As promised, we will finally get around to our introduction to the music of Mandrill:
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Mandrill in 1977, featuring the four Wilson brothers (back from left: Dr. Ric Wilson,
Lou Wilson, Doug Rodrigues, Wolf Wilson; front: Neftali Santiago, Claude "Coffee" Cave, Carlos Wilson) |
Mandrill was formed in the late sixties in Brooklyn. Featuring three Wilson brothers, Carlos (trombone & flute), Lou (RIP, trumpet, percussion), and Dr. Ric (alto sax, he went to medical school as a cardiologist), the children of Afro-Panamanian immigrants, and a revolving multiracial lineup, Mandrill brought to the world a seething, powerful, diasporic Funk. Rock, blues, soul, Latinx styles, and even country surfaces in their complex, introspective, celebratory music. Their first album (self-titled, 1970, Polydor) was an audacious debut, eschewing an outright single in favor of dense instrumentals, including the four-minute musical history lesson also titled "Mandrill" and a second side dominated by the five-part suite "Peace and Love (Amani Na Mapenzi)".
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| 1971 Debut album |
The next album,
Mandrill Is (1972, Polydor) was only slightly more mainstream, featuring more vocal performances and several dance-floor burners straight up in the deep Funk pocket, including "Ape Is High" and
"Git It All". This album featured the lineup that would remain for several more classic albums: Claude "Coffee" Cave (keyboards), Omar Mesa (lead guitar), Fudgie Kae Solomon (bass [RIP, 1974]), and Neftali Santiago (drums). Also featured on this album is a brilliant instrumental "Lord of the Golden Baboon" whose leading horn blast became a hip hop standard (see
EPMD's "Rampage" if you don't remember).
The next album, 1973's
Composite Truth, was arguably their most famous and popular record, anchored by the concert standard "Fencewalk".
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| 1973's Composite Truth, featuring the full "classic" lineup |
The next two albums, 1973's
Just Outside of Town and 1974's double album
Mandrilland, are a bit more uneven, but with heights of staggering brilliance. "Two Sisters of Mystery," written & sung by Neftali Santiago was the anchoring sample of
Public Enemy's "By The Time I Get to Arizona". Another track, "Fat City Strut" is a diamond-hard instrumental modulating between pure street funk and Latin dance party. And the wistful "House of Wood" from the latter album is a pure soul tragedy.
Mandrill moved from Polydor to United Artists in 1975, and continued to record, though the classic lineup had largely dissolved. Cave and Santiago stayed on, but Solomon died of a drug overdose in 1974 and Mesa turned to his religious explorations. A fourth Wilson brother, "Wolf" joined right around this time.
By 1975, major labels were starting to pressure black bands to conform to the new disco sound, which favored less involved drumlines & percussion (dominated by the hi-hat cymbal), frequent string accompaniment, and less conscious lyrical content. And Mandrill was no different, though they managed three more very good albums, 1975's
Solid and
Beast from the East and 1977's
We Are One (featuring two tough dance-floor favorites "Funky Monkey" and "Can You Get It (Suzie Caesar)). Though they had tracks on two popular movie soundtracks ("Ali Bombaye (Zaire Chant)" on 1977's Muhammad Ali biopic
"The Greatest" and "Echoes in My Mind" on 1981's
"The Warriors"), their subsequent albums seem unmoored, lost, and less playful and certainly less dangerous. And they were not popular in sales nor have they proven essential listening.
So it goes. The seventies were a bitch. Few Funk bands survived, and none without massive changes.
Music on the One, though, is here to celebrate the best and the brightest. We'll be dropping four or five sets of tight, tough Mandrill cuts for your musical improvement & enjoyment. Mandrill is a band that true Funk heads have always known, though their name may not be as recognizable as James Brown or Parliament.
So be there: Thinking cap and dancing shoes practically required. Invest in both.
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| Back cover of Mandrill's 1971 debut album |
