Idris Muhammad - Hard To Face Music

I found an ancient jazz-funk mixtape I had recorded years ago while I was going through a stack of old CD-Rs that had been lying in the shelves for ages. The tape kicks off with Idris Muhammad's massive Hard To Face Music. I remember going crazy for this back in the day and it still does the trick for me.

To me Idris Muhammad is one of the greatest drummers ever. Always executing with his own unique style and top notch quality. I don't know why haven't I listened to classic jazz-funk albums for ages but it's definitely time for a proper CTI marathon this weekend.

Idris Muhammad - Hard To Face Music [320 kbps, DivShare]

Montana Sextet - Heavy Vibes (Club Mix)

Vincent Montana Jr. has contributed to the Philly soul/disco sound as a composer, arranger, bandleader, percussionist and producer. He's associated with tons of great music by MFSB, Salsoul Orchestra, Goody Goody and many others but if I would have to choose one track by Vincent Montana Jr, I would probably pick Heavy Vibes. To be more precise I would take Paul Simpson's club mix. If you're interested in Vince Montana's work in the late 70's / early 80's, I highly recommend this 3LP.

Montana Sextet - Heavy Vibes (Club Mix) [320 kbps, direct link]

Ethel Beatty - It's Your Love

When it comes to Roy Ayer's label Uno Melodic Records, usually you think of the classic Sylvia Striplin cuts. I figured those are all over the interwebs so I posted a couple of my favorites from the Uno Melodic catalogue that you don't get to hear so often. They both have that amazing jazzy sound of Roy Ayers and excellent soulful and sexy vocals. Enjoy!

Ethel Beatty - It's Your Love [320 kbps, direct link]

Eighties Ladies - Turned On To You [320kbps, DivShare]

Har-You Percussion Group - Welcome To The Party

In 2007 Jazzman Records re-issued an amazing and very rare 7" by Har-You Percussion Group. Welcome To The Party that appears on the a-side is guaranteed to work on the dancefloor. It's a solid latin groover with great congas by Montego Joe. The name of the band comes from the fact that the members were part of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited.

Har-You Percussion Group - Welcome To The Party [320 kbps, zShare]

Hörselmat - Right On

Nice video clips that I had slept on. How great would it be to go crate digging with Kon & Amir. If you watched the videos you might remember Amir telling a story in the beginning (2:00-2:30 min) of the latter video about a record he bought for 500 bucks. He was having difficulties pronouncing the artist. It spells Hörselmat. Yep, you try pronounce it. I wonder where he got the information about the album cover saying "If there's someone selling this one for over 20 SEK (about 2 USD) don't buy it", because the text on the cover art is in Swedish. Anyhow, it was a funny story at least for Swedish speaking people.

Well, the song is really tight and the album is really rare so Amir spent his money right. The track made it to the CD version of Kon & Amir's compilation Off Track - Volume 1: The Bronx. If you dig the track, the whole album seems to available for dowload here so go get it.

Hörselmat - Right On [320 kbps, zShare]

Two bottles

Gil-Scott Heron's original version of The Bottle was a big hit also on the dance floors which isn't typical for his work. The song is just amazing. It's fragile and full of soul but at the same it's a funky monster that makes you dance.

Father of salsoul, Joe Bataan, made an instrumental cover of the song right after the original came out. And what a great job he did. The song remains loyal to the original but gives it an excellent latin treatment that makes the song a bit more groovy and gives it some edge. I believe this was Bataan's first cut for Salsoul so with this song he pretty much set the standard for the label.

Gil-Scott Heron & Brian Jackson - The Bottle [320 kbps]

Joe Bataan - The Bottle (La Botella) [320 kbps]