Happy music

I'd been on a little bit of a Tommy Stewart jag lately-- I put two of his productions on my recent Soulful Disco mix-- so when I saw that there was a new compilation of his productions, I had to cop it:


Tommy Stewart is an Atlanta musician, producer and arranger. He cut one album under his own name, 1976's Bump and Hustle Music, as well as a couple LPs that were largely his work, like the Spirit of Atlanta's 1973 The Burning of Atlanta and 1979's Musica Negra. He also cut an album by The Counts' frontman Mose Davis and one-off singles by a range of relatively anonymous acts: Cream de Coco, Mad Dog Fire Department, 3rd World Band, the Final Approach, etc.

I love Stewart's productions for the way they meld soul and jazz harmonies with the light rhythmic pulse of disco, yet remain funky. Make Happy Music collects three songs from Bump and Hustle Music, one from The Burning of Atlanta and one from Musica Negra, plus nine other Stewart-produced tracks. The sound quality is good and it looks as though the compilers properly licensed the music. At the very least, they went to the trouble of tracking down Stewart and business partner Marlin McNichols to interview them for some fairly informative liner notes.

Here are a couple of Stewart tracks that aren't featured on Make Happy Music:



The Spirit of Atlanta: "Freddie Is Alive & Well" (Buddah, 1973)



Masheen: "Get Up and Get Down" (G-K, 197?)

The intro is a little corny to me, but the song's a grower. I love the breakdown that starts around 3:30 in.