What to Listen to While Making Mac and Cheese: The Music of Malcolm and Marie

JD and Zen Making Mac and Cheese Photo Courtesy of Netflix

Without reservation, the film Malcolm & Marie starring Zendaya and John David Washington was no doubt visually stunning.  The movie, which chronicles the couple’s highs and lows of a brutal all-night argument about . . . damn, I don’t know, was shot on black and white film rather than in a digital format.  It was artful.  It was special. It was instantly classic in its aesthetic.  Moreover, it was abundantly clear that the movie Malcolm & Marie intended the soundtrack to be something special as well.

From the opening scene where Malcolm jubilantly prances around their rented home then cues up James Brown’s “Down and Out in New York City,” a tune intimately tied to the film Black Caesar (1973), an astute audience was privy to the fact the music, diegetically (both the character and the audience can hear it), will narrate the nonverbal sentiments of the characters.  The music was brilliantly cast and was more than ample to sonically narrate a scene.  Admittedly, writer, director, Sam Levinson, and film editor Julio Perez, IV were deliberate in their attempt to support dialogue and set the mood of a scene with music.  Malcolm’s choice of Brown’s funk jam first fills the scene with sound then enlightens the audience of the bold overcoming power of a Black man, which is gan yẹ* to the character’s attitude at the moment.  Likewise, only moments later Marie’s unspoken tensions are revealed through Little Simz’s song “Selfish” featuring the amazing vocals of Cleo Sol.  Marie sentiments as heard through “Selfish’s” chorus, “I don’t want to fight” set the scene and reveal her desire to be left alone to brood for the remainder of the evening . . . or not.

Little Simz Photo: Linda Nylind

As the film progresses, the music continues to be a sonic masterpiece as it enters and exits the various scenes.  Saxophonist Zoot Sims’ Betaminus syncopated beat and flighty saxophone runs clearly disrupts the couple and escalates their tensions in a scene where Marie makes Mac and Cheese for Malcolm.  Fatback Band’s jam “Yum Yum” speaks loud and clear for Marie as she states her discontent about the evening.  Stax singer, songwriter William Bell’s “I Forgot to Be Your Lover,” which is awesomely orchestrated, by the way, drops in at the perfect time to allow an all too brief respite for the sparing couple, a mood of forgiveness for not making love a priority.

Coltrane and Ellington making magic

The film moves through its paces with a myriad of songs and rounds out with the ever lovely “In a Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington.  This song is undefeated in ushering in feelings of intimacy and sex appeal.  With the light key touches by Ellington on the piano and the seemingly far and away melody of John Coltrane on saxophone “In a Sentimental Mood” does it again.  In the end, literally in the last scene, Outkast’s song “Liberation” enters the expansive and resolute morning, to sum up the events of the previous evening.  The chorus belted out by CeeLo Green, and Erykah Badu states, “And there’s a fine line between love and hate you see, Can’t wait too late but baby I’m on it.”  As the couple Malcolm and Marie stand in the sunrise it reinforces the couple’s love-hate relationship in the most melodic of ways.

Outkast: Big Boy and Andre 3000. Ready to eat their Mac and Cheese!

Music in film is meant to aid in storytelling by driving and supporting scenes.  It is also used to set the mood and emotion of the characters.  In Malcolm & Marie, music is used to narrate the unspoken words of an emotionally caustic couple.  The music effectively created a subtext for the audience to follow.  We should all be so lucky to have a soundtrack like this to help back our most difficult moments in an argument.

(*means very appropriate in the Yoruba language)

Mama What’s a Cosmopolitan?: If You Got Funk You Got Style!

Imagine you and your significant other getting dressed in your finest evening wear.  Watch, necklace, bracelet, and earrings adorned.  You’re going out tonight!  You head to your car, drive downtown, and enter the premier concert hall of the city.  Everyone is excited and dressed to the nines! This must be the philharmonic’s opening night!  This is a highbrow event!  Together you find your seats just before the lights dim.  In anticipation, you hold your breath.  Your wait is brief.  Suddenly the stage lights shine to reveal the assemblage of . . . wait for it . . .wait for it  . . . Parliament/Funkadelic and a rambunctious funk mob on stage.  They begin to tear shit up (musically speaking of course). You look at your significant other and gleefully discover you are both sporting the same quintessential funk face.  You throw your hand up forming the righteous universal funk symbol and rock out.  Imagine that!

