sábado, 31 de agosto de 2019
viernes, 30 de agosto de 2019
Gonzalez ( 1974 ) .One of the best latin jazz-funk albums,incredible DeLisle Harper ( bass ).Alan Sharpe, Bud Beadle, Chris Mercer, DeLisle Harper, George Chandler, Glen LeFleur, Godfrey McLean, GONZALEZ, Gordon Hunte, Mick Eve, Preston Heyman, Richard Bailey, Ron Carthy, Roy Davies, Steve Gregory...
Gonzalez – Gonzalez
Sello:
EMI – 1 C 056 - 05 686
Formato:
Vinyl, LP, Album
País:
Fecha:
Género:
Estilo:
Pistas
| A1 | Pack It Up | 4:28 |
| A2 | Clapham South | 4:04 |
| A3 | No Way | 3:31 |
| A4 | Adelanto Nightride | 3:29 |
| A5 | Underground Railroad | 3:54 |
| B1 | Gonzalez | 4:58 |
| B2 | Together Forever | 4:53 |
| B3 | Saoco | 6:47 |
| B4 | Funky Frith Street | 1:29 |
Créditos
- Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Saxophone [Electric] – Chris Mercer
- Arranged By – Gonzalez
- Bass – Lisle Harper*
- Congas, Percussion – Alan Sharpe, Bobby John
- Drums – Glenn Lefleur*
- Drums, Timbales – Richard Bailey
- Engineer – John Burns, Rhett Davies, Tony Clarke
- Lead Guitar – Gordon Hunte
- Piano, Electric Piano [Fender], Clavinet – Roy Davies
- Producer – Neil Harrison
- Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Flute – Bud Beadle
- Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Steve Gregory
- Tenor Saxophone – Michael Eve*
- Trumpet – Ron Carthy
- Vocals – George Chandler
Notas
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios (June '74) and Island Studios (May '74)
plus info:
Produced and Engineered by Mike Finesilver
Arranged by Gonzalez and Mike Finesilver
http://musiciansolympus.blogspot.com/2010/10/chrismercer-sax.html
Other 2 musics in the album
Godfrey McLean (percussion)
Preston Heyman (drums)
Fraser Massey:
On a good night anytime when you went to see Gonzalez during the early to mid-’70s you could find yourself packed in so close in a sweaty little club that you’d be shoulder to shoulder with a group of like-minded music-loving strangers.
It might be uncomfortable but it would be worth it. And anyway it was some small compensation to see that up on stage the band were squeezed in even more tightly-cramming up to 13 musicians on the band stage. You felt almost short-changed on one of those rare nights that Gonzalez appeared with only their absolute minimum of 9 players.
Of course you could never be quite sure exactly which 13 or so musicians would be appearing under the Gonzalez banner on any given night – it was the band’s proud boast that they never took to the stage two nights running with exactly the same line-up.
Long before footballing coaches built themselves international reputations by fine-tuning a rotating squad system – Gonzalez had been pioneering the concept of keeping their performances fresh sounding each night by utilizing the same tactic of continually appearing with an ever-changing personnel.
“It really was like being in a football team, where different players would come in and add a little bit of their own magic on a given night”, recalls tenor sax player Mick Eve. “You’d know that whenever you played there was going to be at least one change in the line-up. It would never be a radical shake-up, just something a little bit different.”
Mick himself, together with keyboard player Roy Davies, trumpeter Ron Carthy, flute and sax man Bud Beadle and Chris Mercer on tenor sax were pretty much ever present. Guitarist Gordon Hunte was also more likely to be there than not.
But as for the rest – it was anybody’s guess who would be there on the night in question.
Though the band made a virtue of its ever changing personnel, it was really an unavoidable inevitability of the way Gonzalez worked. The sheer size of the group coupled with the number of gigs they performed – they’d be out for 250 nights a year at the height of their fame – meant it would be logistically impossible anyway to boast a steady and settled line-up.
All of them were already in constant demand to play for other groups. Though most made their living working as studio session men, they were always being asked to go out on tour with other acts. Johnny Nash and Rod Stewart were particularly partial to raiding the Gonzalez ranks for backing musicians whenever a tour loomed.
“The rule was that if you got offered another gig you gave the rest of us plenty of warning so we could bring someone else in,” says Mick. “Then, by the time you got back from whatever tour it was, whoever had been depping for you was probably off on tour with someone themselves. The fun of being in Gonzalez anyway was to play with people who just loved playing. Going out on tour with some of the big names, playing some of the big stadiums, could get a bit contrived sometimes.
