WAR and Curtis Mayfield

Ashwin Tumne (ashwin@isgtec.com)
Fri, 30 Jun 1995 10:37:27 -0400

I just picked up some used vinyl down at VORTEX records the other day. Some
stuff that I stumbled upon just blew me away. One was a live album of
Curtis Mayfield with WAR and KOOL AND THE GANG, it was a benefit concert for
the Black Congressional Caccus in 1974. It was live orchestral funk. Another
record I picked up was by the group WAR called The World is a Ghetto. The
best was the last track on the first side. It started off sounding like a
70s pop song but then two minutes into the song it went into a 10 minute
phat funky jazzy groove that I ended up listening to over and over again. This
was the first time I've heard stuff by WAR and Curtis Mayfield and I was
quite impressed. Does any one have any recommendations of other stuff to check
out by either of them? Very much appreciated.

I also got Marvin Gaye live at the London Palladium. He's got the sweetest
voice and pure soul music. The intro had an instrumental version of
After the Dance that was different from the instrumental one on his album
I Want You. Wa Wawa, Wawawawa Wa Waw, Wawawawa Wawa Waw, Wa Wawawa Wa Waw... :-)

I also picked up Ofra Haza's album Shaday. Not really acid-jazz, but
its a fusion of traditional music from the Middle east (from Yemen and Israel
I think) with pop and dance. For all you Eric B. and Rakhim fans, this album
contains the song I'm Nin Alu which they sampled in their song Paid in Full.
A beautiful album by itself.

These albums were quite a find. All were under $6 Canadian and the guy waived
the sales tax. After listening to them, I felt like I sould have paid
more :-) A very kool store if you are ever in Toronto.

Shanti,

ashwin

ashwin@isgtec.com