Goin out tonight!
By Joshua Aaron Photography

The night was seemingly set up for a sophisticated event.  Your attire and the venue location suggested as much.  The atmosphere was ripe to embrace a stiff collar crowd.  This was not classical music.  With P-Funk on stage were you truly going to engage in a so-called “highbrow” event?  Of course, you were!  Funk music is everything classical music is and more.

Classical music has certainly achieved, in over three hundred years, a position in our society of reverence and honor.  Its widely known composers Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven are pedestalistic gods and known as such in and out of the genre.  Most often intellectuals and the cultured are drawn to classical music.  Statistics reveal the college-educated and affluent are largely attracted to the genre.  They—“the sophisticated”—not only enjoy and indulge in the accouterments of classical music but it also defines them.  The richly appointed hallowed concert halls, tailored suits, designer cocktail gowns, and opening nights cater to their refined and even snobbish worldly taste.  Classical music is indeed a highbrow phenomenon.  However, it has a younger sibling that mirrors its every move and defines its very own high brow flare.

Sly And The Family Stone. Cosmopolitan at its finest!

Funk music has certainly achieved, in over fifty years, a position in our society of reverence and honor.  It’s widely known progenitors Brown, Clinton, and Stone are pedestalistic gods and known as such in and out of the genre.  While the ‘sophisticated’ who chiefly consume only classical music and little of anything else the rooted funk music consumer is attracted to classical and beyond.  Jazz, r&b, blues, gospel, soul, swing, rock, and metal are often devoured by the funk listener.  Funk music, like classical music, also holds the attention of intellectuals, the cultured, educated, and affluent.  Moreover, it also draws to it the enlightened, the academic, literate, and articulate.  In this way the funk music listener is beyond sophisticated, rather they are ‘Cosmopolitan’—the sharing of all things wrapped in the ONE!  Funk music can be heard in the richly appointed hallowed concert halls as well as in stadiums, arenas, street festivals, parks, backlots, and garages.

Conversely, funk music is defined by the listener.  Unlike classical, which is static in terms of its response to current affairs and its inability to create a space for active audience response during a performance, funk music is qualified by its attention to current affairs and welcomes the immediate response of the audience (call and response).

Clinton in a suit!
By: Marcy Guiragossin

In the end, you can go to a funk music concert in your tailored suit and designer evening gown.  You can listen to EWF at the Chandler, (Sup, L.A.). You can funk out and follow along with intellectuals like Brown and Vincent in the front row as they raise their hand with the righteous universal funk symbol and chant:

If you got funk, you got style

You’re funkin’ and you’re styling all the while

When you got funk, you got class

You’re out on the floor movin’ your ass . . .

Yeah, funk music is everything classical music is and more. Take a listen.

AAMAM: Screamin’ The Gospel! Part 28 of 30

Archie Brownlee is on the far right. (1936-1960)

The Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi were no doubt one of the greatest, if not THE greatest singing group in gospel music.  Noted for their strong harmonies and hard gospel singing style the group delivered deeply emotional and spiritual Christian messages in song. Helping to catapult the group, which had its beginnings in the Piney Woods School for the blind near Jackson, Mississippi, was lead vocalist Archie Brownlee.  His vocal presence was commanding and felt immensely in every song.  Brownlee became famous for his ability to release an intense guttural scream in song.  In a spiritual sense he was attempting to connect with the Angels and God in heaven.

Vocals like Brownlee’s were, for the most part, unprecedented in recorded gospel music of the era, rather, vocals like his were most familiar within the walls of the Black church.  Many of Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi’s contemporaries heavily borrowed from their hard gospel harmonic singing style and the guttural screams of Brownlee.  Pop artist such as James Brown, Little Richard, and Sam Cooke, who have their roots in gospel music, cited The Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi and Archie Brown as influential in their craft.

Take a listen to the Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi and the screams of Archie Brownlee.

Enjoy AAMAM!

AAMAM Begins With The Godfather Of Soul! Part 1 of 30

Wow! It’s June already! So that means it’s African American Music Appreciation Month. America has officially recognized and celebrated the contributions of African American composers, musicians, and singers since 1979. Thanks President Jimmy Carter.

To celebrate, I’ll attempt to post a song a day of the best songs ever composed, sung, and recorded by our (yours and mine) favorite and amazing African American musicians and singers ever!

First up, James Brown’s “Say It Lout-I’m Black And I’m Proud!” Released in August of 1968, “Say It Loud” ushered in a bold new perspective of “Blackness” and identity for African Americans in a newly realized post Dr. Martin L. King era. The song became the sonic manifestation of Black empowerment!

Happy AAMAM!

Your Sunday iPod add: Tony Momrelle’s Soul From Across the Pond

Welcome to your iPod add.

