This is a blog used to help promote DJ Kool Emdee and dedicated to GOOD music and those
who love good music, be it old or new school. Any music or links posted are for SAMPLE PURPOSES ONLY. We wish that you would support all artists by purchasing their bodies of work.
Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002)
Today we pay homage to one of the greatest DJ's of all time in the genre of Hip-Hop music. Jay is responsible for helping to shape the sound of Run-DMC and creating the style of dress with the signature black hats and Adidas sneakers. Jay is also a cousin of the legendary Jazz-Funk producers, the Mizell Brothers.
Today we bid farewell to legendary Reggae singer/songwriter Gregory Isaacs. Isaacs was a pioneer of lovers rock with his recording of "My Only Lover", credited as being the first of its kind ever made. This came about after partnering with singer Errol Dunkley to form their own African Museum Records in 1973.
In 1982, Isaacs would go on to score a big hit with "Night Nurse", the title track on Night Nurse released on Island Records. This album would launch Isaacs into gaining a wider audience. Although the song didn't chart, it was a hit amongst DJs on the club scene. The late 80's and 90's would bring more success for Isaacs with recording "King Ruler Come Again" in 1984, Private Beach Party in 1985, and then to release "Rumors", the massive hit from Red Rose For Gregory in 1988, which was followed by further popular singles including "Mind Yu Dis", "Rough Neck", "Too Good To Be True", and "Report to Me".
Gregory Isaacs succumbed to cancer earlier today in his London home. A great voice that will be dearly missed.
The collective known as Black Einstein has released a David Bowie inspired EP titled Whatever Happened To Major Tom which features "Arabia" that samples Bowie's "The Secret Life of Arabia".
UK based production mastermind Colin Emmanuel (a.k.a. "The Nubian Nerd") of Black Einstein has produced for the likes of Baby Sol, Eric Roberson, Jamelia, The Beta Band, Estelle and Beverly Knight. On this track, he's collaborated with UK emcee Mystro and the legendary Maseo of De La Soul. What I really like about this track is it's old school style that still has a futuristic touch. Here's the other great thing about it....it's a FREE download. Enjoy!
Hailing from New York City, the Easy Star All-Stars, who happen to be one of my favorite new school Dub and Reggae bands and production crew, are set to release Dubber Side of the Moon on October 26th. This is a remix project of the previously released Dub Side of the Moon(2003), which is a Reggae tribute to Rock band Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
Production credits go to the likes of Adrian Sherwood, Mad Professor, Kalbata, John Peel and Dreadzone. To pre-order, more info and tour dates, log on to EasyStar.com.
Anita O'Day (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006)
Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer". Refusing to pander to any female stereotype, O'Day presented herself as a "hip" jazz musician, wearing a band jacket and skirt as opposed to an evening gown. She changed her surname from Colton to O'Day, pig Latin for "dough," slang for money.
O'Day's skills in improvisation of rhythm and melody put her squarely among the pioneers of bebop; indeed, a staple of her live act in the 1950s was a cover of "Four" by Miles Davis. She cited Martha Raye as the primary influence on her vocal style, although she also expressed admiration for Mildred Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday. O'Day's backbeat-based singing style was strongly influential on many other female singers of the late swing and bebop eras, including June Christy, Chris Connor and Doris Day.
O'Day's career was on the upswing after performing with Count Basie in September 1948 at the Royal Roost in New York City. Her first album, Anita O'Day Sings Jazz (reissued as The Lady Is a Tramp), was recorded in 1952 for the newly established Norgran Records (it was also the label's first LP). The album was a critical success and further boosted her popularity. On February 25, 1954, she began work on her second album, Songs by Anita O'Day (reissued as An Evening with Anita O'Day). She recorded steadily throughout the 1950s, accompanied by small combos and big bands. In person, O'Day was generally backed by a trio which included John Poole, the drummer with whom she would work for the next 40 years.
