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| Jon Lucien |
Here’s another rare groove. Its the groove of West Indian-born (Virgin Islands) Jon Lucien. He was quite an odd musical bird. His roots were in jazz, but he often trecked in the sounds of Brazil, funk, and his own native tropical folk sound. What he’s known for is his brilliant baritone vocalizations and arrangements. Those vocals remind me a lot of Edu Lobo (though not quite as fully realized) and lead me to believe he was trying to match a lot of the post-bossanova sound he caught wind off in New Yorkino communities. Today’s track “Satan” from his masterpiece Rashida released in 1973 shows off something even more unique.
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| Rashida album. |
“Satan” is quite the dark elegant track. There’s the obvious post-Tropicalia Brazilian sound that informs its intro, a funk bass line gets introduced, then you get the very Americana influenced fiddle-like work of his string sections, all the while you’ve got Jon’s wordless scat vocals flowing through the cracks of all this patchwork sonic spread. All of this produces a moving tantric song that has a sound you can’t quite find near anywhere else and a respite against negative forces in the world. This here, is just a taste of the unique brilliance of Jon, but if you’re looking for the complete meal, check out any of his albums he recorded before the start of the 80s. All of them have very interesting ideas that you won’t find quite anywhere else.
Listen to Satan at Grooveshark.
Bonus track time, the evolving enveloping mantra funk of Creole Lady…
One response
Love this track