Dick's Summer Playlist

[DLaurent]

I'm going to do a Summer Playlist in this thread, I saw other people have been invited to do them. I don't think I'm well known or quite cool enough in music taste to do one, so hope I'm not getting the way too much. There will be no 'anthems' like Summer in the City, hopefully not too much flute, or Lonnie Liston Smith, but probably a lot of fusion type stuff as that's what I've been listening to a lot having recently discovered WJZZ Detroit. I'll try and write some accompaniments to the videos I post, but quite often don't know much about the music other than I like it.

Hopefully I'll gain some momentum, but am going fishing again this evening, so might take a few days to get going depending...

I'll start with Mr Fingers at his most chilled, putting the 'lounge' into house music way back in 1992, a deep bass line and definitely deep summer vibes in my book.

1) Mr Fingers - Closer

 

[DLaurent]

Like a lot of my selections they've been discovered and sampled way before me hearing them, but this ones a great beatless freak out track, I think it's some kind of Rhodes played through various effects and pedals and somehow comes out sounding like a guitar. Shrug.

2) George Duke - North Beach

 

[DLaurent]

Disco is Summer music for me, just feel good dance floor stuff, so hold tight for some more tunes of a similar vibe.

3) Change - Hold Tight

 

[Leo]

Like a lot of my selections they've been discovered and sampled way before me hearing them, but this ones a great beatless freak out track, I think it's some kind of Rhodes played through various effects and pedals and somehow comes out sounding like a guitar. Shrug.

2) George Duke - North Beach

wow, didn't realize duke did stuff like this. thanks for sharing.

 

[DLaurent]

I'm feeling the beatless synthy jazz fusion type tracks too. I don't know that many really, Jack DeJohnette has a few in that vein. Which leads me nicely to this track I found by Joe Zawinul with weird vocoder vocals.

4) Joe Zawinul - The Great Empire

 

[DLaurent]

Not all my tracks are going to be explicitly about summertime but this freestyle track is so deserves a place. I think it's an early Todd Terry production.

5) Nocera - Summertime, Summertime

 

[DLaurent]

A classic Neptunes beat. Either top down in your convertible cruising or blaring out a BBQ take your pick.

6) 702 - I Still Love You (Instrumental)

 

[DLaurent]

I'll generally listen to a different style of jazz in summer. I said there would be some jazz and fusion in the thread. This is a modal piece that reminds me a bit of Maiden Voyage, at least the opening chords.

7) Ira Sullivan - Horizons

 

[DLaurent]

What instrument could be intrinsically more summery than a marimba so here's a late night trance inducing Steve Reich.

8) Steve Reich - Six Marimbas

 

[DLaurent]

I don't know who Bleeding Gums Murphy is based on but I've always thought that my favourite jazz sax man Joe Henderson was the man. There's a version with Flora Purim but the original Henderson version is probably more consummate.

9) Joe Henderson - Black Narcissus

 

[DLaurent]

Ridin' high to this one. It has been windy this year is a sublime Donald Byrd arrangement.

10) Donald Byrd - Wind Parade

 

[DLaurent]

Follows on from the last. Smokey mellow rhodes and a stormy turnaroud. The backing singers are on point and it's a typical of the era well thought out arrangement.

11) Smokey Robinson - Quiet Storm

 

[DLaurent]

This is the kind of smooth jazz track that could front Good Morning Britain. I think from reading the wiki on it, it was actually on weather stations in the US, and has the Emu Loon Bird sample at the start.

12) The Rippingtons - Moonlighting

 

[DLaurent]

I think Jan Akkerman was a member of the prog rock band Focus but he shows off his wah wah guitar playing skills on this track, 70s porn vibes done well.

13) Jan Akkerman - Skydancer

 

[DLaurent]

I think I first heard this on this forum but it's a great steel guitar rendition of 'Summertime'.

14) Santo & Johnny - Summertime

 

[DLaurent]

Here's a mix I found of an 80s RnB classic that's nice and spacious production, Trevor Horn eat your heart out stuff.

15) Al B Sure - Nite and Day (12” Extended Mix)

 

[thirdform]

connoisseur list, someone make them into a youtube playlist.

 

[woops]

connoisseur list, someone make them into a youtube playlist.

2nded

 

[DLaurent]

Cheers but I am honestly no connoisseur! Part of why I like putting the effort into making playlists is for my own exploration, so sometimes I just have to choose videos and hopefully learn in the process. Picturing myself as an 80s WJZZ DJ for a second, I have to play some crowd pleasers before it gets all too Kenny G, as a lot of it seemed to be, but I picture it with electro beat interludes and suddenly smooth jazz doesn't seem so bad!

16) Herbie Hancock - Autodrive

 

[DLaurent]

I don't know that much Jean Luc Ponty. I think of JLP and know he's an electric violin player and Theo Parrish plays his track In The Fast Lane. This one is brilliant too.

17) Jean Luc Ponty - Computer Incantations for World Peace