Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Flutey goodness




I have to admit that I've never been a huge fan of the flute. But lately, I started to notice so many good tracks with flutes in them, that I was forced to reassess my prejudice. And I started looking around and found even more gems. (My search was flutefull. okay, I'll stop now)...This is just a sample of what I found. And I'm fully aware that I'm completely ignoring entire genres. Any flute fans out there?

Beastie boys--Flute Loop
Rahsaan Roland Kirk--Ain't no Sunshine
Cee Lo--Sometimes
Kool and the Gang--Electric Frog part 2
Burning Spear--S.O.U.L
Talib Kweli--Listen
Cymande--Rickshaw
Cymande--Changes
The Crystalites--Concentration
George Freeman--The Bump
The Chosen Few--Do Your Thing
Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers--Chitterlings Con Carne
Where Are We Going--Donald Byrd
Just a Love Child--Bobbi Humphrey
De La Soul--Ring Ring RIng-Piles and Piles of Demo Tapes Bi-Da Miles

24 comments:

nilpferd said...

I like flutes.. in fact one of my first crushes was a flautist..

Have you heard this?
http://www.lastfm.de/music/Harold+Alexander/_/Mama+Soul
Roland Kirk is awesome. Yusef Lateef played some great flute with Cannonball Adderley, too.

goneforeign said...

Herbie Mann went through a reggae phase.

snadfrod said...

Here We Go Again, Stakka Bo. 'Nuff said.

nilpferd said...

Just got through your playlist- the Harold Alexander I linked to above also plays on your "Pucho and his latin soul bros" track.
I can think of a few nice flute tracks by LTJ Bukem and of course this, with quite a nice video-
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=4kAOZfyqHSs

ejaydee said...

The flute in Sensual Woman by The Herbaliser is quite raunchy, especially at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKt4il5UskA

There's also Flute Thing by Seatrain, and another song I'm thinking of but can't put my finger on it.

ejaydee said...

I also enjoyed the cover of one of my favourite Marvin Gaye songs.

nilpferd said...

The LTJ Bukem I was thinking of was Journey Inwards.
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=GrH1Sw4fetk
Flonds for Sensual Woman.

Anonymous said...

Great idea for a post, Lady S. Just a word for a fine flautist - Annie Lennox from the Eurythmics. A little hint of her talents here:
http://www.deezer.com/track/576517

Anonymous said...

On a roll... My favourite ever flute work on a song:
il est 5 heures - Jacques Dutronc
http://www.deezer.com/track/27306
How lovely is that?

ejaydee said...

Of course, Il est 5h! And there's also Stepping Stones by Johnny Harris, which was used in a Levi's advert a long time ago.

snadfrod said...

Oooh, I've just remembered that the last minute and a half or so of "Empire State (Son House in Excelsis)" by Mercury Rev is one of my all-time favourite bits of music.

AND and and, the flute melody that runs through the second half of Mogwai Fear Satan is an astoundingly beautiful diamond in amongst a brutal load of rough.

steenbeck said...

Thanks everyone. Some good suggestions. FP, I love the Jaques Dutronc. It's one of those songs that makes me feel nostalgic but for nothing in particular, or maybe for something I've never known. Did it make the time of day playlist?

Ha ha--knew someone would mention Mogwai, somehow. Still waiting for Jethro Tull.

The Bobbi Humprhey was sampled in Ghostface Killah's Underwater, I think.

Carole said...

My Bloody Valentine used to have a flautist playing with them on stage while they were touring the Loveless album.

ToffeeBoy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ToffeeBoy said...

OK then steenbeck -if someone has to, I'll nominate Jethro Tull.

But if we're going to consider Prog Rock flautists (and why shouldn't we? - it's a free world after all) surely the maestro of the genre is Thijs van Leer. His performance on 'Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!' is out of this world. In fact the whole track is 14 minutes of heaven. My brother has asked me to play this track at his funeral - he's quite certain that when his subconscious mind hears the opening strains, he'll jump out of his coffin, get out his air flute and start playing along!

steenbeck said...

I didn't mean any Jethro Tull Disrespect. I just always like the way everything spans across different genres, and I love the fact that there's an RRer to champion any genre you can come up with.

Blimpy said...

Donds for Mogwai.

goneforeign said...

Can I champion classical? Check out James Galway for absolutely perfect technique.

Anonymous said...

Hey .....

When David Jackson could be persuaded to unplug VDGG from the double sax power source and pick up the flute instead, then pretty, melancholy ditties like Refugees emerged..

http://peterhammill.com/phx/audio/refugees

AliMunday said...

I love flutes.

Ian McDonald, King Crimson, e.g. ‘I talk to the wind’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUVFY1aWIuk

Jimmy Hastings (Pye Hastings’ older brother) who played on some of the Caravan tracks (e.g. ‘Love song with flute’)

And of course Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull and Ray Thomas from the Moody Blues (Nights in White Satin, etc)

It was seeing Focus live in the ‘70s that inspired me to learn to play the flute. Unfortunately I never kept it up, although I did keep my flute. The chances of being able to play like Thijs van Leer were, I realized, fairly remote. I’m pretty reasonable on the recorder though!

AliMunday said...

I love flutes.

Ian McDonald, King Crimson, e.g. ‘I talk to the wind’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUVFY1aWIuk

Jimmy Hastings (Pye Hastings’ older brother) who played on some of the Caravan tracks (e.g. ‘Love song with flute’)

And of course Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull and Ray Thomas from the Moody Blues (Nights in White Satin, etc)

It was seeing Focus live in the ‘70s that inspired me to learn to play the flute. Unfortunately I never kept it up, although I did keep my flute. The chances of being able to play like Thijs van Leer were, I realized, fairly remote. I’m pretty reasonable on the recorder though!

Anonymous said...

Hi Steenbeck - don't think the divine Monsieur Dutronc did make the time of day playlist. I nommed it like mad and was loyally backed up by Frenchy. Still, we'll keep it under our hats for another day, eh? Glad you like it. I was up early in Paris one morning and walking the streets to find a taxi to the station. I saw none of the frantic activity described so well in the song and felt rather cheated, to tell you the truth. It was precisely 5 o'clock AM.

treefrogdemon said...

Sarah Allen from Flook!

Anonymous said...

I play the flute. Not that good yet so I'm looking for inspiration.


magic malik http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Dv8-iw4vA&feature=related
(hiphop/jazz - realy good!)