On July 11th, Alphonso ‘Fonce’ Mizell passed away at the age of 68. Starting out in The Corporation as an in-house producer for the Motown label, he would go on to form with his younger brother Larry, what would become the legendary Mizell production partnership, working with the likes of Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, Gary Bartz and Johnny ‘Hammond’ Smith on numerous albums in the 1970’s. With their distinctive sound, they would help push jazz fusion into the mainstream and provide Blue Note years later with some of the label’s most enduring (and oft sampled) work.
At our last Jazz Meet Live we set aside the opening two hours to pay tribute to the man, and in the process, play some of our favourite tunes produced by the duo. Here we share a segment from the day featuring Jazz Meet residents Rob Coley and Sid Ford on the turntables. We hope you enjoy and if you haven’t already, pull out one of those Mizell produced albums again and give it a spin, you won’t be disappointed. RIP Fonce.
TRACKLIST
** Rob Coley on the decks **
Donald Byrd – Flight Time
Gary Bartz – Sea Gypsy
The Rance Allen Group – Reasons To Survive
Donald Byrd – Design A Nation
The Blackbyrds – Do It Fluid
** Sid Ford on the decks **
Johnny “Hammond” Smith – Fantasy
Bobbi Humphrey – New York Times
Donald Byrd – (Fallin Like) Dominoes
Johnny “Hammond” Smith – Back To The Projects
Donald Byrd – Caricatures
Bobbi Humphrey – Chicago Damn
Donald Byrd – Lansana’s Priestess
FILE UNDER: Jazz / Jazz Fusion / Jazz Funk