Thunder Soul: The Story of the Kashmere Stage Band
Thursday, February 4, 2010
My step dad is a jazz drummer and music instructor, and as I was really getting into jazz a few years ago I decided to flip through his record collection to see what kind of records he had. His involvement with different school bands in the 60’s and 70’s yielded a bunch of interesting looking records that he either played on, conducted, or was affiliated with in some way or another. Eventually I came across a copy of Kashmere Stage Band’s Out of Gas But Still Burnin’ LP that he had acquired from the 
band’s director, Conrad Johnson. My eyes lit up. I knew that Kashmere records were rare and highly sought after by jazz and funk enthusiasts, and until then I had never come across an original KSB record.
In general, my experience with stage band records has been poor; they are typically tepid and cheesy, but the Kashmere kids are another story. Johnson apparently saw the potential in some of his best and brightest students from Kashmere High School in Houston, Texas, forming the KSB in the late 60’s. Between 1968 and 1978 they cut eight studio albums, toured the nation, and won several national championships in the process, becoming a national phenomenon of sorts. The group eventually disbanded in 1978, as several of the players went on to become professional musicians.
I just caught the trailer for an upcoming documentary, Thunder Soul, that traces the band’s history, catches up with some of the players and reunites them for a concert, honoring the man that pushed them to become the greatest high school band ever made. If you want to hear more, check out the compilation Texas, Thunder Soul 1968-1974.
1 Comment »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Soulstrut // Waxidermy // Ear Fuzz // Soul SIdes // Mixtape Riot // Paris DJs // Voodoo Funk // With Comb & Razor // Analog Africa // Brazilian Nuggets // Funky 16 Corners // Musica Del Alma // Breath of Life // Music for Robots // Flux Blog // Like A Throttle // Good Records // Dust & Grooves // Soul Spectrum // Monone's Library // Superfly // Home of the Groove // Loronix // Daptone // Numero Group // Truth & Soul // Ubiquity // Soundway // The Fader //
Grain Edit // Kitsune Noir // The Dieline // Typographics // Typophile // We Made This // Ace Jet // Steven Harrington // Damien Correll // Mike Perry // Chuck Anderson // Nate Duval // Chloe Aftel // Alex Lucas // Adrian Johnson // ISO50 // Burlesque of North America // You Work For Them // FPO // Tim Gough // Frank Chimero // Petit Collage // Wayne Pate // Si Scott // The Heads of State // Aesthetic Apparatus // The Small Stakes // Invisible Creature // Lab Partners SF // Micah Smith
[...] I first heard about Hypnotic Brass Ensemble when someone posted a youtube clip of a New York Times feature (see bottom) a few years ago, and it was the first time in a long time that I remember being truly blown away by music. Comprised of 8 members, 7 of them blood brothers of the trumpeter and former member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra Phil Cohran, the group started out as a street ensemble, hypnotizing audiences on the streets and subway stations of Chicago before moving to New York. Picking up influences from their father, and combining that with their own interests in hip hop and soul, HBE’s music is an infectious cocktail of brass and rhythm that reminds me a little of Kashmere Stage Band’s material. [...]
Pingback by Dreams in Audio » Beats & Brass: The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble — March 10, 2010 #