| Darondo
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“Sexy, earthy funk... formidable tracks. Four stars.”
ROLLING STONE
“These
nine tracks have an atmosphere and a power all their own…
vibrant, real and alive”
THE TIMES (LONDON)
“An
unearthed testament to an artist whose work stands with that of
Brown, Al Green and Sly Stone in terms of sheer funkiness”
ICE
"A street savvy Al Green"
UNLEASHED
MAGAZINE
"A special voice, one that truly merits more exposure and
attention."
NASHVILLE CITY PAPER
"Ubiquity
Records' crate-digging extraordinaires exhume this '70s Bay Area
soul croaker, an immensely appealing mix of Too $hort and Al Green.
The word of the day is "Legs." Now get out there and
spread the word."
EAST BAY EXPRESS
"soul-drenched
beauty...10/10"
RAINER
TRUBY
“Sounds like some long lost Al Green tapes that gave me
the warm fuzzies”
JAMIE STRONG, STONES THROW
Darondo records are high on the wants-lists of many collectors.
Back in the day he was seen cruising around town in a white Rolls
Royce and could have been the next Al Green or Sly Stone. But
about 25 years ago Darondo disappeared. Until now…
Released for the first time on CD or LP! This album includes
3 uber-rare 7”s and 3 tracks from recently discovered unreleased
tapes
Booklet includes full liner notes, interview, and never-been-seen
before images
A mystery to most, Darondo records are high on the wants-lists
of many collectors. He is spoken about in hushed-tones by other
Bay Area musicians. Back in the day he was seen cruising around
town in a white Rolls Royce (with a "Darondo" license
plate). He opened-up for James Brown and lived a colorful lifestyle
hanging with folks like the notorious Fillmore Slim. Take a listen
to these tracks, released for the first time together on an album,
and you may agree that he could have been the next Al Green or
Sly Stone. But about 25 years ago Darondo disappeared.
Releasing three singles in the early 1970s (as Darondo, Darondo
Pulliam, or the miss-spelled Dorando) he mixed low-rider soul
with blues and r'n'b. He delivered in a variety of styles from
the socially-charged "Let My People Go" to the sexually-driven
funk of "Legs". All three singles were recorded in the
San Francisco Bay Area, and both sides of each of the singles
are fantastic productions.
"You can hear a little bit of everything," says Darondo
about his music style. "There's a little jazz and a little
soul. They say if you Black you supposed to have soul. I got Latin
flavor in me so there's some Latin in it. Definitely got the Blues
in it. I sound kinda' country but I grew up in the Bay Area,"
he adds.
But after the release of his three 45s Darondo stopped recording.
“It was mostly me, just having a good time with a real good
hobby,” he says. “It wasn’t about money but
about having fun. Something I just liked to do. Maybe your dream
is to be a James Brown or Frank Sinatra but those were just mostly
dreams to me.”
Outside of the music business Darondo was living life to the full,
and it eventually caught up with him. “Folks would say ‘Daron
got that dough…Daron Do…that’s how I got the
name. I used to get my suits tailor made, one of a kind, like
my rings. A player can’t have the same ring as someone else.
Got my rings specially made with diamonds and stones. But in order
to get yourself together you had to get away from all the fastness.
I was driving around in a Rolls Royce, I was a fast young man,"
adds Darondo.
Darondo now lives in Northern California with his wife and family
and is delighted to hear his music is getting a second wind courtesy
of DJs and collectors like the UK-based Gilles Peterson who recently
picked "Didn't I" for his "Digs America" compilation.
The six tracks from the three original singles are featured here,
along with three previously unreleased songs that were recently
discovered on a demo reel. The demo reel was sitting in a box
of VHS copies of his cable TV shows which we had requested to
use for images in the CD booklet. Recorded in the early 1970s,
tracks from the demo reel were taken into a San Francisco studio
in the summer of 2005 for enhancement. Darondo over-dubbed missing
background vocals and guitar parts alongside up and coming San
Francisco soul man Bing Ji Ling. Darondo warmed up quickly, he
hasn’t lost his touch. After the session Darondo confessed
that he was inspired to start playing again…so there is
hope for a full-blown Darondo revival!
Darondo Videos
As a special treat for visitors to the Ubiquity Web site we've unearthed video of Darondo presenting music
videos on Cable Access. Darondo's Penthouse and Doze Comedy Videos were broadcast on Bay Area television in the
mid 1980's. Extremely lo-fi and littered with canned laughter, fans of Benny Hill
or Chappelle Show will not be disappointed! Darondo lays on the charm and cheesy jokes...
check out the excerpts below (Microsoft
Media Player 9.0+ or Apple
Quicktime 6.0+ required):
The
Onion A.V. Club
Reviewed by Noel Murray
January 18th, 2006
Last year's R&B rarities compilation Gilles
Peterson Digs America jumped from highlight to highlight,
beginning with the first song, "Didn't I," by little-remembered
Bay Area player Darondo. A colorful character with a shady past,
Darondo released three 45s in the early '70s, working essentially
as an amateur. Aside from a brief stint as a local cable-TV personality
more than 25 years ago, Darondo has shied away from show business,
but his legend endures in large part because of the curious magic
of those three singles. Their unforced synthesis of the era's
dominant soul and funk styles helped measure the magnitude of
artists like Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, and James
Brown, just by standing in their shadows.
The nine-song compilation Let My People Go assembles the A and
B sides of Darondo's three 45s along with three recently unearthed
demos, and it's a surprisingly diverse collection, given the short
amount of time Darondo was a working musician. Between the title
track's politicized Afrobeat, the lascivious funk grinder "Legs,"
and the Latin-tinged confessional "How I Got Over,"
Let My People Go practically catalogs the sounds of the inner
city circa 1972. But Darondo wasn't just an opportunistic copycat
(though his lush string hangings and cooing background singers
echoed the commercial trends of the day), and he wasn't kitschy
(though his songs sometimes lurch out of tune, goaded by his wrenching
falsetto). The x-factor in all of these tracks is Darondo's idle,
jazzy guitar, which has the intimate quality of a man sitting
on the edge of his bed. If anything gives Darondo's songs their
feeling of off-the-cuff R&B homage, it's the sense that he
slapped them together just so he could pick a while.
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