KEEPINTIME 'A Live Recording' album

There’s a long story here and in large part it’s the story of rhythm in the 20th Century. And being as you wouldn’t be miles off the mark if you saw those years as the Rhythm Century, that’s the story of the century. So bear with us – it’s worth the effort.

Unlikely as it may seem, our tale begins in the late ‘90s with photographer, film-maker and writer Brian Cross, more commonly known as B+. Irish-born, B+ had moved to LA in 1990 to get a Masters from CalArts and to feed his love affair with hip-hop. The results of his love affair were as diverse as his classic written overview of LA hip hop, “It’s Not About A Salary” and the promo video for DJ Shadow “Midnight In A Perfect World”.

But B+ was also fascinated with where the raw material of hip-hop – the break – and where it came from. He conceived a project where he would bring together and photograph four Los Angeles residents who had contributed to the history of music through their work behind the drum kit. The four men were Roy Porter, Earl Palmer, Paul Humphrey and James Gadson. Between them they spanned the history of post-War music, having played with everyone from Charlie Parker to James Brown, John Coltrane to Marvin Gaye, Frank Zappa to David Axelrod, Frank Sinatra to Beck.

Sadly, it took B+ some time to get the funding together for the project and by the time Tokion magazine approved the shoot in the year 2000, Roy Porter was dead. Nevertheless, the shoot went ahead, with the likes of DJ Shadow in attendance and members of the hugely influential DJ team the Beat Junkies and Cut Chemist on hand to jam with Humphrey and Gadson. The fruits of this meeting were captured by Cross on film and the resulting short, “Keepintime: Talking Drums Whispering Vinyl” toured the film festivals of the world to considerable acclaim, as well as DJ Shadow using it as the introduction of his critically acclaimed multi-media tour in support of “The Private Press” album.

But B+ wasn’t finished yet. All the participants were so energised by the exercise that he decided to bring them all together for a huge live show in Los Angeles, where DJs and producers including Madlib and NuMark (Jurassic 5) would jam live and create music with these two great drummers. The immediate results of these two unique events are captured here for the first time on DVD. But even then, the man behind the project wasn’t finished.

He now sent out the recorded multitrack parts from the live show to a host of the world’s finest producers, who built on the rhythms and added their own individual touches to create a cd of truly epic proportions. A constant work in progress, with producers ringing from all over the world begging to get involved, “Keepintime: A Live Recording” is a document of a collision between rhythm cultures, a truly vibrant artefact.

You will find new work here from a host of great names: DJ Shadow (one humurous cut-up built around the singular fact that a mistake by the soundman at one point obscured Madlib’s contribution to proceedings plus the more Shadowesque “Roy’s Theme”), King Britt (his 10 minute broken epic is definitely a highlight), Cut Chemist, Charlie Dark (Blacktronica/Attica Blues), Ammoncontact, Quantic Soul Orchestra, O.H.N.O., Daedelus and J-Rocc.

But more than any particular contributor what make’s this record great is the thematic unity, the rhythmic brilliance of the two drummers who lie at the roots of the work and last, something which King Britt captures and samples. Half way through his mix the compere for the night can be heard stating that, “this project is about love.” Believe.

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KEEPINTIME - A Live Recording