Description
Releases will be available in-store over the counter from Friday 24th November with the remaining stock being made available online from 8am (to be confirmed) on Saturday 25th November.
Please note stock is very limited so place your order ASAP. Stock is not held in cart so please check out quickly. Please bear in mind that due to the nature of many people trying to place orders at the same time, we cannot guarantee that stock is yours until an Order Fullfilled/Shipped email has been sent. Unfortunately we are not able to combine orders for shipping.
If there are any issues we will email as quickly as we can so please use an email address that you check regularly. All orders will be dispatched as quickly as possible, but overseas orders obviously take longer to be delivered.
Galt MacDermot (1928-2018) was an award-winning Canadian-American composer, pianist,
writer of classical music and theatrical pieces. MacDermot also composed music for several
film soundtracks (like the 1970 blaxploitation film ‘Cotton Comes To Harlem’) and released
several exceptional jazz and funk albums on his own label Kilmarnock Records.
He is best known for his work on the Grammy winning 1967 musical Hair (which also
produced several number-one singles like “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In”) and Two
Gentlemen of Verona (1971) for which he won a Tony Award. In 2009 Galt MacDermot was
inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and in 2010 he received the Lifetime
Achievement Award.
In 1979, MacDermot formed the New Pulse Jazz Band, which performed and recorded his
original music. Galt MacDermot’s music is extremely popular with collectors of jazz and
funk. Working with jazz and soul musicians such as Bernard Purdie and Idris Muhammad,
MacDermot created pieces that used African rhythms (he made the study of African music
his speciality).
In recent decades, his work has become popular with hip-hop musicians including Busta
Rhymes, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Gang Starr, Action Bronson, Public Enemy, MF Doom, Madlib, J
Dilla, Obie Trice, Naughty By Nature, Run DMC and Digable Planets…the list is endless.
The album we are proudly presenting you today (Ghetto Suite written in 1970 and released
in 1972) is considered one of the most ground-breaking records ever issued on Galt
MacDermot’s Killmarnock label and consists out of a selection of songs and poems by
Harlem/Bronx school children, set to Galt’s music, and sung by vocalist Angela Ortega.
Given That Galt’s handling the music, you can bet that there’s plenty of nicely executed
funky touches-supported by rolling bass-work, snapping drums, and organ virtuosity. But
the real charm of these groovy tunes comes from the lyrics, which have a simple and to the
point way of dealing with issues of racism, poverty and other issues of the time. The story
telling is surprisingly gripping even after all these years.
The whole album creates an extremely personal direct sensitivity to the environment of
Ghetto kids…telling us with defiantly honest intensity what it was like to be young and black,
the drugs and the deaths, the topic of incarceration…or simply the fact of being battered by
the frustration of Ghetto existence.
Ghetto Suite is way more than an entertainment record, it has been used by teachers and
counsellors to inspire and motivate the muted voices of the black inner cities…documenting
both their anguish and their triumphs.
Tracklist:
Do You Know , Black Is Beautiful , Slums , Drugs , The World Of Today , Set Us Free , This Old
Heart Of Mine , Cry Sound , Everyday , Black Is Beautiful , Evil Hands , Do You know
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Thank you for looking at our listing, below are a few points to consider before making a purchase:
- All records we sell are Brand New - pre-orders will normally come sealed but if you are purchasing in stock items, please note the copy may have been unsealed for display in the shop. Please email straight after purchase to enquire if this is of importance to you.
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