BLADE AND THE BAZAY JAM BAND - SODA POP BLADES unreleased 70's and 80's recordings available on CD for the first time. Article by Jason Ksino Woodward. Those of you down with graff and Hip Hop culture will know that BLADE was an early New York graffiti pioneer. He painted over 5000 subway cars throughout the early 1970s and his work was featured in documentaries like Style Wars and From Here To Carnesie. Most of his fans dont realise he was also a well known and influential bass player and band leader from the Bronx. His funky style was also found in his fat bass playing for groups like THE FIRST CLASS GOOD TIME BAND and the BAZAY JAM BAND. These groups occasionally toured throughout New York State, but rarely recorded. One box of four track cassette tapes remained for all those years of playing. Those tapes sat dormant at BLADES apartment for years, occasionally getting played to European art collectors who constantly visit him hounding him for new paintings. Tash and I were visiting BLADE at his NYC Bronx based apartment, to pay our respects and get some old school knowledge. Tash was particularly interested in finding out about the old school female writers. I always dig any old school story from someone who was there. I had made the pilgramage to New York City on four seperate occasions for this very reason. BLADE has lived there most of his life. New York City born and bred. A true Bronx Bomber. From his window, you can see the trains running. His parents live in an apartment block right next door. Near Dyre Avenue in the Bronx. Well worth the travel to check out the legend and his old school flicks. BLADE bought Tash and I lunch for the local chinese takeaway.... beers, bud and black bean sauce... Looking thru lots of old school flixs and getting some bass guitar tips. To get the party moving he busted out some old tapes. Early recordings..... the tapes were fat psychedelic hard fat funk and early electro bombs from the heart of the Boogie Down Bronx.. That day was one of the high points of both our lives. THE RECORDINGS TRANSFER These recordings were made in the late 70's and early 80's. One of the tracks features male vocals reminicent of Tom Jones. BLADE told us that this vocalist was a huge Jones fan. The rest of the tracks are home recordings made in his Bronx apartment. On the 80s recordings a FOSTEX home studio 4 track onto cassette tape was used. Drum programming and keyboards are all by BLADE. That fat bass was played live by Rickenbacker master BLADE. Once I had permission from BLADE for the recordings I had to find a studio. I spent a couple of days trying various friends I had and then thru the VILLAGE VOICE I tried a bunch of studios. I could not find any studios with the old recording equipment. I had a moment of clarity and I relised I had to take the 4 track recorder down to a studio. So I had to take his old four track down to little studio on the east side lower Manhattan and get the recordings made into protools. A big chunk of trust was needed as I could have easlily hocked the 4 track. I had the tracks, 11 in total all transferred onto protools. Each track seperated still. I fly back to Australia 3 days later. Once back I gave the recording to Jigsaw Geoff to cut down. Some of these jams were 12 minutes long and often with tape damage in sections. We made copies of a number of tracks and then sent them out to Australias best beats producers- RANSOM, PERIL, JIGSAW GEOFF. THE RECORDINGS 11 Original recordings by BLADE Excerpts from a taped interview Kasino made with BLADE in 1997. Images from BLADE's archive of 70's graffiti images. PC/MAC Screensaver. On each CD you will find 11 original tracks, 3 remixes as well as some excerpts from an interview I conducted with BLADE in 1997. I interviewed a number of New York legends including DERO, BLADE, FLITE, KEL and MIN ONE. All recordings were made on tape and sat in a box at my place Brisbane for the last 5 years. Now grab this rare chance to listen to these funky recordings.This is raw funk from the heart of the Bronx. PRESSING This is a one time only release of these rare tracks and these songs will never be found again. This disc also contains a number of train phots from his 5000 various panels in the 70s. We are only making 500 copies of this recording. We will not be repressing this CD. It is strictly for the underground heads. TO ORDER BLADES CD We can mailorder to any where in the world. Credit Card purchases can be made by calling BUTTER BEATS RECORD STORE. This is a one time only release of these rare tracks and these songs will never be found again. So get in early our you will never know!!! Australian Orders To purchase a copy of BLADE- SODA POP send a cheque, money order or well concealed cash $30.00 to 183 Productions. Our address is below. This includes freight anywhere in Australia Express Post service $8.00 this includes $100.00 Australian Post insurance. Non -Australian residents Send us well concealed $20 US Dollars to purchase a copy of this collectors item. This amount includes freight anywhere on the planet. Send cash, cheque or money order for $20US or $30Aust to- 183 PO BOX 5762 WEST END QLD 4101 AUSTRALIA If you have any questions please email me at kasino@gil.com.au. © ONE EIGHT THREE.