So we’d have one or two members of the band who – when somebody came in and offered them a tour – would quote some ridiculously high figure for their services in the hope that they could price themselves out of the job and be able to stay with us. It didn’t always work, people would still sometimes meet their outrageous asking price and they’d reluctantly have to go off on tour with whoever it was.”
Mick had first put the band together with Roy Davies in the summer of 1971. Both were veterans of the 60′s club scene – Mick as a member of Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames and Roy with Freddie Mack. They’d just come back from working together in Italy as part of Herbie Goins and the Night Timers and were sitting in the audience at Ronnie Scotts London club one July night with some other members of the Night Timers watching Mongo Santamaria when they bumped into some players from another ’70s band, The Gas.
Members of both bands got talking about how nice it would be to play somewhere in the evenings to wind down after a day in the studios and promptly found themselves offered a spot upstairs at Ronnie’s club the following Saturday night.
About 10 people took to the stage for that first performance. “We didn’t even have any tunes,” laughs Mick. “We had about 5 or 6 skeleton ideas which we managed to stretch out for an hour or two. We’d start with riffs from Donny Hathaway or Marvin Gaye or Mongo Santamaria and just develop them from there.”
They also didn’t have a name. But Bob Stevens, the manager of the Upstairs room at Ronnie Scotts, promptly booked them back for the following Saturday and, sensing a Latin groove in what they were doing, christened them Gonzalez.
Pretty soon the Saturday night booking became a regular thing. Then they were playing Friday night upstairs at Ronnie’s too. In no time they found themselves doing 5 nights a week around London, turning clubs like The Speakeasy, Hatchetts, The Pheasantry and Samantha’s into regular haunts.
As their reputation grew, so did the demand for them to travel further afield – and also for them to put down on record the sort of stuff they were playing night by night.
The “Gonzalez” and “Our only weapon is our music” albums, recorded in 1974 and 1975, and collected here in this compilation, faithfully capture the spirit of the Latin jazz funk fusion that had turned Gonzalez into one of the hottest live draws in the country.
Added here as an extra bonus track is “Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet”, the bands one and only Top Twenty Hit. Initially recorded in 1977, it had been neglected when first released and only charted 2 years later when re-promoted after first finding success in the discos of New York.
The song had been written for the group by U.S soul singer Gloria Jones – who had moved to Britain as a member of T.Rex and girlfriend of that bands lead singer, Marc Bolan. Bolan and Jones would regularly turn up at Gonzalez gigs and cause something of a stir.
“We’d be playing and suddenly girls in the audience would start screaming during one of Chris Mercer’s solos and I’d turn round and see that Marc had popped his head round the corner of the stage,” Mick remembers.
The hit changed the course of events for Gonzalez, as it moved them away from the club circuit where they’d been playing to 400 people a night and into the 2,000 seater ballrooms. “The crowds then would come just to hear the single and the D.J’s in the clubs would tell us to get on and play it and get off again and not hang about because the audiences there were only used to seeing people miming to their hits anyway,” says Mick.
Gonzalez soldiered on regardless, only finally calling it a day after the death from cancer of Roy Davies in 1986. all the band had lucrative work with other musicians and in the studios to fall back on.
And had it not been for the Japanese, the story of Gonzalez might have ended there with the band remaining just a happy memory for those lucky enough to have seen them at their best.
But in the mid-’90s the track “Rissoled”, originally from the “Our Only Weapon” album resurfaced on a big-selling Japanese dance compilation CD prompting latter-day Gonzalez bass player Kuma Harada to issue an invitation to his old colleagues to come and join him in the Far East to play again and maybe even to record some new stuff.
“I don’t know about the rest of the band but I’d be sorely tempted to get on a plane and do it whenever I next need some duty frees to keep my smokers cough going,” wheezes a happy Mick Eve.
Produced and Engineered by Mike Finesilver
Arranged by Gonzalez and Mike Finesilver
http://musiciansolympus.blogspot.com/2010/10/chrismercer-sax.html
Other 2 musics in the album
Godfrey McLean (percussion)
Preston Heyman (drums)
Fraser Massey:
On a good night anytime when you went to see Gonzalez during the early to mid-’70s you could find yourself packed in so close in a sweaty little club that you’d be shoulder to shoulder with a group of like-minded music-loving strangers.
