Stant’s caliber demanded a spotlight all her own. A dozen sides were tracked over the next decade, producing a body of work that stretched from deep soul to crossover, northern to sister funk. By 1978 disco was in overdrive, Noah Biggs was in the ground, and Stant’s career on hold. My Mind Holds Onto Yesterday compiles here complete Shiptown Recordings, cementing her “Queen” status for the digital age.]

24. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Next week on Wednesday, September 28, we talk with Jen Owen of Owen Cox Dance Group, along with choreographer, Christian Warner, and composer Xavier Martin one half or the musical duo, The Black Creatures about their newest collaboration. We also talk with and we talk with artist Judith Levy about her new show, At the Heart of the Matter at Studios Inc in Kansas City!

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Find our playlists for the past 10 years at: http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org

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Show #960