Brazilian Wax

Girls love Brazilian music. The lyrics sound romantic with just a touch of rough—like good sex. And, for the most part, the themes are sunny and optimistic. The bossa beat: playful. But anyone who has at least seen City of God knows that it's not all lush tropical paradise around the rio.

Brazil: Songs of Protest was released in the late sixties and is a counterpoint to the well known brazilian bossa sound that had such an influence on american jazz of that decade. Instead, these tracks are brooding and heavy, dark and melodic, and tell tales of suffering and pain—like really good sex.

THE DARK SIDE

Cut With Vigor

The Pazant Brothers are quintessential New Orleans Funk. But their records are harder to grab than a gatur in the grass. Perhaps the most elusive is a beast of a 45 with Chick A Boom on the underbelly. You would recognize it as the backing vocal chorus on Mainsource's Looking at the Front Door—a golden era staple.

In my edit, I emphasize the name-sake chant and tame the creole spices that often make this Big Easy Jam from 1973 taste a bit dated in two thousand whatever.

BOOM!!!

Good Grief!

My living room is home to thousands of obscure and hard hitting funk monsters. There's a section for library records, a section for hoctor/statler records, a section for school band funk . . . But when Monk-One stops by, all he seems to want to hear are piquant waltzes, fox trots and box steps. Who am I to deny this blockhead his fix of Charlie Brown jazz?

MERRY X-MAS

Live & Uncut

Everyone* knows the MAZE live album. (*everyone: Brits in the 80's and any American who has ever attended a black family reunion) The live version of Before I Let Go and Joy & Pain have had plenty of radio air time in the last quarter century. But, their best song was unjustly decapitated for the commercial release. This is the unedited head-to-toe version:

HERE'S TO YOU

Chicano Frog-Rock

These six bay area fools and their evil papier mâché amphibi-friend can get down, jack! Drum breaks, latin rhythms, and energetic horns create a mood that only existed for a short time in history in foggy California. If you like classic Santana...well... if you don't: see a doctor, sapo.

HOP TO IT

Can You Hear Me . . . ?

I've been enjoying the challenge of re-creating instrumentals without the master tapes. So I added some punchy drum layers, got funky with the clavichord, and rearranged it for 2010 and beyond.
Black Hole 1 (Instrumental Rework by Oneman) by Oneman

I'm (playing with) Rick James, Bitch!

I thought this groove was pretty cool, but sounded so...sing-songy. No offense, Rick, by why don't you sit this one out. A little editing work and a little "modern love" and I was able to create an instrumental version of Merry-Go-Round that's dancefloor compatible.
Merry-Go-Round (Oneman's Instrumental Rework) by Oneman

Funky Electric Vio-Lin

I must confess this album is Fun. . The album is quite unusual. . My electric voilin. . Many thanks—Elliot Fisher writes in his liner notes. This obtuse album on Dobre records, In the Land of Make Believe, is as funky as tiny-stringed-soloing jazz albums get. . that don't involve Michal Urbaniak.

MAKE BELIEVE

NYCT Remixes ft. Los Fulanos

We were flattered and elated when the Barcelona funk-monsters, Los Fulanos, asked us if they could reinterpret our original composition, The Forgotten Chant. From there, the Remix LP was born. Accomplished contemporaries like TM Juke & The Jack Baker Trio and the Colman Bros were among others to get involved in this LP that I am so very proud to be a part of.
The Forgotten Chant (Revisited by Los Fulanos) by Names You Can Trust

NYCT Remixes ft. DJ DRM

Our new REMIX project features artists from all over the globe interpreting songs from the Names You Can Trust catalog. This uptempo version of Midnight Lab Band's Twilight Reprise came from all the way down the block! My man DJ DRM from Bastard Jazz did a lovely job tweaking the songs original beauty and adding new levels of sophistication to create a distinct and divine musical landscape.
Midnight Lab Band – Twilight Reprise (DJ DRM Remix) by Oneman

Sippin' on Some Slivovitz

I think it was Prince Paul who once said that the bigger the afro on the cover of an LP, the better the funk would be. That certainly appears as gospel (Bobbi Humphry -> Funkadelic -> Lafayette Afro Rock Band.)

And for a while I had my own rule: If it said Jazz-Rock on the cover, it was dopeness. (Nowadays I'm more of a Space-Disco kinda guy.)

Panoramic Jazz-Rock by Marius Popp is just as sumptuous an album as they come. With great open drums, warm Wurlitzer sprinkles, bright horn stabs, and of course a little crackle and hiss in the vinyl, it's a grand listen in the living room.

BETTER WITH BRANDY

Spices from Thailand

The Impossibles enjoyed their success in the seventies being acclaimed one of Thailand's greatest bands. To this day, if you've got some extra bahts, you can grab yourself one of many karaoke CDs taken from their catalogue and singh along.

While this album contains an occassional pop tune or two (easy to be hard, love will keep us together) it's really their funk LP. The band sounds a lot like Kool & the Gang (greatest funk band ever?) especially when they cover them (give it up, love the life you live.)

If you enjoyed the international funk stylings of the Xingu Combo I posted earlier, then you're gonna be cool with Hot Pepper for sure. Something about these weird american accents over full force funk kind of does it for me.

OPEN SESAME