Elemental Consulting

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Wednesday, October 26, 2005

NEW PROCUSSIONS TRACK

Take a listen to the new Procussions track "Miss January" HERE.
Taken from their forthcoming album "5 Sparrows For 2 Cents", it is available as an advanced download purchase from iTunes.
For more on the Procussions visit: www.theprocussions.com

# posted by beats @ 9:20 AM

Monday, October 24, 2005

Digable Planets - Beyond The Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles

"Insects stick together and work for mutually beneficial causes," Ladybug Mecca of Digable Planets once commented in Essence Magazine. Following that concept, Butterfly, Doodlebug and Ladybug joined together and formed Digable Planets in the early 90s, bringing a new vibe to hip-hop. Following their recent reunion tour is Beyond the Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles, a collection of rarities and greatest hits that is a great reminder to fans that the group is one of the special bands to emerge from that fertile time period.

With their 1993 debut, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), and their follow up album Blowout Comb the band introduced their literate lyrics, honey-smooth flow and vibrant arrangements. When the group took a hiatus to work on solo projects, they were sorely missed. No other group combined elements of funk, psychedelia and hip-hop in the same way and the trio brought jazz into the fold, giving a new soul to an old sound. As the Beyond the Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles anthology clearly illustrates, Digable Planets set a standard back in the 90s for a generation of soul poets and producers alike.

http://bluenote.com/detail.asp?SelectionID=10476

# posted by beats @ 12:36 PM

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

# posted by beats @ 10:01 AM

Blue Note Records present two must-have compilations for crate-diggers, hip-hop historians and funk & soul fans.

Ecard: http://www.bluenote.com/funk

David Axelrod- The Edge: David Axelrod at Capitol Records 1966-1970
Though he worked for a series of labels over the course of his storied career, David Axelrod is best known as one of Capitol Records' foremost producers during the company's glory years in the 1960s. Under his production, actor David McCallum released four albums; soulster Lou Rawls released a countless number of LPs (including his first gold album, Lou Rawls Live); Cannonball Adderly released Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (1966), one of the highest selling jazz albums of all time; and countless artists from Letta Mbulu to Common People released albums that spanned the gamut from funky African folk to psychedelic rock. Axelrod himself released three albums as a solo artist on Capitol - Songs of Innocence (1968), Songs of Experience (1969), and Earth Rot (1970) - the first of which even legendary producer Quincy Jones admitted was the immediate precursor to jazz-fusion.

David Axelrod was instrumental in creating the Black Music division at Capitol Records in the mid-'60s, and had a string of hit albums with artists such as soul singer Lou Rawls and jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. Today he is best known in the hip-hop world for three albums he released on Capitol under his own name between 1968-1970. Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, Earth Rot, and other ancillary Axelrod productions are among the most sampled records in hip-hop history, having been mined by producers as varied as Madlib, DJ Shadow, and Dr. Dre, Mos Def, and many others.

Original LPs that Axelrod produced are coveted among DJs and crate-diggers. This definitive retrospective is the first release to put his career in its proper context and present it with the sonic quality it merits.

Produced by Eothen "Egon" Alapatt (of Stones Throw Records)
more info: http://bluenote.com/detail.asp?SelectionID=10464

The Mizell Brothers
Mizell: The Mizell Brothers at Blue Note Records 1972-1976 and Beyond

Larry and Fonce (Alphonso) Mizell, without a doubt the hottest songwriters and producers of the 1970s, gave us, with their Sky High Productions, some of the finest jazz-funk and R&B records ever produced. With their distinctive, unique style they gave music a whole new quality, resulting in a fascinating groove that has always held its appeal and paved the way for hip-hop, neo-soul, and soulful house music today.

Fonce Mizell started off as a member of Motown's famous production team The Corporation. Together with Freddie Perren, Deke Richards, and Berry Gordy Jr., Fonce helped write and produce many of the Jackson 5's early hits, such as 'I Want You Back' and 'ABC.' Fonce also wrote and produced for other Motown acts, including Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas, and Bobby Darin. Some years later, Fonce and Freddie Perren would write and produce Edwin Starr's soundtrack to the blaxploitation movie Hell Up in Harlem (Motown, 1974). Before that, Larry Mizell had worked with Donald Byrd on his Grammy'-nominated Black Byrd album, the biggest selling album for Blue Note Records at the time.

