James Mtume (January 3, 1946 – January 9, 2022) – Love Lock (1978)
The masterpiece from Mtume's debut LP on Epic Records, this epic, beautiful jazz-funk jam featured soul-stirring vocals by Tawatha Agee with Reggie Lucas on guitar and Hubert Eaves on keys.
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James Mtume was an influential producer, musician, singer/songwriter and activist who along with his musical partner Reggie Lucas produced classic hits for Roberta Flack, Phyllis Hyman, and Stephanie Mills. His own group Mtume’s biggest hit came in 1983 with the #1 R&B jam “Juicy Fruit.”
Born James Forman in Philadelphia, PA, Mtume was the son of legendary jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath. He grew up surrounded by jazz musicians and learned to play piano and various percussion instruments. He became a champion swimmer in high school, and in 1966 went to Pasadena City College in California on a swimming scholarship. There he became involved in Black nationalist Ron Karenga’s US Organization, a group he left in 1969.
When he returned to the East Coast, he played with McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, and Miles Davis, in whose band he met his future producing partner Reggie Lucas. Mtume and Lucas’ own group Mtume began as an Afrocentric jazz ensemble in the early 70s.
After three albums without any chart success, they nonetheless scored a major label deal with Epic Records due to the songwriting prowess of Mtume and Lucas. Mtume’s debut LP on Epic was Kiss This World Goodbye (1978). It featured their version of “The Closer I Get To You,” the hit song the two partners had written for Roberta Flack the year before. Her duet with Donny Hathaway went to #1 R&B and #2 on the Billboard pop charts in 1977, off her Blue Lights in The Basement LP.
Kiss This World Goodbye was packed with other superb cuts like “Funky Constellation,” the inspirational slow jam “This Is Your World,” and the album’s funky title track. But its masterpiece was the epic, beautiful jazz-funk jam “Love Lock.” The song featured soul-stirring vocals by Tawatha Agee, with Reggie Lucas on guitar, Mtume on percussion, and Hubert Eaves III on keys.
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