It might be uncomfortable but it would be worth it. And anyway it was some small compensation to see that up on stage the band were squeezed in even more tightly-cramming up to 13 musicians on the band stage. You felt almost short-changed on one of those rare nights that Gonzalez appeared with only their absolute minimum of 9 players.
Of course you could never be quite sure exactly which 13 or so musicians would be appearing under the Gonzalez banner on any given night – it was the band’s proud boast that they never took to the stage two nights running with exactly the same line-up.
Long before footballing coaches built themselves international reputations by fine-tuning a rotating squad system – Gonzalez had been pioneering the concept of keeping their performances fresh sounding each night by utilizing the same tactic of continually appearing with an ever-changing personnel.
“It really was like being in a football team, where different players would come in and add a little bit of their own magic on a given night”, recalls tenor sax player Mick Eve. “You’d know that whenever you played there was going to be at least one change in the line-up. It would never be a radical shake-up, just something a little bit different.”
Mick himself, together with keyboard player Roy Davies, trumpeter Ron Carthy, flute and sax man Bud Beadle and Chris Mercer on tenor sax were pretty much ever present. Guitarist Gordon Hunte was also more likely to be there than not.
But as for the rest – it was anybody’s guess who would be there on the night in question.
Though the band made a virtue of its ever changing personnel, it was really an unavoidable inevitability of the way Gonzalez worked. The sheer size of the group coupled with the number of gigs they performed – they’d be out for 250 nights a year at the height of their fame – meant it would be logistically impossible anyway to boast a steady and settled line-up.
All of them were already in constant demand to play for other groups. Though most made their living working as studio session men, they were always being asked to go out on tour with other acts. Johnny Nash and Rod Stewart were particularly partial to raiding the Gonzalez ranks for backing musicians whenever a tour loomed.
“The rule was that if you got offered another gig you gave the rest of us plenty of warning so we could bring someone else in,” says Mick. “Then, by the time you got back from whatever tour it was, whoever had been depping for you was probably off on tour with someone themselves. The fun of being in Gonzalez anyway was to play with people who just loved playing. Going out on tour with some of the big names, playing some of the big stadiums, could get a bit contrived sometimes.
So we’d have one or two members of the band who – when somebody came in and offered them a tour – would quote some ridiculously high figure for their services in the hope that they could price themselves out of the job and be able to stay with us. It didn’t always work, people would still sometimes meet their outrageous asking price and they’d reluctantly have to go off on tour with whoever it was.”
Mick had first put the band together with Roy Davies in the summer of 1971. Both were veterans of the 60′s club scene – Mick as a member of Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames and Roy with Freddie Mack. They’d just come back from working together in Italy as part of Herbie Goins and the Night Timers and were sitting in the audience at Ronnie Scotts London club one July night with some other members of the Night Timers watching Mongo Santamaria when they bumped into some players from another ’70s band, The Gas.
Members of both bands got talking about how nice it would be to play somewhere in the evenings to wind down after a day in the studios and promptly found themselves offered a spot upstairs at Ronnie’s club the following Saturday night.
About 10 people took to the stage for that first performance. “We didn’t even have any tunes,” laughs Mick. “We had about 5 or 6 skeleton ideas which we managed to stretch out for an hour or two. We’d start with riffs from Donny Hathaway or Marvin Gaye or Mongo Santamaria and just develop them from there.”
They also didn’t have a name. But Bob Stevens, the manager of the Upstairs room at Ronnie Scotts, promptly booked them back for the following Saturday and, sensing a Latin groove in what they were doing, christened them Gonzalez.
Pretty soon the Saturday night booking became a regular thing. Then they were playing Friday night upstairs at Ronnie’s too. In no time they found themselves doing 5 nights a week around London, turning clubs like The Speakeasy, Hatchetts, The Pheasantry and Samantha’s into regular haunts.
As their reputation grew, so did the demand for them to travel further afield – and also for them to put down on record the sort of stuff they were playing night by night.
The “Gonzalez” and “Our only weapon is our music” albums, recorded in 1974 and 1975, and collected here in this compilation, faithfully capture the spirit of the Latin jazz funk fusion that had turned Gonzalez into one of the hottest live draws in the country.
Added here as an extra bonus track is “Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet”, the bands one and only Top Twenty Hit. Initially recorded in 1977, it had been neglected when first released and only charted 2 years later when re-promoted after first finding success in the discos of New York.
The song had been written for the group by U.S soul singer Gloria Jones – who had moved to Britain as a member of T.Rex and girlfriend of that bands lead singer, Marc Bolan. Bolan and Jones would regularly turn up at Gonzalez gigs and cause something of a stir.
