quête:willie west

The mystified sound emanating from the disc in question belongs to the flute wielding monster Ernie Hawks. This dynamic player has grazed the airwaves of the worldwide underground for the past two decades. Now it's his star time.This two-tracker single from Ernie's debut album "Scorpio Man" sinks the listener deep into the moods of European library music and American instrumental funk classics. On "Journey To The Bottom", backed with fuzzy synth lines, he and The Soul Investigators explore emotional funk to the fullest. Their raw sound has pushed artists like Nicole Willis, Myron & E as well as Willie West to new heights before and now it's Ernie Hawks, who holds the torch.The intro of the title track "Scorpio Man" should give the breakbeat friends something to get excited about, while the rest of the track pushes the listener into the midst of a exploitation chase scene. It's possible that it's been a while since you've heard something as hard as well as uncomplicated and sincere. Keep your senses open for the coming full-length, it should drop like a bomb soon enough.

This is the new digitally remastered 2015 expanded edition of Soul Jazz Records' biggest ever selling release, 100% Dynamite! Ska, Soul, Rocksteady and Funk in Jamaica.
Since the album's original release nearly twenty years ago, 100% Dynamite has become a cornerstone of reggae: eighteen killer tracks that show the influence that American Jazz, Funk and Soul music had on Jamaican Reggae.
The proximity of the West Indies to the USA meant that many Jamaican musicians were influenced by American styles of music whilst at the same time defining new styles of their own such as Ska, Rocksteady and Dub.
100% Dynamite features some serious Jamaican funk by Jackie Mittoo, The Upsetters and Toots & The Maytals, the cream of Jamaica's jazz musicians such as Tommy McCook, Cedric Brooks and Lennie Hibbert. Also included here are heavyweight Reggae versions to Soul classics by Marlena Shaw's 'Woman of the Ghetto', Aretha Franklin's 'Rocksteady', Syl Johnson's 'Is It Because I'm Black', William DeVaughan's seminal 'Be Thankful' and more.
100% Dynamite also features revolutionary tunes such as Johnny Osbourne's 'We Need Love', Sound Dimension's 'Drum Song' and Lloyd Robinson's 'Cuss Cuss', songs that helped define a unique sound for Jamaican music in the sixties and seventies. These influences went both ways - check Brentford All Stars massive 'Greedy G', the basis for Boogie Down Productions' 'Jack of Spades', or Willie Williams' 'Armageddon Time', later covered by The Clash.
This new expanded edition features seminal tracks from the greatest Jamaican producers - Clement Dodd, Lee Perry, Winston Riley (Techniques) and many more.
The album is available as CD, heavyweight double vinyl (+download), plus digital.