Sam’s Jams: New Birth “Comin’ From All Ends”
This week on Sam’s Jams, another funk favorite from 1974.
In 1963, musicians Tony Churchill and Harvey Fuqua formed the instrumental band The Nite-Liters in Louisville, Kentucky. The group had a few hits, including the song “K-Jee”, and others like “Afro-Strut” and “Damn” became underground dance-floor classics.
In 1969 in Detroit, songwriter and producer Vernon Bullock contacted The Nite-Liters with the idea of creating a touring company. With the addition of vocalist from the male group The Now Sound, and female group Mint Julep, the new ensemble was called New Birth.
The bands sixth studio album in 1974 was titled Comin’ From All Ends, became a modern day favorite not only because of its incredible production and songwriting, but also because it’s coveted among hip-hop producers, being sampled many times on hip-hop beats by Elzhi, MF Doom, Lil Wayne, J Dilla, and many others. This week on Sam’s Jams, we check out the title track from this album.
Sam’s Jams is the weekly song selection of WDET’s creative producer Sam Beaubien, a longtime Detroit musician who also helms the soul-funk band Will Sessions.
From 70 years ago to contemporary releases today, Sam’s Jams is the musical equivalent of digging for hours in dusty record store bins to find forgotten-but-should-be-remembered deep cuts pulled from the genres of funk, jazz and soul genres.
