Louie Ramirez: The New Breed
From In the Heart of Spanish Harlem (Mercury, 1967)

Bonus: Beatfanatic: Cookin’
From Adventures in the World of No-Fi Beats (Raw Fusion, 2006)

My most recent Side Dishes was on Latin arranger/composer/musician Louie Ramirez and the recommended Louie’s Grooves anthology. I’ve been wanting to write something on Ramirez for a while and though the Side Dishes post allowed me to riff on some of his work, as the comp’s liner notes acknowledge, it just brushes the surface of how deep his catalog can run. I’d suggest folks read that post first and then come back here.

My pick six for Ramirez focuses mostly on albums not already covered by Louie’s Grooves, beginning with arguably the easiest of his solo albums to acquire: In the Heart of Spanish Harlem. This was recorded for Mercury; I find that interesting since Mercury didn’t have a ton of Latin recordings (that I know of) on the label but I suspect it may have had something to do with producer Richard Marin who was doing some A&R work for labels like Mercury and Verve at the time. Marin’s brother Bobby – another Latin soul giant and fellow composer – is on this album as well; he was a frequent collaborator with Ramirez and it’s not at all unusual to see them on the same projects together. In fact, for this album, Bobby appears on the cover photo alongside Richard and Louie

I was always struck at how Ramirez was able to work on so many different labels at the same time; not long after that Mercury album, he must have been working with Fania on the Ali Baba LP (several of the songs from that rare title are on Louie’s Grooves and then he was also working for Morty Craft’s Speed imprint. I wrote about The Latin Blues Band for the Happy Soul Suite piece and I enjoy revisiting it – any Latin album that has Bernard Purdie as your studio drummer is bound to be rather interesting though instead of the funkier fare I could have nodded to, I went with “Oye Mi Guaguanco,” a solid piece of classic Cuban style by Ramirez, feat. (I think) Luis Aviles on vocals.

Like the Latin Blues Band, the Dianne and Carole album was also on Speed. Speed packed, in my opinion, the biggest bang for the buck – their catalog wasn’t more than a dozen titles or so but what was there was almost all exceptional. This Dianne and Carole album is especially notably since it had one of the few examples of female singers heading a Latin soul album (La Lupe excepted of course). There’s very little known about the two singers – their surnames aren’t even credited on the album! In any case, “The Fuzz” leads side 2, where 4/5 of the songs are arranged by Ramirez and I suspect that most of the same players from the Latin Blues Band played on here as well.

Not long thereafter, Ramirez was also helping compose, play on (and possible arrange?) for the great Puerto Rican bandleader Kako and his Live It Up album on Musicor. Personally, I’ve never figured out what separates a shingaling from a boogaloo and “Shingaling Shingaling” certainly displays many of the stylistic characteristics of both. I’m feeling this – and the whole LP is exceptional.

Ramirez was multi-talented as a musician – known to rock both the timbales and vibes – and I wanted to include an example of the latter by including one of his salsa era performances, playing vibes on Cheo Feliciano’s classic “Esto Es El Guaguanco.” He’s a big reason the opening is so memorable and Ramirez comes back to solo towards the second half of the song.

Last in the pick six is this cool lil cover of “Cisco Kid” that Ramirez arranged for the La Crema album, a one-off project that involved him, Bobby Marin and some other familiar folks but in the Latin funk era of the 1970s.

Bonus: As for “Cookin'”, that might have been the first time I “heard” any Louie Ramirez song since it liberally borrows from “The New Breed.” Slammin’ Latin club cut – trust me on this one.

Stephanie McKay : Jackson Avenue & Oh Yeah
taken from the upcoming album that needs to be OUT!
but if you like this, DEFINITELY check her first release and her myspace with more tunes, videos & tour dates.

Chico Mann : Dilo Como Yo & Zumba Mama
taken from the upcoming album “Analogue Drift” that also needs to be out already!
But check the myspace for more tunes and get that first album

King Khan & The Shrines : Burnin Inside & I Wanna Be A Girl
taken from the new album The Supreme Genius Of… on Vice (2008)

Flying Lotus : Roberta Flack (Ft. Dolly) & Melt!
taken from the new album Los Angeles on Warp (2008)

In the face of too much mediocre blandosia and overhyped saltine steezoni (sorry, I’m not hating for hate’s sake, but come on…), here’s a hearty helping of freshy-fresh audible produce for your summer mixes. Some of these tunes aren’t officially out yet, but as long as a few of you readers catch on and support these artists by picking up their other releases (Stephanie’s first album is NECESSARY), then I figure they won’t get mad at me for sharing this little taste.