“We’d be playing and suddenly girls in the audience would start screaming during one of Chris Mercer’s solos and I’d turn round and see that Marc had popped his head round the corner of the stage,” Mick remembers.
The hit changed the course of events for Gonzalez, as it moved them away from the club circuit where they’d been playing to 400 people a night and into the 2,000 seater ballrooms. “The crowds then would come just to hear the single and the D.J’s in the clubs would tell us to get on and play it and get off again and not hang about because the audiences there were only used to seeing people miming to their hits anyway,” says Mick.
Gonzalez soldiered on regardless, only finally calling it a day after the death from cancer of Roy Davies in 1986. all the band had lucrative work with other musicians and in the studios to fall back on.
And had it not been for the Japanese, the story of Gonzalez might have ended there with the band remaining just a happy memory for those lucky enough to have seen them at their best.
But in the mid-’90s the track “Rissoled”, originally from the “Our Only Weapon” album resurfaced on a big-selling Japanese dance compilation CD prompting latter-day Gonzalez bass player Kuma Harada to issue an invitation to his old colleagues to come and join him in the Far East to play again and maybe even to record some new stuff.
“I don’t know about the rest of the band but I’d be sorely tempted to get on a plane and do it whenever I next need some duty frees to keep my smokers cough going,” wheezes a happy Mick Eve.
Gonzalez – Our Only Weapon Is Our Music ( 1975 )..One of the best latin jazz-funk albums,incredible groove.Larry Steele, Malcolm Griffiths, Mike Finesilver, Robert Ahwai...
Gonzalez – Our Only Weapon Is Our Music
Sello:
Formato:
Vinyl, LP, Album
País:
Fecha:
Género:
Estilo:
Pistas
Compañías, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright (p) – EMI Records Ltd.
- Printed By – Garrod & Lofthouse
- Recorded At – Chipping Norton Recording Studios
- Recorded At – Basing Street Studios
- Mixed At – Lansdowne Studios
Créditos
- Alto Saxophone [Alto Sax], Flute – Steve Gregory
- Arranged By – Gonzalez
- Backing Vocals [Back-up Vocals] – Viola Wills
- Baritone Saxophone [Baritone Sax], Soprano Saxophone [Soprano Sax], Flute – Bud Beadle
- Bass, Vocals – Larry Steele
- Congas – Bobby Stignac
- Drums – Glen Le Fleur*
- Guitar – Gordon Hunte, Robert Ahwai
- Keyboards – Roy Davies
- Percussion – Alan Sharpe, Godfrey McLean
- Photography By – Eric Swayne
- Producer, Engineer, Arranged By – Mike Finesilver
- Sleeve – Dick Ward
- Synthesizer – Ken Freeman
- Synthesizer [Moog] – Lance Dixon
- Tenor Saxophone [Tenor Sax] – Chris Mercer, Mick Eve
- Trombone – Malcolm Griffiths
- Trumpet – Ron Carthy
- Vocals – Lenny Zakatek
Notas
File under Popular : Pop Groups
Recorded at Chipping Norton Studios, Oxfordshire (except A1 & A3 recorded at Basing Street Studios) Mixed at Lansdowne Studios
Thanks to Dave Grinstead & Dave Hutchings for their Assistance
EMI Records Ltd.
Hayes
Middlesex
England
Made and printed in Great Britain
7512 Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.
℗ 1975 E.M.I. Records Ltd.
Laminated sleeve.
Publisher details:
Velvet/Rak Publishing Ltd. (A1)
Gonzalez Music/Woolfsongs Ltd. MCPS (A2, A4, A5, B2 to B5)
Black Octopus Ltd. (A3)
Pathway Music Ltd. (B1)
Recorded at Chipping Norton Studios, Oxfordshire (except A1 & A3 recorded at Basing Street Studios) Mixed at Lansdowne Studios
Thanks to Dave Grinstead & Dave Hutchings for their Assistance
EMI Records Ltd.
Hayes
Middlesex
England
Made and printed in Great Britain
7512 Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.
℗ 1975 E.M.I. Records Ltd.
Laminated sleeve.
