Black Straight Music | Ronald Snijders (REISSUE) | £25.00

Limited to 100 copies only, transferred from the original master tapes

This LP was my first group album, and was named after the band that I founded in 1974. This was meant to be my first album, but my drive to record ‘Natural Sources’ was stronger. Somehow, I love the raw demo sound of this LP. The first track, ‘Wildgrass’, is fast, funky and wild with all other players (Eddy Veldman – drums, Glenn Gaddum Sr. – Fender Rhodes piano, Ivor Mitchell - bass guitar and Franky  Douglas – electric guitar) ‘hot on the box’. The track ‘Latinetta’ is drifting on a rather smooth Latin and Brazilian atmosphere, in which I did some vocals and improvised on alto flute, while ‘Next Day' is a kind of slow fusion with some influence of Jaco Pastorius. ‘Saramaka’, the closing track, was recorded during a live performance of a percussion and flute trio and I later added bass guitar to it. This initially improvised piece of music became my most performed live song ever.  

The B side opens with ‘Tori’ (Story), a fully composed combination of kaseko jazz, American funk, fusion jazz and Latin jazz. You’ll hear a brilliant Fender Rhodes improvisation from Glenn Gaddum Sr. The second and final track is ‘Be Funky ', just like the title says. I love the raw guitar solo in it from the great Curacao born Franky Douglas. 

-Ronald Snijders, 2024