Grover Washington, Jr.
< author: ill lit >
Not to be confused with that lil blue mo-fo from Seseme Street, Grover Washington, Jr. is one of the most sampled jazz artists in the history of history. Lemme go back… In the beginning there were Bob James, Roy Ayres, and Grover Washington, Jr. These men (sexist as it may be) comprised the holy trinity of hip-hop jazz sampling. A-to-the-men.
Currently, the used vinly rack at Relative is being blessed by a, dare I say, near-mint copy of G.Wash’s Skylarkin’. The heater is “I Can’t Help It,” which was (*takes deep breath) co-written by Stevie Wonder, sung by Michael Jackson on Off the Wall, and sampled by De La Soul for the “Breakadawn” bassline (*wipes sweat from brow). The De La sample is what makes this track unmistakable and essential to golden-age-hip-hop-fan-beatdiggers.
One must recognize that like most brilliant jazz musicians, Grover surrounded himself with greatness. So, percussion duties on Skylarkin’ go to the mighty Idris Muhammed and the always-on-time Ralph MacDonald. Not suprisingly, the entire album is fresh like eighty-five with or without the De La sample.
June 18th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
June 19th, 2006 at 12:23 am
j dub’s comment is kind of perverse and offensive.
probably even more than college radio (and this is saying a lot) hip hop taught me about great music once i started wondering where samples came from.
thank you, shaolin soul compilations and stones throw records.
my friend and i had a strange habit when digging up sample sources of referring to things as “de la samples,” as if the greats of soul, funk, and jazz had taken their samples from prince paul rather than the other way around.
that evolved into a joke my other friend and i shared about de la being very “retroactively influential.”
listening to the roy ayres ubiquity compilation was shocking in that i knew all the rhythms and flourishes and was totally ignorant as to where they came from.
June 19th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Yeah man, my boy Dash of Tribe of Kings sound says “hip-hop is an educator–straight up.” The Native Tongues sound is a great example of that: teaching you about classic jazz. They sent me back too, way back.
Sometimes it’s not even classic jazz. Sometimes I rock that Edie Brickell joint on account of Brand Nubian!!! Ish is fiyah!