(BPRW) R&B Trailblazer Who Created hit, “Juicy Fruit” Passes Away at 76 | Press releases

(BPRW) R&B Trailblazer Who Established hit, “Juicy Fruit” Passes Away at seventy six

(Black PR Wire) James Mtume, an R&B legend whose 1983 hit, “Juicy Fruit,” returned to the charts a decade afterwards as #1 solitary of rap legend Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy,” died on Jan. 9. He was seventy six. His loss of life was verified by his publicist, Angelo Ellerbee.

Mtume’s musical genius ranged from disco to jazz, and everywhere you go in among. Not to point out his dramatic compositions for tv (“New York Undercover”) and film (“Native Son”). “Juicy Fruit,” the most significant hit from his self-titled R&B team, has been sampled innumerable periods, most famously on Notorious B.I.G.’s vintage “Juicy.” Mtume also manufactured and co-wrote hit singles for Stephanie Mills (“Never Knew Appreciate Like This Before”) and Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (“The Nearer I get To You”) in collaboration with his musical spouse and fellow Davis alum Reggie Lucas.

Mtume was born in the town of brotherly love, Philadelphia, as the son of saxophonist Jimmy Heath. Raised by his stepfather, Philly jazz pianist James Forman, the young musician grew up with activist roots (he observed Malcolm X discuss as a boy or girl) and moved to California in the mid-‘60s on a swimming scholarship. There, he joined the Black empowerment team, the U.S. Business (whose founder, Maulana Karenga produced the getaway Kwanzaa), and recorded his earliest solo albums commencing with “Alkebu-Lan – Land of the Blacks.”

According to NPR, just after returning to the East Coastline, Mtume (whose title translates as “messenger” in Swahili), performed with jazz band leaders these as McCoy Tyner and Freddie Hubbard as very well as recording with his uncle, Albert “Tootie” Heath on the “Kawaida” album. Close to this time Mtume joined Miles Davis’ band for a four-12 months stint that integrated some of the jazz legend’s most adventurous materials, such as “Dark Magus” and “Pangaea.”

In his 1989 autobiography, Miles, Davis pointed out Mtume’s effect on the heartbeat of his band: “With Mtume Heath and Pete Cosey becoming a member of us, most of the European sensibilities had been long gone from the band. Now the band settled down into a deep African matter, a deep African-American groove, with a great deal of emphasis on drums and rhythm, and not on individual solos.”

In 1978, subsequent dozens of jazz sessions, Mtume fashioned his self-named “sophistifunk” R&B-jazz ensemble with Lucas and vocalist Tawatha Agee, releasing the albums “Kiss This World Goodbye” (1978).

After 1980’s In Lookup of the Rainbow Seekers, the band launched 1983’s Juicy Fruit. The title observe grew to become the band’s most significant hit, and it was famously sampled on the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy.” The band adopted it with two a lot more albums: 1984’s You, Me and He which spawned a different hit record and 1986’s Theater of the Mind.

Mtume was afterwards credited on music by Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, and K-Ci and Jo-Jo. Mtume grew to become a radio identity for new York City’s KISS ninety eight.seven FM. In 2019, he gave a TED Talk titled “Our Typical Floor in Music.”

Subsequent the information of his loss of life, Mtume was mourned on social media by the artists who liked his tunes, such as Gangstarr’s DJ Premier, Talib Kweli and 

some others. “Thank you James Mtume for all the knowledge & love & regard you’ve demonstrated me & my brothers around the yrs,” Questlove wrote.

“Rest In Ability to the good James Mtume,” Philadelphia DJ Cosmo Baker wrote on Twitter. “The South Philly native & prodigal son, Jazz ROYALTY (the son of the good Jimmy Heath) and tunes trailblazer & pioneer. His passing is definitely a monumental loss.”

“Rest In Peace to the famous James Mtume,” included Bet host Marc Lamont Hill. “Thank you for sharing your remarkable gifts with us for so long…”