Much props to these guys…

Trying to expand my blogging horizons. Adding links to my page to some of the outstanding keepers of the beats. I've been perusing these sites for a while now. A lot of folks have come and gone, but Will4all, 4brothers, LostNtyme, oufarkhan, myjazzworld and Babygrandpa are amongst many others have stayed the course, bringing out of print or otherwise obscure records for the enjoyment of all. I'm most appreciative for all of the hard work of ripping and posting samples of things I remembered but never had (or took time) a chance to listen to when they were commercially available. It's really time consuming to rip vinyl (remember making mix tapes). I've been lead to reacquire a lot of the things that have been made available on cd or iTunes (or other commercial outlet) because of these folks. Keep on keepin on…

The Rest of the Story--Sorta

The Olympic Runners, Commodores, BT Express, Bill Curtis and the Fatback Band, Deodado, Funkadelic, Mandrill, Hamilton Bohannon are among those who formed the foundation of my musical preferences. In later years after disco died for me personally, I was turned onto the jazz-rock scene through Return to Forever and the individuals who comprised the group led by Stanley Clarke, Chic Corea, Lenny White and Al DiMeola. Weather Report, Billy Cobham and George Duke were and are still amongst my favorite musicians. George Clinton and his crew wielded the biggest influence of all. The early Funkadelic albums especially Let's Take It To The Stage, Cosmic Slop and Standing On The Verge are my favorites of all time! To me they are the perfect blend of dance/head music. There was a period of time when I was disconnected from the music scene-concentrating on getting other aspects of my life into focus--education, business interests and the start of my family. When I regained focus in the music part of my life, formats had changed from lp's and tapes to cd's and music videos. I missed most of the rise of rap --purposely-- I guess the change to sampled beats as opposed to live musicians and talking as opposed to singing was too radical for me. Having to listen to what my children were starting to listen to brought me into focus with what was "new" music to me--New Edition, Mariah Carey, SWV, Aaliyah. The rise of Napster allowed me to begin catching up with over 10-15 years of music that had essentially passed me by. As I've been exposed to more musical genres I've also come to appreciate more of those I considered "soft" back in the day especially Luther Vandross and Ashford and Simpson. Apple's iTunes and Acquisition helped to pick up the slack after the demise of the original Napster. Recently discovered blog sites have even further helped in my seemingly never ending quest for old and new music alike…