Today I’m going to introduce you to that new soulful voice you’ve been looking for for some time now.  He’s singer songwriter, Tony Momrelle! He has been laying down amazing groove oriented soul from across the pond for years.  Sorry, your favorite terrestrial radio station may be clueless to who he is and thus will never air his talent in any rotation. Their loss! Momrelle is a talent who has for years been the lead vocalist for the flat out bad ass British band Incognito; a featured vocalist for the dance and smooth grooves group Reel People; as well as a backing vocalist for my girl, Sade. Yep!

Momerelle with Sade

Momrelle’s Extended Play (EP) titled Fly was release almost a year ago and is still kickin’ today. The standout tracks are the eponymous “Fly”–an up tempo jam with a James Brown “funky drummer” shuffle rhythm which opens up a vast space where Momrelle demonstrates bright flashes of the vocal stylings of Stevie Wonder.  His lyrics are both simple and fantastically poetic.  Upon listening to the song, SoulBounce writer Ivory, stated, “Hope and happiness seem just within reach on this joint” and imagined through the lyrics “getting away from it all could be so simple.”  While his second track Spotlight spins a tale of meeting that special someone amid a crowd of people.  This cut finds Momrelle’s voice settled deep in the soul aesthetic surrounded by a driving groove.

This is Tony Momrelle Ladies and Gentlemen! Take a listen and know this is the soulful voice you been looking for. Add some Momrelle to your iPod and you will thank me later!

Check out “Fly”

Check out “Spotlight”

Brown Quiets The Night in Boston!

Photo by Thomas E. Landers/Globe
Boston, afternoon April 5, 1968

As you know it is Black Music Month! And if you are like me you are knee deep in the melodies of some good Black music (just like last month and the month before that and the month . . .)

Anyway here is little something for you to chew on for Black Music Month!

Did you know James Brown and his music saved Boston from being destroyed on April 5, 1968? It’s true. As Brown would say, “Here’s how the whole thang went down, man!”

On April 4, 1968 Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. was assassinated while supporting the striking Black public sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. As soon as his assassination made the news, Black folks became enraged at the untimely loss of their beloved champion of equality. Feeling hopeless, frustrated, and angry with their lingering social status as well as becoming increasingly impatient with the pace of King’s campaign of non-violence, the youth (who drove the movement of civil equality) responded with aggressive violent resistance toward the oppressive power structure. A swell of rioting broke out in Black urban centers across America the evening of April 4^th 1968 . . . including Boston!

Months before Dr. King’s assassination, James Brown was scheduled to perform at the Boston Garden. However, given the social unrest in Boston by the Black youth, city officials including Boston Mayor Kevin White thought it would be best to cancel the concert in an attempt to restore order amid the growing civil unrest in and around Boston.  However, Boston’s only African American City Councilman, Tom Atkins thought otherwise. He was convinced that allowing the concert to continue would be best for the city in terms of diminishing the-sure-to-come destructive riot.  He was quickly able to convince Mayor White that allowing the concert to go on would allow a space for the youth to release their frustrations in a non-destructive way.  Atkins also suggested the concert be televised on local TV station WGBH to reach the homes of those youth who could not attend the concert.

Photo by Bob Deen
Atkins, White, and Brown workin’ it out!

His thinking Brown, one of the hottest acts in the country, would be able to persuade the city’s youth to stay in and forego a violent protest in the city.  Mayor White took a gamble and agreed with Atkins.  Atkins, White, and Brown met to work out the money details of a live broadcast.

So, the evening of April 5, 1968, while several urban centers across America experience a second night of rioting in the wake of Dr. King’s assassination, James Brown and his band put on a captivating high energy show, which redirected the youth’s feelings of angst and sorrow to one of a celebration of life and peace. Brown’s presence and music did in fact quiet the hostile youth in the city of Boston and the surrounding urban areas that evening. In the end, Boston experienced no more disruption than a typical Friday night for that city. Boston was saved by James Brown.

What’s more is that the Boston Garden concert was recorded and preserved for us to watch today.  We now have the opportunity to witness the amazing James Brown in action roughly 24hrs after King’s assassination. We can watch his music captivate and stop the youth, city-wide, from violent resistance.  We get to witness the moment Brown’s music emerged as the undisputed musical beacon of Black empowerment following the Boston concert in 1968.

