Louisiana-born, Texas-based record producer
Huey Meaux, the so-called "Crazy Cajun", has
died. He was the man behind
Barbara Lynn's 1962 hit
You'll Lose a Good Thing. Three years later, in a move to cash in on the British Invasion, he created a faux-British rock band called "the Sir Douglas Quintet" around San Antonio-born singer-songwriter
Doug Sahm, and produced their hit,
She's About a Mover. Meaux also produced Tex-Mex rocker
Freddy Fender's bilingual hit
Before the Next Teardrop Falls as well as Fender's
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. Sadly, however, Meaux had a very ugly darker side: he was arrested not once but twice on child-sex charges, doing prison time in the late 60s, and an 11-year bid from '96 to '07. Some of the ugly details of this side of his life are detailed in this
Houston Press article from 1996, shortly after his arrest, which will pretty much make your skin crawl... Well, so long Huey.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 26, 2011 -
50 comments
Legendary hip hop producer DJ Premier interviewed in
the XXL Icon Interview and
The Smoking Section. Remarkably candid conversations about his life in East Coast hip hop, with interesting stories about his work with Jay-Z, Biggie, Puff, Nas, Jeru the Damaga, Group Home, Suge Knight, Christina Aguilera and of course, Guru. On finding records to sample:
"Well, there’s still diggin’ spots. If you’re in that world like I am, you know the spots, you see everybody—Just Blaze, Alchemist, Large Professor, Pete Rock—we still pop up in those spots. You got Big City records, you got Turntable Lab, you still have A1, you got Academy, you know. I’m not gonna tell you all the digging spots."
posted by the mad poster!
on Dec 20, 2010 -
11 comments
The man behind the classic sound of Al Green, Memphis producer and soulmeister supreme
Willie Mitchell has
passed on. Many of the Al Green sides are legendary, of course, and very well known (as is the fantastic "I Can't Stand the Rain, by Ann Peebles), but be sure and head over to the excellent
Funky 16 Corners where you can hear three of his lesser-known but
deeply grooving productions. Fat stuff. So long, Willie Mitchell, and thanks for the wonderful music.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 6, 2010 -
24 comments
The story starts in 1992 or so, when the 14 year old Brit,
Dominic Stanton, bought turntables and started spinning early drum'n'bass. He transitioned from DJ to producer, made demo tracks, and got signed by age 17. He went on to produce broken beat
* and jazzy downtempo
*, even into the realm of disco edits. Then about two weeks ago, the 31 year old musician called it quits.
The point is that I am no longer Domu. He is a character, always has been, and as of Friday 13th November 2009, he no longer exists. Neither does Umod, Sonar Circle, Bakura, Yotoko, Rima, Zoltar, Blue Monkeys, Realside or any of the other names I put out music under. I am cancelling all my gigs and not taking any more. My hotmail is closed, my Twitter is closed and my Facebook is closed.
Furthermore, his website is closed and the original post of his farewell message is lost, though you can still
view the cached version or find it
copied elsewhere. Domu's website now simply states
This really is The End . . . Step inside for an abbreviated journey.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Nov 30, 2009 -
46 comments
Legendary record man and music producer
Jerry Wexler died on August 15, at the age of 91. His keen insight, and his deep love and appreciation for the artists he worked with resulted in an extraordinary enriching of American music.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 17, 2008 -
16 comments
Arif Mardin passed away Sunday. Yes, the first is a
NYTimes link, but
here's an obit from the
Independent newspaper, and
here's a BBC obit as well. It would be unseemly not to note the passing of the arranger or producer (or both, or co- ) behind the Art Farmer Quartet's
Live at the Half-Note, Sonny Stitt's
Stitt Plays Bird, Max Roach's
Drums Unlimited, the Rascals' "Good Lovin'" and "Groovin'," Aretha Franklin's
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You and
Aretha Now, Dusty Springfield's
Dusty in Memphis, Donny Hathaway's
Extension of a Man, the Stones'
Black and Blue, Chaka Khan's first several solo albums, and hundreds of others all the way down to Norah Jones ... a list almost too long to compile. NPR interview
here, lengthier article from
Sound on Sound here, his discogs.com list
here.
posted by blucevalo
on Jun 27, 2006 -
11 comments
