The In Crowd

"This rare documentary about the 1980/1981 USA tour by Stevie Wonder was broadcast for the first time in 1981 by the BBC. It looks at his musical insight and his preparation for a concert, and his appearance at a Washington Rally to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King."

[via Sunny Day Ent.]

Speaking of The Roots, this looks really intriguing...

"The Revivalist, a newly launched channel on okayplayer.com, is the result of a partnership between Revive Music Group and the good folks over at okayplayer. And though it shares a name with a handful of biblical publications, this incarnation of the Revivalist is actually all about jazz. It joins a network that includes the Afro- and Caribbean-themed blogs Okayafrica and Large Up, respectively.

A self-described “online journal for the burgeoning jazz community,” the Revivalist aims to incorporate jazz history and contemporary jazz culture and music. The site features interviews with the likes of Quadron and Ben Williams, as well as reviews of studio albums and live shows. The Revivalist bills itself as a destination for the “cultural resurgence of live music” and “foretelling the stories of jazz and how it has influenced today’s popular music.” There’s no doubt, then, that it’s exactly the place to check out for the latest in jazz music and culture.

Plus, as an added incentive, the Revivalist is hosting a free download of Freedom Suite, a project that brings together Nnenna Freelon and The Beast, with guest appearances by Phonte, ?uestlove and more."

[via The Couch Sessions]

"Nearly two years after she first emerged to electrify the world with her multi-platinum, critically acclaimed debut album Rockferry, Duffy has returned with her second album Endlessly which is scheduled to be released on December 7th, it was announced today by her label, Mercury Records. Endlessly which was recorded in New York, London and Spain represents the next chapter of an already astounding career. The CD was co-written and co-produced by Duffy and acclaimed songwriter/ producer Albert Hammond. Endlessly follows Duffy’s debut CD Rockferry which was the 4th best selling worldwide album in 2008 and included back-to-back hit singles “Mercy,” “Warwick Avenue” and “Stepping Stone”. Rockferry sold 6.5 million copies."

6.5 million copies??! Really?? Wow.....

BUY "Well, Well, Well", the first single from Endlessly featuring The Roots online - iTunes | Amazon

(Curiously, her live performance of the song she recorded with The Roots is not accompanied by them. WTF??!)

Duffy Online - website  |   twitter  |  facebook

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon online - website  |  twitter  |  facebook

[via Giant Step]

[via The Couch Sessions]

Cool retro sounding track that still manages to sound contemporary at the same time.

[via TOflo.com]

"Americana - The Muscle Shoals Sound: Vice TV's music documentary that explores one of the birthplaces of rock & roll; Muscle Shoals, AL. The place Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Osmonds, Mac Davis, and Duane Allman made famous.

Vice TV traveled to the internationally acclaimed recording town where host Ian Svenonius talked to some folks who helped establish it's distinctive American R&B sound.  American artists like Otis Redding & Bob Dylan found their groove in Muscle Shoals, while international groups like the Rolling Stones were drawn by the allure of the place and the music it created.

Vice TV had a chance to sit down and talk to these legends about the history of FAME Studios, the factors that shaped the Muscle Shoals Sound, and the future of their recording industry in the digital age."

Click HERE for more.

"G-Stone Recordings has been at the forefront of the European electronic music scene for 16 years. Sixteen F**king Years Of G-Stone Recordings gathers the complete artist roster of G-Stone and specialists for every kind of beat: turntable masters Urbs and DJ DSL bring Hip Hop and comedy to the table, while the productions of G-Stone founders Peter Kruder & Richard Dorfmeister (Kruder & Dorfmeister, Peace Orchestra and Tosca), Rodney Hunter and Makossa & Megablast contain every nuance of dance beats from techno and house to cosmic funk, not to mention an impressive mastery of all the dance-floor-exotica from Africa, Brazil and the rest of Latin America."

Get a FREE mp3 HERE.

And for you NYC heads, checdk this out on Oct. 12:

G-Stone Recordings online - website |  twitter |  facebook

[via]

Soulful disco-pop from Swedish group, Rebirth Station. I digs!  BUY it on Amazon UK HERE.

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University presents a groundbreaking exhibition that explores the culture of vinyl records through 50 years of contemporary art.

The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl features work by 41 artists from around the world, from the 1960s to the present, who use vinyl records as subject or medium. The exhibition includes sound work, sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, photography, video and performance.

The Record includes rising stars in the contemporary art world (William Cordova, Robin Rhode, Dario Robleto), outsider artists (Mingering Mike), well-established artists (Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Carrie Mae Weems) and artists whose work will be shown in a U.S. museum for the first time (Kevin Ei-ichi deForest, Jeroen Diepenmaat, Taiyo Kimura, Lyota Yagi).

