Chris MartinsCurrent L.A. Weekly cover star Madlib is working his way through an incredibly prolific 2010 neatly bulleted by his album-a-month series, The Madlib Medicine Show.
His label, Stones Throw, has just announced the seventh installment in that record chain, High Jazz, with an expected release date of July 27.
While some of the previous chapters have comprised mixes and remixes (still not to be scoffed at), this is “an all-new Madlib jazz production … the name itself a tribute to the landmark jazz-fusion album released by Stanton Davis's Ghetto Mysticism in 1976.”
'Lib has already dropped a couple of jazz LPs this year via his projects Young Jazz Rebels and the Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz Ensemble, but as those releases typically feature the Beat Konducta himself playing under a variety of aliases, High Jazz includes a rare collaboration.
The song “Funky Butt, Part 1” (stream/download below) features Grammy-winning keyboardist James Poyser, who's written and produced for everyone Common and Queen Latifa to Mariah Carey and Ruben Studdard, alongside drummer Karriem Riggins (Diana Krall, the Roots) and, of course, Madlib.
Listen up:
DOWNLOAD: Poyser, Riggins, Jackson – “Funky Butt” [MP3]
“Among the newly released tracks on High Jazz are … the debut of groups Generation Match, the Big Black Foot Band, R.M.C, and a 15-minute live piece by Yesterdays New Quintet (recorded at a secret show in 2000).”
Madlib's “High Jazz” on CD
High Jazz tracklisting:
1. The Jackson Conti Band – “Steppin' Into Tomorrow (Prelude)”
2. Generation Match – “Electronic Dimensions”
3. Jahari Massamba Unit – “Pretty Eyes”
4. The Kenny Cook Octet – “High Jazz”
5. Yesterdays New Quintet – “Medley: Don't You Worry Bout A Thing”
(live At Spear for The Moondog)
6. Interlude
7. The Big Black Foot Band ft. The Black Spirits – “Reality or Dream”
8. Russell Jenkins Jazz Express – “Drunk Again”
9. Poyser, Riggins & Jackson – “Funky Butt, Part 1”
10. Jahari Massamba Unit – “Wonderin'/Nightime”
11. R.M.C. – “Space & Time”
12. Yesterdays New Quintet – “Conquistador”
13. The Big Black Foot Band ft. The Black Spirits – “Tarzan's Theme”
14. Interlude
15. Joe McDuphrey Experience – “Kimo”
Bonus LP tracklisting:
1. Jahari Masamba Unit – “Falling”
2. Yesterdays New Quintet – “Runnin' Fast (On The Runs)”
3. Sound Directions ft. Malcolm Catto – “Shady Cops”
4. The Eddie Prince Fusion Band – “The Struggle Is Over/Next Chapter”
5. O.D. – “Wasted (Themes Variations)”
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