Sunday, October 31, 2010

Lono Brazil - Down Tempo Jazz Dance Floor Mix


Well, here we are winding down the weekend. What better way to end it of than with some smooth jazzy down tempo dancefloor grooves by no one other than our guy Mr. Lono Brazil of The Disco Unusual Social Club. Check this mix out below.

(Lono Brazil)

NU-JAZZ REVIVAL. ACID JAZZ/DOWNTEMPO, DANCE FLOOR JAZZ, Acid Jazz was a term coined in the late 80's by Gilles Peterson, Chris Bangs and Eddie Piller. It describes a funky music style which incorporates elements of jazz, 70's funk, hip-hop, soul, as well as other genres.

Culminating soon afterwards in the creation of Acid Jazz Records. It's first signing was Galliano, featuring lead singer Rob Gallagher. Hot on Galliano's heels came The Brand New Heavies, The New Jersey Kings (an alias for The James Taylor Quartet), Mother Earth and The Sandals.

In 1990, Gilles Peterson left Acid Jazz Records and started a new label called Talkin' Loud, which continued the tradition, signing acts such as Courtney Pine, Incognito, The K-Creative, Omar and MC Solaar.

Jazzillmatic Arksetra pays homage to the original Acid Jazz mob. AND TAKING IT FORWARD..... Nuff Respect to United Future Organization, Young Disciples, 4hero, Jazzanova, Nathan Haines, Boozoo Bajou, Laurent Garnier, Gotan Project, Nicola Conte, St. Germain, Crazy Frenchman, Pal Joey,

Special Acknowledgement: Lisa Koger Original Acid Jazz Diva

Listen Here

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Chicago Soul Legends @ Mr Peabody Records (Part 3)


Once again, The Chicago Soul Legends Party goes off with even a better turn out than before. We predict that in a year or so time it will outgrow the shop. Special thanks to The DJ's @ WHPK-FM 88.1 For coming thru and layin down a fantastic mix of 60's & 70's Soul - PJ Willis, Gary Tyson, And King George. Yep, we had a blast.. yuckin it up with the likes of the lovely roaring Ruby Andrews, Ray Hayden, Doris Lindsey (Barbara & The Uniques), Johnny Coleman (The Soul Majestics), Rick Evans (The Artistics), Valerie (Bill Street), Ron (The Deltas), Karl Williams, Emmett Gardner (Smoke City), Mario Connie(The Magestics)... Alphonse Franklin (formally of "The Miracles), Donna D (WKKC-FM), and a host of many & I mean, many Others. A special shout out to the furthest traveled vistitors Renee & NaQuavaha, Coming In All the way from New York. For some reason towards the end of the night things tended to get blurry. lol, A good time had by all. We would also like to extend our thanks and appreciation to our contributing photographers: Bruce Anthony - a longtime supporter of ours & Shaun Davis Of Iceburg Entertainment (773) 491-5198. Thanks Fellas.
We throw these soul reunions every season, 4 times a year so don't miss out as it will be growing to large numbers in the future. We call it, The Real Sound Of Chicago Soul Reunion!! To see all of the photos, Check us out on facebook





























Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Early Rare Prince Artifact: The Lewis Conection

Check out this Extremely rare independent release from 1979. A funk album featuring Prince produced in the Twin Cities. Supposedly, this is Prince's first recording. It consist of of late seventies funk with great sound effects!

Early life

Prince Rogers Nelson was born June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw.[13] Prince's father was a pianist and songwriter and his mother was a jazz singer. Prince was named after his father, whose stage name was Prince Rogers, and who performed with a jazz group called the Prince Rogers Trio. In a 1991 interview with A Current Affair, Prince's father said, "I named my son Prince because I wanted him to do everything I wanted to do."[14] Prince's childhood nickname was Skipper.[15]

In a PBS interview Prince told Tavis Smiley that he was "born epileptic" and "used to have seizures" when he was young. During the interview Prince also said that "my mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, 'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said 'Why?' and I said 'Because an angel told me so.' "[16]

Prince's sister Tika Evene (usually called Tyka) was born in 1960.[17] Prince's parents then separated when Prince was ten years old and Prince lived with his father. Prince moved out after his father found him in bed with a female friend. Prince moved into the home of a neighbor, the Andersons, and befriended their son, Andre Anderson who later became known as André Cymone.[citation needed]

Prince and Anderson joined Prince's cousin, Charles Smith, in a band called Grand Central while they were attending Minneapolis's Central High School. Smith was later replaced by Morris Day on the drums. Prince played piano and guitar for the band which performed at clubs and parties in the Minneapolis area and was managed by the mother of one of the band members.[citation needed] Grand Central later changed its name to Champagne and started playing original music influenced by Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire, Miles Davis, Parliament-Funkadelic, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, and Todd Rundgren.[citation needed]
Career