"Since the heyday of vinyl, and through its decline and recent resurgence, a surprising number of artists have worked with vinyl records. The Record presents some of the best, rarest and most unexpected examples. The artists in the exhibition use the vinyl record as metaphor, archive, artifact, icon, portrait, or transcendent medium." -- Trevor Schoonmaker, curator of contemporary art at the Nasher Museum

The exhibition includes a broad range of works, such as a hybrid violin and record player, Viophonograph, a seminal work by Laurie Anderson; David Byrne's original life-sized Polaroid photomontage used for the cover of the 1978 Talking Heads album More Songs About Buildings and Food; a monumental column of vinyl records by Cordova; and an important early work by Robleto, who transformed Billie Holiday records in an alchemic process to create hand-painted buttons. Works by Christian Marclay, who has made art with records for 30 years, include his early and rarely seen Recycled Records as well as his most recent record video, Looking for Love.

The Nasher Museum commissioned two works for The Record. Berlin-based artist Satch Hoyt created a 16-foot canoe made of red 45-rpm records with an original soundscape during a 2009 artist residency at Duke. New York artist Xaviera Simmons created photographs of the North Carolina landscape and solicited musical responses from musicians such as Mac McCaughan of Superchunk, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The original songs will be pressed onto a 12-inch record and played with her installation.

Artists

Artists in the exhibition include Laurie Anderson (1947 USA), Felipe Barbosa (1978 Brazil), David Byrne (1952 Scotland), Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller (1957 & 1960 Canada)*, William Cordova (1971 Peru), Moyra Davey (1958 Canada), Kevin Ei-ichi deForest (1962 Canada), Jeroen Diepenmaat (1978 Netherlands), Sean Duffy (1966 USA), Yukio Fujimoto (1950 Japan), Jack Goldstein (1945 Canada), Rodney Graham (1949 Canada)*, Harrison Haynes (1973 USA)*, Gregor Hildebrandt (1974 Germany), Satch Hoyt (1957 UK), Jasper Johns (1930 USA), Taiyo Kimura (1970 Japan), Tim Lee (1975 Korea), Ralph Lemon (1952 USA), Christian Marclay (1955 USA), David McConnell (1975 USA), Mingering Mike (1950 USA), Dave Muller (1964 USA), Ujino Muneteru (1964 Japan), Vik Muniz and Carlos da Silva Assunção Filho aka Cafi (1961 & 1950 Brazil)*, Patrick Douthit aka 9th Wonder (1975 USA)*, DJ Rekha (1971 UK)*, Robin Rhode (1976 South Africa), Dario Robleto (1972 USA), Ed Ruscha (1937 USA), Malick Sidibé (1935 Mali), Xaviera Simmons (1974 USA), Mark Soo (1977 Singapore), Meredyth Sparks (1972 USA), Su-Mei Tse (1973 Luxembourg), Fatimah Tuggar (1967 Nigeria), Alice Wagner (1974 Peru), Carrie Mae Weems (1953 USA), and Lyota Yagi (1980 Japan).

The exhibit opened officially last week and runs through February 6. Click HERE for more details.

"Afro Rock Vol. 1 is one of the most important compilations of heavy original ‘70s Afro funk and soul to be released in recent years. Originally surfacing on Duncan Brooker’s indie Kona label in early 2001, the album single-handedly kick-started the thirst among jazz, funk and soul fans and ‘diggers’ to rediscover lost music from Africa made during the ‘60s and ‘70s from a time when many countries were gaining independence and celebrating a Pan-African identity within their music. The album was one of the first to reach a far different audience to the traditional ‘world music’ market and spawned many further projects and labels in its wake. A year later, the Nigeria 70 compilation surfaced on Strut and labels like Soundway and Analog Africa would continue to unearth amazing lost gems from the Motherland.

The album is testament to the determined work of Brooker following several research trips, especially to East Africa – Kenya and Zaire. It brought to light East Africa’s finest funk band, Air Fiesta Matata, led by the recently deceased Steele Beautttah, ‘The Nigerian James Brown’ Geraldo Pino from Port Harcourt in Nigeria, and the storming Afro jam ‘Yuda’ by Dackin Dackino, a previously unreleased gem from Zaire discovered on a discarded reel. The album has remained influential since its release with tracks appearing on other Afro compilations and on TV and film – Jingo’s ‘Fever’ featured in Kevin McDonald’s 2006 hit film, ‘Last King Of Scotland’.

