Sky High: The Mizell Edition (aka the "Swingtown" edition, lol)

one thing that i will give my father the utmost credit for is very good musical sensibility. in addition to the regular rock & soul most kids gravitate towards, he exposed my young impressionable ears to the sounds of artists like Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, Hubert Laws, Hugh Masekela, Yusef Lateef, Fela Kuti, and Sadao Watanabe among many others. there was a lotta vinyl around the crib at all times and i used to sit for hours in my room intently reading liner notes, inquisitive about who played what instrument and who produced what. which leads me to mention the 2 guys in the above pic.

Larry & Fonce Mizell.

you're scratching your head "who???" here's their Wikipedia entry (under Mizell Brothers)

The Mizell Brothers were a highly influential production team in the 1970s, consisting of Larry and Alphonzo Mizell.[1]
In the early seventies Larry and Fonce Mizell moved to California to start their own company Sky High Productions. They went on to produce albums for Blue Note with Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, and Johnny "Hammond" Smith that set the tone for fusion and the era.

The Mizell Brothers often used the same musicians on their albums, including Harvey Mason on drums, Melvin 'Wah Wah' Ragin on guitar, Chuck Rainey on bass and Jerry Peters on piano. Freddy Perren and Chuck Davis were often involved as co-writers or co-producers. Later hits of Sky High Productions include LTD's 'Love Ballad' and A Taste Of Honey's roller-rink anthem 'Boogie, Oogie, Oogie'. Younger brother Rodney Mizell also co-wrote some of their songs.

During the seventies the Mizell Brothers wrote and produced albums by Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, Johnny Hammond Smith, Gary Bartz, LTD ("Love Ballad"), Rance Allen and Roger Glenn. Most albums featured the same musicians, including Harvey Mason, Sr. on drums, Chuck Rainey or James Jamerson on bass, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin on guitar, Jerry Peters on piano and Stephanie Spruill on percussion. At the end of the seventies, the Mizell Brothers discovered A Taste of Honey and produced their first two albums, including the hit single "Boogie Oogie Oogie".

In the 1980s, the Mizell brothers retired from the record industry.

now...

the reason for this post is because after all these years of digging pretty much everything these 2 guys have ever laid down in the studio, i finally decided to make a mix of my favorites. Apple Jac had been getting on me for years to do an all Donald Byrd joint, but the Mizell production touch wasn't exclusive to just him so i included other artists as well.

the mix is basically 70's funk/fusion/Sample Clearance/Jaycee, that's the best way i can explain it and i hope you enjoy. a lotta this stuff should be very recognizable, and if not the music is so good you'll just rock with it anyway.

there are a couple glitches in the matrix, but that kinda adds to the appeal i think. normally i'd scrap it and start from scratch but fuck it, lol...

one more thing: no "Ultimate Breaks & Beats" were used or harmed in the making of this mix...

"Sky High: The Mizell Edition" (rapidshare)

"Sky High: The Mizell Edition" (divshare)


"Sky High: The Mizell Edition" (zshare)


"Sky High: The Mizell Edition" (megaupload)