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Melvin Sparks
Melvin Sparks is the Essential Guitar Player! He’s The Master Of The Groove! The Acid-Jazz Pioneer! The Originator of Soul Jazz, Old School Acid Jazz & BarbecueFunk(FUNKJAZZ)
Over the last thirty years he has played with some of Jazz’s greatest musicians: David "Fathead" Newman, Lou Donaldson, Hank Crawford, Reuben Wilson and John Patton (are amongst the many). During the 1970s, Sparks backed up Lou Donaldson on the Funk-Jazz classics "Everything I Play Is Funky" and "Hot Dog".
Sparks recorded seven albums of his own and played on over 100 other albums. As a session man for Blue Note and Prestige Records, Sparks laid his signature guitar work on many other musician’s albums without ever being in spotlight. It was during this time that Melvin defined the jazz-guitar sound of a generation.
Melvin Sparks is still a much sought-after studio player, both new and old talents seek him out now more than ever. He continues to perform with the greats of this genre such as Leon Spencer Jr., Mike Clark and Idris Mohammed and is now breaking out his legendary guitar wizardry with many younger bands and artists such as Galactic, The Greyboy Allstars, Karl Denson's Tiny Univers, Derek Trucks and Robert Walter's 20th Congress.
Melvin is geared up to show us all what he does better than anyone else. Groove hard and in the pocket. Melvin Sparks has perhaps the most inspiring and soul-energizing guitar chops on this planet or another. He is admired by many performers, and audiences old and young alike, but continues to be a hidden treasure for music fans worldwide. He is Soul-Jazzy and Funky to the core!
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Johnny "Hammond" Smith: Wild Horses Rock Steady
by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
Born John Robert Smith on December 16, 1933 (in jny: Louisville, KY), formerly known as Johnny Hammond Smith, and later as Johnnny Hammond, one of the all-time best jazz organists passed away on June 4, 1997, in jny: Chicago, Illinois. For some of his early fans, some of the best albums he recorded were done for Prestige in the Sixties. A younger generation, who grew up listening to the hip-hop influenced jazz sounds of the 1990s, prefers Johnny's over-produced sessions ...
Continue ReadingMelvin Sparks: Live at Nectar’s
by Joe Gatto
A cool thing about music is that when you follow a band for a long time, you eventually get turned on to the music that influenced them. You get to hear all kinds of exciting new music, and start digging deep, going down groovy rabbit holes to discover great musicians you might not find on your own. This is the case with Melvin Sparks, the late great soul jazz guitarist, whose music greatly influenced one of my current ...
Continue ReadingMelvin Sparks: I'm A 'Gittar' Player
by Douglas Payne
Guitarist Melvin Sparks will sound familiar to those who like the fatback soul-jazz of the late 60s and early 70s. That music has new life today as “acid jazz" and Sparks was a significant catalyst in its sound. He's ignited some of the better funk of Lou Donaldson ( Pretty Things and Cosmos ), Sonny Stitt ( Turn It On ), Charles Earland ( Black Talk ), Lonnie Smith ( Think ), Hank Crawford (the recent Tight ) and Rusty ...
Continue ReadingDocumentary: Melvin Sparks
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Melvin Sparks was one of the finest and most important guitarists during the jazz-funk movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. For the Prestige label, Sparks recorded with Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, Leon Spencer Jr., Johnny Hammond Smith, Caesar Frazier and many others. He was known for his Houston shuffle rhythm guitar and funky jazz lines. Sparks came out of the Houston blues and soul scene in the 1960s and began playing soul-jazz with organist Brother Jack McDuff mid-decade. ...
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Jazz Dispensary And Vinyl Me, Please Announce A Second Collection Of Reissues
Source:
Michael Ricci
Jazz Dispensary is thrilled to partner with Vinyl Me, Please for a second installment of album reissues, following our inaugural collaboration, in 2020. This latest bundle continues our sonic journey with four cosmically funky catalog gems from the early to mid-’70s. The reissues include Bayeté’s boundary-pushing debut, Worlds Around the Sun; Gary Bartz’s uplifting The Shadow Do; Idris Muhammad’s sumptuous Peace and Rhythm; and Melvin Sparks’ cinematic sophomore album, Spark Plug. Offering an elevated listening experience, these carefully selected albums ...
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Melvin Sparks: Sparks!
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the late 1960s and early '70s, Prestige assembled a studio band that specialized in a new form of soul-jazz dominated by organ and horns. To keep everyone in the ensemble happy and to meet the label's production quotas, individual musicians in the band took turns as session leaders. The need for an efficient and prolific house band was two-fold: the surge in affordable component stereo systems from Japan and the rise of FM radio in African-American communities. In short, ...