As a live performer O'Day also began performing in festivals and concerts with such musicians as Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Dinah Washington, George Shearing, Cal Tjader, and Thelonious Monk. She appeared in the documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival which increased her popularity.
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of Rock and Roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), and "My Ding-a-Ling" (1972). Chuck Berry refined and developed Rhythm and Blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.
Influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career.
Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of All Time" lists, including being ranked sixth on their 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included three of Chuck Berry's songs: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Now in his eighties, Berry continues to play live.
Wynton Learson Marsalis, born October 18, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a Jazz and Western classical virtuoso trumpeter and composer. He is Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted the appreciation of Classical and Jazz music, often focusing on young audiences.
As a Jazz performer and composer he has made display of his extensive knowledge about jazz and jazz history and for being a classical virtuoso. As of 2006, he has made sixteen classical and more than thirty jazz recordings, has been awarded nine Grammys in both genres, and was awarded the first Pulitzer Prize for Music for a Jazz recording.
Fela Kuti, born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, is known as the "Father of Afro-Beat" and also as "The Black President". Most of Fela's music was about socio-political struggles and the corrupted government of Nigeria.
The title of "Black President" stems from Fela establishing his own political state in 1970 after returning to Nigeria from the U.S. called the Kalakuta Republic, which housed a compound that had a free clinic and recording studio. After writing and releasing "Zombie", which was about the the local military regime, the compound was burned to the ground on February 18, 1977 after an assault by a thousand armed soldiers. During the assault, Fela was severely beaten and his mother was thrown from a second story window and died after being in a coma for 8 weeks. Fela took her remains and placed them on the steps of General Olusegun Obasanjo's residence. In further protest Fela composed "Coffin For Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier".
On the subject of Afro-Beat, Fela created this style with the help of his drummer Tony Allen. Fela is quoted to having said, "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat". Afro-Beat is a fusion of West African rhythms and chants, highlife of Ghana and Nigeia, Funk (mainly through influence of James Brown), psychedelic rock, Jazz and also borrowing from the native "tinker pan" style of percussion. He featured two baritone saxophone players and would sometimes have two bass guitar players who both would play interlocking melodic riffs. There were two guitarists, horns, percussion and his wives who would lend a hand at vocals, in which many of his songs were call and response. Fela called his show the Underground Spiritual Game.
The J-Dilla Foundation, La Famiglia and 323 East are currently hosting an art contest for artists who have done pieces with the legendary late producer James "J-Dilla/Jay Dee" Yancy as the subject. You can go to the Art4Dilla website to vote for contestants who's works span four pages. Submissions deadline is December 30, 2010. Please take the time to support the foundation and listen to the tribute mix I did. Enjoy!
While at one of my favorite spots, which is where I DJ at on Thursdays and any other day i'm booked, my long time friend named Troy who is a bartender there played a few tunes on the digital jukebox. I started buggin' when I heard the opening and asked him who it was that did this remake of this Soul classic by Baby Huey & The Babysitters, which is also a staple amongst producers who have sampled this tune in many Hip-Hop classics. Turns out it was The Roots featuring John Legend off their new album Wake Up.
Personally, i'm not really a fan of John Legend. I had been seeing Questlove tweet about the album hundreds of times and never really gave it a second thought seeing John's name attached to it. After hearing this (finally), i'm still not a fan of his, but have to give props for his delivery. As usual, the legendary Roots Crew killed it with their superb musicianship.
Baby Huey (born James Ramey, August 17, 1944 - October 28, 1970) was influential in Hip-Hop after many rappers started mimicking his style of self-referential rhyming. Huey was signed to Curtis Mayfield and Eddie Thomas' Curtom Records. In 1969 Baby Huey & The Babysitters recorded The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, which contained "Hard Times", "Listen to Me", and "Mighty Mighty Children", have been frequently sampled by hip hop producers. The album was released posthumously after Huey suffered a heart attack and passed away.
