There is a documentary coming out about the Kashmere Stage Band!
Who is the Kashmere Stage Band, you ask? This was the high school jazz band at Kashmere High in Houston, Texas that performed from the late 60s to 1978. The director, Conrad Johnson basically taught these kids how to be a funk band...and the results were incredible! Seriously, before I knew these kids were in high school, I figured they were pros.
As a result of their badassery, Johnson had them record a number of 7" singles and 12" albums.
Once these masters were rediscovered, it didn't take long for DJs and crate diggers (like DJ Shadow, in particular) to get in on the action.
Check out the following:
This is from 1973, and was famously sampled in "Holy Calamity" by Handsome Boy Modeling School. High school drummer on this = fantastic.
Their cover of Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio". More breakdown niceties (maybe a little loose on those sextuplets, this time, but the flute solo is a welcome surprise).
Their cover of Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You". A little on the front of the beat, and the percussion break almost falls apart, but nice guitar work.
The Kashmere Stage Band as sampled by DJ Shadow and Dan the Automator.
So yeah, that's a high school band.
Don't know when the movie comes out, but check out a review over at http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44272
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