lockdown : vinyl find #16.

Most people from my parents' generation know Galt McDermot's music without even knowing his name. They know the musical "Hair", but ignore who was the author. 

I heard about McDermot not as the brain and hands behind "Hair", but as the guy who had been sampled by Handsome Boy Modeling School (Prince Paul + Dan The Automator) for the song "The truth" (on the "So... how's your girl" album, which, to be honest, would deserve a post as well), and from the day I heard this track, I had to know more... so it became a quest. 

Perhaps Galt McDermot was smarter than most of his peers, perharps he just felt that need to release his own music without compromise, the fact is his most significant music pieces were released on his own imprint, Kilmarnock, which seems to be still active today (although very quiet), after his death.

The Kilmarnock original pressings are pretty damn impossible to get in a regular European record store, so ten years ago, when I was eager to get my hand on McDermot's records, I had to settle for reissues. Which was fine to me ; at the time, they were very cheap, and still made by Kilmarnock. 

Having spent part of his life in Africa, McDermot's music, although comparable to smooth jazz (before it was called that), adds a different groove to it. Which is probably why it managed to travel through time...

In the 1990's and at the beginning of the 2000's, Galt McDermot was rediscovered by diggers, and beatmakers used his work to craft memorable beats. Madlib and his clique (notably his brother Oh No) even collaborated with him, proving Galt was a very open-minded person. Surfing on that re-fame, Kilmarnock released two volumes of previously unreleased tracks, which contain absolute gems, that everyone should listen, plus other old albums, such as the one I'm blogging about today.

What this album has to offer is a piano-bar feel. Galt is on the keys, accompanied by a guitar player, a bass player and... Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums. It contains this absolute beauty that is "Coffee cold", where Purdie provides his magic behind Galt's display of sensitivity. Highly sensual. But it would be a mistake to only listen to this one track... 

Galt MacDermot and his mid Manhattan rhythm section - Shapes of rhythm.

 Here's the album, in full.

Egon (from Rappcats, Stones Throw, Now-Again etc.), who contributed to the rediscovery of Galt McDermot's music with his friends Madlib, J Dilla and Oh No, wrote a fine obituary after McDermot passed in 2018. Definitely worth a read of you want to know about his life and works.