Thursday December 10/09 Playlist

1. Earl Moseley – Fly In The Soup
2. The Bamboos – In The Bamboo Groove
3. Lee Fields – Lee’s Rapp (MONEY is KING)
4. Charles Bradley/Menahan Street Band – The WOrld (Is Going Up In Flames)
5. Isaac Hayes – Hyperbolicsyllabicesquedalymistic
6. Betty Davis – The Lone Ranger
7. Wilson Pickett – Funky Broadway (Live 1971 in Ghana)
8. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley & His Creations – Akoko Ba
9. Tommy T – Brothers
10. DJ Brace/Birdapres – RAW
11. Lytics – Big City Soundgirl
12. The Slew – 100%
13. Massive Attack – Splitting the Atom

Thursday December 3/09 – Blaxploitation Episode

To celebrate the release of the new Blaxploitaiton film satire, Black Dynamite, The Music of My Mind will air a one hour special (5-6PM) today featuring music from Blaxploitation films from the 1970s as well as music from Black Dynamite’s Original Soundtrack and Original Score by Adrian Younge, both released through Wax Poetics Records.

A great tutorial and history of Blaxploitation byDavid Walker  is available on MSN movies here. An interview with Black Dynamite director Scott Sanders is available at Wax Poetics. Also, check out Black Dynamite using  these following  links: wikipedia, imdb, and MovieSet.

1. Curtis Mayfield – Short Eyes, Freak Free (Short Eyes OST)
2. Sir Charles Hughes – Dynomite (Black Dynamite OST)
3. Adrian Younge – Chicago Wind (Black Dynamite Original Score)
4. Melvin Van Peebles + Earth Wind and Fire – Sweet Sweetback’s Theme
5. Roy Ayers – King George (Coffy OST)
6. Isaac Hayes – Pursuit of the Pimpmobile (Truck Turner OST)
7. The Final Solution – Brotherman (Brotherman OST)
8. Joe Bataan – Shaft
9. Mr. Something Something /Ikwunga – DNDABP
10. Akoya Afrobeat feat. Cedric I’m Brooks – JeJe L’Aiye
11. Notes To Self - Lifelines
12. People Under the Stairs – My Boy D
13. The Lytics – Stay Humble

Thursday November 26/09 Playlist

1. Al Green – Here I Am (Come and Take Me)
2. Jacksoul – Think You Should Know
3. Ebo Taylor – Tiver Nyame
4. Dr. K Gyasi and his Noble Kings – Noble Kings
5. Orchestre PolyRythmo De Cotonou – Minkou E So Non Main
6. Mulatu Astatke feat. Mulakan Melesse – Wubit
7. Antibalas – Che Che Cole
8. Sharon Jones and Lee Fields – Stranded in Your Love
9. Syl Johnson – Anyway The Wind Blows
10. UMC’s – Anyway The Wind Blows
11. D-Sisive – Boom Baba Boom
12. Q-Tip – Barely In Love
13. Factor – Last Night’s Dream
14. Clutchy Hopkins & Shawn Lee – What More Can I Say (Top Chillin)
15. The Cloniuos – Fogged Spacesuit
16. Air – Tropical Disease

Album Review – Tony Allen and Jimi Tenor “Inspiration Information”

Strut Records describes their Information Inspiration series as “the product of spontaneous collaborations between two musical forces.” The fourth installment in the series clearly delivers on this promise. The album features Finland’s producer and musician extraordinaire Jimi Tenor paired with the legendary Nigerian Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. The two incredibly gifted artists are each considered musical geniuses in their own right but together one could never expect what they might create if you put them together in the studio for a week.

The album is definitely one that is heavy on jamming and improvisation, and includes a diverse array of instrumentation including congas, flutes, various guitars, saxophones, trumpets, African percussion and more. Recorded on vintage analog gear, the record has a rich, authentic feel that draws a lot from Afrobeat and African rhythms as well as jazz, more so than much of Tenor’s funkier output. Perhaps we should not be surprised, considering Tenor’s fine 2007 album with German based West African group Kabu Kabu, which drew heavily on African rhythms.

Standout tracks on the album include “The Darker Side of Night”, the hauntingly stunning groove featuring an intense afrobeat rhythm from Allen, a full powered horn section, a searing trumpet solo and a relentlessly driving bassline and percussion. The thireen minute plus epic “Three Continents” is an expansive journey that takes the listener on an spacey trip with grooves and sounds from all over the world.

Tony Allen is obviously a drummer that thrives on collaboration and spontaneity. Jimi Tenor has given him plenty of freedom to experiment on these recordings as his drumming on this record is impeccable yet stylistically varied. He simply hasn’t sounded this good in years. As a musician and producer, Tenor has made the most of his opportunity to work with a legend like Allen, and has crafted a sprawling improvisational work with several other talented musicians, one that we will be grooving to for some time.

