Selected by Dan Ubick
Continuing Entropy’s Column of Iconic Lists from American Cities, this edition is
25 Iconic Los Angeles Records
as Selected by Dan Ubick.
Editor’s Note: Dan Ubick is one of the most versatile musicians in not only Los Angeles but contemporary music. Bridging sounds and communities, he’s recorded with record labels like Stonesthrow, Now Again and Ubiquity while embodying hip-hop, funk, psychedelic soul, acoustic folk, afrobeat and rocksteady all in one. He is the leader of two bands: Connie Price & the Keystones and the Lions. Connie Price and the Keystones spent several years as the backing band to Big Daddy Kane.
Equally a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist he has played guitar as a studio and live musician with a who’s who of artists including De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, Eamon, Method Man, Redman, Joey Altruda, the Heptones, Aloe Blacc, Barrington Levy, Macy Gray, the Beatnuts, Eamon, Sharon Jones, Brand Nubian, Slick Rick, Ghostface Killah, Rakim, Eddie Bo, EPMD, Lily Allen, M.O.P., Mos Def, Myron & E, Hollie Cook, James Gadson (Bill Withers, Watts 103rd St, Dyke & The Blazers), Mulatu from Ethiopia, Jungle Fire, Kotolan, Sixto “Searching For Sugar Man” Rodriguez, Money Mark, DJ Numark, Snoop Lion, Colbie Caillat, Blue States, Too $hort, Breakestra, The Lions, Steve McCormick Band, The Mad Geezers, The Monophonics and many more.
His latest album with Connie Price and the Keystones pays tribute to Doug Lucas, an innovative horn-player and forgotten jazz-funk pioneer from the 1960s and 1970s. The new album Lucas High crystallizes Ubick’s many talents to create a musical conversation across generations.
What’s even more beautiful is that Lucas’s son Zach Lucas plays on the album. Though his father passed over two decades ago, they collaborate musically on this record. Peanut Butter Wolf describes Lucas High as the “Perfect marriage of 70’s Curtis, Isaac, and Barry meets 80’s Dust Brothers meets 90’s Kane, J5, and MOP in a way that only the master of the craft Dan Ubick could pull off in 2019.”
Ubick has also written about musical history for Wax Poetics. Over the years, I have done a lot of writing to albums Ubick has produced because his records always have layers and layers of soundscapes that I can get lost in. His Top 25 Los Angeles records listed below reflect his eclectic sensibilities.
—Mike Sonksen
- Shuggie Otis “Inspiration Information”
- Johnny Otis “Cuttin’ Up”
- Dyke And The Blazers “The Funky Broadway”
- Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Band “Together”
- Buffalo Springfield “Last Time Around”
- The Byrds “Mr. Tambourine Man”
- Gene Clarke “Gene Clarke with The Gosdin Brothers”
- The Coasters “Greatest Hits”
- Little Feat “Sailin’ Shoes”
- War “Deliver The Word”
- The Doors “The Doors”
- The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds”
- Love “Forever Changes”
- Jane’s Addiction “Nothing’s Shocking”
- Los Lobos “Este De Los Angeles”
- Queens Of The Stones Age “Songs for The Deaf”
- Fishbone “The Reality Of My Surroundings”
- X “Los Angeles”
- The Beastie Boys “Paul’s Boutique”
- The Pharcyde “Bizarre Ride 2 The Pharcyde”
- Jurassic 5 “Power In Numbers”
- Freestyle Fellowship “To Whom It May Concern”
- Cypress Hill “Cypress Hill” (1st LP)
- The Lions “Soul Riot”
- Connie Price & The Keystones “Lucas High”
Producer/Composer/Multi-Instrumentalist Dan Ubick grew up with music- his father Richard played jazz bass, his mom listened to the Beatles and classical music while Dan’s older brother and sisters listened to Bowie, Traffic, Yes, English Beat, T. Rex and Zeppelin. However, it was Dan’s little sister who turned him onto rap music in the late ‘80’s.
As a studio and live musician Dan has played guitar behind a who’s who of reggae, funk, soul and hip-hop and his music has been used in everything from television and film to radio, promo and gaming.
See www.DanUbeProductions.com for details and then go to Instagram and follow Dan at @DanUbeProductions
