Re: Legendary Grooves

Alex Williams (daw@zoo.bt.co.uk)
Wed, 22 Apr 1998 17:17:17 +0100


Nathaniel Rahav wrote:

> hmmm...
>
> never heard of these guys, but it sounds intersting....
>
> can u tell us more??
>
> >Hmmm, some of my favourite LP's are:
> >
> >Peter Herbolzheimer - Live Im Onkel Po

Don't know much about him, but this is a German LP on Polydor by him and his
big band - Rhythm Combination and Brass. I've got another one of their albums
called "Wide Open" too. Most of the players are German (I think - European
anyway), but this album also features Sabu Martinez on percussion. There's
also a guy called Deiter Reith who features on keyboards who I know released
stuff under his own name (on MPS I think?). I can't really describe the sound
properly, but it's funky big band. I've actually got a small snippet of one of
the songs on my web page (which I haven't updated for a while!). Check it out
at http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Lights/1056/

> >Eugene McDaniels - Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse

This is fantastic too. I think he's an old jazz singer. He's got a great
voice. Weird lyrics. My favourite song on here is "Lovin' Man". I'd put it up
there with "It's Your World" by Gil Scott Heron. The album also features the
song "Jagger the Dagger" as sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on their first
album. The whole album's great from start to finish. I don't know any of his
other albums, but this is his best from what I've heard.

> >Ernie Wilkins - Hard Mother Blues

Another big band album. Mostly covers ("Evil Ways", "Funky Broadway",
"Respect") and a couple of great originals. This is on Mainstream. Actually,
there's another album by him on the same label called "Screaming Mothers"
which is a double LP and features all the material from "Hard Mother Blues"
plus as much again. I've got 'em both. Most of the best stuff is contained on
"Hard Mother Blues" though. Can't remember exactly who's on the album, but
there's some pretty big names (I can't remember whether Grady Tate or Bernard
Purdie is on drums for example).

> ...
> >Air - Air (no, not those French geezers - this is an album from the early
> 70's

This is a beautiful record. They're a weird looking lot. One of them looks
like Jesus! It's produced by Herbie Mann and is on a label called Embryo. I
remember the singer is called Googie Copolla and one of the others is called
Tom Copolla (her brother/husband ?). I suppose you'd call the sound Jazz Rock
if you had to categorize it. I remember at least one of the songs has got the
Brecker brothers on it.

That probably hasn't left you much the wiser - sorry I ain't too hot at
describing things. If you ever see any of this stuff though, I'd definitely
recommend you get it. Most of them are pretty hard to get (I consider myself
very lucky to have found them at reasonable prices - I'm not one of those
people who pays 100 quid for a record). The easiest one to find, without
having to pay loads of money, would probably be the Ernie Wilkins one. It's
really great though. I think my favourite track on there is called "Big Foot
Country". There seems to be a lot of Mainstream material out there.

Good hunting,
Alex