Publisher details:
Velvet/Rak Publishing Ltd. (A1)
Gonzalez Music/Woolfsongs Ltd. MCPS (A2, A4, A5, B2 to B5)
Black Octopus Ltd. (A3)
Pathway Music Ltd. (B1)
martes, 27 de agosto de 2019
domingo, 25 de agosto de 2019
Diabolus -Diabolus ( aka High Tones ) ( 1971 ) Not published in its day, for the first time in 2004.Other favorite album,prog,psychedelic, jazz-rock
1)Lonely Days - 7.22
2)Night Clouded Moon - 5.49
3)1002 Nights - 4.51
4)3 Pieces Suite - 7.11
5)Lady Of The Moon - 4.00
6)Laura Sleeping - 6.11
7)Spontenuity - 6.27
8)Raven's Call - 6.22
- John Hadfield / lead guitar & vocals
- Anthony Hadfied / bass, vocals
- Philip Howard / flute, keyboards, saxophone, organ, piano
- Ellwood Von Seibold / drums
martes, 20 de agosto de 2019
The Beginning Of The End.3 top of the top funk records,incredible groove.Not One Hit Wonder...jjajaj.Clarence Collins, Frank Munnings, Fred Henfield, Iran Koster, Kenneth Lane, Liroy Munnings, Marky Markowitz, Neville Sampson, Teddy Randazzo...funkynassau 15 de enero de 2010 The year was 1969, and Nassau was in for the wave of this energetic young band called Beginning Of The End. The band, according to lead singer Raphael, was quite a unique group inasmuch as it was heavily influenced by the pop culture that was very vibrant in the United States. The flower power movement and the hippie generation gravitated towards artists like Marvin Gaye, Impressions, Jerry Butler, and Jimmy Hendrix. Hard rock, rhythm 'n' blues, funk, jazz, and of course the Latin music that was heard over the airwaves from Cuba went into one big melting pot that helped in creating Nassau's newest sound. The members made a decision to quit their jobs and rehearse for six months in order to make this band a success. With the influence of Freddie Munnings Sr. who ran an extremely successful nightclub, " The Cat and Fiddle", the Munnings brothers along with Fred Henfield had ample opportunity to perform with and hear the many foreign acts that appeared at the club. Among them were Nat King Cole, Count Basie, Flip Wilson and just about any major star of the 50's and 60's entertainment era. These young musicians took full advantage and learnt the many styles that graced the stage of "The Cat and Fiddle". The members of the band were Fred Henfield on bass guitar, Leroy Munnings - lead guitar, Frank Munnings - drums, and the youngest member Raphael Munnings - vocals and keyboards. Together they came up with the music of "Funky Nassau" which sold over a million copies worldwide. Assisting with the lyrics was Tyrone Fitzgerald, "Dr. Offfff", who died in 2003. Tyrone was to become a leading innovative junkanoo icon in the Bahamas. After months of experimenting with various fusions, the band was ready to present their brand of Bahamian music. In addition to the rhythm section, the band used a few horn players that contributed to the sound of the group. Those musicians were: Neville Sampson, Vernon Mueller, Kenneth Lane and two other relatives, Ralph Munnings and Freddie Munnings. funkynassau 15 de enero de 2010 The year was 1969, and Nassau was in for the wave of this energetic young band called Beginning Of The End. The band, according to lead singer Raphael, was quite a unique group inasmuch as it was heavily influenced by the pop culture that was very vibrant in the United States. The flower power movement and the hippie generation gravitated towards artists like Marvin Gaye, Impressions, Jerry Butler, and Jimmy Hendrix. Hard rock, rhythm 'n' blues, funk, jazz, and of course the Latin music that was heard over the airwaves from Cuba went into one big melting pot that helped in creating Nassau's newest sound. The members made a decision to quit their jobs and rehearse for six months in order to make this band a success. With the influence of Freddie Munnings Sr. who ran an extremely successful nightclub, " The Cat and Fiddle", the Munnings brothers along with Fred Henfield had ample opportunity to perform with and hear the many foreign acts that appeared at the club. Among them were Nat King Cole, Count Basie, Flip Wilson and just about any major star of the 50's and 60's entertainment era. These young musicians took full advantage and learnt the many styles that graced the stage of "The Cat and Fiddle". The members of the band were Fred Henfield on bass guitar, Leroy Munnings - lead guitar, Frank Munnings - drums, and the youngest member Raphael Munnings - vocals and keyboards. Together they came up with the music of "Funky Nassau" which sold over a million copies worldwide. Assisting with the lyrics was Tyrone Fitzgerald, "Dr. Offfff", who died in 2003. Tyrone was to become a leading innovative junkanoo icon in the Bahamas. After months of experimenting with various fusions, the band was ready to present their brand of Bahamian music. In addition to the rhythm section, the band used a few horn players that contributed to the sound of the group. Those musicians were: Neville Sampson, Vernon Mueller, Kenneth Lane and two other relatives, Ralph Munnings and Freddie Munnings....
