DONALD BYRD — Thank You ... For F.U.M.L (Funking Up My Life) (review)

DONALD BYRD — Thank You ... For F.U.M.L (Funking Up My Life) album cover

Album · 1978 · Funk Jazz

3.5/5 · 2025-05-07
FunkFreak75

A very pleasant collection of easy listening pop/Soul/R&B songs with Donald practically stepping into the shadows instead of leading from the spotlight. Not much of the Jazz-Rock Fusion elements left in this music.

Line-up / Musicians: - Donald Byrd / trumpet - Ed Watkins / bass - Anthony Cox / drums - Melvin "Wah Wah" Watson / guitar - Paul Jackson Jr. / guitar - Rick Littlefield / guitar - Greg Phillinganes / piano Vocals: Angela Winbush, Art Posey, Donald Byrd, John Lehman, Josef Powell, Lisa Roberst, Marlena Jeter, Maxine Anderson, Patricia Henderson, Ralph Turnbough, Stephanie Spruill, Syreeta Wright.

A1. "Thank You For Funking Up My Life" (4:15) What a line-up! One of the best Funk rhythm sections you'll ever see in the 1970s! This funky PARLIAMENT-like anthem is sung by one of its songwriters, Art Posey. This is actually a very contagious song! (9/10) A2. "Sunning In Your Loveshine" (5:40) spoken voice with muted trumpet in the background over rich smooth jazz sexy-love music. Lead singing voice over the choir in the main body of the song is none other than Syreeta Wright, Stevie Wonder's first wife. Pretty and poppy. (8.75/10)

A3. "Your Love Is My Ecstasy" (5:03) another Art Posey song and performance. A near-Al JARREAU performance of a Al Jarreau/BARRY WHITE-like orchestra-supported song. There is very little footing in the world of Jazz-Rock Fusion on this one: it's more like 1980s Kool And The Gang fare. Still, it is pretty. (8.75/10)

A4. "Loving You" (4:48) not the Minnie Ripperton song: Joe Hall. Funky pop music with group choir vocals until Jim Gilstrup shows up in the second half of the second minute. It's a EARTH, WIND & FIRE/CAMEO type of a song and performance. A Minnie Ripperton-like high soprano voice steps up to the microphone in the third minute for some wordless vocalese before stepping back for the horns to work and then for Jim Gilstrup to return to the spotlight. Solid dance romance music. (8.75/10)

B1. "Have You Heard The News?" (4:42) Another smooth pop-funk song with some catchy group and male-led vocal passages. Near-future Kool And The Gang again comes to mind as I listen to this one. (8.75/10)

B2. "In Love With Love" (4:48) gentle Disco with Art again in the lead. He's got a very pleasant voice--not unlike that of a mild-toast version of Al Jarreau or even Ray Parker, Jr. Donald is really ripping it up with his trumpet but it's muted and it's mixed very much in the background--as if playing in the alley outside. (8.75/10)

B3. "Cristo Redentor" (4:45) a Duke Pearson composition, this is the album's first that has felt to contain/represent anything akin to Jazz-Rock Fusion. There is mystery, tension, and experimentation present in the intro, but then the strings enter and the band congeals into a smooth funk motif--but they retain the mystery and tension (until the chorus--a rather corny/sappy affair). Donald's trumpet is paired with the background "singers" of orchestral instruments just as a voice and backup vocalists would be--which lends itself to the very natural conclusion that this is a cover of a former pop song--something Freddie Hubbard made something of a career doing. Still, Donald is up front (and ummuted) for the only time on the album, which is great. Female background vocals join in for the last minute and a half. (8.875/10)

B4. "Close Your Eyes And Look Within" (5:15) yet another eminently likable tune from Art Posey and his posse. Pulsing with BARRY WHITE sexuality and very little complexity (and very little Donald Byrd). (8.75/10)

Total Time: 39:11

Despite vocalist Art Posey's involvement with six of the album's eight songs I must point out that he was never a sole songwriter of any of these songs, only contributing (probably lyrics). One Joseph Powell is involved in all of them as well as a number of other names, including Melvin Ragin and Orville Saunders--neither of which play any part in the production of the album. As for Donald's participation, it is rarely up front, usually from behind with his muted trumpet or within a background horn section. The music Donald sponsors on this album is very pop Soul/R&B oriented--would all make great dance song for lovers in a disco just as soon-to-be Kool And The Gang's music will soon turn (under the guidance of Eumir Deodato).

B/four stars; this is good music--very engaging and pleasant if simply-crafted--but it's all pop-Soul/R&B, nothing much of any relevance to the Jazz-Rock Fusion movement (except as a testament to the exodus of artists to the more financially-lucrative Easy Listening, Adult Contemporary, Dance and party anthem domains.