Ear Boogies (3 Picks for the Day)

Herbie Mann Afro-Jazz Sextet + Four Trumpets "The Common Ground" (1960) A great early Afro-jazz release by Herbie Mann. The B side really shines on this record. The band gets deep into the rhythms of Africa with "Uhuru", then ease a bit more jazz into the mix with the subtle power of the Dizzy Gillespie staple, "Night in Tunsia", and then bring it out with the intensity of the title track, which swings in a way Sir Duke would be proud of.

Herbie Mann Afro-Jazz Sextet "Common Ground" at Discogs

Art Blakey and the Afro-Drum Ensemble "The African Beat" Powerful drumming. And not just in a physical sense, but a spiritual one as well. Not too long ago, the great folks over at the Roy Ayers Project wrote a nice article, so I linked yall to it.  

"The African Beat" article at the Roy Ayers Project

Gato Barbieri "El Pampero" Live, unrehearsed, and alive with spirit! Drummer Bernard Purdie, bassist Chuck Rainey, and percussionist Sonny Morgan, sit in with Gato (along with 2 of his regular band mates, Nana Vasconcelos, percussion & Lonnie Liston Smith, piano) and fly!

Gato Barbieri "El Pampero" at Discogs

Talkin' Square Biz to Ya

Square, square, biz.

The New Biz.

Soul, Jazz, & Samba.

New jawns.....

I still have to listen fully to them all, outside the Hal Galper & the Discos Fuentes comp (Colombia's oldest record label).

The Impressions are my favorite vocal group, so for 1 dollar, their Greatest Hits was a no-brainer. Hal Galper works with a trio on his "Inner Journey" LP. Great work, I must say. This one is out of print and a lil harder to find, from what I gather.

Found these gems at a local monthly record show this morning. Good prices on all of them too. I had been looking for the MFSB LP, albeit passively, glad I found it today. Has great covers of Family Affair, Freddie's Dead, and a remake of Backstabbers, which is already an MFSB backed song, performed by the timeless O'Jays.(www.recordcollectors.org)

Bought a lil stack of 45's too. Half decent, half not. I really need a portable turntable. I'd love one of those old school Fisher Price jawns.

Joe Bataan, Afro-American & Filipino heritage, grew up in Spanish Harlem, and could churn out Latin rhythms just like he was off the islands. Afro-Filipino is a good album. The A side, labeled the East Coast side, is decent, while the B sidehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif, the West Coast side, is stellar. "Ordinary Guy" starts out as a relaxing, mellow, Sunday afternoon piece, then breaks down into a salsa jam. "What Good is A Castle" is a re-recording of the tune which appeared on an earlier album of his (not sure which one, I'm not googling, just keeping it real, haha) and Joe really rocks this joint. You can feel the emotion in this track, it really gets inside you.

Sun Ra's Astro Black is hella dope. That's all I can say about this one. My description of this particular Ra album would be "out-there" but grounded with great percussion work. Not the best description, but hey, check it out for yourself!

The Voices of East Harlem joint is cool, but will be for sale.

Ahhhhhh, records.

A couple recent favorites...

Had been seeing the Frank Foster joint all over message boards as of late and a recent trip to Philly saw me find it in a dope record spot. Great album. The B side is where it's at though.

The Alan Lorber record is dope! It actually took me a while to figure out what was on the cover of this one. Trippy. Indian influence spacey, lounge music. Ahh the 60's had some gems for real. The whole record is solid from front to back. I like Alan's take on the classic, "Up, Up, and Away".

And Gil Melle's "Tome VI" is a nice album with free-jazz-ish tunes and it is all electric instruments. The back says it is "the first electronic jazz album". Either way, it's a good listen for jazz heads.

Kendrick Lamar x Gucci