Sunday Morning

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Oddly enough, Ahmad Jamal came up in conversation at a party last night so that's my pick for this week's Sunday record. It would be tough to choose a favorite, but The Awakening, his 1970 recording for Impulse, is definitely on the short list. Some cuts:


"The Awakening"


"Dolphin Dance" (written by Herbie Hancock)


"I Love Music"


"Wave" (Antonio Carlos Jobim)


"Stolen Moments" (Oliver Nelson)

(Photos by the great and underappreciated Chuck Stewart)

Almost all of the songs on The Awakening have been sampled in different ways for some true hip-hop classics:


Nas "The World Is Yours" (produced by Pete Rock) from Illmatic (1994, Columbia)


Shadez of Brooklyn "Change" 12-inch (produced by Da Beatminerz, 1996, Pandemonium/Tape Kingz)


Pete Rock & CL Smooth "It's On You" from The Main Ingredient (1994, Elektra)


DJ Premier beat for Jeru the Damaja "Me Or the Papes" from Wrath of the Math (1996, Payday)

So, um, there you have it, what I'm listening to this bright and sunny Sunday morning.

Come Clean

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Chloe Spring 2011.
Phoebe Philo's influence is clear,
but Hannah MacGibbon has had plenty of company
on that score (notwithstanding the resurgence
of color on the Spring runways).
If it's good, it's good.
[style.com]

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As long as we're on the subject of the recent revival of 90s minimalism – some classic Premier to start your day:


Jeru the Damaja, "Come Clean"
(Instrumental, prod. DJ Premier)
from The Sun Rises in the East (1993)

Memory Lane

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I've wanted to write some stuff about this, but haven't had time, and now the night is upon us, so here it is:

The Foundation was a long-running night started in the mid-'90s by Sureshot, Supreme, Soul and myself at a bar in downtown Seattle called the Art Bar. Sureshot, Supreme and I deejayed a bunch of different places (Re-Bar, Crocodile, etc.) to finance our record label, Conception Records, but with Soul promoting, it took off. At first it was called Nitty Gritty because we were playing rare groove, but after awhile it morphed into almost all hip-hop, and we called it The Foundation (the ad-lib at the beginning of the Group Home song "Tha Realness" made me think of it). A bunch of different people started spinning with us and the night got huge – I would always try to spin first so I could play underground stuff that wouldn't really work for the dance floor later on. At one point they showed the flyer (designed by Modern Dog) on MTV because it was one of the longest running hip-hop nights in the country. Anyway, long story short, Emily and I moved to New York in 1999 and it went on for several years after that. Tuesday night the original cast of characters re-unites at the Lodge. It will be a fun party, you should come over.


Nas "Memory Lane" (Prod. DJ Premier) from Illmatic, 1994

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Update: Thanks to everyone who came out, it was cool reconnecting with a bunch of different people from way back and dusting off some old cuts. Special thanks to Soul and Alonso for putting it together, to Marcus for hosting, and to Kutfather and J. Moore for emceeing.

Royalty

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