Anatomy of THE Groove: “Stepping Into Tomorrow” by Donald Byrd

Donald Byrd is one of my favorite musicians during the 70’s Blue Note era especially. The Detroit native replaced the late,great Clifford Brown in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers after a stint in the US Air Force. After launching his career as a band leader in the late 50’s,Byrd’s became Blue Notes equivalent of Miles Davis in terms of transitioning from acoustic bop jazz to fusion. Along the way,he also helped launch one of jazz-funk’s seminal bands in The Blackbyrds. His mid 70’s collaborations with the Mizell brothers Larry and Fonce are actually in a class by themselves too.

Around 12 years ago,I began to listen heavy to both the Blackbyrds and Donald Byrd’s mid 70’s jazz-funk recordings. This came from my dad playing the music of Madlib for me. Now this is a DJ/musician/producer/rapper who loved 70’s Blue Note. And focused a lot on Byrd’s music from that period. It was through DJ/musician Nigel Hall and his radio show at WMEB in Orono,Maine that I learned where to find one of my favorite pieces Madlib had used,since I wasn’t accustomed to first hearing classic funk songs via samples. Turning out that the song in question was the 1974 album title track “Stepping Into Tomorrow”.

A thunder-like sound opens into the song. The main groove is established right away. This is a slow,percussive drum from Harvey Mason,a melody setting bass line from Chuck Rainey,Larry Mizell’s ARP strings and Byrd’s trumpet. As the vocals of Byrd and a trio of female backup singers harmonize on the choruses,a minor chord intro then extends into a series of solos. First Byrd on trumpet,then Gary Bartz’s sax and finally Jerry Peters’ organ. The main chorus/intro/refrain parts repeat to,with a number of psychedelic,synthesized sonics until the song fades out.

“Stepping Into Tomorrow” is one of those truly democratic jazz/funk numbers. Instrumentally,it was a dream team of the finest of jazz/funk players in that area. And each one is performing at some of their finest on this groove. Its a strong enough groove to stand on its own. Yet it can be sampled all on its own in a way that doesn’t destroy its special musical qualities. Its the songs elasticity that represents its strongest quality. While I personally feel original funk songs should be searched for on their own rather than via samples,whatever method one uses to get to this funk will be its own reward.

 

Anatomy of THE Groove Post-Mothers Day Special Part 1: “Don’t It Feel Good” By Ramsey Lewis

Mothers and fathers are indirectly responsible for the first musical rhythms we experience as human beings. It’s the heartbeat of the child itself. Prince illustrated this in the mid 90’s on his jam “Sex In The Summer”. In terms of literal music,my mother’s own musical interests seem connected to her being a former modern abstract dancer/choreographer. I’d describe her musical tastes as being eclectic-perhaps even overreaching at times. But fundamentally,it’s still a good groove that inspires her. And as much as my father has been the main musical guiding light in my family? My mother has made her mark too.

Ramsey Lewis is an artist whom I discovered through my family about 20 years ago. It was during the time where I was really getting interested in funk. And asking my dad to pull funky music out of his vinyl collection whenever he could. Most of this came out of his jazz collection. However,there was one album that he and my mom purchased together when they were first married. The album was by Ramsey Lewis. And it was 1975’s Don’t It Feel Good.  While the funk percolated across it with “Spider-Man” and “Fish Bite”,it was the opening title song that always caught my mothers ear. And later mine.

A deep,chunky rhythm guitar begins the song playing a deep in the pocket bluesy riff. Right into the middle of this pocket,a round and pulsing Moog bass settles right in. The drum keeps up the entire song with a slow,pulsing swing with plenty of rhythmic breaks. This is orchestrated by an ARP string ensemble. Ramsey’s Fender Rhodes solo improvises on the blusiness of the guitar. That same guitar buffets the refrain and chorus. Each chorus has a different vocal chorus. One has a Latin-jazz style vocalese. The other,which fades out the song,is based on the bluesy melody and states “don’t it feel good RAMSEY!”.

This is one of those funk jams that understands two of the most important things about the classic funk era. The deep in the pocket groove keeps the bluesy slowness in the rhythm and melody. Also the vocals really bring that element of jazz Miles Davis always championed,based on his mothers advice,for musicians to always play “something you could hum”. Added to all this,the song really knows how to stay on the one. The refrain/choral sequence is all based in advancing the melodic and rhythmic drama of this groove. And that makes it among Ramsey Lewis’s finest funk of the 70’s.

 

Anatomy of THE Groove: “Just As Long As We’re Together” by Prince

 

Prince’s 1978 debut For You is an album that I’ve personally tended to give heavy props to. My friend Henrique has pointed this out many times. Whenever the album is written about,it’s generally described as technically flawless musically. But that the songs tend to plod on in repetitive jams that don’t come across to many as very listenable. One thing about it’s personal appeal here comes from this very quality. It showcases for sure that funk was the bedrock of Prince’s music,with his ability to stay squarely on the one. And that’s not even to mention how much of the Minneapolis Sound is already present here.

It does bare some degree of repeating however that ever since this blog has existed, Prince’s music has not been present on most areas of the internet. And on YouTube in particular. So there was no way to give Prince a proper musical overview by the use of this feature of the blog. Since that is awkwardly showing signs of changing,it is fitting to start discussing the individual songs from the For You album one at a time. There are a few numbers on this album that really helped reshape the face of funk for the coming decade. And one of them was called “Just As Long As We’re Together”.

A drum kick off gives way to a sustained ARP string ensemble showcasing some rolling Minneapolis synth brass over it for the intro. Another kick off brings the song into the uptempo dance beat of the song,underpinned by a percussive slap bass line all the way along. The chorus returns to the instrumentation and melodic sound of the intro-with an acapella break from Prince separating the refrain from the chorus. As with most of his earlier music,Prince’s sings most of this in his falsetto range. On the second refrain however,he drops into a softer version of his lower register he’d use later.

On the second half of the song,Prince plays the melody with a Carlos Santana-like crying tone on lead guitar before going into a hi hat/synth brass heavy drum break that leads into a more minor key version of the chorus. This evolves into Prince singing falsetto vocalese with the synth brass before the song strips down to the slap bass and ringing Afro-Cuban percussion. The synth brass gradually returns-playing continual call and response with Prince’s rapid fire bluesy guitar riffs. The synth brass plays some hot and heavy charts as the groove itself fades on into it’s own aurally purple sunset.

There’s been much talk about  how awkward it was for Prince to have all the instruments he played listed when half of them were keyboards of some sort. Instrumentally though,that very much defines this song. Structurally, “Just As Long As We’re Together” isn’t far removed from what melodic funk bands such as Earth Wind & Fire were doing at the time. The difference was the spacier flavors of the futurist synthesizers Prince had playing his horn charts. Prince’s ability to take a style of funk prevalent at the time and making it his own showcases his early adaptability with a good groove.