moodyman - S/D

and buy the Andrés album ;)

I think there is a collection recently released with all these on maybe called black mahogony.

awesome!

What am I missing, and why is he such a "Legend"?

Yeah...well almost (Silent Introduction is still my fave). Not too sure about Black Mahogani II though.

destroy: his public persona, reheated black power rhetoric, "house is a feeling" bullshit

some of it sounds like boring tech too.

Also search: Dem Young Sconies on Planet E for KDJ in funky acid mode, The Moody Trax EP and the first version of The Day We Lost The Soul.

The electric piano sample is off Bob James' Hands Down album (I wanna say it's "Spunky," though my memory could be faulty). He samples James all the time, but he finds the stuff that no one else has worn out. (See also: Anthony "Shake" Shakir's "Heads"-lifting "Bob," from Mr. Shakir's Beat Store on Klang Elektronik.)

Some of the background chatter on "Shades of Jae" is from Marvin Gaye's Live at the London Palladium, specifically "Come Get to This."

Silence in the Secret Garden and Mahogany Brown are easily the least recommendable Moodymann albums. I'd rate the former just over the latter. Both have their moments, but neither are anywhere close to Silent Introduction, Forevernevermore, or Black Mahogani. (Black Mahogani II is all-new and all-rubbish, so I won't put it in the same context.)

I don't care what anyone says. The man is a genius and a living legend. Persona-wise, he's as misunderstood as Steve Albini and Luke Haines.

This is my new favorite piece of sampling trivia.

Personally I was a bit disappointed with the show - it felt a bit fragmented and under-rehearsed to me. However there were a few technical/sound issues, and a few vital bits of gear went missing in transit so I'm aware it wasn't up to the standard the band would have liked.

I think a lot of people's disappointment comes down to their expectations and preconceptions of what the show was all about. The tunes that Moodymann is best known for (Shades of Jae, I Can't Kick This Feeling When It Hits, Dem Young Sconies, Black Mahogany, Music People, Forevernevermore etc) are heavily sample-based studio productions and it would be tough to perform these in any kind of 'live' way, so he was obviously focusing on his more recent work which incorporates more live playin from the other artists on Mahogani Music. So I can understand why anyone that went expecting to hear an hour and a half of KDJ classics felt let down.

Paul Randolph is clearly very talented and a great performer, but it was a bit of a shame that all he had the chance to do was play bass and sing on top of a backing track. All the other musicians and singers were great too, but I just don't think they had the right platform to display their talents to the full. I don't think KDJ had put enough thought into what would constitute a good set for a club environment - ending with Roberta Sweed singing on top of some sparse percussion was a very questionable move - that's the sort of thing that should really come in the middle of the set as an interlude, but then maybe the reduced running time had some bearing on this.

Overall I respected what they were trying to do, and thought it was good to see a bit of the personality behind what has always been a very enigmatic label, but I think with a bit more thought, effort and rehearsal it could have been a lot better. I can't help comparing it with Amp Fiddler's show last year (which also featured Paul Randolph), which was a million times more slick and professional.

And finally it reinforced what I've been feeling for a while now about a lot of Detroit house music - KDJ and Theo Parrish have both moved on from their early, raw, sample-heavy, lo-fi approach to this kind of live jazz collective (as Theo's been doing with the Rotating Assembly), and I'm just not that into it. It seems to me that they've gone from being innovative and genuinely different, to trying to be like the groups from the past that they obviously derive so much inspiration from, but they just don't quite cut it to my ears.

For a free friends-only event in a Detroit bar, great. Otherwise this is an embarrassing, awkward and lame Moodymann concert - with a twist. I can provide a set list :

DAT-house
sloppy funk jam
Nick Cave-style (?) singing over weak jazz loop
slutty bit from 20:00 to 26:00 (the OK part)
sloppy r&b jam
DAT-house

The second half is Roberta taking over for a gloomy 4-song cabaret act/medley which is prolly not what the audience paid for and I've heard better interpretations in many a hotel lobby.

Then they all show up on stage and perform exactly what you originally expected (still loopish but at least they're all playing together for 3 minutes). It's like an entirely crap album with a killer hidden track.

The Forgotten Places is pretty good, and so the Kem remix (although that was last year I believe.)

I liked the Mahogani comp, although it veers more towards live-sounding soul/funk than house.

What Kem remix?

Something of an interview here: http://www.realdetroitweekly.com/article_2728.shtml

Damn I wish I was going to be able to attend the Soul Skate at Movement. And what about this "the full list of Dixon’s alleged ghost productions is staggering" from the interview? Any clue who/what the hell is this talking about? Was it KDJ on Chronic 2000 and not Scott Storch?

Uh, that'd be 2001 and nobody really says Chronic before it either do they?

I was unaware there is an R&B singer/spoken word artist named Shades of J.

friend said he was not feeling moodyman's set at the detroit festival

Yeah, I think someone on the DEMF thread said the same. It seems to be a hate it or love it sort of thing as discussed upthread. Still wish I woulda been there, even if only for the Soul Skate.

I suppose folks may have already heard about Kenny's appearance on Gilles Peterson's show last week, but if you haven't heard the show, there's a download available here:

http://www.newmixes.com/gilles_peterson-worldwide-sat-10-11-2007.html

He was quite amicable and humorous and even played "Freaky M.F." or "Freaky Lil Mama" as he called it on the show and it sounds like it'll finally be seeing release. He also played a nice, nice Andres track that's apparently from a new Andres LP. Good news all around.

"And what about this http://www.discogs.com/release/475075 from last year?"

i got one of those from kenny @ DEMF '05, mostly soul type stuff and some previously released stuff from friends of his (like "butterfly" by charles webster, what a tune). good shit, but not essential if youre a moodymann fan.

personally, i love many many of KDJ's records. i at least like almost all of them, there are really only 2 or 3 that arent interesting at all. his live set at DEMF 07 was strange to say the least, pretty bad IMO though i missed the parts with amp fiddler because of the rain and trying to get some rest before soul skate. soul skate was awesome: skating around with kenny, amp, omar-s, etc etc to old school soul grooves, reminded me of being a little kid again! ive seen him deejay and mix records, rather well in fact, though he doesnt always do that.

i've been looking for that + a copy of the sound signature comp for a while now. anywhere i can get one?

my copy of that sound signature comp has gone missing. shit is pissing me off. that mahogani was only available to purchase on his european tour in 06 IIRC, i dont think its been out other than that. you could try hitting kenny up on myspace!

This guy is still one of my C20/21 heroes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbMhD8Czdic&playnext=1&list=PL85CDCA3092724976&index=61

What is a C20/21 hero? Still keeps coming with the goodness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJlyMjtszLI

Well, it took ten years, but the new self-titled LP is definitely the best LP he's done since Black Mahogani. I feel almost all his good work over the past ten years has been scattered around on vinyl singles and mini-albums, so its great to hear something so coherent for 70+ minutes.