Marlena Shaw was a voice that hip hop 'discovered'
Popular jazz singer Marlena Shaw, who had famously been sampled by Blue Boy's 'Remember Me', will be sadly missed.
The passing of soul and jazz singer Marlena Shaw last weekend caused me to reflect on another great voice that I would have hardly known were it not for hip-hop. I discovered Marlena back in the early 90’s, through sampling, at a time when “California Soul” was used by Gang Starr. It was soon used by the Wiseguys too. As usual, a young hip-hop fan like myself found the sample and bought the original.
It opened my ears to one of my favourite singers, and one who I got to chat with when she came to Cork, in 2006, in Cyprus Avenue. By then she had famously been sampled by Blue Boy's “Remember Me” and St Germain's “Rose Rouge”. She was an incredible singer, and her speaking voice was great too; it’s no surprise that this was also sampled by many. She gave me some voice drops to promote my radio show, which still sound great today.
Marlena Shaw had a deep history, recording for such iconic labels as Chess and Blue Note, and performing with such legends as Count Basie. She toured incessantly and was active right on up to the end. She is one of many great artists who enjoyed a new lease of life with new audiences, after sampling helped bring those old classics to new ears through hip-hop and other modern genres.
Roy Ayers is another artist from that era who helped birth a million hip-hop and soul records. Roy, like Marlena, was never quite a household name for those outside the music, but his influence is up there with the best. His body of work is incredible and provided generations of rap and soul artists with a template for music decades on. He works with lots of these younger artists too, and has appeared on records by Tyler The Creator, the Roots, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, and many more. Roy is still active and, like Marlena, he made for great company on the times I spoke to him in Cork. He was a frequent visitor and played many shows here.
Next up, I’m gonna pick Donald Byrd. I fell in love with his music in the early 90’s too, and picked up every album I could find. His body of work is immense and, as both a sideman and band leader, he created a library of music that would later be pillaged by rap producers for decades.
His jazz fusion era with the Mizell Brothers remains some of my favourite work, and I also love the music he created with his young group the Blackbyrds. Donald Byrd and rapper Guru later collaborated on “Loungin” from the Jazzmatazz album. I loved this so much I called my first ever night after it, in the Donkeys Ears in 1993.
Not all of the artists who hip-hop helped rejuvenate were on the periphery of things. James Brown and Kool and the Gang were always really well known, and became probably the most sampled acts in history. But there is no doubt hip-hop helped make them more fashionable again.
In the 80’s, James Brown was doing stuff like “Living in America” and he was suddenly an elder statesman - rather than a cutting edge symbol of Black America. Kool and the Gang were enjoying a renaissance, but their smoother post-disco sound was a far cry from the funk and jazz of their earlier years.
Hip-hop brought both groups back in a big way. A new generation of DJs, producers, and fans soon discovered that these greats had created a body of work unrivalled by anything. The same could be said about George Clinton and his Parliament/Funkadelic legacy. This was futuristic funk that was so far ahead of its time it still sounded fresh when it was resurrected in the hip-hop and soul of the 90’s. George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Zapp, and many more were particularly influential on the west coast G-Funk sound, which turned hip-hop from an underground platform into a huge commercial juggernaut in the early 90’s.
There are many more artists who I came to enjoy even more after listening to hip-hop. Al Green, Barry White, and Isaac Hayes were all well-known ones that I started digging deeper on. I started buying Mtume, Sly Johnson, Lyn Collins, Marva Whitney, and Erma Franklin too.
But my final choice is Minnie Riperton. She’s simply one of my all time favourites, and albums such as became treasure troves for hip-hop and soul fans of my generation!