I’ve been feeling the Estelle album a lot, and a couple of the Aunt Jackie tracks, but honestly, Steph blows these chicks out the water. She smashes the reggae tunes (“Take Me Over”), destroys the retro soul (“Say What You Feel”), and comes with some otherly space-funk for the ears of tomorrow (“Money”). I’ve had the pleasure of doing a bunch of live shows with her and can testify to her ability to K.O. the crowd too. Like way too many other top-notch underrated artists, she’s been bucked around by labels with the usual drama, and thus this masterpiece of an album (which has been DONE for more than a minute) is still not out. It’s a total crime how the industry works sometimes, but at least we can support her by copping the first release and can keep spreading the good word until this one is officially released- check for the live shows too!

Chico Mann is no stranger to the Crate. When I posted the Antibalas remix of “Dilo Como Yo” a couple weeks back it reminded me that Chico’s (somewhat more danceable) version of the same song should be shared as well. He’s got more music to download on his myspace page and an album from a year or so back that’s definitely worth checking- but holy greatness, his new album is really gonna knock some heads around! Stay tuned.

King Khan was purchased on the strength of the cover art alone, and it delivered twofold what was hinted at on the packaging. I don’t know where they recorded this album of catchy psychedelic garage-rock-soul, but it sounds convincingly like they discovered a wormhole to the year 1968. A thoroughly enjoyable and lively record from the opening chords of “Torture” to the last fuzzy notes in “No Regrets”. Highly RECOMMENDED!

Finally I leave you with the beautiful noise poetry of Flying Lotus. This record is abstract and earthy at once. Layered with cosmic dust and static, the album takes shape like a primordial organism from deep space that crash landed alongside the 405 and now shimmers in a blanket of neon steam emitting radioactive waves. Need I say more?

Ananda Shankar: Streets of Calcutta + Dancing Drums
From Ananda Shankar and His Music (EMI India, 1975)

Manteca: Afro-Funky + Gozando Tropical
From Ritmo + Sabor (GRC/Sound Triangle, 197?)

The thing about funk’s entry in pop music in the late 1960s and forward was how artists would find ways to work in its rhythmic signature when you least expected it. (See this for a great example). Hearing the Ananda Shankar for the first time just blew my mind, probably because I assume Ananda’s sound would be more like his uncle Ravi’s but clearly, Ananda was on some experimental, world fusion tip by blending his training in classical Indian music with some Moog and a killer trap set drummer. Both of these cuts above are well-comped at this point but they still don’t fail to impress. Sitar funk for real.

Manteca is the nickname for master bongosero Lazaro Pla, a Cuban legend who used to play with Ernesto Lecuona and the Cuban Boys. His Ritmo + Sabor is one of the holy grail Latin funk LPs given its ridiculously funky percussion. It’s an interesting album for Manteca since he didn’t record out of Cuba much as a solo artist yet this album has been pressed up three times: GRC (Miami), Sound Triangle (Colombia) and Desca(?). And despite that, you’ll still end up forking over a few Franklins, unless you’re my man Adam M. who managed to cop one for $3 from Amoeba in Berkeley (that story still kills me). “Afro-Funky” is the outstanding cut here: the interplay between the basslines (which some opine might have been Cachao) and the percussion section is ridiculously funky not to mention pure rhythm – notice, there’s no melodic composition in the song at all. “Gozando Tropical” is more in a conventional Cuban dance style with its piano montuno riff but even here, the hard timbales (alas, uncredited) still put percussion first…sometimes I feel like the song is mis-engineered and should have cooled down the timbales a bit but then I shrug and figure if the drummer wants to get some, who am I to deny? This has been out of print on CD for a while but luckily, they’re about to bring it back later this month.

Gabo Brown & Orchestre Poly-Rythmo : It’s A Vanity
taken from the compilation African Scream Contest on Analog Africa (2008)

Action 13 : More Bread To The People
taken from the compilation Nigeria Rock Special on Soundway (2008)

Asiko Rock Group : Lagos City
taken from the compilation Nigeria Disco Funk Special on Soundway (2008)

Sir Shina Peters and His International Stars : Yabis
taken from the compilation Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump on Strut (2008)

With the recent onslaught of African music compilations coming out, I found myself wondering if the genre of afrobeat, after 40 years of relative obscurity, had finally become mainstream? There was the anomaly of Manu Dibango’s 1972 hit “Soul Makossa” which actually made it big abroad (to the extreme of being re-worked years later in Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Starting Something”), but for the most part, even the biggest names in African music were completely unknown to most audiences off the continent. Fela Kuti was certainly low on the radar in his time, but today, I feel like his name (and certainly the genre of “Afrobeat” as a whole) actually bears some weight in popular consciousness. I suppose recognition 30 years too late is better than none at all. I know that I, for one, am not complaining about the vast, continent-wide vinyl archeology dig that seems to be taking place.

