A little mix I did recently with due respect to Moodymann and Detroit.

In the mid-nineties the ‘Soul Jazz Records’ label quietly released a series of compilations which were a huge influence on fans of black music, jazz dance and provided a summation of the time after seminal club events, such as Gilles Peterson’s Dingwalls Sunday Sessions in Camden Town. The excitement of Acid Jazz had faded and these songs had come out of a club context and into people’s homes and onto serious playlists. A large list of songs had somehow become related to each other and come to define the jazz scene in London. They had something to say to clubbers and ex club goers. Most had been discoveries of influential Djs like Peterson, Paul Murphy, Chris Hills and Baz Fe Jazz; all names- with the exception of Peterson- that have been lost to some extent in more recent times. Soul Jazz had begun to have a major influence from its shop in Ingestre Place, Soho, London and would go on to release the influential 100% Dynamite Series, compilations from underrated labels such as Tribe and Black Jazz and a great deal of overlooked Latin and Nu Yorican music from the likes of Papete and Ocho. The ‘London Jazz Classics’ series, however, was defining for label and shop. London Jazz Classics consisted of 3 albums of disparate songs and styles from the laid back jazz grooves of Michel Sardaby and the UK’s Robin Jones 7 to the urgency of Patsy Gallant. Soul Jazz also threw in some songs of heavy relevance to those from the hip hop scene such as the Brooks Brothers ‘Forty Days’. All the songs were cool, virtually impossible to find on vinyl and the packages cleverly gave you curated information about recording sessions and musicians. These three LPs have become a touchstone for DJs and are long deleted. This mix involved pulling down the LPs and simply playing a selection from all three- something which gave me great pleasure over the hour. If you like the mix please do check out Soul Jazz Records and their shop- still in Soho but moved to Broadwick Street and renamed ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ www.soundsoftheuniverse.com

Fonce Mizell 1943-2011

My first show [http://tinyurl.com/6fo4so4] for Shoreditch Radio was a Mizell Brothers special. The productions of Larry and Fonce Mizell are a sublime first stop for any fan of soul, jazz or jazz fusion but their production techniques and innovation should appeal to anyone interested popular music. The announcement of Fonce’s death on the weekend of 9^th/10^th July was covered everywhere from Variety Magazine to the NME which demonstrates the cultural impact of his talent.   

The Mizells have an unusually faultless body of work. Coming from a musical family which included The Ronettes, Don Mizell  (cousins) and later on Jam Master Jay of Run DMC (also a cousin) Larry and Fonce Mizell began their musical careers as close harmony singers in groups with their lifelong friend Freddie Perren. Perren, by the way, was a musical genius who wrote among other songs ‘I Will Survive’ and produced the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack among an imposing body of work.   All three friends had studied together at Howard University, Washington DC: Larry in Electrical Engineering and Alphonso or ‘Fonce’ in Pharmacy. Fonce had, during that time, begun to attend informal lectures given by the Blue Note Trumpeter and lecturer Donald Byrd and had shown an aptitude for musical instrumentation. Both brothers had learned trumpet and progressed to keys. In their spare time they created a record label- Hog Records- and released songs under the name ‘The Moments’ and those early records now sell for thousands of Dollars, if you can find them- which is highly unlikely. Fonce, the elder sibling, moved to LA with Freddie Perren to start a record label and quickly came to the attention of Berry Gordy- who had moved to the city from Detroit to set up Motown’s west coast operation. Fonce, Freddie and another friend, Deke Richards, formed a songwriting collective known as The Corporation and together with Gordy wrote the Jackson 5 megahits ‘I Want You Back’ (Originally intended for Gladys Knight), ‘ABC’ and ‘The Love You Save’.

After The Corporation and Motown Larry Mizell left a career in aerospace engineering and moved to LA. Together the brothers formed Sky High Productions; a banner under which they created their own experimental and futuristic studio sound which centred around the technology of the Moog and ARP synthesisers of the time, as well as early forms of sampling (they were later  to become one of the most sampled artists in Hip Hop). In The heyday of ‘Sky High’ they produced a succession of tightly formed albums which are considered classics today: ‘Blackbyrd’ with their old mentor Donald Byrd- which became Blue Note’s best selling record; also for Byrd the ‘Street Lady’ concept LP, the seminal ‘Places and Spaces’ [http://tinyurl.com/6y3dvzy] and for Johnny Hammond Smith ‘Gambler’s Life’ on CTI and on Fantasy Records the DJ favourite, ‘Gears’. The Mizells sound was futuristic but steeped in jazz and though multi layered and technologically groundbreaking, always warm. This golden period extended from 1971 to 1976 and included some never released recordings with Marvin Gaye directly after ‘What’s Going On’. As the Seventies progressed and as disco grew in popularity, the Mizells turned their hand to producing a four piece band with two female leads- A Taste of Honey. This led to the platinum selling disco anthem Boogie Oogie Oogie. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie_Oogie_Oogie]

The Mizells were mostly inactive- presumably through choice, during the eighties and 90s. In the 2000s a collaboration took place with Dego of 4Hero on the song ‘Play With The Changes’ from the LP of the same name. The sound was as rich as ever. [http://tinyurl.com/6yce6t5] Around this time, also The Mizell Brothers appeared in video for Red Bull Music Academy. You can find it here: [http://tinyurl.com/6znelsr]

You don’t need to look far to discover that The Mizell Brothers are adored by those involved in soul, jazz, hip hop and the culture that surrounds these forms of music. Their hits can shake a dancefloor to this day and when I play out next I know that their music will be part of the mix. Their legacy is safe. Larry and a younger brother Rod survive but we have lost a giant of music in Fonce Mizell .

FONCE MIZELL 1943-2011