The Mizell Brothers

Larry and Fonce (Alphonso) Mizell, without a doubt the hottest songwriters and producers of the 1970s, gave us, with their Sky High Productions, some of the finest jazz-funk and R&B records ever produced. With their distinctive, unique style they gave music a whole new quality, resulting in a fascinating groove that has always held its appeal and paved the way for hip-hop, neo-soul, and soulful house music today. Fonce Mizell started off as a member of Motown?s famous production team The Corporation. Together with Freddie Perren, Deke Richards, and Berry Gordy Jr., Fonce helped write and produce many of the Jackson 5?s early hits, such as ?I Want You Back? and ?ABC.? Fonce also wrote and produced for other Motown acts, including Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas, and Bobby Darin. Some years later, Fonce and Freddie Perren would write and produce Edwin Starr?s soundtrack to the blaxploitation movie Hell Up in Harlem (Motown, 1974). Before that, Larry Mizell had worked with Donald Byrd on his Grammy?-nominated Black Byrd album, the biggest selling album for Blue Note Records at the time. From then on, having moved to California, the brothers were working together, producing a string of fantastic records with their company, Sky High Productions. Most of them were released on Blue Note and include classic jazz-funk like Donald Byrd?s ?Street Lady? and Bobbi Humphrey?s ?Blacks and Blues?; deep soul- funk and R&B like Gary Bartz?s ?The Shadow Do? and Rance Allen?s ?Say My Friend?; as well as huge disco hits like A Taste of Honey?s ?Boogie, Oogie, Oogie.? Original LPs of Mizell Brothers-produced albums are coveted among DJs and crate-diggers, and have been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, De La Soul, Tupac, Pete Rock, and countless others. This definitive retrospective is the first release that puts their careers in its proper context and presents it with the sonic quality it merits. Also, it marks the Mizell Brothers reunion with Blue Note Records after almost 20 years, as the album was compiled, produced, mixed & mastered by the Mizells themselves. Lastly, it features three previously- unreleased tracks newly mixed from the analog sources: ?Funked Up? from legendary Gary Bartz?s Music Is My Sanctuary album, a newly-unearthed alternate version of the classic Donald Byrd ?Think Twice,? and a half-completed track to which the Mizells added vocal and trumpet parts and renamed ?N R Time,? which is sure to be a future dancefloor classic.