eMusic Review 0
August Darnell may have become more mythologized for his '80s-cusp work with New York's Ze Records, including his production and remixes of artists like Cristina, James White & the Blacks, and his own outfit, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, but he never made a better record than the self-titled 1976 debut of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. Led by Darnell (born Thomas Browder) on bass and his brother Stony Browder Jr. on guitar and piano, Dr. Buzzard drew clear and groundbreaking parallels between swing-era New York nightlife and the disco period that the band helped to epitomize. The siblings were Haitian immigrants, and throughout, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band trades on supply applied Latin and Caribbean touches: the talking drum of the much-sampled "Sunshower" is the most obvious example, but there's plenty of mambo in the tom-tom and saxophones that drive the classic "Cherchez Le Femme/Se Si Bon" as well, and vocalist Cory Daye didn't shout like an R&B singer but purred, growled, and scatted like a salsera. Hear her trill her R's and move the melody around like a ping-pong ball on "I'll Play the Fool," and join countless others in wondering why the hell… read more »
