News RSS
‘You’re What I Wanted’: Assembling The Family Stone – NPR
“I think he was looking for good musicians, and he knew quite a few. He sees the heart of a person.”
That’s how Cynthia Robinson, founding member of Sly & The Family Stone, characterizes the charismatic frontman’s choice of backing players. The band, which pioneered a blend of funk, soul, jazz and pop, began in 1960s San Francisco as a kind of blended family: black and white, men and women.
It was something of a first for a major American rock band, whose legacy remains strong and is celebrated on a new box set titled Higher! Robinson, the band’s trumpet player, says she doesn’t think race or gender entered into decisions surrounding the lineup. Saxophone player Jerry Martini, however, says he believes that Stone’s choice of bandmates was intentional.
“I said, ‘You know, I know a lot of other African-American sax players that can just burn me.’ He goes, ‘But you’re what I wanted,'” Martini says. “I didn’t say, ‘Is it ’cause I’m white?’ or anything like that. But I just saw him as a visionary person who knew the group that he put together represented a lot of society.”
Hear Unreleased Sly & The Family Stone Cut ‘Life of Fortune and Fame’ – SPIN
Exclusively at SPIN, you can listen to one of the unreleased tracks from Higher!, the 4-CD Sly & The Family Stone box set in stores August 27. Recorded during the Dance to the Music album sessions in July of 1967, the cut “Life of Fortune and Fame” starts off slowly but soon turns into a fully realized rock/soul fusion that was left, surprisingly, in the vaults up until now. It’s a song that Sly revisited several times early in his career.
Listen to “Life of Fortune and Fame” now at SPIN.
Photo credit: Vernon L. Smith
Exclusive Rare Photos From Sly & The Family Stone’s ‘Higher!’ Box Set – GuitarWorld.com
To celebrate the release of Higher!, the 4-CD career-spanning box set from Sly & The Family Stone, GuitarWorld.com is presenting an exclusive photo gallery featuring several rare photos of Sly with various guitars, including Fenders and Gibsons. There’s even a vintage Ibanez ad for you to check out. View the gallery at GuitarWorld.com.
Sly with guitar – (c) Jim Marshall Photography LLC
Listen To Previously Unreleased ‘Undercat’ Track By Sly & The Family Stone – The A.V. Club
In anticipation of the August 27th release of Higher! by Sly & The Family Stone, The A.V. Club has the premiere of a previously unissued track from the 4-CD box set. “Undercat” is an instrumental recorded during the A Whole New Thing period in August 1967 that ended up becoming the song “Plastic Jim.”