Jack McDuff was an organist from Champaign, Illinois who started his career as a bass player for Joe Farrell. By the 50’s he started playing organ and put a band together with George Benson, Red Holloway and Joe Dukes. His early recordings as a bandleader were on the Prestige label. Brother Jack, The Honeydripper, Brother Jack Meets The Boss and Screamin’ are considered classic albums from this era of his career. He left the Prestige recording company and joined Atlantic’s roster for a while until he ended up on Blue Note in the late ’60’s. “Oblighetto” is from the 1969 album Moon Rappin’ which is noted for use of funk. The J.Dilla version of the song appears on 2004’s Blue Note Revisited release. McDuff was still recording and performing up until the time of his death in 2001. J.Dilla, hip-hop producer extraordinaire, passed in 2006.

“Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone” will make its US national TV debut on 50+ Public Television stations tonight at 9PM EST. It will be the season premiere episode of WORLD TV’s AfroPoP series hosted by Comedy Central’s the Daily Show comedian Wyatt Cenac. You can pre-order the DVD from the filmmaker’s website. In other Fishbone news the band is now eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame and you can download the Fishbone postcard, sign it and mail it to the nominating committee. Norwood Fisher fulfilled his dream and made the cover of Bass Player magazine this month as the band finished their tour to promote the Crazy Glue EP. Check the Facebook page of the film to see what station it’s on in your area.

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Funk saxophonist Jimmy Castor died yesterday at the age of 64 of unknown causes in Las Vegas. Castor is famous for his 1972 hit singles “Troglodyte (Caveman)” and “It’s Just Begun.” The New Yorker started out as a doo-wop singer in the late ’50’s and would replace Frankie Lymon in The Teenagers. He released 13 albums and his last single to chart was 1988’s “Love Makes A Woman” with Joyce Sims. Castor is as important to hip-hop as he is to funk because of the endless sampling of his work. His music also appeared in various films most notably the b-boy scene with the Rock Steady Crew in the iconic ’80’s feature Flashdance.

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Brass Construction is a funk band from Brooklyn, New York that was formed in 1968 under the tutelage of musician/arranger Randy Muller. They were originally called Dynamic Soul but by the time of their deal with United Artists in 1975 they became Brass Construction. “Movin'” is from their 1975 debut album Brass Construction I. This album is always credited as being a turning point in dance music because it brought some respectability to disco, even though it transcended it, because of its wide appeal and masculine grooves. “Changin” also came from this first project that made itself known on the R&B charts and raised Muller’s profile. The band had a string of albums through the ’80’s with songs like “Happy People,” “Ha Cha Cha (Funktion),” “L-O-V-E-U” and “Attitude” giving them permanent inclusion on countless dancefloors. Randy Muller had even more success as a writer and producer for Skyy and the string arranger for B.T.Express. The band still tours and last released an album in 2006.