Sunday, August 24, 2014

Henry Stone, Producer of the Miami Sound

Henry Stone, 93, Dies; Produced the Miami Sound

By 
    Henry Stone in 2000. Jared Lazarus/Miami Herald
    Henry Stone, who produced early recordings by Ray Charles and James Brown and whose Hialeah, Fla., company, TK Records, was a fountain of disco in the 1970s and the source of what came to be called the Miami sound, died on Thursday in Miami. He was 93.
    His death was confirmed by his son Joe.
    Mr. Stone was in the record business in Miami for more than 60 years, as both a distributor and a producer. A trumpeter as a young man, he arrived in 1948 after playing in an Army band during World War II and working in Los Angeles peddling records to restaurants and bars for their jukeboxes.
    In the early 1950s he recorded a handful of songs, including “St. Pete Florida Blues,” on Rockin’ Records, one of the many labels he created, by a young blind singer, then known as Ray Charles Robinson, who would later go by the name Ray Charles. On De Luxe Records, he recorded “Hearts of Stone” by the Charms, which reached No. 1 on several rhythm-and-blues charts.
    A friend and confidant of James Brown, who recorded for a competitor, King Records, Mr. Stone stepped in when Brown had a dispute with King. Identifying Brown and his band as Nat Kendrick and the Swans (Nat Kendrick was Brown’s drummer) to keep the arrangement secret from King’s proprietor, Syd Nathan, he recorded the instrumental “(Do the) Mashed Potatoes” and released it on the Dade label in 1960.
    “One of the repeated lines was for someone to shout ‘mashed potatoes’ and Brown volunteered,” Mr. Stone is quoted as saying by the websiteHenryStoneMusic.com. “At the last minute I decided it was too risky using Brown’s very recognizable voice and turned to him and said, ‘You can’t do that! I can’t use your voice on this record because Nathan will” go after the label. “We have to leave your voice off and strictly make this an instrumental.’ I still liked the idea of someone shouting ‘mashed potatoes,’ but I had to use someone else.”
    Mr. Stone continued to record rhythm-and-blues artists in the 1960s, but he focused largely on record distribution until several major labels decided to distribute their own product, forcing him to set up his own company, TK Records — named for Terry Kane, a sound engineer who built the recording studio. The company, which Mr. Stone ran with Steve Alaimo, a former pop singer, grew to become one of the industry’s largest independent labels during the disco era.
    Its biggest hit makers were KC and the Sunshine Band, whose leader, Harry Wayne Casey, was a part-time employee at the company before the band began turning out a string of hits, including “Shake Shake Shake (Shake Your Booty),” “I’m Your Boogie Man,” “That’s the Way I Like It” — uh-huh, uh-huh — and “Get Down Tonight.” But the company and its subsidiary labels also released successful records by other artists — among them George McRae, Benny Latimore, Timmy Thomas, Betty Wright and Anita Ward — whose upbeat melding of funk, soul and disco came to be identified as the Miami sound.
    When disco faded, so did TK, which ceased operations in 1981; one of its last recordings was “Another One Rides the Bus” — a parody of the Queen hit “Another One Bites the Dust” — by Weird Al Yankovic.
    Henry David Epstein was born in the Bronx on June 3, 1921, and grew up for a time in the Washington Heights neighborhood in northern Manhattan. His father, Charles, a salesman, died when Henry was a boy. His mother, Leah, a seamstress faced with dire straits and two other children to care for after the stock market crash, placed Henry in an orphanage in Pleasantville, N.Y., where, having been inspired by the music of Louis Armstrong, he took up the trumpet.
    He served in the Army during World War II, playing in an integrated band that was based in Fort Dix, N.J. After his discharge, he changed his last name to Stone and began his professional life in Los Angeles; shortly thereafter he moved to Miami.
    Mr. Stone’s first marriage ended in divorce. In addition to his son Joe, he is survived by his wife, the former Inez Pinchot; another son, David; five daughters, Donna Stone-Wolfe, Lynda Stone, Crystal McCall, Sheri Watson and Kim Stone; 12 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.