In 1976, Prince created a demo tape with producer Chris Moon in Moon's Minneapolis studio. Unable to secure a recording contract, Moon brought the tape to Minneapolis businessman Owen Husney. Husney signed Prince, at the age of 17, to a management contract and helped Prince create a demo recording at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis using producer/engineer David Z. The demo recording, along with a press kit produced at Husney's ad agency, resulted in interest from several record companies including Warner Bros., A&M, and Columbia Records. With the help of Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Warner Bros. agreed to give Prince creative control for three albums and ownership of the publishing rights.[citation needed] Husney and Prince then left Minneapolis and moved to Sausalito, California where Prince's first album, For You, was recorded at the Record Plant recording studio. Subsequently, the album was mixed in Los Angeles and released in 1978.
Musical beginnings: 1974–80

In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin, Shauntel, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry. Willie hired Andre Cymone and Prince to record tracks with 94 East. Those songs were written by Willie and Prince contributed guitar tracks. Prince also co-wrote, with Willie, the 94 East song, "Just Another Sucker". The band recorded tracks which later became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. Prince also recorded, but never released, a song written by Willie - "If You See Me" a.k.a. "Do Yourself A Favor". In 1995, Willie released the album 94 East featuring Prince, Symbolic Beginning which included original recordings by Prince and Cymone.

Prince released the album For You on April 17, 1978. The album was written and performed by Prince, except for the song "Soft and Wet" which had lyrics co-written by Moon. According to the For You album notes, Prince produced, arranged, composed and played all 27 instruments on the recording.

The cost of recording the album was twice Prince's initial advance. Prince used the Prince's Music Co. to publish his songs. The single from the album reached #12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and #92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Just as Long as We're Together" reached #91 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.

In 1979 Prince created a band which included André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, and Bobby Z on drums. Their first show was at the Capri Theater on January 5, 1979. Warner Bros. executives attended the show but decided that Prince and the band needed more time to develop his music.[18]

In October 1979, Prince released a self-titled album, Prince, which was #4 on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums charts, and #22 on the Billboard 200, going platinum. It contained two R&B hits: "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover". "I Wanna Be Your Lover" sold over a million copies, and reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 for two weeks on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince performed both these songs on January 26, 1980 on American Bandstand. On this album, Prince used Ecnirp Music – BMI.[

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Centerstage Chicago Interview by Jeff Min

Mr. Peabody Records

Two local guys have made a small record shop into an international destination.




Six years ago Mark Grusane and Mike Cole had a problem, a big problem. They had been avid record collectors for most of their lives and their collections had grown beyond a manageable size. You know things are getting out of hand when your house transitions from "place to sleep" to "place to store records." Their solution? Sell off some of the stock to all the international collectors they'd become friends with over the years. And thus, Mr. Peabody Records was born.

Walk into Grusane and Cole Southwest Side shop and you'll feel as if you've entered a different galaxy, one occupied by an entire community of soul-music fiends. Many of the customers have left their mark on the place - the walls bear signatures from visiting musicians and DJs like Peanut Butter Wolf, Dam-Funk, Kool Herc and Mr. Scruff.

It was a chance meeting through a friend of a friend that allowed Mark and Centerstage to cross paths. With record fairs about to hit full swing, we thought it would be a perfect time to sit down with him and ask about everything from how Mr. Peabody Records came about to what the duo's relationship is with the legendary UK label BBE.

How long have you been collecting records and what started the obsession?
I started around the age of 7-8 years old. My older brother was a teenager and had gotten off into the mix thing. He would take me with him downtown to a store called Imports Etc. It was a premier place in Chicago to find the hottest dance music, 1970s thru 1980s, US and International disco records. When he went away to college, I would take the trains and buses around town to record shop. I was younger and the music I collected for the most part was a generation older than me. Then, I found myself selling music as a hustle to DJs — mostly older — that had been looking for titles for quite some time. They would say things like, "You'll never find this. I bet you can't get this." Being I was always underestimated, I made it my business to fulfill people's wants as well as turn them on to music they haven't heard, mostly along the genre of disco music. Those questions soon turned into, "What the hell is this? I never heard that before, can you find me a copy of that?"

At that time the Internet wasn't an option for music. So to find even more undiscovered music I went to the library and checked phone books from every major city in the US. I called shops in New York, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, etc and bought music. I had found my brother's friend's Phreek LP in 3 days. I met an older guy who worked at a store in Pittsburgh. He was a DJ for a pirate disco radio show in Pittsburgh during the 1970s. I worked a deal with him, as he was selling his personal collection, to ship me boxes of stuff based on a system of classification for the type of sound I wanted. He would call me and say "Hey Mark I've got some good class stuff for you." I would send money and he would ship.

I ended up having this type of relationship with many people over the years. I often would buy entire collections and flip them to local DJs and record stores. I kept the things I wanted and always enjoyed having obscure music others around me didn't know about. I gained a lot of respect as a young collector amongst my musical peers. I met Mike in a record shop not long after around the age of 20. Turns out he had the same serious obsession. Out of respect and trust we shared each other's resources for music and teamed up. We figured two would do more work than one.