Analog Africa have found a particularly overlooked niche within the world of Afrobeat – Togo & Benin. Holy hotness is this shit ever raw! Out of all the comps, this one’s probably my favorite. Aside from Poly-Rythmo and The Black Santiagos, I was unfamiliar with all the names on this collection. Nothing on here sounds like it was recorded after 1972- and ALL of it draws heavily from the power James Brown’s early 70’s material (which is about as good as it gets for me).

With the recent Soundway comps coming out back to back, it’s honestly a little difficult to discern clear distinctions in sound from one to the next, but again, when the material is this solid, I’m not putting up an argument. Both Action 13 and Asiko Rock Group are new discoveries for me- and mindmelters to boot. The drums on “Lagos City” are just about the hardest thing I’ve heard since maybe this.

Meanwhile, Strut records continues their resurgence on the scene with this second West African installment – the first Nigeria 70 initiated my ears to these beats back in 2001 or so. This one focusses more on the traditional highlife and juju side of things, but there’s some heavy funk cuts on here as well. One little thing that irks me about the Nigeria 70 records though: both this one and the original comp feature artists on the cover that aren’t even represented on the tracklisting! I mean, they’re cool photos and all, but I’m sure that there’s some good pics out there of the artists that are actually a part of the collection (the first one had Prince Nico Mbarga on the cover and this one is Oliver De Coque– I know cause I have the LPs- neither of whom make a musical appearance anywhere here). Still worth it for for the music though.

Lewise Bethune: Chitown Boogaloo
A.C. Reed: Boogaloo Tramp
From Chitown Boogaloo (Goldmine Soul Supply, 2006)

For all the time I’ve spent researching Latin boogaloo, I realized I wasn’t focusing enough on the original boogaloo craze – the one born out of Tom and Jerrio’s “Boo-Ga-Loo” in 1965, spreading quickly throughout the R&B world and lasting for the next few years. From what I can tell, the R&B boogaloo trend didn’t have the same kind of focused intensity as Latin boogaloo but it does seem to have shared some parallels, especially in being focused around the Chicago/Detroit corridor. My research is all preliminary but I am glad to have come across the Chitown Boogaloo comp which offers a tantalizing glimpse into a collection of tracks from that Midwest boogaloo craze. Suffice to say, more research is needed but you gotta start somewhere.

The Lewise Bethune was very interesting, not the least of which was because it’s basically Don Gardner’s “My Baby Likes to Boogaloo” with new vocals thrown on top (but clearly nodding to Gardner’s original). It doesn’t outdo Gardner’s but this is a pretty fun cut regardless and I think it’s interesting how Bethune’s version actually lifts the “ooh” “aah” from Tom and Jerrio’s original “Boo-Ga-Loo” single that sparked this whole movement. The A.C. Reed is another 7″ I’ve owned for years but only recently came back to in the midst of my boogaloo curiosities: this one actually mashes up two different fads – the boogaloo and “Tramp,” the bluesy/funky classic by Lowell Fulsom. I like how terse and focused the rhythm section is here – the song sheds a lot of heat but keeps things close in and tight.

If anyone out there has more knowledge of the R&B boogaloo movement, holler. I need to get to reading this, no doubt.

The Impressions: Fool For You + I’m Loving Nothing
From This Is My Country (Curtom, 1968)

I know I just wrote about this album in my summer songs post but seriously, this LP is easily the best thing I’ve heard in months. I just cannot get enough of it and am marveling at its overall consistency and sheer sublimeness at times. I feel sheepish that it took me this long to get around to listening the Impressions’ solo albums but if they’re anywhere near this good, I’ll be copping the catalog soon.

I’ve been trying to figure out, in my own head, just what makes the sound of this album so incredible to me and so far, the best I can come up with is: everything. The vocals, the melodies, the rhythm section, the sense of drama, the sense of delicate lightness, the lilt in Mayfield’s voice, the hooks that haunt you; take your pick. I haven’t been this enamored by a soul album since…I don’t know…discovering Eddie Kendrick’s People…Hold On (and that’s one of my all-time favorites).

Bottomline: if you can’t feel these, especially “I’m Loving Nothing,” well, there’s just no hope for you. ;)