JAMES MASON

Ashwin Tumne (ashwin@isgtec.com)
Mon, 29 Jan 1996 00:34:19 -0500 (EST)

I picked up a re-issue of James Mason's RHYTHM OF LIFE LP last month and
the songs on the album continue to echo in my head. I've heard of this album
characterized before as jazz-funk but to me it seems that this album is of
a more unique genre - that is the kind of rare groove that inspired the
evolution of house music - filled with "disco" high hats, constant grooving
rhythm, lyrics that emphasize short repeating choruses, and for me at least,
producing the same hypnotic feelings that I get grooving to a good House mix.

I like this album too because of his style of chord changes - using the same
guitar chord finger pattern and simply changing the position on the fret in
a regular repeating cycle (and not necessarily a 2 or 4 chord pattern either)
and jamming on top of that. It was a real inspiration to hear that because
that's the kind of stuff I've been jamming around with for the past few months.

I haven't been able to find much info on James Mason other than the fact that
he played guitar for Roy Ayers. I was wondering if anyone on our list knew
of any other recordings/albums he's played on and any other info about him
because his RHYTHM OF LIFE LP has inspired a lot of jams (Hiren bhai, we
await your arrival home). Thanks :-)

shanti,

ashwin

ashwin@isgtec.com