Twitter’s been bringing me down so I’m going to start throwing out daily record recommendations. Let’s start w this classic + a lesser-known Modern Jazz Quartet LP. Both uplifting, esp the score, which features some of Milt Jackson’s best. Like a precursor to Roy Ayers’ OST work.

I alluded to him yesterday, so today’s LP recommendation is this absolute classic. Probably the record I listen to the most, it’s perfect in any setting. Ayers is at the top of his game, but more impressive are all the hip-hop samples it inspired. Coffy lived in Brooklyn baby.

Ok, this is a bit of 6 degrees so bear with me... in yesterday’s Coffy review I alluded to the Roy Ayers Uniquity album He’s Coming. One of my favorite Ubiquity samples of all time (not from this record) is Madlib’s use of “Better Days” for his track “In Jah Hands” from his...

...Beat Konducta instrumental series, specifically 5-6, his tribute to J Dilla. For that reason today’s recommendation could be their Jaylib LP, but Dilla’s Donuts is a classic that must be heard at least once a month. I’ll throw in the “Champion Sound” single for good measure.

Keeping it simple today. Jaylib’s “The Official”, probably their most recognizable track, samples Dizzy Gillespie’s “Stomped and Wasted.” My favorite Gillespie LP is The Quintet’s Jazz at Massey Hall. How can you go wrong with prime Mingus, Roach and Powell?

Let’s finish the week with two of the best records of all time. Yesterday we mentioned an early classic featuring Mingus and Roach, so today’s first recommendation is their contribution to one of the most important recordings in American history. Their supergroup collaboration...

...with Duke Ellington, Money Jungle, is not only a musical masterpiece, it’s rife with social and political implications. The younger rhythm section representing a new generation who, though influenced by Ellington, saw to distance themselves from the big band era that they...

...felt played to a whiter audience. But the mix of avant hard bop with Ellington’s melodic genius resulted in a masterpiece. Not without tension, Mingus was said to have walked out during the recording and despite a 2-record agreement with the label, they never recorded a 2nd...

Recorded in 1962, Money Jungle came 6 years after Ellington’s famous performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Fest. As the liner notes explain, the audience was so live, especially during the closing number, “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” featuring alto sax by longtime...

...Ellington collaborator Paul Gonzalves, that security started to get apprehensive. Sensing the tension, Ellington brought the tempo down before ending in the infamous “Crescendo” that had patrons “dancing on the tables and in the aisles.” A truly goosebump-inducing recording.

Kicking off the week w a man greatly influenced by Ellington. Randy Weston’s 1964 recording African Cookbook didn’t get this Atlantic release until 1972. By then he was a household name, but this early recording w Booker Ervin + Ray Copeland stands as a modern hard bop original.

Randy Weston has a 1961 track called “Uhuru Afrika.” Uhuru is Swahili for freedom, something I know bc of the amazing reggae outfit Black Uhuru. I prefer the 1982 Uhuru in Dub LP, most would say Anthem should be your starter, but their Red album has the classic “Sponji Reggae”

Black Uhuru’s “I Love King Selassie” was sampled by Super Furry Animals for the song “Smokin’”, which was recorded during the Radiator sessions but not released until the 2017 20th anniversary reissue. With or without “Smokin’”, Radiator is a great LP to start getting into SFA.

Radiator was released on Creation Records, who also put out records by Jesus and Mary Chain, MBV, The Cramps, among many others. Among them was Teenage Fanclub, who has a great discog, but whenever I think of them, I think of their collab w De La Soul for the Judgement Night OST.

Aside from the obvious Tom Petty sample, “Fallin’” borrows from James Brown’s “Funky President”. Before going on, let’s just check out these prescient lyrics and take a listen:
“Stock market going up, jobs going down, there ain't no funky job to be found”

“Funky President” has been sampled so many times you can practically name a 90s hip-hop star and assume they’ve used it. It also features guitar by Joe Beck who, besides his own career, appeared on many seminal albums, including Idris Muhammad’s must-have classic, Power of Soul.

Let’s start the week with an ode to NYC. The Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique is an album made entirely of samples, but none more recognizable than Idris Muhammad’s “Loran’s Dance”, which is used to kick off the album on “To All The Girls” + again to end it in “B-Boy Bouillabaisse”.