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Melvin Sparks: Live at Nectar's
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Just three months before guitarist Melvin Sparks died on March 15, 2011 at age 64, he recorded at a club in Burlington, Vt., called Nectar's, a club that's still there today (go here). Sparks was backed by members of his working trio—organist Beau Sasser and drummer Bill Carbone. But on this night, he added alto saxophonist Dave Grippo and tenor saxophonist Brian McCarthy. It had been several years since Sparks last used horns. Now this live date has been released ...
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Melvin Sparks - R.I.P.
Source:
Sound Insights by Doug Payne
Guitarist Melvin Sparks, a soul-jazz legend and acid-jazz pioneer, died yesterday at his Mt. Vernon, New York, home from heart failure. He would have turned 65 next week. Reports indicate he died from complications associated with diabetes. Sparks made his name in the late '60s and early '70s as a soulful guitarist—or “gittar" player, as he called himself—accompanying Jack McDuff, Lonnie Smith, Lou Donaldson, Charles Earland, Jimmy McGriff and countless other soul-jazz stars. “But for the last two decades," wrote ...
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R.I.P. Melvin Sparks
Source:
JamBase
ACID JAZZ GREAT PASSES AWAY AT 64 Legendary Soul/Jazz/Funk guitarist Melvin Sparks died yesterday due to complications from diabetes. He was 64 years old. Sparks was noted for his pioneering Acid Jazz guitar style in the 60s and 70s, influencing generations of musicians in his wake, including Galactic, The Greyboy Allstars, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph, Eric Krasno and more. In addition to his groundbreaking work as a bandleader, Melvin was a prolific session player for labels ...
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Melvin Sparks (1946-2011)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Melvin Sparks, a much-in-demand soul-jazz guitarist who recorded with virtually all of the great organists of the late '60s and '70s and pioneered a sound that borrowed from Grant Green and Sly Stone, died on March 13 . He was 64. Sparks was at his best playing a muscular, groovy rhythm guitar behind organists like Leon Spencer and Charles Earland, breaking out occasionally with a melodic, groovy solo. He was a mainstay at Prestige during the '70s, where he was ...
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Organist Ron Levy Releases 'After Midnight Grooves' with Melvin Sparks and Karl Denson on Levtron Records
Source:
All About Jazz
After Midnight Grooves extends the attention to detail and groove obsession that Finding My Way demonstrated as my pick for “#1 Soul Jazz CD of 2003". Levy slows the rolling boil to a steamy simmer, at times adding “strings" appealing to the smoothest of the hippest 'after hours' jazz crowds. On the other funkier cuts, Levy and celebrated guest artists like Melvin Sparks and Karl Denson add vibrant colors, new dimensions, textures and intriguing arrangements to solid soul jazz rhythms, ...
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WFDU-FM All Live Broadcast: John Tropea, Melvin Sparks, Bob Devos on Saturday, 2/21
Source:
All About Jazz
On Saturday 2/21/4, “Sounds of Blue" Extended edition will be a 6 hour all live performance broadcast at our new recording studio at 89.1 WFDU-FM in Teaneck NJ, also streaming on the worldwide web: www.WFDU.FM. The show will air from 6pm till Midnight.
This show closes the WFDU February Fund drive, and we will be taking pledges during the broadcast. Featured performers are: John Tropea's Band, Melvin Sparks, Jerry Vivino, Rob Paparozzi, Bob DeVos trio, Tommy Mitchell, Terry Silverlight's group ...
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Sparkplug The Melvin Sparks Documentary
Hello everyone!
I'm Kurt Sparks the son in law of the great Melvin Sparks.
Starting this project, I knew of my father in law but never had the opportunity of meeting him. When marrying his daughter, Aisha Sparks in October of 2016, Melvin was four years passed on. During visits with family members at different holiday events, Melvin's name would often come up & I took the opportunity to inquire about who he was as a musician, husband, father and humanitarian.
When my wife and sister in law, (the twins) began venturing into the Christian Rap ambit, I along with my brother in law, was asked to record their first music video. I had no prior experience in filming but after purchasing a very expensive Canon camera, my wife suggested that I use it to produce a documentary about her father. I instantly turned the idea down because in my mind i'm thinking big budgets, a large film studio, expensive filming equipment and most of all how was I going to pull this off???
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Melvin Sparks
Instrument: Guitar
Born: March 22, 1946
Died: March 13, 2011