Photo by Bob Deen
Brown Live on stage in Boston Garden

From the great words spoken by Atkins, White, and Brown at the beginning of the concert to the driving tempos to Maceo’s Parker’s solo to the pace of the Go Go dancer’s hips to the concert’s ending with Brown’s interjections of Black pride to thwart a sure riot on the Garden stage are not to be missed.  Take a look and listen below and be mindful of how quiet things are in the streets during the time of the concert. James Brown saved Boston!

Enjoy Black Music Month!

For more info on that night check this out!:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183486/

See entire concert here:

Ohio Players: Black Body Politics & Honey!

As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” which rings true on closer examination.  Many of us have certainly seen pictures worth a thousand words and more.  That being said, how many words are the images on an album cover worth?

Album covers are meant to give the listening audience a visual clue or insight to the recorded work of the artist.  The images; some simple, some complex in their composition, speak volumes through hyperbole, metaphor, and double entendre images.  Given the decade, album covers made very specific social, cultural, and political commentary that spoke directly to the listening audience of that era.  No era was more prolific in relaying social, cultural, and political messages to a listening audience than the 70s.

The 70s followed the decade of social and political turbulence led by radicals, poets, and misfits who fought for and achieved real cultural change in all aspects in American life including music.  Simple photos of artists on their album covers were now passé.  The 70s demanded more!  Album covers had to say something else besides “look at us/me” (the artist).  The era required thought-provoking, emotional, bewildering, career defining, and indeed controversial album covers.  The Ohio Players stepped up to the plate.

The Ohio Players was (and still is) a funk and R&B band from Dayton Ohio who famously crooned about a funky worm, skin-tight britches, fire, sweet sticky thangs, and a love roller coaster.  Their album covers in the 70s are now legendary.  They constantly make the top 10 Internet list for the best album covers of the 70s and easily top the sexiest album cover lists of all time.  As you will see in this post, Ohio players featured a sexy and scantily clad woman on all of their albums in the 70s.  How many words are their album covers worth? Thousands!!!

Considering the era of the 70s, the Ohio Players’ album covers were more than just gratuitous sexy-women.  The band was engaging in the social, cultural, and political issues of the day.  Ohio Players were, in terms of album cover imagery, in lock step with the climate of the times.

The 70s ushered in a new and bold vision of blackness.  As the black urban community jettisoned out of the 60s, musical spokesperson and ‘soul brotha #1’ James Brown shouted out a new manifesto suited for a new conscious people: “I’m Black and I’m Proud,” and we were.  The new vision of Blackness was righteous, cool, smart, and “sho nuff” beautiful.  The Ohio Players helped to create the musical soundtrack of this era.  Their music communicated the sentiment of the new definition of blackness.  Ohio Players sonically created that familiar black 70s swag.  Moreover, their album covers echoed black romance and the beauty of the black body–a women’s body.

In deliberate synchronicity with Blaxploitation films, their album covers exuded the new 70s black woman.  Gone was the imagery of the Aunt Jemima mammy and wash maids and here to stay was the self-assured, fearless, afro wearing, jumpsuit sporting, shit talking sista that could round house “The Man” in the throat, flip off the pigs, save your little brother from getting hit by a car on his Big Wheel, and lovingly kiss her man on the lips–all at the same time.  This was the image of the popular black woman of the 70s and this was the woman on the album covers of the Ohio Players only a bit more sexy.

Observation In Time, 1968, Capital Records

Although not recorded in the 70s, Ohio Players first album Observations In Time was telling of future album covers to come.

Pain, 1972. This is their first album on the Westbound label.
Photographer is Joel Brodsky. Model is Pat Evans.

Photographer Joel Brodsky, was instrumental in the creation of the Ohio Players album covers.  He wanted to create images of a strong black woman.  In the above photo model Pat Evans is the visual personification of this and more.  Not only is she dominating the man in the photo but she is also afro-less, which shows her defiant nature; this is extreme even in black culture.  Her bald head is a clear sign that she will not be controlled.  Think “Black Moses” Isaac Hayes.

Pleasure, 1972, Westbound

Brodsky album covers contained the “rest of the image” below or above the ‘gate-fold’ (where the album folds).  The folded album would showcase the “featured” image on the cover.  Then once unfolded the image would be “completed” or seen in its entirety to reveal an expanded visual commentary.  Examine the above photo.  Evans on the album cover is seen from mid forearm to shoulder with a facial expression that resembles the title of the album.  However, once the album is unfolded she is revealed to be bound by chains.  Which extends a whole new meaning to the title of the album.

Ecstasy, 1973, Westbound. This is the last Ohio Players album released while still on the Westbound label.  Others albums released on Westbound are compilations of unfinished songs, extra material, and previously released hits.

