A LITTLE BIT OF JAZZ TONIGHT MAKES ME FEEL ALRIGHT

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This blog is being re-posted.  Originally it ran in 2010 but now I have a zip with even more mixes in it.



I hate speaking in absolutes but A Little Bit of Jazz by the Nick Straker Band is quite frankly my favorite disco song of all time. It spent one week at #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play Chart in 1981.
BONUS: STRAIGHT AHEAD
JIMMY M MIX
THE ZIP OF THE JAZZ

My friend Jimmy M, a DJ based out of Arizona even created an edit for me for my birthday a couple years ago. Since I'm a Gemini and it's almost my special day again I thought I'd bring it out for you all to enjoy. He definitely played up some of the sound effects that I love so much in this song. Give me rocket ships, cowbells and whistles in my disco and you've put a smile on my face!
Another edit in the zip is by my friend Greg Womack.  He just left this earth late summer but I can assure you that he'd be thrilled to be included in this zip along with the fantastic Shep Pettibone Master Mix version.

I remember one time I was at The Loft in it's most recent home at the Ukranian Center on 2nd Avenue in the East Village and it came on. I was dancing and grooving and just feeling it and the next thing I knew I was crying. Tears of joy thank you very much. It just sounded so right, so delish. It wasn't the first time I've felt ecstasy on a dance-floor but it was one of the most powerful ones.

A Little Bit of Jazz was one of the fiercest Shep Pettibone Mastermixes made famous on the great series that New York Disco Radio Station WKYS (KISS) and Prelude records put out in 1982.  Check out my blog on Shep Pettibone.  Remember you can use the search function above to find out which things I've written about before.  If the links are dead feel free to ask me to refresh for you and if I can I will.

Please try to show appreciation for my blog.  Thanks much!

A Sharon Redd Retrospective….IN THE NAME OF LOVE….

In honor of the gay pride festivities around the world I've decided to post this gem again.
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It's been a few years since I started this blog and I can't remember if I've ever done a proper Sharon Redd retrospective.  It would only be right as Sharon is probably the disco diva I hold closest to my heart.  Hhmm why might you ask?  Well in reality most of the other disco diva's were kinda before my time.  As much as I loved them I was too young to go to clubs.  But by the time Sharon was churning them out I was in the clubs dancing away night after night.  And Sharon was often there too doing a public appearance. I've probably seen her live five times.  Perhaps also because she was from Norfolk and I was going to university in D.C.

She started as a back-up singer for Bette Midler also known as The Harlettes.  In 1978 she was on an album with two other gals Ula Hedwig and Charlotte Crossley billed as formerly the Harlettes.  Then she was part of a group of people led by Luther Vandross on the album Soiree along with Fonzi Thornton, Jocelyn Brown, Yvonne Lewis and again Ula Hedwig.  They did a gorgeous remake of You Keep me Hanging On among other cuts.  Then in 1979 still not getting top billing her voice was the magic behind Love Insurance (hot edit) a #1 disco hit for Front Page.  SHAZZY ZIP 1  SHAZZY ZIP 2

redd zip

By this point she was very much on my radar.  So when Can you Handle It came out in late 1980 I was ready for the full on occupation of this disco diva.  Then when the Shep Pettibone WKYS master mix came out New York City was all about Sharon Redd and Can you Handle it.  I'd venture to say that it was one of the most satisfying remixes of an already fabulous record that I had ever heard at that point.  The sassiness of the track was pumped up deeply and the clubs like The Paradise Garage and Zanzibar had found a major anthem for the season.  In the U.K. even the downtempo Love is Gonna Get You saw a twelve inch release.

Shep is still brining them joy on a dance floor thirty years later!  

The next album Redd Hott seemed much more geared towards the gay crowd.  Now Sharon was more of a Saint disco diva then Zanzibar but in any case she had her first #1 on the Billboard disco charts and the album had several huge dance-floor anthems including Never Give You Up, Beat the Street and In the Name of Love (particularly adored by the gay crowds and subject to many remixes).  In the U.K. even the downtempo Takin' a Chance on Love was released on twelve inch.  

 

The 1983 album Love How You Feel was sort of Sharon's last hurrah.  It featured hits like the title song, You're a Winner and Liar on the Wire but they just weren't as big as her earlier dance floor stompers.  

 Many of Sharon's remixes were done by the genius Francois Kevorkian.  No doubt increasing their appeal on dance floors worldwide.

Her last twelve inch single for Prelude Undercover Girl came out in 1985 and was not that great it was followed up by 1988's Second to None which was sort of a weak attempt to cash in on the then popular freestyle sound and it remains pretty obscure though not bad really.  The vocals are distinctly Sharon and Sharon can SANG!  

On May 1, 1992 she succumbed to A.I.D.S. and I remember really feeling really sad that day.   It had been a minute since I had heard any Sharon but she had held a special place in my heart as she does now.  I hope you enjoy the two zips I have provided.  They include most of her hits and quite a few more recent edits that have been going around.

THIS IS HOT PAMALA STANLEY a disco memory

It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school.  My parents decided that I should spend some time with my cousins in Brooklyn.  They were cool, typical guido types, and they loved their disco.  98.7 KISS WRKS was the #1 radio station in N.Y.C. that summer.  So I said to my cousins "take me to Brooklyn, I'm going to KISS and they're going to give me records."

They thought I was crazy but sort of drove me into Manhattan on a dare.  I got the address out of the phone book.  Just barely a teen I went right into the building and up to the floor where the radio station was.  I explained to the receptionist that I had a public access t.v. show in Connecticut about music called Music Corner.  And that it was always handy for me to have promo records to write about and feature on the program.  She smiled at me and went to talk to someone.  I think it was the program director.  He took me into another room and walked me up to a metal cabinet.  He opened it and pointed to a huge pile and said "take those."

They were all new disco promo records and on the top of the pile was this l.p. by a new singer I'd never heard of called Pamala Stanley.  My copy, like this one had the hole punch going through it.  Later in the week when I got back to Danbury I put this l.p. on my stereo and instantly loved it.  From the first notes of This is Hot to the hypnotic beat of Hey Mr. Magic.  It eventually became a minor hit peaking at #16 on the Billboard Disco charts.  I remember hearing it a few times on WBLS.

Someone put Pamala's This is Hot into a video of one of the dance scenes from Prom Night.  It wasn't actually in the film but it works really well in the video.  Fun movie if you enjoy slasher films, and has a great rare disco soundtrack.

A few years later Pamala reinvented herself as a HI NRG diva.  By then I was down in Washington, D.C. a Freshman at The American University and a new disco memory was formed.  Coming out of Hiding though it only made it to #4 on the Billboard Dance Charts was one of those songs you couldn't get away from.  It was massive.  I'd have to guess because the song was so embraced by the gay community.  It was like an anthem about coming out and just being yourself.

She only had a few more minor HI NRG hits after that.  But in any case Pamala Stanley remains a disco diva that holds memories for me.

A LITTLE PAMALA ZIP