Thursday Nov 19/09 Playlist

1. Lettuce – Blast Off
2. James Brown feat. Maceo Parker – Tighten Up
3. Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings – Gotta Thing on My Mind
4. Naomi Shelton feat. Cliff Driver – Wind Your Clock
5. Tyra Hammond and The Tornadoes – You Got Me Thinking
6. Lee Fields – Money Is KING
7. Bamboos feat. Tyra Hammond – Head In The Clouds
8. God Made Me Funky – Get On Up
9. Jimi Tenor/Tony Allen – Three Continents
10. Alboa Interview – Guitarist Callum Blades and Saxophone player Jonnie Bridgman
11. Alboa – Friday’s Child
12. Alboa – Gates of Drumbeg

Thursday Nov 19/09

Today, guest co-host Groovin’ Reuven Sussman from Get Up to Get Down (GU2GD) will join me in studio. Reuven will be bringing in a selection of tunes from the James Brown Band , The Bamboos,  Tyra Hammond and the Tornadoes and more, all music that GU2GD plays in their live sets or that has influenced him. Make sure to check out GU2GD Friday @ Felicita’s on the UVic campus in the SUB building and listen to today’s show for guestlist spots.

Alboa Live in Studio Thursday Nov 19

Jonnie Bridgman and Callum Blades of Victoria’s Jazz-flamenco-funk fusion band Alboa will join Nathan on The Music of My Mind on CFUV 101.9 and cfuv.uvic.ca Thursday (5:00-6:30PM PST). They will be in studio to discuss their new album Friday’s Child as well as their 4 night multimedia performance “Equinox” at the Metro Theatre from November 26-29. Tickets to one of Equinox’s performances will also be given away on the program. See www.alboamusic.ca for more information and streaming music.

Thursday November 12/09 Playlist

1. Baby Huey – Listen to Me
2. The Meters – It Ain’t No Use
3. Breakestra – You’ll Never Know
4. Orchestre Poly-rythmo de Cotonou  – Agnon Dekpe(vol 2 -Echos Hypnoques)
5. Orchestre Poly-rythmo de Cotonou -Ahouli Vou Yelli
6. The Barbecues -Aaya Lolo (Ghana Special 1968-1981))
7. K. FRIMPONG & HIS CUBANOS FIESTAS : Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu (Ghana Special)
8. Tony Allen/Jimi Tenor – Darker Side of Night
9. Afro Cuban All Stars – Habana Del Este
10. Luanda Jones – Do Jeito Que Eu Gosto
11. Meshell Ndegeocello – White Girl
12. Cat Empire – Hello
13. People Under the Stairs – Trippin’ at the Disco

Thursday Nov 5/09 Playlist

1. James Brown – Down and Out in NYC
2. The Spinners – The Rubberband Man
3. Miriam Makeba – Mas Que Nada (Live in paris @ Conakry)
4. Manu Dibango – New Bell
5. Fania All Stars – Descarga Fania
6. Barel Coppet et Mister Lof – Jeunesse Vauclin (Tumbélé! Biguine, afro & latin sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-74)
7. Alex Cuba – Sulo Tu
8. Jimi Tenor/Tony Allen – Against the Wall
9. Tony Allen – Asiko
10. Q- Tip – Abstractionisms
11. Moka Only – Clap your Feet
12. D-Sisive – WEst Coast
13. Shawn Lee/CLutchy Hopkins – Root Trees

Soul Power comes to Cinecenta Nov 4/5

The celebrated documentary Soul Power is finally coming to Victoria!! On November 4/5 (Wed and Thurs), Cinecenta at Uvic brings us the Victoria premiere of this phenomenal soul music artifact. Any fan of soul and funk music will not want to miss it.  The film is descibed as follows:

In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The dream-child of Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award-winning documentary WHEN WE WERE KINGS. SOUL POWER is a verité documentary about this legendary music festival (dubbed “Zaire ‘74”), and it depicts the experiences and performances of such musical luminaries as James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, among a host of others. At the peak of their talents and the height of their careers, these artists were inspired by this return to their African roots, as well as the enthusiasm of the Zairian audience, to give the performances of their lives. The concert has achieved mythological significance as the definitive Africa(n)-American musical event of the 20th Century. SOUL POWER is crafted from the extensive “outtakes” that remained after making WHEN WE WERE KINGS, which documented the epic title fight, but relegated the music festival to a small, supporting role. The “outtakes” have remained vaulted for the past 34 years, until now. Lensed primarily by celebrated cinematographers Albert Maysles, Paul Goldsmith, Kevin Keating and Roderick Young, SOUL POWER finally provides today’s audience the opportunity to experience this historic musical event in all of its magnificent, filmed glory.

The Music of My Mind will feature music from artists featured in the film (James Brown, The Spinners, Miriam Makeba, etc.) on the Thursday November 5th edition of the program (5-6:30PM), as well free movie passes to Soul Power.