Song of the Week: Theme de Yoyo
Art Ensemble of Chicago (featuring Fontella Bass)
Theme de Yoyo
In my continued quest to offer up songs of the week with limited appeal, this week’s track comes from freeform jazz group, the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Apart from the absolutely kicking rhythm section, singer Fontella Bass makes this song I think. Just five years earlier she had been in the charts with her best known single ‘Rescue Me’ - then she met her husband Lester Bowie, trumpet player and member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and came out with this storming jazz classic.
‘Theme de Yoyo’ actually comes from the soundtrack to a French comedy-drama, Les Stances a Sophie, which is described by the Soul Jazz reissue’s liner notes as ‘unfortunately one of the most obscure French New Wave films ever made.’ The rest of the album is largely experimental jazz, with a touch of soul and R&B, which only makes you wonder more what the actual film it accompanies is like. Let me know if you ever see it.
‘Theme de Yoyo’ from Les Stances a Sophie, Art Ensemble of Chicago, 1970; reissued on Soul Jazz, 1990
Tags: Song of the week
June 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I was excited for a moment as I thought you’d picked something by Chicago. Ahem.
June 10th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Aha! A Chicago fan as well! I’m sure I can sort something out for you… eventually. Actually, you’ve put ‘Saturday in the Park’ into my head for most of the evening. This is not a bad thing!
June 11th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
That’s a belter and the way it goes in and out of funky focus is mod jazz magic
June 11th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Glad you liked it PM. I heard it on a Gilles Peterson podcast just recently and had to have it. That brass riff just sticks in your head…
June 14th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I saw Fontella Bass at WOMAD a few years ago. She blew the place apart. Fantastic. This is great too.
Can’t make my mind up if I like it better than your New Kids On The Block selection though!
June 16th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Hoops, that has to be the best comment ever. I love the idea of someone wavering between whether they prefer the Art Ensemble of Chicago or New Kids on the Block. Superb!