I posted the following as arather lengthy reply/riposte to a post by Dean Rudland on Facebook, in which he waxes lyrical about a compilation album that was a formative influence on him.
Great story!
I’d like to share a counterpoint. Why? Because so many folk I read about come from the Mod or Punk end of things. Which both are and were deemed ‘cool’. And that wasn’t my own experience!
I came to all things jazzical from more of a Hippy/Rock perspective!
One of my first musical loves was Thin Lizzy. And they had funk n soul aplenty! ‘Call The Police’, from Shades of a Blue Orphange is funky unison riff heaven. And ‘Still In Love With You’ is a soul ballad par excellence (Sade covers it!). ‘Nightlife’, and ‘Jonny the Fox’ continue their digging into the funky soul bag. People think of Lizzy as dunderheaded rockers. It was always their mellow soul I liked best.
And acts like Cream, Led Zep, and Santana? They are drenched in black American music. Cream’s funky rendition of Albert King’s ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’, and Santana’s Woodstock ‘Soul Sacrifice’ are the two reasons I started drumming.
But when it comes to the records in your parents collection, I was blessed inasmuch as my dad had these:
In Flight, by George Benson; Silk, by Fuse One; Your Mama Don’t Dance, Charles Kynard…
The best ‘compilation’ I recall from that era was by a hippy country/Americana outfit, and was called ‘Woodstock Mountain, Music From Mud Acres’, with folk like John Sebastian (Lovin’ Spoonful, etc), Happy and Arty Traum (what names!), and loads more.
That was on a cassette. On the other side? ‘Dawg Music’, by virtuoso mandolinist, Dave Grisman. With Stephan Granelli guesting on some cuts. Man, both these albums blew my young mind, and sent me on lifelong journeys of impassioned love for the art of musical creativity.
It’s largely thanks to the Grisman/Mud Acres stuff – as well as a live of jazz, of course – that I have such a passion for ‘bull fiddle’. So much so I own and play one!
