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MIX NOTES

Come Ye – Some laid back Afro-Caribbean percussion keeps the beat while Nina Simone delivers some cautiously hopeful poetry. This was on the B-side of her 1966 “High Priestess of Soul” LP, produced by Hal Mooney – who had a great talent for getting dramatic performances from Jazz greats like Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Nina herself.

Enchanted Lady – An extremely mellow instrumental from Milt Jackson & Ray Brown’s 1970 Jazz-Funk classic “Memphis Jackson”. This was a favorite of so-called ”rare groove” DJs in the early 90s – a catch-all category which I may have fallen under myself during my mid-week lounge and restaurant gigs back in those days. It was sampled more than a few times, perhaps most notably by Large Professor on his “I Just Wanna Chill” solo single.

The Journey – A recently released chill af track from UK beat maker Meca83. I put another one of his tunes on another recent mix, Beats+Patterns.

Post Requisite – Another left field banger from Flying Lotus. This was first released as a single in 2017 and then re-appeared recently on his 2019 Flamagra LP. If you listen real close, you can catch a Boards of Canada sample at around :16 and repeating throughout. Which reminds me, if you’re ever feeling painfully pretentious, just read some youtube comments on a Boards of Canada song, and you will feel much much better about it all.

BASQUIAT – If you’re not down with Jamila Woods, you probably should be. She’s a poet and singer from Chicago who is down with a host of cool-ass indie rappers. In just two albums, she has managed to push musical boundaries and establish herself as a strong new voice in whatever people call Neo-Soul these days. This is from her 2019 “Legacy! Legacy!” LP, which names each song for a Black American cultural icon like “Giovanni”, “Eartha”, “Miles”, etc. Pivot Gang collective member Saba drops an amazing verse towards the end, and you should peep their music as well.

Stay High – See Brittany Howard from the Alabama Shakes perform once, and you can’t help but be amazed. Raw talent like this only comes along so often, ya know? This is the first single from her first solo album, Jaime, which gets a full release on Sept 20. She’s playing at the Beacon Theater around that time, and I just bought my tickets, so WOOHOO!

La-La For You – The previous Brittany Howard song evoked sonic memories for me of both Sly Stone and a little bit of Al Green, so I went back to my go-to Al record, his flawless 1972 masterpiece “Let’s ’s Stay Together”. The song was co-written with Hi Records CEO Willie Mitchell, a Mississippi band leader and producer who is the man behind making the Memphis Soul sound “a thing” we all treasure. You know: Al Green, Anne Peebles, Syl Johnson. Need I say more? Nah. I needn’t.

Dataflow – 23 year old Viennese guitarist and Post-Rock beat junkie Paul Movahedi aka The Clonius put this track on his 2009 debut album “Between The Dots”. It’s certainly a bit out there, but if you stick with it, it finally coalesces into a niece groove.

Crime Pays – This was the standout track for me on Freddie Gibbs 2019 “Bandana” LP. Madlib made the track, looping an already dope but somewhat obscure late 70s Jazz-Rock song called “free Spirit” by Walt Barr.

Energy – A trapped-out beat made from my favorite Jill Scott song? Why not. And they flip it even further with a key change in the middle? Say word.This gets my head nodding, and I’ve always considered Big K.R.I.T. to be a very underrated Dirty South MC. This is from his 4th studio album, K.R.I.T. Iz Here, released earlier this summer.

Maiden Voyage/Everything in Its Right Place – A funky reinterpretation of both Herbie Hancock and Radiohead, from Robert Glasper’s 2002 debut LP, “Mood”. I’ve seen him live a few times now, and every show is a very different and very cool musical experience. Edibles probably help too. Sayin’.

Icey Roads (Stacked) – London pianist Joe Armon-Jones put out his debut LP last year, and this is his follow up single, released this past June. He’s working with session drummer KwAkE bAsS and bassist Mutale Chashi from Kokoro. If Flying Lotus gets bored with samplers and joins a band, I think it just might sound kinda like this.

Subterranean Homesick Alien – When somebody recently stole 18 hours of OK Computer out-takes on a minidisk and attempted to extort Thom Yorke for it, Radiohead decided to immediately release it all to fans for $23 and donate all of the money to charity. It was a worthy cause, and I have always loved their disruption of music industry revenue streams, so I downloaded the drives as soon as they were available. Skimming through it all was pretty exhausting LOL, and the end result was I mostly just wanted to go back and listen to the finished mixes of OK Computer instead of the every-so-slight and rather endless variations that are found on these tapes. It’s a flawless record to begin with, and this mix is perfect as is, wouldn;t you agree?

Carney and Begard Place – A bit of Avant Garde Jazz from Rahsaan Roland Kirk & Al Hibbler’s 1972 “Meeting of the Times” LP. Ron Carter on bass and Grady Tate on drums. I’d like to imagine I would have been a hep enough cat in 1972 to be up on all this hard bop madness, but who knows…

Zoom – I will confess: Lionel Richie’s solo dance hits really got under my skin in the MTV days, but his downtempo tunes like “Love Will Find A Way” and this LP cut from the Commodores first album really work for me. This was never released as a single inthe US, but became a worldwide fan favorite anyway.

1, 2, to the Bass – A somewhat slept-on Q-Tip guest vocal from Stanley Clarke’s 2003 solo LP of the same name.

QueensBridge Politics – Hands-down, the best track from this past summer’s “Lost Tapes II”. One of the great NYC MCs, my man Nas gets deep here – contemplating the legacy of his projects, sickle cell anemia, and name dropping classic QB hood-stars like Pebblee-Poo. And Pete Rock made the beat so of course it’s fresh. Oh you thought that it was rotten? I beg your pardon.

Winners Circle – If you’ve read any other mix notes from me this summer, you are probably sick of me talking about the genius of Anderson .Paak. But seriously tho. Cop that album.

Earwig – Downtempo acid house is a thing. Or so the UK’s David Kennedy aka Pearson Sound would have us believe. If we will it, it is no dream, dude.

All That I Can Say – A Lilting, breathy cover of Mary J Blige from LA Jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato. Lauren Hill wrote it and even sang backup on the original album. You can hear the Mary version on a live mix I did in Central Park back in 1998. That’s a wrap, for this mix, and this summer. Have a great Fall, and, by all means, let’s get a drink soon, nahmean?