VINYL COMES ALIVE IN NASHVILLE
While DJ's like Pete Rock and Premier are known for pioneering the art of crate diggin', Nashville underground hip-hop duo Count Bass-D and Egon take the concept into another realm with their second annual Ultimate Beats and Breaks concert on April 8th.
Not content to merely spin breaks for the crowd, the pair have programmed a progressive night of the real thing in Nashville as pianist Galt MacDermot is set to bring the funk live.
Macdermot's music is the basis for popular samples from Busta Rhymes ("Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check"), Run-D.M.C. ("Down With The King") and several others. He will be joined on stage by longtime bandmates Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums, and bassist Wilbur "Bad" Bascomb.
"Imagine this," organizer Egon described to Platform. "You have the samplers and samplees, the innovators and the innovated-- all sharing the stage, all bringing a wonderful sound to hundreds of people. Education can be fun..."
Also joining in on fun will be live breakbeat re-creators Breakestra, along with several top DJ's, including vinyl fiends Shortkut (fresh off a tour with Tommy Lee's Methods of Mayhem), Peanut Butter Wolf, Mr. Dibbs, Egon, Signify and John Doe.
From the April 4th edition of In Review's Weekly Picks:
Ultimate Breaks & Beats 2 by Venus Envy
Peanut Butter Wolf, Dibbs, Shortkut, Jon Doe and Signify will rectify... exactly why... Nashville's name blazes in the hip hop sky. WRVU's Egon has put together a line-up that intertwines hip hop's roots, rhythm, rhyme, and ruckus. Hosted by ultra-skilled rhymer Count Bass D and, of course, Egon (who will be on four tables with DJ Signify), UBB2 will featutre composer of the Broadway musical Hair/often-sampled pioneer of the funk movement Galt MacDermot, Breakestra Orchestra, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, and bassist Wilbur "Bad" Bascomb. Don't hesitate at the gate; get there early. If you weren't there last year, ask somebody! This is not to be missed!
From the April 6th edition of the Nashville Scene's 8 Days Critics' Picks:
Ultimate Breaks & Beats 2 by Jim Ridley
Last spring, Vanderbilt's WRVU-FM rocked 328 Performance Hall with its Ultimate Breaks and Beats benefit, named for the legendary vinyl compilations that introduced a generation of deejays, MCs, and turntablists to the funky grooves that would lay hip-hop's foundation. The benefit was as visionary as its namesake, bringing together veteran jazz and funk artists with block-rocking beatmasters. This weekend, 91 Rock's graduating DJ Egon bids farewell with the second UB&B benefit at 328, which if anything is even more impressive. Three world-class deejays are returning to Nashville just for the show: Cincinnati's electrifying Mr. Dibbs and San Francisco's Shortkut and Peanut Butter Wolf. But the biggest news is the appearance by Galt MacDermot, whose groove-laden solo records provided samples for everyone from Busta Rhymes to The Beatnuts. He'll be teamed with a truly momentus rhythm section: drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie (whose credits include James Brown's "Cold Sweat," Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft") and veteran bassit Wilbur "Bad" Bascomb. Count Bass D, L.A. funkateers the Breakestra Quartet, DJ Jon Doe, and DJ Signify with Egon (on four turntables) boost this bill to def-con status. Turn out and support the city's coolest radio station.
From the April 6th edition of The Tennessean:
Hip-Hop to the beat at WRVU benefit
Last year more than 1,000 hip-hop and funk enthusiasts packed 328 Performance Hall for Ultimate Breaks and Beats, WRVU's benefit gala.
The student radio station is at it again.
First of all, Friday night is its monthly funder, Shapes of Rhythm, a funk, hip-hop evening at The End.
But the big gig comes Saturday at 328, when WRVU melds funk performances with hip-hop. Headliners include pianist Galt MacDermot, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and bassist Wilbur "Bad" Bascomb. MacDermot is best known as the composer of the Broadway musical Hair, but helped pioneer the funk movment in America with LPs released independently on his Kilmarnock record label with such musicians as Idris Muhammad, Jimmy Lewis and Seldon Powell.
Ultimate Breaks will feature MacDermot and his trio rocking a set of the composer's funk classics.
Purdie and Bascomb are no slouches, either.
The former has drummed for James Brown, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis and Steely Dan.
Bascomb, the bassist on classic sessions with the likes of Jeff Beck, has released 45s and LPs that have been sampled by artists from DJ Shadow to Special Ed to the Wu-Tang Clan!
These three have been playing together for almost 30 years. There will be no horn players, no guitarists.
From the hip-hop side of things will be DJ Shortkut, turtablist from the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and the Beat Junkies, taking time out from his ongoing tour with Motley Crue rocker turned hopper Tommy Lee.
Peanut Butter Wolf, a Bay Area star who just released his debut album, will be here too. And returning from last year is Mr. Dibbs.
And there will be plenty more for funksters and hip-hoppers to enjoy.
And one review...
From the April 11th edition of the The Toronto Star on-line:
NASHVILLE - Vanderbilt University's campus radio station, WRVU-FM, held its annual Ultimate Breaks And Beats fundraiser here Saturday night, drawing hundreds of students who swayed to the DJ sounds of Cincinnati scratch wonder Mr. Dibbs, the turntable magic of San Francisco's Shortkut and the live funk of Los Angeles quintet Breakestra.
But the biggest cheers were reserved for the star attraction, a 71-year-old grey-haired legend sitting at the grand piano: Montreal-born composer Galt MacDermot. Fronting a trio that included the ace veteran rhythm section of drummer Bernard Purdie and bass player Wilbur ``Bas'' Bascomb, MacDermot pounded out funky versions of a prolific repertoire that has been spread over 50 years, including a vibrant rendition of ``Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In'' from the landmark 1968 Broadway musical Hair, which left the DJs and the crowd moving and grooving in awe.
``I found them delightful,'' MacDermot said of his attentive audience after his 40-minute slot. ``I was quite astounded the way they responded, and especially that they recognized certain phrasings of my music.''
Thanks to sampling - the art of incorporating previously recorded musical passages into new arrangements - MacDermot is bridging the generation gap and finding his music in vogue again. Rapper Busta Rhymes scored a big hit in 1996 with ``Woo Hah (Got You All In Check),'' which incorporated MacDermot's ``Space.'' Beck, The Beatnuts and Run-DMC have had varying degrees of recording success utilizing his syncopated melodies.
``The DJ crowd also likes `Coffee Cold,' although I don't understand why,'' MacDermot says. ``One person told me he cries every time he hears it.''
For his rare Nashville appearance, MacDermot was recruited by enterprising student Eothen Alapatt. Alapatt, known professionally as DJ Egon, worked for MacDermot's son Vincent last summer. He discovered a stack of vinyl records in the basement and began selling them.
``Eothen is one of these guys who collects old vinyl records,'' MacDermot explains. ``He's a DJ, and he picked up on a couple of my records - Shapes Of Rhythm and Woman Is Sweeter, which were really just piano and rhythm.''
MacDermot seems to be tickled by the attention he's receiving from the hip-hop and dance music fronts, and says he listens to and appreciates the scenes. ``I like hearing what they do. I appreciate that they always pick the best things - the groovy bass parts. It brings back the elements of jazz that I love back to life.''
For the full story, click on the following link: Hair, there and everywhere
