In keeping with an unofficial theme...
Dear friend,
I promise I’m capable of talking about things other than funky reverb, but not until I let you know about this AMAZING update, or should I say, fun fact that blew my mind earlier this afternoon.
I doubt you’d nerd out as much as I did about the fact that many well known actors were bona fide hip hop musicians in the 60s and 70s. They would either sample established beats or harmonies and arrange them differently, they’d cover popular songs, or create completely new music out of their discoveries and experiments. Imagining a suave, perfectly coifed, James Bond looking gentleman in a recording studio playing around with instruments, acoustics, and arrangements of popular music from that era just seems strange, and almost comical to me. I guess it makes sense to not build up a person’s name or previous personas for the sake of the music – Leonard freaking Nimoy released an easy listening album as Dr. Spock in the late 60s (oops, bad example, but you get the idea :P) – but, upon learning that this man
Who, coincidentally, is the same person as this man
“Ducky,” the cute but whip smart medical examiner from NCIS had also released a tiny, not quite LP but not full album of music, I actually lost my shit. Like spit out my drink and laugh-cried for a minute.
David McCallum’s his name, being a Renaissance Man is his game. Besides being a memorable TV, film, and stage actor from the 60s onward, McCallum is also a successful and influential musician. Along with legendary composer/arranger/Ren Man himself David Axelrod, McCallum released a whole bunch of instrumental work that you’d be hell bent to not hear on a regular basis, even today. Check out this track. The first few seconds represent one of the most recognizable openings and samples in all of recorded hip hop history. Here’s looking at you, Snoop, Dre, and other beaterific beat makers. Some of their most dank tracks are thanks to Ducky’s pounding and floaty take on the music of his day.
I’d recommend an album, but it wouldn’t do any justice to this kind of discovery to be quite honest. I’d listen to the entirety of Axelrod’s discography from roughly 1966-1970 onward to get a feel for this (as I did this week lol). I know, not a huge departure from the Ohio Players from a few days back, (by that I mean I’d listen to this indefinitely, though I’m just discovering this myself!), but I couldn’t pass this up. Happy listening and sampling!
Wow rest in peace to a true legend. This blew my mind when I first learned about it.