Opening a record store is not an easy thing to do, especially in the digital age. How did you guys come to the decision to open Mr. Peabody?
After Mike and myself met, we started hustling records around town to various venues, clubs, collectors, stores, etc. We would travel out of town, and Mike even traveled overseas and made connections with music merchants. We had a huge trade system of vinyl going as his basement turned from a DJ's basement to looking more like a music distributor. We ended up putting shelves and racks throughout the entire floor space so collectors could deal. We would accommodate DJ's and stores, locally and internationally, that came by. He was only a block away from the Metra train so it was easy access for out-of-towners. We had been contemplating opening as the Internet started being a dominant source of music — more record dealers emerging — so we had to step our game up. We wanted a definite, endless source of music for ourselves and also to be a resource to collectors worldwide. We ended up scoring a multi-truckload collection out of Detroit, an entire record shop to be exact, that had an inventory that had been off the sales floor for years. After that came a decision point. With a ton of inventory that was mounting quicker than we could get rid of it, we decided to take a leap of faith and seize the opportunity to open a shop. We decided on a professional, unpretentious, yet quirky name and Mr. Peabody Records was born.

When I look at the success of an independent record store, a lot of it has to do with how they've utilized technology as opposed to fighting it. How have you adjusted over the years?
As far as the new age, we knew we would not exist with the overhead unless we operated on-line, which to this day has been 90 percent of our business. The out-of-towners and international people are the reason we still exist to this day with our retail store during these economic times. We have a worldwide presence and we're respected globally amongst music lovers, more so than in Chicago itself.

I imagine you get a lot of business from overseas...
As I said, 90% of our business is international and overseas, even through the door, most of our bigger receipts are from traveling customers who come here from out the area. We have a worldwide presence and respect globally amongst music lovers, more so than in Chicago itself.

With your deep ties overseas, how do you think American funk/soul/disco/hip-hop has affected the international music scene?
Well, I will say that there is still and has been a strong market/respect for good vintage music from the United States overseas; mostly of the soul, funk, jazz and dance genre. How has it affected it the international scene? It runs it. Current music has a strong place as well, yet I will say that industry markets overseas are more tasteful and desirable to the ears than the United States. Just listen to the satellite radio stations. Japan which is a market in itself still has a strong identity with old school hip-hop, vintage dance music, as well as being home to some of the top rare-jazz collectors in the world. People say, "they're taking our music away," but honestly, I'd rather have good music on vinyl in the hands of people that appreciate, collect, and archive good music rather than it ending up in Comiskey Park at a "Disco Sucks" jamboree.

In regards to your relationship with vinyl enthusiasts overseas, how did you link up with BBE for the Real Sound of Chicago project?
A couple years ago we met Frankie Valentine from London as a customer. After talking with him we were able to compare stories, concerns, and problems with today's music industry, including people playing follow the leader in Chicago and surprisingly in Britain as well. We quickly became friends with Frankie and started the process of change. He told us he had a friend who ran a label that was suitable for what we all wanted to get accomplished. Frankie presented our idea to Peter Ardarkwah and Lee Bright (BBE Label Owners) to consider doing a release as we felt we would be an asset to each other. We figured that label would be a good avenue for us to present good undiscovered music to a larger audience of listeners, and also set the stage for us to re-start our DJ careers to promote our sound. For the first compilation, we all agreed to highlight the type of vintage dance material we collected and played, in this case from a Chicago point of view: The Real Sound Of Chicago.

Putting together a comp. is a really tough thing to do, especially when you're representing a specific time and place. What approach did you take?
Well, first off you have to have enough music to do so. The scope of the Real Sound Of Chicago was to highlight underground/undiscovered dance music from Chicago before house music, which Chicago is known for. Pre-house or local Chicago disco was our choice, also highlighting the style of stuff we like and always collected and played as far as DJs. With having the records, and the knowledge of what has been surfaced in the music market, what music is still mostly unknown, we were able to compile a series of comps desirable for music lovers as well as rare music collectors. One of the tracks, The Moore Brothers' "Bass Come Back," only existed in the one acetate we discovered as it never made it to press. Its debut release is on the compilation itself. It came through the door of the store along with some gospel records.

Real Sound of Chicago is one in a series of comps, right?
Yes, definitely.

You've had a pretty eclectic clientele come through, who are some of your most memorable guests?
We've had plenty, if we named one, we'd have to name all. It's probably better to visit our photo gallery at http://mrpeabodyrecords.com.

Some people flip records solely for the money, but it seems like you guys are really looking to add something significant to the music scene.
Well, someone asked us in an interview at an event, "what are you guys doing for the music scene in Chicago?" Mike looked at him kind of funny and replied, "we opened a record store!" We opened with two purposes, to collect records for ourselves as DJs and also supply others. In between it all, our heart is keeping music that would be let alone forgot or lost, available to lovers of good music and sound.