Out of print since 2002, the album is being reissued on Strut in its original form with an extra bonus track, a dynamite unreleased psychedelic cut by Kenya’s Ishmael Jingo. Three further bonus cuts, previously only available on a Japanese version of the compilation, Deep Funk Africa, will be available digitally. The CD package features the original sleeve notes by Duncan Brooker along with new additional notes providing further background to the album and tracks."

To listen to or BUY Afro Rock Vol. 1, click HERE.

[via Electric Roulette]

Check out a track from Keb Darge & Little Edith’s Legendary Rockin’ R&B compilation which sets out to expose lesser known or forgotten lights of R&B music from the 50’s and early 60’s.

Apparently the 'new' scene around this music is currently the fastest growing underground club scene in the UK. Several funk Djs are switching from the 70’s sound to the earlier 50’s and 60’s rawer sounds.

This summer events like Wayne Hemmingway’s Vintage Festival (happening THIS weekend) are supposedly "going to expose this music to hundreds of thousands of listeners."

That may be but some true vintage R&B afficianados beg to differ. Here's a sample from the album though:

The Cyclones - 'Cool Joe' [mp3 audio stream]

Track list:

01. Harold Jackson & The Jackson Brothers - The Freedom Riders       
02. Teddy (Mr Bear) McRae & His Orchestra -  Hi’ Fi’ Baby
03. Frank De Rosa & His D Man - Irish Rock
04. Junior Wells - Lovey Dovey Lovey One
05. Marie Knight with Teacho Wiltshire Orchestra - I Thought I Told You Not To Tell Them
06. Little Ike with Jimmy Beck & Orchestra - She Can Rock
07. Artie Wilson - Tarzan                              
08. K. C. Mojo Watson -  Love Blood Hound             
09. Bill Johnson - You Better Dig It                        
10. The Willows - Don't Push Don't Pull Don't Shove        
11. The Electras - Little Girl Of Mine                            
12. The Egyptians - Flipping Their Top                       
13. The Mariners - Zindy Lou                                      
14. The Kinglets featuring Leroy Thomas - Pretty Please                            
15. Johnny Guitar Watson - The Bear                      
16. The Titans - No Time                                 
17. The Rays - Zimba Lulu                                 
18. The Cyclones - Cool Joe                               
19. Big Maybelle - That's A Pretty Good Love               
20. Lonesome Lee -  Lonely Travelin'               
21. Lonesome Lee -  Rockin In The Coconut Top

As for my opinion: respect to classic, R&B-based rock n roll like this, but I was always more into the soul and funk music which came from these musical roots, personally which is why I picked one of the more 60's soul-sounding joints to preview the album. A lot of the other tracks sounded like stuff greasy rockers would've dug more back in the day (although probably as played by their 'paler' compatriots, I'm guessing!). I'm surprised to hear that there are really funk and rare groove DJ's who've abandoned ship to start spinning this style instead but if you've been playing the same tunes for two or three decades I could imagine you'd get bored and wanna try something 'new' and 'fresh.'

Keb Darge & Little Edith’s Legendary Rockin’ R&B drops August 28.

"Music, dancing, cocktails, food, cigar rolling, film and art..."

World-renowned globetrotting DJ, broadcaster and tastemaker, Gilles Peterson along with the award-winning Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca team up with Cuba's up and coming musical talent. For more details, click HERE and BUY tickets HERE.

Read more about Gilles Peterson's misadventures getting to Canada to play the Havana Cultura festival in the Toronto Star HERE.

Previously on The In Crowd:

Listen to the "Think Twice (4hero Remix)" by Gilles Peterson’s Havana Cultura Band HERE.

Might have to take a run up the 401 and go check this out! It's been running since April and goes through the end of this month and what's more: it's FREE! Here's the details:

"With this exhibition, the Museum pays tribute to Miles Davis (1926-1991), one of the twentieth century’s greatest musicians. The multimedia retrospective (musical excerpts, film and documentary clips, drawings by Miles Davis; paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mati Klarwein; photographs by Annie Leibovitz and Irving Penn; costumes, musical instruments and scores lent by the Davis family, etc.) recalls the highlights of his life and career, including his memorable concerts in Montreal.

It is an unusual encounter with a complex and committed character, a man of darkness and light, a protean artist, a creative genius who said of himself in 1987 that he had "changed the course of music history five or six times." The scenography, entirely designed around Davis’s music and the visitor’s listening comfort, includes recordings of the most iconic pieces by this legendary figure, who still arouses passionate admiration and whose influence goes far beyond the boundaries of jazz. This initial venture into the realm of jazz continues the Museum’s exploration of links between the visual arts and music launched with Warhol Live and Imagine."

Click HERE for more info.