A Musical Journey Featuring AZ, Juicy, Eumir Deodato, Kool & The Gang, and Amir Bayyan
A Musical Journey Featuring AZ, Juicy, Eumir Deodato, Kool & The Gang, and Amir Bayyan
Some nice discoveries from my latest rabbit hole.
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Last week my wife and I took a two-day mini vacation. It was really nice - lots of good food, walking around, exploring, and time spent on the beach.
During our time away I decided to revisit AZ’s 1995 debut Doe or Die. I shared the album cover and a link to the Pete Rock-produced song “Rather Unique” in the Micro-Chop Twitter feed, which sparked a very positive reaction. One sentiment I shared with a reader was how well most of the album held up against the sands of time. Even the obvious samples/interpolations on tracks like “Sugar Hill” still sound great.
Once my wife and I were back from our trip I started listening to Juicy’s 1985 single “Sugar Free,” an oft-sampled hit that served as the source material and chorus inspiration for “Sugar Hill.” Talk about a piece of music that holds up well. I realized Eumir Deodato produced the song when I decided to share it on Twitter it, a detail I had totally missed up until a few days ago.
This of course led me to a Eumir Deodato rabbit hole, which included a stop at Kool & The Gang’s 1981 LP Something Special, a record he co-produced with the group. After listening to the album I especially I loved the track “Be My Lady” and decided to share it with my audience.
Listening to Something Special led to some time spent exploring the individual members of Kool & The Gang, including Amir Abdul-Salaam Bayyan a.k.a. Kevin Ricardo Bell. Amir Bayyan is the younger brother of the group’s co-founding brothers Robert "Kool" Bell aka Muhammad Bayyan and his late brother Ronald Bell aka Khalis Bayyan.
As a member of Forecast, Kool & The Gang, and The Kay-Gees, Amir Bayyan built his musical chops over the years and earned his first production credit in 1980 with “Big Foot Boogie” by Brisko The Kidd.
Bayyan added much more to his production resume during the 1980s and beyond, working with artists like Jimmy Cliff, Gloria Gaynor, and Betty Wright. One of his early productions that really caught my ear is Tomorrow’s Edition’s “U Turn Me On” from their 1982 record A Song For Everyone. This cut showcases Bayyan’s smooth, energetic production and knack for funky breakdowns as well as the group’s vocals, which are complimented at times by some tasteful use of effects.
Sadly, A Song For Everyone is Tomorrow’s Edition’s lone full-length release. Though it holds up quite well after 40 years and is regarded as a funk classic by some enthusiastic Discogs users, it is out of print and not available on streaming in any official capitiy. Thankfully, dedicated YouTube curator OldSchoolChibani (a must follow) has everyone covered with an upload.
Studying album credits to see who engineered, mastered, mixed, and produced different records often leads to all sorts of interesting and important finds. In this case, the random decision to revisit a favorite album from my middle and high school years sparked a series of discoveries that led to Amir Bayyan’s impressive body of work. After looking over his vast list of Discogs credits I know I’ll be busy studying his catalog for quite some time.