East Bay Rhythm - A Little Love Will Help (2001) 7 Bridges Recordings PROMO Copy - Rare Soul/Funk (FLAC)

I got this sent by the record company in germany years ago and recently stumbled upon it. East Bay Rhythm's name may be a bit obscure to those not from the Bay area, but its key members -- James Levy, Paul Jackson, and Bill Summers were members of Herbie Hancock's legendary Headhunters band. The other main member, Butch Haynes, was a member of the fabled Afro-Jazz Quintet. These tracks were cut live and edited minimally. They feature Jackson on bass, Levy on trap kit, with Haynes and Summers on percussion along with a bevy of guests that include Jorge Santana (of Malo) and Carl Lockett, on guitar, Robert Washington and Fall on vocals, and bassist Freddie Washington on bass among others. Recorded between 1976 and 1980 at the Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, none of the eleven cuts collected here has been released in any form before. What is remarkable about East Bay Rhythm's sound is how rooted it is in various idioms: The deep funk of the middle 1970s, gospel a la James Cleveland, the roots of disco, and of course the wild yet precise, Afro-Cuban son rhythms that propel virtually everything here. What is also remarkable is to hear hand percussion in such overdriven funk numbers as "Accept Me," with its hypnotic guitar lines and slipping bass groove, the hand drums run amok on the inside of the mix. As the vocals fade form the center channel, Levy's syncopation careens under the beat as the hand percussionists ride hard over it. That this track is followed by the glorious instrumental, pre-disco anthem "Party Down," is such a plus here: Afro-Caribbean percussion drives not only the beats but the melody into turning on itself no less than three times before the bridge! The groove feels easy but is complex and stretchable with the cross-cross of rhythmic lines trading space in the center of the tune. Of course, this is just a sampling of what is available here over nearly an hours worth of music. This is the place where Tower of Power, Sly Stone, Roy Ayers funky material, and gospel music meet in a deep soul potboiler. Just the one album recorded great hard driven funk!

AMM

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