Winston Riley was one of many artists we lost tragically in recent weeks. Excuse me if I make a big deal about it.
Within the past two weeks the musical genres of Funk, Soul, Reggae and R&B lost some notable figures. All figures that were introduced to me at a very young age. Below is a tribute to their music and a few words as to how Etta James, Winston Riley, Don Cornelius and Jimmy Castor -- have all made an impact on my life in some odd way.
Some of my dancing friends read this blog, so this one is aimed at them. Last night was a tough night of dancing for me. Muscles are tight. Shoes don't feel quite right. I came home sweaty, tired and a little down. Then I searched previous posts on this very site.
It wasn't until I remembered a clip nestled deep under the plethora of booty shaking vids and monkeys peeing-in-mouth clips, on Youtube. No matter my thoughts on James Brown -- the person -- I've always thought of him as a creative and [more importantly] diligent artist. His band, The JB's, clearly have so much musical training to follow Brown's ad-libs ... never missing a beat.
This clip...it's kinda what it's all about. Do your best. The rest will work out in the end.
This segment of Audio Files is dedicated to the sentence, "Yeah, but have you heard this version?" As an aging, and possibly over-the-hill bboy, I've had the privilege to dancing to some strange tunes over the past ten years. The strange thing is, when I stopped dancing and started annoying deejays, that's when these little gems got stuck in my head.
Feel free to contribute some of your favorite b-sides and tunes close to your ears.
I may be late, but I'm at least posting something. Just in case the 7 of you reading this site didn't know. My writing skills [or lack thereof] have been being spread at The Start Screen and the Pro Photo Show blogs. My new favorite site has enlightened me to some new soul and funk music. I strongly suggest you check out the free audio samples for Baby Charles and Kokolo.