It is amazing what gets done when time is on your side. A global release. The beat, that relentless pulse, pop tunes have their place but a down to the bone popping chill, rocks our house.
Bill King
Night Passage Music
Between the years 1984-1986 Bill King recorded three sides, Ice, Avenue B and City of Dreams for his own label – Night Passage Music. Tracks from these Night Passage years have now been re-issued on this release.
The backstory to this track is as interesting as the track itself
It was 1974, and Toronto was undergoing a cultural shift. The usual pop fare was starting to assimilate the rhythms of the Caribbean – not just Soca, and calypso – but a music known and beloved by those who immigrated from Jamaica called, ‘Reggae.’
1980, where dance, jazz and funk would converge
Star Planet Funk is a witness to an era and those Atlanta players who were there for the music in a city that regarded artists as baggage. Low wages, few opportunities.
A most unusual marriage of genres
'Desert Orchid' paints a beautiful and delicate musical picture of the American southwest - the landscape, plant life, the verandas, and rugged people who live artfully amongst nature’s often hostile terrain. Plateaus in the distance, the thousands of miles of blowing sand, the harsh morning light, the grace and pastoral beauty of late afternoon is encased in one, lone Desert Orchid".
Heard and felt
The "Isle of Saints' is an aural composite of Bill King's travels throughout the Caribbean region as heard inside his head and felt in his heart.
A collection of Rhythm & Blues classics
"Saturday Night Fish Fry - Vol. 1" is a collection of Rhythm & Blues classics by Toronto based Saturday Night Fish Fry, arranged & produced by Bill King, featuring the excellent female vocalist Shakura S’Aida.