This is how it's going down at EJ Flavors
:
01 - (Featuring Jocelyn Brown) - Always There
02 - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
03 - I Love What You Do For Me
04 - Change
05 - Givin' It Up
06 - Step Into My Life
07 - Where Do We Go From Here
08 - Still A Friend Of Mine
09 - Deep Waters
10 - Where Did We Go Wrong
11 - Good Love
12 - Spellbound And Speechless
13 - Hold On To Me
14 - All That You Want Me To Be
15 - Labour Of Love
16 - Centre of the Sun
17 - Nights over Egypt
18 - Marrakech
19 - Magnetic Ocean
20 - Barumba
At first, when I started designing an OSW, I thought I would start out with a nice post-disco mix, but a friend of mine from Chicago,
DJ, suggested (rather surreptitiously, I might add) that I do a mix with Incognito. At first I shrugged at the thought, believing that they they didn't have enough material to fulfill the OSW requirement. I was seriously mistaken. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that they had quite a bit of material before 1997. It was on!
I started asking friends what their favorite cuts were. James, the man behind J-Notes, asked about Inside Life, one of their first CDs, which is why Always There is the first cut in the mix. Among the acid jazz playlists I put together, Tribes, Vibes and Scribes was being played heavily while I was searching for more songs, which is why Change and I Love What You Do For Me were picked. It was all about the remake of Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing that made me take notice of the group. As I noticed, I wasn't alone.
As expected, the CD Positivity was the favorite among all the people I taked to, with the warm Still A Friend of Mine and the introspective Deep Waters being the two cuts that were on everyone's request list. Givin' It Up and Step Into My Life were tunes that I hear among clubs everywhere, "Step" being one of my all-time favorites, with Maysa's wonderful scats which would become her signature.
During 100 and Rising, Maysa went to pursue her solo career, which introduced Pamela Anderson-Lee (cousin of Jhelisa and Carleen Anderson) and Joy Malcolm. The same vibes present during the previous two CDs were present in this one as well, with Where Did We Go Wrong and Good Love starting out the album. Spellbound and Speechless is also a personal favorite of mine, having been used on OSW a couple of months ago.
During my time on the west coast, Beneath The Surface was released, signalling the return of Maysa to the fold. All That You Want Me To Be was the extra track on the CD that I kept playing continuously. Hold On To Me was another standout on the album, as was Labour of Love, sung by Chris Ballin.
Finally, I had to add tracks from the CD No Time Like The Future. I had to play Centre of the Sun, the melancholy love track and counter it with the great remake of Nights Over Egypt sung beautifully by Jocelyn and Maysa, and also add Marrakech, which gets us ready for the instrumentals to close out the set, Magnetic Ocean and Barumba.
Special thanks to the trio from Chicago, along with the music maestros T. Grundy, Todd Kelley and J-Notes for adding their thoughts into this OSW. Take it light.
Check it out here.....