James Mtume passes

[Thinksmart]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/10/james-mtume-jazz-and-funk-musician-dies-aged-75

Wonderful music.  No introduction needed here I'm sure, but a good start to his many contributions was put together by Expansion Records: https://www.discogs.com/release/815992-Various-The-Best-Of-Mtume-Lucas

 

Also, Adam White (writer on Motown) mentioned R. Dean Taylor may of passed on Twitter but I haven't seen any follow-up from him on it since.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Thinksmart

[Mike]

tvones  Mtume unsung

RIP

 

[Dave2]

Great memories of Mtume’s ‘Tie Me Up’ blasting from the block from boogie boxes, all tuned into Robbie Vincent early 80’s funk!   Also wrote ‘Back Together Again’ for Roberta Flack/ Donny Hathaway.

RIP James.

[Mickey Finn]

A fantastic legacy, and equally at home in soul/funk as in jazz, including Miles Davis' 70s groups. This is a good interview with Mtume:

 

[Tomangoes]

RIP.

Back together again still is one of my top tunes.

Ed

[Fish Fingers]

On 12/01/2022 at 07:44, Tomangoes said:

RIP.

Back together again still is one of my top tunes.

Ed

Me too. Fantastic song!

Conicidence that today is the anniversary of the death of Donny  Hathaway (after the news about Mtume yesterday). 

Apparently DH died in Jan 1979 age just 33 and I was just wondering when 'Back together' actually charted in the UK and found it was May 1980 apparently. 

While researching I found a bit more info on the artists/track from a US site:

Flack and Hathaway had been friends since they first met as students at Washington, DC’s Howard University, but after both singers had become successes in their own rights – Flack’s was still more critical than commercial at the time, but even so – they became collaborators, teaming up for the appropriately-titled 1972 album ROBERTA FLACK & DONNY HATHAWAY. Their voices blended together gorgeously, and listeners reacted accordingly, which naturally led to further duets together, but Hathaway’s battle with depression and paranoid schizophrenia led to schisms in both his personal and professional relationships. Regrettably, it also led him down a path which ultimately led to his death when he fell from the 15th floor of New York’s Essex Hotel.

Just before his death, Hathaway had reconciled with Flack, and the duo had returned to the studio to start recording a new album of duets. Alas, they hadn’t finished the LP before he died, but even though it only included two duets, Flack opted to title the subsequent album ROBERTA FLACK FEATURING DONNY HATHAWAY. (If you’re wondering, “You Are My Heaven” was the other duet, and it was also the first single from the album.)

“Back Together Again,” which featured background vocal arrangements from Gwen Guthrie and Luther Vandross, was a top-10 hit on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart, hitting #8, but it was an even bigger hit across the pond, where it climbed all the way to #3 on the UK Singles chart. Yes, it’s nothing short of tragic that it was the last time Flack and Hathaway would hit the charts together, but at least they went out on a high.

Edited January 13, 2022 by Fish Fingers