Radio LBB: Roots Vol. 31

Now into its sixth year and the 31st edition. For the uninitiated, the Roots playlist showcases an eclectic range of music from across the globe of unfamiliar, forgotten, or recently discovered to the most upfront sounds of now, all with the common theme of being rooted in Africa.

Some of the highlights this time round include:

Fred Williams – Tell Her

This is an incredible bit of rare soul, dug up from the archives by the tireless Edinburgh reissue label Athens of the North. Little is known about Fred Williams, or his Jewel Band, beyond this one 7” single, originally released in 1969. A heart-breaking romance, it’s addressed as a message to a lost love from the singer’s hometown. But even more than the content, Williams’ voice drips with soulful anguish, which the instrumental, in spite of its minimal arrangement is deep, dark, catchy and perfectly formed.

Mary Lou Williams – Miss D.D.

A criminally underrated jazz composer and pianist, Mary Lou Williams wrote for household names like Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and was a friend and mentor to Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie, to name but a few. Born in 1910, she was regularly performing around Pittsburgh by the age of 7, known fondly as ‘the little piano girl’ and was recognised by Louis Armstrong at 12. In 1954 she stepped away from piano suddenly and converted to Catholicism, but her return to recording, the stunning Black Christ of the Andes, first performed in 1962 and based around a hymn in honour of the Peruvian saint Martin de Porres, was some of her richest work to date. Miss D.D. is a short, meditative piece, with a modal, luxurious feel, the piano underpinned by a barely audible double bass and shaker.

Willie Lindo – Midnight

Originally titled ‘Midnight and You’, this track was written by Barry White and released in 1974. A year later the Jamaican multi-instrumentalist maestro, Willie Lindo, reimagined the track as a woozy, romantic, and psychedelic reggae number. A sweet and cheeky red herring in the opening, the track begins with the walking bassline backed by a slow breakbeat, sultry whispers, and Rhodes organ, giving an East coast soul feel of the kind beloved by hip hop diggers like J Dilla. It soon gives the game away, however, dropping into an ultra-cool reggae backbeat, topped with languid guitar soloing and falsetto harmonies in the backing vocals.

Mongo Santamaria – O Mi Shango

Mongo Santamaria is an absolute titan of Cuban music. The conga drummer was hugely influential in the Pachanga and boogaloo dance crazes of the '60s, and had a global hit with his cover of Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man. Cutting his teeth on rumba in in the streets of Jesús María in Havana, he visited Mexico in the late '40s and eventually moved to New York City to play the congas for Tito Puente. He was a phenomenal arranger as evidenced by this incredible piece, O Mi Shango, which trades cross-rhythms for cross-rhythms in a polyrhythmic frenzy that’s as baffling as it is groovy,

Ranking Ann & Mad Professor – Moonlight lover

Ann Swinton, aka Rankin Ann, stormed on the scene in London in the late '70s, performing with her brother’s Black Rock sound system. Her debut record, Liberated Woman, led to her being touted as a ‘feminist reggae singer’, an epithet that she rejected, feeling that it diminished her individuality. Her early releases caught the attention of a bona fide legend of UK dub culture, Mad Professor, who produced her debut album ‘A Slice of English Toast’. Nowhere near as beige as its title suggests, the album is full of the Professors prism pushing early 80s production techniques, full of abstracting delays, dub sirens, and alien sounding percussion. Rankin Ann’s languid delivery epitomises laid back cool, at its peak in the bass-heavy, slower than slow, Moonlight Lover.

These are just some of the highlights in what I hope is an enjoyable musical journey that spans across continents, generations and genres…

A huge thanks go out to labels such as Now Again, Light In The Attic, Numero Uno and Luv N’ Haight, Analog Africa, Music From Memory, Africa Seven, Far Out Recordings, Strut, Mr Bongo and Soundway, who continue to unearth some of the most unique and amazing music that may have otherwise never seen the light of day.