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

(BPRW) R&B Trailblazer Who Made strike, “Juicy Fruit” Passes Absent at seventy six

(Black PR Wire) James Mtume, an R&B legend whose 1983 strike, “Juicy Fruit,” returned to the charts a ten years later 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 confirmed by his publicist, Angelo Ellerbee.

Mtume’s musical genius ranged from disco to jazz, and just about everywhere in between. Not to point out his dramatic compositions for tv (“New York Undercover”) and film (“Native Son”). “Juicy Fruit,” the most important strike from his self-titled R&B team, has been sampled many times, most famously on Notorious B.I.G.’s common “Juicy.” Mtume also made and co-wrote strike singles for Stephanie Mills (“Never Knew Like 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 like, Philadelphia, as the son of saxophonist Jimmy Heath. Raised by his stepfather, Philly jazz pianist James Forman, the younger musician grew up with activist roots (he observed Malcolm X speak as a child) and moved to California in the mid-‘60s on a swimming scholarship. There, he joined the Black empowerment team, the U.S. Corporation (whose founder, Maulana Karenga created the holiday getaway Kwanzaa), and recorded his earliest solo albums starting with “Alkebu-Lan – Land of the Blacks.”

In accordance to NPR, just after returning to the East Coastline, Mtume (whose name translates as “messenger” in Swahili), played with jazz band leaders these kinds of as McCoy Tyner and Freddie Hubbard as nicely as recording with his uncle, Albert “Tootie” Heath on the “Kawaida” album. All around this time Mtume joined Miles Davis’ band for a four-calendar year stint that incorporated some of the jazz legend’s most adventurous content, together with “Dark Magus” and “Pangaea.”

In his 1989 autobiography, Miles, Davis mentioned Mtume’s affect on the heartbeat of his band: “With Mtume Heath and Pete Cosey becoming a member of us, most of the European sensibilities have been long gone from the band. Now the band settled down into a deep African thing, a deep African-American groove, with a large amount of emphasis on drums and rhythm, and not on specific solos.”

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

Just after 1980’s In Search of the Rainbow Seekers, the band produced 1983’s Juicy Fruit. The title monitor became the band’s most important strike, and it was famously sampled on the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy.” The band followed it with two extra albums: 1984’s You, Me and He which spawned a different strike record and 1986’s Theater of the Thoughts.

Mtume was later credited on tracks by Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, and K-Ci and Jo-Jo. Mtume became a radio persona for new York City’s KISS 98.seven FM. In 2019, he gave a TED Talk titled “Our Frequent Floor in Music.”

Following the information of his loss of life, Mtume was mourned on social media by the artists who cherished his new music, together with Gangstarr’s DJ Leading, Talib Kweli and 

other folks. “Thank you James Mtume for all the wisdom & like & regard you have demonstrated me & my brothers in excess of the many years,” 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 new music trailblazer & pioneer. His passing is actually a monumental loss.”

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