COS MIC RE VERB Producer, songwriter, and organist Edwin Birdsong is the anonymous genius behind some of jazz- funk’s most cosmic moments. The Los Angeles native reconnected with high school acquaintance Roy Ayers in New York, and the two began work on a series of records that would change the course of jazz and popular music at large.The relationship would give birth to a funky jazz with commercial leanings that worked both live and on the dance floor.Birdsong remained committed to a solo career, releasing a string of records, including two highly influential albums—one on Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International and one on Salsoul—whose effects are still reverberating. Influenced by Larry Levan and the NewYork club scene,Birdsong’s left-field boogie anthem“Cola Bottle Baby”would become fodder for both Daft Punk and Kanye West,and his bare funk breakbeat track“Rapper Dapper Snapper” would nod hip-hop heads for years, bringing Birdsong’s grooves to a new global audience.
by Andy Thomas
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