Another day another musical discovery that I'm wondering if it's graced the mighty disc of laserness?

This time it's 1970's and 80's funk titan Charles Earland. More specifically his absolutely stunning 1980 album Coming To You Live. The title track of which totally blew my mind with its excellence. There's touches of gospel, soul, funk and tremendous percussion the nearest of which I can think of as a comparison would perhaps be Weather Report. All wrapped in an end of era, late disco ribbon. Make no mistake, this is an epic number and it's been in heavy rotation

It also got me digging through his extensive discography. There's some superb early 1980's funk on albums like 1982's Earland's Jam, and 1983's equally funky Street Themes.

Then when you start digging further back in time, it gets really psychedelic and experimental, yet with touches of Stevie Wonder, The Doors and even the legendary Cal Tjader (who's track Gary's Theme on the wonderful LP Last Bolero In Berkley is a MUST listen).

Tracks like the epic Journey of the Soul and Intergalactic Love Song from the absolutely epic 1976 psychedelic fiesta, Odyssey, just defy belief at their brilliance. Especially the track Journey to the Soul, it really is exactly that, a journey in to the far reaches of your psyche. Highly recommended listening, I would hope you won't be disappointed.

Going back even further and there is 1972's hyperalbum Intensity, and the absolutely divine opening track, a cover of Chicago's Happy Cause I'm Going Home. A track I imagine would have heavily influenced the likes of Jamiroquai, for example. The range of styles and pure instrument mastery and album production values are all something special to behold. I strongly recommend having a trawl through his catalogue as I'm sure there's something there for everyone to enjoy.

Which leads me to ask if anyone knows if this man has featured on any Laserdiscs? I've tried a few different search terms but can't find anything. Anyone able to help? Even VHS or Beta would just as good if there is nothing on Laserdisc.

Here's a few tracks to get you going. The last travk is particularly poignant. Just 2 days after finishing recording the track, jazz trumpet legend Lee Morgan was shot and killed by his wife in a bar in New York. He'd collaborated a lot with Charles Earland and sadly didnt get to enjoy the reaction to such brilliant work. I hope someone here gets in to Charles Earland via this post, that would be great.









There is also a nice remix of Coming To You Live by Jive Talk



EDIT: Thought this was worth adding. It's just passed the 50th anniversary of Lee Morgan's death and there is a very interesting story around the rediscovery of his grave which was presumed lost for a while.

https://text.npr.org/1080984321

Was there ANY video released?

IMDb and YouTube have none => https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0247285/

Julien

As far as I can see there doesn't appear to be any videos in the sense of a 'traditional music video', for want of a better description. I was hoping there may be some live performances of Charles Earland, or Lee Morgan. Or both of them in an ensemble perhaps.

Not seeing anything at the minute which is a shame. Some of Charles Earland's discography has session recordings, alternate takes and so on. But in terms of video I can't find anything at the minute. I hoped a Laserdisc or VHS might be uncovered perhaps. Heck, even 8mm or 16mm footage would do too!

Edit: I did find the trailer for the Lee Morgan film. It looks excellent, and apparently does have footage of him in it. No idea if Charles Earland features in this in archive footage maybe? After all, they were recording together 2 days before Morgan's wife killed him.

Some good news to update with, somewhat quickly.

I Called Him Morgan is on Netflix in UK, Ireland and Japan. It is on Apple TV and Netflix for the USA.

Other countries have it too, choose your country from the link below:

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/i-called-him-morgan

Edit: just checked Netflix Ireland (which surprisingly is the biggest Netflix library of all countries Netflix operates in), and the film is there to watch. The other countries should have it too, check the link above for where you live to see what service is showing the film if you are interested.