Kashmere

[ghost of miles]

Story on NPR

Jim Sangrey or any other folks familiar with this outfit?

[Noj]

They're funky! I've got some of their tracks on compilations.

[paul secor]

CD Universe has a 2 CD set listed.

[ghost of miles]

Listed on Amazon as well.

[Michael Weiss]

When I was at Skyline High School in Dallas in the early-mid 70s we would compete in stage band festivals in Brownwood, TX. Kashmere always came in first, and deservedly so.

[Jim Alfredson]

Yeah, I heard that report on NPR today while driving to my gig, too. I couldn't believe that was a high school band! Damn, those kids were funky!

[Soul Stream]

I'm sure these guys were great....but, it seems to me we've really gotten into the extremely ecclectic funk mode when we're hyping the high school bands of yore.... Blame Dusty Groove...

[Free For All]

I love Kashmere!

Wait, what's that red dot?

[DatDere]

DJ Shadow did a school band funk compilation a couple of years ago that featured this band heavily. It did have some nice tracks on it, like an ok version of 'Red Clay'.

[JSngry]

I too saw them at Brownwood a few times. Definitely not a "pro" band by any realistic standard, but nevertheless an amazing outfit worthy of recognition. These cats came to play, and they brought their own light show and M.C. They were poised well beyond their years in terms of both musical ability and stage presence.

[Noj]

Now that I look, I actually have a record of theirs, Zero Point, along with the DJ Shadow comp Dat Dere mentions above.

[Jim Alfredson]

  Soul Stream said:

I'm sure these guys were great....but, it seems to me we've really gotten into the extremely ecclectic funk mode when we're hyping the high school bands of yore.... Blame Dusty Groove...

Or blame NPR. To claim that they were the best funk group ever is pretty ridiculous. It's impressive that young kids sounded that good and they deserve props, but I agree... let's not go overboard!

[JSngry]

IIRC, both Melvin Sparks & Leon Spencer came up through the Kashmere program in the 1960s.

Also, it's my understanding that once the great Conrad Johnson retired (sometimes in the late 1970s, I beleive), that the program deteriorated rather rapidly, and the scholl now has just another "jazz band".

The story here is not that a (then) all black Texas high school produced the greatest funk band ever, or some such rot, it's that a (then) all black Texas high school band under the direction of a savvy director with direct roots to the music of his community produced generation after generation of inspired musicians and music. This should be a role model for music educators worldwide into perpetuity, and it should be something that all parents and educators consider when evaluating their local schools and curriculum.

After all, if the role of education and educators is to instill knowledge & confidence, inspire the imagination, fuel personal initiative, and create tangible skills that one can carry into adulthood, one need look no further than Conrad Johnson & Kashmere for a damn fine example of how to do it.

[Jim Alfredson]

Here here.

[Soul Stream]

I just went to the local record store and the Kashmere CD had the 15th highest sales of ANY CD of the week...something like 26 copies sold last week. And this is at THE most popular CD/Record store in Austin.