Brodsky’s images depict Evans as sexy and dominant.  The 70s witnessed the emergence of the black woman as sexy, exotic and erotic.  Black women, in terms of their darker skin color, emerged as objects of desire and the image of beauty.  Women such as Carol Speed, Gloria Hendry, Tamara Dobson, Pam Grier, and first black super model Naomi Sims were embraced for their sexuality and beauty alone.

Skin Tight, 1974 Mercury Records. First album for Mercury. Brodsky nor Evans were employed for the album cover.

Once the Ohio Players moved to Mercury Records, their album covers lost the image of strong black woman.  However, the albums covers did retain the sexy, sensual, and alluring body as the object of desire and muse for the album’s music. Brodsky’s beyond the gate-fold imagery was still utilized.  Mercury’s album covers pressed the sexuality of black woman, which rivaled the sexuality of white women.  Black women were sexy too!

Fire, 1974, Mercury. Heated sexuality.

Climax, 1974, Westbound. This album is composed of extra tracks from their years with the label. There is much commentary below the gate-fold.

Westbound’s image on the Ohio Players Climax album is aimed at the artists.  It revealed how the label felt when the group left and signed a deal with Mercury.  Brodsky and Evans image (a knife in the back) below the gate-fold was controversial.

Honey, 1975, Mercury.  Arguably the most famous Ohio Players album cover.  Check the net for the inner sleeve.

The most popular Ohio Players album cover came complete with a urban tale of hot honey, a deathly scream, and a studio murder, which may of may not have involved the model on the cover Ester Cordet.  Cordet was the first latin (Panamanian) Playboy “playmate of the month” (Miss October 1974). Her African heritage couched her and her body in the black aesthetic of beauty and sensuality.

Rattlesnake, 1975, Westbound.  (Rare)

The Rattlesnake album cover contains the image of a man, woman, and snake.  Evans is in a dominant position here and is in full control of the snake.  The imagery is reminiscent of Adam and Eve and metaphorically Westbound takes another dig at the Ohio Players with the presence of a snake.  (Members of Parliament/Funkadelic are rumored to have played the overdubs on this album of unfinished songs and re-recorded earlier releases.)

Greatest Hits, 1975, Westbound.

Ohio Players previous record label had yet another message for the band on their Greatest Hits cover.  Westbound’s commentary of the Ohio Players lies above the gate-fold.  Evans beauty still persists as did the Ohio Players music.

Contradiction, 1976, Mercury

The Contradiction album is indeed that.  The music contradicts their musical legacy in that it is not very appealing and the horse pictured is credited rather than the model.  This image is highly sexualized, which  plays on the image of the the black stallion metaphor and double entendre.

Gold, 1976, Mercury

Mercury’s release of Ohio Players Gold album was a compilation of the group’s gold records and a response to Westbound’s Grates Hits both sonically and in album cover image.  The model, whose look is similar to Evans, appears to be angelic-like as she flies through the air carrying Ohio Players gold record to the masses.  Her nude body and red cape exude power and femininity.

Angel, 1977, Mercury

The Angel album cover represented the last of the Ohio Players respectful image of the black body.  This should be of no surprise.  The image of the black body was by this time in American society common and had begun to lose its exotic-ness.  The black body had arrived; it was beautiful and could rival and be rivaled by any other body.  In terms of beauty there was a fair amount of parity.  This was reflected in the media and most powerfully seen on television in the form of black cast dramas and sitcoms of the 70s.

Mr. Mean, 1977, Mercury

The Ohio Players appearance on the Mr. Mean album cover ends a steak of not having any band member on cover since 1968.  Although the image of a feminine black body is present, it is, however, stifled by the men.  The model seems to be withdrawn and submissive this is far removed from the strong and controlling images of Westbound’s Brodsky/Evans covers.

Jass-Ay-Lay-Dee, 1978. Last album recorded for Mercury.  No outside gate-fold.

Inside gate-fold

Everybody Up, 1979, Arista

By the end of the 70s, as seen on the Everybody Up album, the unique  esthetic of black beauty had made a change.  Images birthed in the Blaxploitation era have waned and the black body evolved into mere sexual object; a collection of body parts to be desired.  Strong images of black women in terms of black power and feminine sexuality and attached meaning disappeared in the 80s and were reflected on not just the Ohio Players album covers but many other artists album covers as well.  The era of social and cultural commentary on black body politics and honey (beauty) was over.

Want more info on the Ohio Players? Check here:

http://wfnk.com/ohioplayers/index2.html

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-ohio-players-p5062

More photos of Pat Evans