From then on, having moved to California, the brothers were working together, producing a string of fantastic records with their company, Sky High Productions. Most of them were released on Blue Note and include classic jazz-funk like Donald Byrd's 'Street Lady' and Bobbi Humphrey's 'Blacks and Blues'; deep soul-funk and R&B like Gary Bartz's 'The Shadow Do' and Rance Allen's 'Say My Friend'; as well as huge disco hits like A Taste of Honey's 'Boogie, Oogie, Oogie.'

Original LPs of Mizell Brothers-produced albums are coveted among DJs and crate-diggers, and have been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, De La Soul, Tupac, Pete Rock, and countless others. This definitive retrospective is the first release that puts their careers in its proper context and presents it with the sonic quality it merits. Also, it marks the Mizell Brothers reunion with Blue Note Records after almost 20 years, as the album was compiled, produced, mixed & mastered by the Mizells themselves. Lastly, it features three previously-unreleased tracks newly mixed from the analog sources: 'Funked Up' from legendary Gary Bartz's Music Is My Sanctuary album, a newly-unearthed alternate version of the classic Donald Byrd 'Think Twice,' and a half-completed track to which the Mizells added vocal and trumpet parts and renamed 'N R Time,' which is sure to be a future dancefloor classic.

Produced by Larry and Fonce Mizell
More info: http://bluenote.com/detail.asp?SelectionID=10465

# posted by beats @ 9:48 AM

Thursday, October 13, 2005

JAZZANOVA ON A BLUE NOTE TRIP
ACCLAIMED DJ/PRODUCER COLLECTIVE COMPILES BLUE NOTE MIX CD

When Blue Note Records’ Netherlands division approached Jazzanova about assembling a compilation from the storied jazz label’s rich catalog, the German DJ/producer collective was in fact surprised, not that they were asked, but rather that they had not been asked sooner. A deep jazz influence has pervaded the group’s work from the start, having first been collectors of Blue Note vinyl on their own. After having contributed to 2004’s global remix project Blue Note Revisited, the opportunity finally arose for a full-length endeavour. The result is Blue Note Trip.
The German collective consists of DJ team Jurgen von Knoblauch Stephan, Alexander Barck and Claas Brieler, and producers Axel Reinemer, Stefan Leisering and Rosko Kretschmann. Aiming to offer a broad perspective on various cultures and musical genres and melt them together, at their inception Jazzanova’s love for jazz and modern beats led to a fusion of almost every genre, from jazz to soul and from hip hop and drum & bass to Latin and boogie.

“Our name might be Jazzanova, but the DJ sets we play now are not jazz”, says Jazzanova. “It’s house, Latin, dance oriented music. This project only had one theme, old jazz music, that was new for us, but also old. Because that’s how we started, by playing old jazz records. Since then we’ve developed. But by going back, we’ve made another step forward.”

Jazzanova always respects the original artist, something that has earned them a lot of respect as well. “We haven’t changed the original songs, we respect them too much, but the song selection and the way we blend them together is typical Jazzanova style. We’ve tried to create a real ‘trip.’ A lot of young people find jazz heavy and difficult, we try to open the door to the world of jazz by an accessible compilation. We’ve chosen to use mainly songs that haven’t been in the spotlight as much, although artists like Horace Silver and Gene Harris are included.”

The mix features selections from all corners of the storied Blue Note catalog, songs from the 50s (Ken Dorham’s “Afrodisia”), 60s (Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”), and 70s (Donald Byrd’s “Think Twice”), both instrumental (Freddie Hubbard’s “Blue Spirits”) and vocal (Sheila Jordan’s “Baltimore Oriole”), both popular (Horace Silver’s “Señor Blues”) and more obscure (Charlie Rouse’s “Merci Bon Dieu”).

“It’s important to really create a Jazzanova moment, the way the tunes are connected, songs that would normally not fit together but to create a point of energy where two worlds collide, like mixing a ballad with a Latin song, with the right harmony or timing it’s possible.”

Blue Note has been watching Jazzanova closely and considered them to be the ideal group to compile and mix the new Blue Note Trip. A case of perfect timing as well for Jazzanova. “To ask Jazzanova to make a Blue Note compilation is like bringing sand to the beach. That’s what we do, and what we like to do. Blue Note is for us the most influential jazz label. We already had a huge collection of Blue Note records, with interesting compositions and inspiring material,” says Jazzanova.

“When they asked us to make this Trip, we already had it in ourselves. It was all about the selection. That was the easy part. The real challenge was trying to fit them together, the mixing of the songs. That wasn’t so easy. But it was a lot of fun and a big honor to do this on the Blue Note label.”

View Ecard: http://www.bluenote.com/funk

# posted by beats @ 5:48 PM

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