This Is Mainstream

Wewantsounds continues it's collaboration with Bob Shad's grandchildren, Mia and Judd Apatow, to present a selection of 13 turntable-friendly Mainstream Records tracks recorded between 1970 and 1973. Ultimate breaks and beats from Mainstream Records. The Mainstream sound is unmistakable: Earthy, rich and funky, it's the signature sound of producer Bob Shad. After working with such geniuses as Charlie Parker, The Platters, Billie Holiday, and Janis Joplin over three decades, Shad decided to go back to producing Great Black Music in the early '70s through his label Mainstream Records and started releasing a formidable series of jazz albums known as the 300 series. Released between 1971 and 1974, these albums are the main source of this set. Coincidentally, it opens with one of the two tracks on the tracklist not produced by Shad himself. Saundra Phillips' "Miss Fatback" is nonetheless fascinating as it's one of cult disco producer Greg Carmichael's earliest productions from 1975. The other track not issued by the Shad sound factory is Almeta Lattimore's 7" single "These Memories," a truly great soulful track from 1975 and now a sought-after classic on the international soul scene. Shad's forte was jazz, and the sessions with great musicians, including Bernard Purdie, Billy Hart, Stanley Clarke, Dom Um Romao, Joe Sample, Freddie Robinson, to name just a few. Filled with gorgeous Fender Rhodes chords and heavy basslines, they define the unmistakable Mainstream sound which had one foot in the great jazz and bop tradition and the other in the sonic jazz explorations of the early '70s. Oscillating between jazzed-up covers of soul hits like Jay Berliner's "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" or Afrique's "Kissing My Love" and more introspective originals such as Hal Galper's "This Moment" or Dave Hubbard's "T.B.'s Delight", They all have this perfect balance between groove and depth. One perfect example is Pete Yellin's "Bird And The Ouija Board", a superb 12-minute opus starting off with a deep abstract improvisation before switching to an up-tempo funk beat. Shad had a long-standing association with such jazz divas and this side is represented here by Maxine Weldon's beautifully breezy version of David Gates' standard "Make It With You" and Sarah Vaughan's superb "Just A Little Lovin'". Also features December's Children, Blue Mitchell, Reggie Moore, and Buddy Terry. Most of the tracks released for the first time since their original release. Remastered from the original tapes. Liner notes by UK journalist Paul Bowler.