With Graceland, Paul Simon hit on the idea of combining his always perceptive songwriting with the little-heard mbaqanga music of South Africa, creating a fascinating hybrid that re-enchanted his old audience and earned him a new one. It is true that the South African angle (including its controversial aspect during the apartheid days) was a powerful marketing tool and that the catchy music succeeded in presenting listeners with that magical combination: something they'd never heard before that nevertheless sounded familiar…
Though he recorded the album's prominent percussion tracks in Brazil, Paul Simon fashioned The Rhythm of the Saints as a deliberate follow-up to the artistic breakthrough and commercial comeback that was the South Africa-tinged Graceland. Several of the musicians who had appeared previously were back, along with some of the New York session players who had worked with Simon in the 1970s, and the overall sound was familiar to fans of Graceland…
Supermax was a project of Austrian musician and producer, Kurt Hauenstein, best known for "Lovemachine", a 1977 German #4 single, that peaked at #6 in Switzerland, #9 in Austria and #96 in US. The first members of the band were Kurt Hauenstein (Mini Moog, vocals), Hans Ochs (guitar), Ken Taylor (bass guitar), Lothar Krell (keyboards), Peter Koch (percussion), Jürgen Zöller (drums) and the singers Cee Cee Cobb and Jean Graham. After Ken Taylor left the band in 1979, Kurt Hauenstein returned to his origin music instrument, the bass guitar. Later, Bernadet Onore Eben and Jessica Hauenstein, the daughter of Kurt Hauenstein, joined the group as backing vocal singers. In 1981, Supermax toured as the first mixed-race band through South Africa for 21 gigs.
British crossover jazz, funk, and pop outfit Shakatak are a sophisticated ensemble who have enjoyed a long career. With a sound steeped in contemporary jazz and R&B, they found success with both instrumental albums and pop vocal productions. Formed in London in 1980, Shakatak originally featured keyboardists Bill Sharpe and Nigel Wright, guitarist Keith Winter, bassist Steve Underwood, and drummer Roger Odell…
British crossover jazz, funk, and pop outfit Shakatak are a sophisticated ensemble who have enjoyed a long career. With a sound steeped in contemporary jazz and R&B, they found success with both instrumental albums and pop vocal productions. Formed in London in 1980, Shakatak originally featured keyboardists Bill Sharpe and Nigel Wright, guitarist Keith Winter, bassist Steve Underwood, and drummer Roger Odell…