    A documentary about Mr. Stone and the Miami music scene, “Rock Your Baby,” is in the final stages of postproduction, one of its producers, Mitchell Egber, said in an interview. In a clip from the film, Mr. Stone gives a pithy summation of his life’s main focus. “Instead of playing golf or pool,” he says, “I loved to make records.”
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    Terence Todman, Ambassador and Diplomat


    Terence Todman, an Envoy to 6 Nations, Is Dead at 88

    By 




      Terence A. Todman became the senior African-American member of the Foreign Service during his four decades in diplomacy.Frank Johnston/The Washington Post, via Getty Images

      Terence A. Todman, who as United States ambassador to six nations and the first black person to head a geographic division of the State Department was known for candor, adroit negotiating and relentless efforts to bring more minorities to the Foreign Service, died on Aug. 13 on St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. He was 88.
      The State Department announced the death.
      In 1990, Mr. Todman was awarded the title “career ambassador,” the State Department’s equivalent of a four-star general in the Army. For years he was the highest-ranking African-American in the Foreign Service. Jet magazine called him “the Jackie Robinson of diplomacy.”
      He was ambassador to Chad, Guinea, Costa Rica, Spain, Denmark and Argentina, and assistant secretary of state in the Carter administration.
      The son of a grocery clerk and a laundress, he served in the Army before and during the time it was racially integrated in the 1940s and joined the State Department when the only place to eat near its Virginia training center was segregated. He demanded that it be integrated, and for the rest of his career lobbied for more blacks in the diplomatic corps.
      He sharply criticized the State Department for almost automatically sending black diplomats to Africa or the Caribbean as what he called “ghetto” assignments. After serving as ambassador to Chad in the early ’70s, he threatened to quit if he was again assigned to Africa, he told The Nation magazine in a 1996 interview.
      He continued in Africa as ambassador to Guinea, but his assignment after that, in 1974, was Costa Rica. He was the first black American ambassador to a Latin American country. He said in an oral history that he felt he was “breaking out of this ridiculous mold.”
      In a statement, Secretary of State John Kerry said Mr. Todman “was known for his outspokenness and his advocacy for equality during a time of segregation, when few minorities could be found at any level in the State Department.”
      Mr. Todman’s forthright approach was apparent in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan considered appointing him ambassador to South Africa. Mr. Todman, who was ambassador to Denmark at the time, said at a news conference that he could accept the job only if Mr. Reagan’s policy toward South Africa “finds credibility with the South Africans, with the people of Southern Africa and with the rest of the world.”
      He added, “I don’t think we’re at that stage yet.”
      Mr. Todman later said he was quoted out of context. Mr. Reagan found another black career Foreign Service officer for the post, Edward J. Perkins.
      As the State Department’s chief Latin American strategist in the Carter administration, Mr. Todman helped to negotiate the treaty that led to Panama’s assuming ownership of the Panama Canal, as well as agreements with Cuba that included setting up regular diplomatic channels between Havana and Washington. He was the first American diplomat in 16 years to visit Havana.
      He tried to walk a fine line between the Carter White House’s aggressive push for human rights and workable relations with countries being criticized for abuses. At the time he assumed office in the spring of 1977, Brazil, Argentina and several other Latin American countries had refused American aid because of the criticism. He strongly argued that it was wrong to punish an entire country because its rulers behaved badly.
      When people were dying of waterborne diseases in Paraguay, for example, he persuaded policy makers in Washington that going ahead with aiding water purification efforts was more important than worrying about whether the country’s dictator, Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, would claim credit.
      In February 1978 he gave a speech urging patience with the often fitful efforts by Latin American nations to improve human rights. The New York Times called the speech “a direct attack on the State Department’s human rights activists.” He was replaced as assistant secretary.
      But President Jimmy Carter named him ambassador to Spain, one of the most prestigious diplomatic postings and one usually given to political appointees. He was the first black to head one of the most important missions, known as Class One embassies. In Spain, Mr. Todman negotiated the use of naval and air bases and helped the country become a member of NATO.
      Terence Alphonso Todman was born on St. Thomas on March 13, 1926, one of 13 siblings. He attended Inter-American University of Puerto Rico for a year until he was drafted into the Army. He served in Japan, where he helped to organize that country’s first postwar election. He returned to Inter-American and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, then went on to Syracuse University, where he earned a master’s degree in public administration.
      He passed the written State Department test, but, he recalled, the officer who interviewed him expressed worry that his West Indian accent was not “100 percent American.” On the basis of another interview, he was hired anyway. He said in the oral history that at the time he joined the State Department, the only blacks he saw were secretaries and messengers.
      His early posts included the United Nations, Lebanon and Tunisia. From 1965 to 1969 he was deputy chief of mission in Togo, before becoming country director for East African Affairs.
      His first ambassadorship was Chad, from 1969 to 1972. His last was Argentina, from 1989 to 1993.
      Mr. Todman is survived by his wife of 62 years, the former Doris Weston; his sons, Terence Jr. and Michael; his daughters, Patricia Rhymer Todman and Kathryn Todman Browne; a brother; and six grandchildren.
      Mr. Todman generally worked behind the scenes, but generated headlines in 1991 by publicly criticizing Argentine government officials for demanding bribes. He also criticized what he said were bureaucratic roadblocks hindering American investment there.