The Beginning Of The End – Fishman
Sello:
Strut – STRUT191EP
Formato:
Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, EP
País:
Fecha:
Género:
Estilo:
Pistas Ocultar Créditos
| A1 | Fishman (Full Length Version)Written-By – Leroy Munnings*, Raphael Munnings* |
11:51 |
| B1 | Funky Nassau (Full Length Edit)Written-By – Raphael Munnings*, Tyrone Fitzgerald |
5:05 |
| B2 | Fishman (Original 45 Version)Written-By – Leroy Munnings*, Raphael Munnings* |
3:18 |
Compañías, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright (p) – K7 Music GmbH
- Copyright (c) – K7 Music GmbH
- Published By – EMI Longitude Music
- Published By – Funky Nassau Publishing
- Published By – Splash Down Music
- Mastered At – TechnologyWorks
- Lacquer Cut At – TechnologyWorks
Créditos
- Cover [Cover Artwork], Design [Graphic Design] – Bethany Porteous
- Transferred By [Tape Transfers By], Mastered By, Lacquer Cut By – Peter Beckmann
Notas
℗ 2018 K7 Music GmbH © 2018 K7 Music GmbH
Made in Germany [back sleeve]
Hype sticker on shrinkwrap:
Strut
Previously unreleased
11-minute version of 1972
Caribbean folk-soul single
'Fishman'
+ full length edit of 'Funky Nassau'
Mastered from original tapes
Record Store Day
Made in Germany [back sleeve]
Hype sticker on shrinkwrap:
Strut
Previously unreleased
11-minute version of 1972
Caribbean folk-soul single
'Fishman'
+ full length edit of 'Funky Nassau'
Mastered from original tapes
Record Store Day
https://www.discogs.com/artist/136266-The-Beginning-Of-The-End
funkynassau
15 de enero de 2010The flower power movement and the hippie generation gravitated towards artists like Marvin Gaye, Impressions, Jerry Butler, and Jimmy Hendrix. Hard rock, rhythm 'n' blues, funk, jazz, and of course the Latin music that was heard over the airwaves from Cuba went into one big melting pot that helped in creating Nassau's newest sound. The members made a decision to quit their jobs and rehearse for six months in order to make this band a success.
With the influence of Freddie Munnings Sr. who ran an extremely successful nightclub, " The Cat and Fiddle", the Munnings brothers along with Fred Henfield had ample opportunity to perform with and hear the many foreign acts that appeared at the club. Among them were Nat King Cole, Count Basie, Flip Wilson and just about any major star of the 50's and 60's entertainment era. These young musicians took full advantage and learnt the many styles that graced the stage of "The Cat and Fiddle".
The members of the band were Fred Henfield on bass guitar, Leroy Munnings - lead guitar, Frank Munnings - drums, and the youngest member Raphael Munnings - vocals and keyboards. Together they came up with the music of "Funky Nassau" which sold over a million copies worldwide. Assisting with the lyrics was Tyrone Fitzgerald, "Dr. Offfff", who died in 2003. Tyrone was to become a leading innovative junkanoo icon in the Bahamas. After months of experimenting with various fusions, the band was ready to present their brand of Bahamian music. In addition to the rhythm section, the band used a few horn players that contributed to the sound of the group. Those musicians were: Neville Sampson, Vernon Mueller, Kenneth Lane and two other relatives, Ralph Munnings and Freddie Munnings.
The New Year brought in the urge to record this new sound, and in 1970 Percy Munnings, the uncle of the young Munnings brothers, after relentlessly being hounded, yielded and provided a $2,000 advance to the group to assist them in cutting the record. With cash in hand, these fine musicians were joined by Neville Sampson on trumpet and Ralph Munnings (cousin) on sax in a recording session in Miami, recording "Funky Nassau" and "Gee Whiz It's Christmas" on the B-side of the record. The Criteria Recording Studio at the time only had 8 tracks, and did a wonderful job in capturing this new sound.
With no sophisticated editing machines in those days, the live performance was done eight times in total before being satisfied with the end product. Upon their return to Nassau a few days later, the 5,000 copies of the 45rpm record were sold out in less than two weeks. It is worthy of mention that Jeff Scavella who was the first to play the song and Charles Carter another influential radio DJ contributed to the success of this record on the local scene. As anticipated, the song "Funky Nassau" took a back seat to "Gee Whiz It's Christmas" which was done in a junkanoo style.
