My first hearing of EW&F was the “Head to the Sky” album, an overlooked gem. It was many years before I learned that they had also done the soundtrack for Melvin Van Peebles classic “Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song.”
Completely fascinating, thanks so much for writing this. All those connections explored, and Donny appearing too.
In 1976/7 in a small town outside London, UK I too was listening to 'Gratitude', digging the sax solos and 'All n All', loving it all. Only years later with a strong Jazz habit did I realise how important that earlier listening was.
Joe Zawinul thought Maurice White was an incredible drummer.
Another awesome post, thank you!
This was so incredibly informative. Thank you. Linking Sun Ra / AACM/ Earth Wind and Fire! Incredible.
My first hearing of EW&F was the “Head to the Sky” album, an overlooked gem. It was many years before I learned that they had also done the soundtrack for Melvin Van Peebles classic “Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song.”
Completely fascinating, thanks so much for writing this. All those connections explored, and Donny appearing too.
In 1976/7 in a small town outside London, UK I too was listening to 'Gratitude', digging the sax solos and 'All n All', loving it all. Only years later with a strong Jazz habit did I realise how important that earlier listening was.
Thank you for a fab informative article. It'd be difficult for me to decide between All n All and Gratitude as my one and only Desert Island Disk.