Listen: “Rich Man, Poor Man.”

Andrew Wartts, based in Bloomington, Illinois, recorded his landmark gospel album There Is A God Somewhere album in the early 1980s and released it on the small Champ imprint based in Nashville, Tennessee. It took funk archivists years to discover this gem, but it’s a timely resurface. Wartts sound – a mixture of soulful, funky, melancholic yet celebratory exhortations to the Lord – belies the music’s age. In a time when most contemporary-leaning Gospel acts were moving towards the “boogie” sounds of then-pop stars such as Prince and Rick James, Wartts stood firm in his commitment to James Brown style funk. As an example, check out “Peter And John,” a quirky riff on “Give It Up, Turn It Loose.” Turning around neatly in 4/4, the rhythm section chooses to skirt, rather than emphasize, “the one.” The result is a slightly off putting, but wholly original entry into the Gospel-Funk archives.

Egon has worked with HAIR composer Galt MacDermot since he was a college student, living in Brooklyn every summer and commuting to MacDermot’s house in Staten Island. Anthologies such as Shapes Of Rhythm/Woman Is Sweeter, Up From The Basement and Galt MacDermot In Film are some of the collaborative projects Egon assembled for MacDermot’s Kilmarnock Records imprint.

Records like Oh No’s Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms and “Mash” from J Dilla’s Donuts are the result of Egon spreading MacDermot’s musical gospel.

Recently, Egon visited MacDermot in New York to check in on the pre-production of HAIR’s revival on Broadway and help DOOM clear the use of MacDermot’s “Princess Gika” for his newly released “That’s That.” Along the way, he got the chance to have lunch with MacDermot, bassist Wilbur “Bad” Bascomb and legendary drummer Bernard Purdie.

Buy it here.

01. Introduction – James Tatum Trio Plus (Edit)
02. Gol-E Gandom – Lloyd Miller
03. Paul’s Ark – Morris Wilson Beau Bailey Quintet
04. Bada Que Bash – P.E. Hewitt Jazz Ensemble
05. Ayo Ayo Nene – Mor Thiam
06. All Praises To Allah – The Lightmen Plus One (Edit)
07. Nomusa – Ndikho Xaba & The Natives
08. Neveen – Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band
09. The Afrikan In Winter – The Positive Force With Ade Olatunji
10. No Jive – The Frank Derrick Total Experience
11. Ja Mill – Hastings Street Jazz Experience
12. The Will Come, Is Now – Ronnie Boykins
13. Be There – Leon Gardner
14. Psych City – Ohio Penitentiary 511 Jazz Ensemble (Edit)

NA 5042, CD (North America Only) 2009

Produced for reissue by Gerald Short, North American version produced by Eothen Alapatt.
Researched and compiled by Malcolm Catto, Hugo Mendez, Gerald Short and Eothen Alapatt

Now-Again has signed MRR-ADM, a production team from Southern California. The group formerly recorded under the name MHE for Sound In Color. They self-manufactured 1,000 copies of their debut album and there are no plans for a repress.

Their music is simple to describe: it’s all about rhythm. Drums to be exact. Heavy, syncopated, driving. Followed by the bass. Percussive, insistent. Perhaps some guitar. Biting, raspy. Analog synth sounds? Absolutely. As long as they’re dark.

If those descriptions sound similar to those that you might find on the back of those production library LPs from the likes of KPM, Dewolfe, Southern, Peer or other imprints whose sole purpose was to supply talented musicians with a blank disc which they could then inscribe with sounds of their liking, well, congrats to you. You’ve touched on MRR-ADM’s mantra. No contrived, commercial formulas needed. Just a theme, built upon for a number of tracks pressed onto wax and sold to radio stations, film and television editors and ad agencies across the world.

MRR-ADM are concerned with stark, dark minimalism, whether in their design or in their sound. Their first six songs – complex in their seeming simplicity – are their favorites from the first round of recordings that they made over the past five years. But they are only an introduction. There is much more to come.