Late Summer Grooves: Seventies Jazz-Funk by The Smooth Operators

The Smooth Operators (=Martijn Soetens & Professor Eddy) celebrate their upcoming 10th anniversary (October 14, 2025) with some superb seventies jazz-funk! 😀

One of the tracks is Summer Madness by Kool & the Gang. Khalis Bayyan of the band arranged the track that was originally called You Don't Have To Change. It was composed by trumpet player Robert "Spike" Mickens and Elton Taylor. Bayyan gave the track the significant sound with the Arp 2600, a new instrument at the time.

After working for Motown, Larry and Alphonso (Fonce) Mizell started their own production company Sky High in the early 1970s. They began to work for several artists, like Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey and Johnny Hammond. The two brothers created a unique multi-layered sound that shimmered somewhere between funk, jazz, soul and disco. After having huge commercial success with A Taste of Honey (Boogie Oogie Oogie) at the end of the decade, the Mizell brothers suddenly stopped producing and playing on records and they mysteriously disappeared. Alphonso died of heart failure on July 5, 2011 at the age of 68.

Next week a new episode of Sunshine Radio! 

Tracklist:

Grover Washington, Jr. – Mister Magic [Radio Edit] (1975)
Ray Barretto – Summer Sun (1978)
Marvin Gaye – Where Are We Going (1973)
Bobby Hutcherson – Family Affair (1971)
Ana Mazzotti – Feel Like Making Love (1974)
Rasa – When Will The Day Come (1978)
Donald Byrd – Think Twice (1974)
MFSB – Sunnin’ And Funnin’ (1976)
The Crusaders – Keep That Same Old Feeling (1976)
Ahmad Jamal – Superstition (1973)
Houston Person – I No Eye For Back (1977)
B.T. Express – If It Don't Turn You On (You Oughta' Leave It Alone) (1974)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Searching (1976)
Kool & The Gang – Summer Madness (1974)
Johnny Hammond – Tell Me What To Do (1975)
Norman Connors – Stella (1977)
Gene Page – Blacula (1972)
Bobbi Humphrey – The Trip (1975)