      Negotiating, he once said, is “the art of letting someone else have your way.”


      *****

      Terrance Alphonso Todman (March 13, 1926 – August 13, 2014) was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Chad, Guinea, Costa Rica,Spain, Denmark, and Argentina. In 1990, he was awarded the rank of Career Ambassador.[1]

      Life[edit]

      He was born on Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on March 13, 1926. He was drafted and served in Japan from 1945 to 1949.[2]
      He graduated from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico summa cum laude, and from Syracuse University.[3]
      Todman was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[4] He was a director of Exxcel Group. [5] On August 13, 2014, he died at the age of 88 at a hospital in Saint Thomas.[6]

      Family[edit]

      He married Doris Weston; they have four children.[7]

      *****
      Terence Alphonso Todman (March 13, 1926 – August 13, 2014) was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Chad, Guinea, Costa Rica, Spain, Denmark and Argentina.  In 1990, he was awarded the rank of Career Ambassador. 

      He was born on Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, on March 13, 1926. He was drafted and served in Japan from 1945 to 1949.

      He graduated from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico summa cum laude, and from Syracuse University.  

      Todman was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He was also a director of Exxcel Group.  

      On August 13, 2014, Terence Todman died at the age of 88 at a hospital in Saint Thomas.

      He married Doris Weston and they had four children.

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      Wednesday, August 13, 2014

      Idris Muhammad, Multi-Genre Drummer


      Idris Muhammad, Drummer Whose Beat Still Echoes, Dies at 74

      By 




        Idris Muhammad in 1998, with the Joe Lovano Trio at Iridium, in Manhattan. Mr. Lovano honored him with the tune “Idris.” Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos

        Idris Muhammad, a drummer whose deep groove propelled both a broad career in jazz and an array of hits spanning rhythm and blues, funk and soul, died on July 29 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 74.
        His death was confirmed by Dan Williams, a friend affiliated with the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. The cause was not specified.
        Mr. Muhammad was a proud product of New Orleans, whose strutting parade rhythms always lurked just beneath the surface of his style. A busy sideman as early as his teenage years, he later backed Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke, Roberta Flack and the jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, and as a key member of the house band laid the rhythmic foundation for the original Broadway production of “Hair.”
        But the heart of his work was at the intersection of jazz, R&B and funk, especially as they converged in the 1970s. He made a string of albums now prized by connoisseurs of funk, including “Power of Soul” (1974), “House of the Rising Sun” (1976) and “Turn This Mutha Out” (1977) with a supporting cast including players like the trumpeter Randy Brecker and the keyboardist Bob James.
        Mr. Muhammad’s in-the-pocket backbeat also bolstered crossover efforts by the guitarists Grant Green and George Benson and the saxophonists Lou Donaldson and Grover Washington Jr. Within the last 20 years he had worked more in an acoustic mode, most prominently with the pianist Ahmad Jamal. Among the others he worked with were the guitarist John Scofield and the saxophonist Joe Lovano, who once honored him with a tune titled “Idris.”
        He was born Leo Morris on Nov. 13, 1939, in New Orleans. His father played banjo, and four of his siblings were drummers. Naturally drawn to the sound of Mardi Gras parade bands, he found his calling with no formal training. He was 15 when he played on Art Neville and the Hawketts’ enduring 1954 recording of “Mardi Gras Mambo,” and not much older when he appeared on Fats Domino’s hit version of “Blueberry Hill.”
        In 1966 he married Delores Brooks, lead singer for the Crystals, a girl group with a string of pop hits, including “Da Doo Ron Ron.” The couple converted to Islam, changing their names to Idris and Sakinah Muhammad, and lived in London and Vienna before their marriage ended in divorce in 1999. They had two sons and two daughters; he also had a daughter from a previous marriage, to the former Gracie Lee Edwards.
        Information on survivors was not immediately available.
        Mr. Muhammad was widely sampled by hip-hop artists, including Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G., Eminem, Lupe Fiasco and Drake. The Beastie Boys album “Paul’s Boutique” opens with a lengthy sample of “Loran’s Dance,” from “The Power of Soul.” Asked in an interview how he felt about other people using his music, he told Wax Poetics magazine, “It don’t really belong to me, man,” adding: “The gift the Creator has given me, I can’t be selfish with. If I keep it in my pocket, it’s not going to go anyplace.”

        *****

        Idris Muhammad (Arabic: إدريس محمد‎; born Leo Morris; November 13, 1939 – July 29, 2014) was an American jazzdrummer who has recorded extensively with many musicians, including Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, and Pharoah Sanders, among many others.[1]

        Biography[edit]

        At 16 years old, one of Muhammad's earliest recorded sessions as a drummer was on Fats Domino's 1956 hit "Blueberry Hill".
        Muhammad was an endorser of Istanbul Agop Cymbals.
        In 2012 Xlibris released the book Inside The Music: The Life of Idris Muhammad, which he wrote with his friend Britt Alexander. He died aged 74 in 2014.[2][3]

        Personal life[edit]

        He changed his name in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. In 1966, he married Dolores "LaLa" Brooks (former member of the Crystals; she converted to Islamwith him and went for a time under the name Sakinah Muhammad). They separated in 1999. Together, they have two sons and two daughters, and one daughter from a previous marriage to Gracie Lee Edwards-Morris. Pharoah Sanders's son Idris is named after Idris Muhammad [4]

        Discography[edit]

        As leader[edit]

        As sideman[edit]

        • Dance (Stash, 1983)
        • Get In (1999)
        With John Hicks
        • Soul Manifesto (1991)
        With Keystone Trio
        • Heart Beats (1996)[5]
        • Newklear Music: The Songs of Sonny Rollins(1997)[6]
        With Joe Lovano
        • Below the Bassline (Island, 1998)
        With Roots
        • Jewels of Thought (Impulse!, 1969)
        • Journey to the One (Theresa, 1980)
        • Heart is a Melody (Theresa, 1982)
        • Live (Theresa, 1982)
        • Shukuru (Theresa, 1985)
        • Africa (Timeless, 1987)
        • Macho (Salvation, 1975)
        • Portraits of Duke Ellington (Verve, 1989)
        • Portraits of Thelonious Monk (Verve, 1989)
        • Self Portraits (Verve, 1989)
        • Spirits of Our Ancestors (Verve, 1991)
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