When the New Year rolled in, it brought in "Funky Nassau" which was supported by tourists and locals alike. Percy Munnings was no doubt quite pleased to collect on the loan that started the ball rolling for this project. Sometime in 1971, one of the 5,000 copies sold during the holiday season in 1970 ended up in the jukebox at an Elks lodge in Miami, Florida. As fortune would have it, a disc jockey by the name of Fred Hanna who also happened to be the program director of a local Miami station WMBM heard this new sound for the first time. Mr. Hanna convinced the owner of the lodge to loan him the record that he used to quiz his radio audience as to the name of the artist. Well, no one could guess who the artists were and this in itself sparked great interest in the Miami area.
With the overwhelming response and request for "Funky Nassau" the DJ sent out a message to the band back in Nassau telling them "You Guys Have Got A Hit"! The band immediately flew into Miami where they were introduced to Henry Stone, who happened to be one of the largest record distributors in the South Florida area at that time. Henry Stone struck a distribution deal with the band on his label, Alston Records that was also affiliated with Atlantic Records. Soon after, WEDR, WQAM, and just about any station on the FM dial was tuning in to "Funky Nassau".
Fortunately, the writers Raphael Munnings and Tyrone Fitzgerald had the insight to get their work registered with BMI, unlike many Bahamian song compositions, which were and continue to be lost to foreign entities due to the innocent ignorance or naiveté of our musicians. However, the band was caught by surprise with the success of this record and never really got a firm understanding of what was going on. Cash advances from the record company and record sales royalties shot these young Bahamians into unbelievable stardom.
The only live appearance outside the Bahamas was at the University of Miami in 1971 at the invitation of Bahamian students studying there at the time. Dressed in junkanoo costumes and adding lots of Bahamian music to the repertoire, they entertained a crowd of approximately 5,000 enthusiastic fans. It was not until1974 that the band finally recorded another album entitled "Beginning of The End" which never really took off as "Funky Nassau" had. Despite being managed by Don Taylor (manager for Bob Marley and T-Connection), the group never really re-captured the missed opportunities of the early 70's. The band played the local club scene up until 1975, and did several promotional trips for the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, but never made it to the international touring circuit.
Looking back, Raphael remembers the impact of the song "Funky Nassau", and recalls that some politicians went so far as to call for a ban on local radio stations, claiming the title painted negative connotations. In fact, "Funky Nassau" spoke of what was going on in the Bahamas. "Mini skirts, maxi shirts, and afro-headed dudes, people doin' their own thing they don't care 'bout me or you" is a line of lyrics reflecting the social climate in the City at the time. The charm and friendliness of the people of Nassau started to be substituted with a disinterest.
Additionally, rock 'n' roll, funk, with all the trimmings were the order of the day. It was a new music, loud music, and these young Bahamian rockers shook the room with sheer volume. Totally contrary from the softer goombay sounds of their time, this band, although they didn't last very long, made a lasting impression on the sound of Bahamian music.
But the world hadn’t heard the last from this revolutionary hit yet. In the year 2000, the song made a grand appearance in the movie, "Blues Brothers 2000". Among the stars performing the track in the movie were Erykah Badu, Joe Morton, Dan Aykroyd, and The Blues Brothers Band. The music continues to be fused with disco and house mixes all over America, Europe, and the rest of the world. The artistic freedom embraced by these young innovators in the late sixties would appear to be testimony that uniqueness will stand up against all time
The Beginning Of The End – Funky Nassau
Sello:
Alston Records – SD 33-379
Formato:
Vinyl, LP, Album
País:
Fecha:
Género:
Estilo:
Pistas Ocultar Créditos
| A1 | Funky Nassau (Part 1)Written-By – R. Munnings*, Fitzgerald* |
3:10 |
| A2 | Funky Nassau (Part 2)Written-By – L. Munnings* |
3:20 |
| A3 | Come DownWritten-By – L. Munnings*, R. Munnings* |
4:20 |
| A4 | Sleep On Dream OnWritten-By – L. Munnings*, R. Munnings*, Fitzgerald* |
3:00 |
| A5 | Surrey RideWritten-By – L. Munnings*, R. Munnings* |
4:29 |
| B1 | Monkey TamarindWritten-By – L. Munnings*, R. Munnings* |
3:10 |
| B2 | In The DeepWritten-By – L. Munnings*, R. Munnings* |
4:50 |
| B3 | Pretty GirlWritten-By – L. Munnings*, R. Munnings* |
4:52 |
| B4 | When She Made Me PromiseWritten-By – L. Munnings*, R. Munnings* |
4:11 |
Compañías, etc.
