va -- "Happening Sunday" [Graham's X-mas Comp '2020]

 

 

Let's not forget dancing is a vital activity - and that the right to dance has being threatened in many places this past year! Red-nose-alert! I hope this x-mas comp will help fight this dangerous tendancy.

Starting with the very uplifting 60's-group-sound-mock "Rouge No Dengon" by Japanese pop singer Yumi Matsutoya, this selection browses through many genres (Indian classical repertoire with superstars Lata Mangeshkar and Bhimsen Joshi, early Brazilian bossa-jazz with Walter Wanderley and jazz-fuzzion with Hermeto Pascoal's Brazilian Octopus, Anatolian Psych-folk with Alpay, Colombian Groove-Pop with Elia y Elizabeth, Leon Thomas and Pharaoh Sanders' magnificent spiritual jazz anthem "The Creator Has A Masterplan", Lalo Schifrin and Jimmy Smith's sixties classic "The Cat", the Rahbani brothers' heartbreaking "Mali Ou Malak" sung by Mona Marachly, Nina Simone's classic version of Aretha Franklin's "Save Me", etc)...

A few outsiders to be noticed : big-band leader Count Basie's surprising marimba-led "Afrique", composed and arranged by Oliver Nelson ; UK TV composer Ron Grainer's oddest single (a wild, weird and groovy yet forgotten version of the Prisoner's theme that he composed for Patrick McGoohan's cult series, and its B-side, the no-less weird "Happening Sunday"), Paul McCartney's cheapo avant-garde disco-dub-dub nonsense B-side "Check My Machine"... and finally, a song that will be featured on Les Pythons De La Fournaise's upcoming LP "L'Orchestre Du Piton", the beautiful "Maloya Tantine".

Thanks: Irène & Luc, Derya, Benny, Cam Cam, Mathieu, Doug, Warmchops