Since September 2010, this blog has recorded the journey of this music junkie as I attempt to listen to all the music in my CD collection. CDs revisited in their entirety from start to finish - no skipping tracks, no shuffle. Compact Discs only - no vinyl, no tapes, no files.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Weldon Irvine - Spirit Man (1975)


"IT'S NEW TO ME" WEEK (OCTOBER 20-26, 2013)

Considering this is a fairly recent addition to my collection, it is odd that I don't remember what prompted me to order this CD. And I probably wouldn't have listened to this album much if I had purchased before I turned 30. I guess none of that matters now. This album is 38 minutes of tight, groundbreaking instrumental soul-jazz-funk in the same vein as Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. "I called it rock-jazz at the time," Irvine says. "I would write a bassline that James Brown would be comfortable with, and have an R&B drum pattern going with that bassline. I would then borrow a melody from my jazz experience and put it together."

Irvine is the composer and keyboard player here, but he was a bit of a polymath. He also was poet, playwright and, later, a rapper under the name Master Wel. Sadly, he died by suicide in 2002 at the age of 58, but his legacy continues in the hip-hop world where his work continues to be heavily sampled. This album was unavailable on CD until 2012.

Billboard, April 19, 1975, p. 62

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart:  Did not chart.

Tracks:  Your introduction to Weldon Irvine should be We Gettin' Down. Maybe its inclusion on the excellent compilation album Digger's Delight will grab a few more fans. Other good tracks include the suggestive Pogo Stick and The Power And The Glory.  The most experimental piece is Blast Off, but I don't even skip that.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

1 comment:

  1. Know his music from its sampled use in hip-hop.

    Dug out Digger's Delight to hear that song of his.

    Too bad his music is not on Spotify.

    ReplyDelete