Mastered At – Atlantic Studios
Copyright (c) – Atlantic Recording Corporation
Published By – Sherlyn Publishing
Published By – Funky Nassau Music
Pressed By – PRC Recording Company, Richmond, IN
Distributed By – ATCO Records
Record Company – Atlantic Recording Corporation
Créditos
Bass – Fred Henfield
Clarinet – Freddie Munnings* (tracks: A5)
Design – Drago*
Drums, Congas – Frank "Bud" Munnings*
Engineer – Willie Clark*
Engineer [Mixing] – Bobbie Radeloff*
Executive-Producer – Steve Alaimo
Guitar – Liroy "Roy" Munnings*
Mastered By – GP*
Organ – Raphael "Ray" Munnings*
Performer – The Funky Nassau Horns
Performer [The Beginning Of The End] – Frank "Bud" Munnings*, Fred Henfield, Liroy "Roy" Munnings*, Raphael "Ray" Munnings*
Performer [The Funky Nassau Horns] – Freddie Munnings*, Kenneth Lane, Neville Sampson, Ralph Munnings, Vernon Mueller
Photography By – Freddy Maura
Producer, Arranged By – The Beginning Of The End
Tenor Saxophone – Kenneth Lane, Ralph Munnings
Trombone – Vernon Mueller (tracks: A3 to B4)
Trumpet – Neville Sampson
Vocals – Frank "Bud" Munnings*, Liroy "Roy" Munnings*, Raphael "Ray" Munnings*
Beginning Of The End* – Beginning Of The End
Sello:
Alston Records – 4403
Formato:
Vinyl, LP, Album
País:
Fecha:
Género:
Estilo:
Pistas Ocultar Créditos
| A1 | Super WomanWritten-By – I. Koster*, R. Joyce*, T. Randazzo*, V. Pike* |
3:20 |
| A2 | Trip To NowhereWritten-By – C. Collins*, T. Randazzo*, V. Pike* |
2:50 |
| A3 | JamaicaWritten-By – A. Resnick*, T. Randazzo*, V. Pike* |
2:00 |
| A4 | I've Got The NewsWritten-By – R. Munnings* |
3:00 |
| A5 | Falling Apart At The SeamsWritten-By – S. Mozian*, T. Randazzo*, V. Pike* |
2:50 |
| B1 | That's What I GetWritten-By – R. Joyce*, T. Randazzo*, V. Pike* |
2:50 |
| B2 | BluestrainWritten-By – S. Mozian*, T. Randazzo*, V. Pike* |
4:00 |
| B3 | Jump In The WaterWritten-By – F. Munnings*, T. Randazzo* |
4:00 |
| B4 | Bahamian BoogieWritten-By – F. Munnings*, L. Munnings*, P. Humes*, R. Munnings*, R. Pinder* |
4:20 |
Compañías, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright (p) – T.K. Productions, Inc.
- Copyright (c) – T.K. Productions, Inc.
- Distributed By – T.K. Productions, Inc.
- Published By – Tammi Music
- Published By – Razzle Dazzle Music, Inc
Créditos
- Arranged By [Horns] – Teddy Randazzo
- Arranged By [Musical] – Teddy Randazzo, Beginning Of The End* (tracks: A4, B3, B4)
- Backing Vocals – Clarence Collins, Iran Koster, Raphael Munnings*, Teddy Randazzo, Victoria Pike
- Bass – Peter (Pete) Humes*
- Co-producer – The Beginning Of The End
- Congas [Congos] – Rudolph (Rudy) Pinder*
- Drums – Frank (Bud) Munnings*
- Executive-Producer – Monty D. Hundley
- Guitar – Leroy (Roy) Munnings*
- Horns – Danny Styles (2), Dominick Gravine, John Frock, Irvin Markowitz*
- Lead Vocals, Organ – Raphael (Ray) Munnings*
- Percussion – Frank (Bud) Munnings*, Rudolph (Rudy) Pinder*
- Photography By – Roland Rose
- Piano, Synthesizer [Arp, Moog] – Teddy Randazzo
- Producer – Teddy Randazzo
- Tambourine – Clarence Collins