Below is a photo of the late musician Raphael Ravenscroft.
Ravenscroft is best known for the unforgettable saxophone riff on Gerry Rafferty's hit song "Baker Street," a riff he later admitted was out of tune. He also played sax on Marvin Gaye’s “Heavy Love Affair” and contributed to records by America, Kim Carnes, Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, and many other celebrated artists.
Ravenscroft released his debut album Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway on Portrait in 1979. He took on the arrangement and co-production of the project while frequent Gerry Rafferty collaborator Hugh Murphy handled the remaining co-production duties. Based on what’s listed on Discogs, the album had no singles and hasn’t been in print for quite a long time.
The song “Whole Lotta Something Goin' On” is one of the project’s highlights. It starts off with a somber, reflective saxophone before moving into Ravenscroft’s emotional vocals. As he sings the opening line “I can feel it in the air” his voice pitches up significantly and breaks on the word “air.” The beautiful instrumentation coupled with this perfect bit of dissonance makes the segment prime for sampling.
Enter late actor, MC, producer, and vocalist Heavy D. Hev’s production discography dates back to the 1980s and boasts impressive solo and co-production credits with Tony Dofat, Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, The Trackmasters, and others.
With a broad and wide-ranging career that includes many film credits and recurring roles in shows like Bones, Boston Public, and The Tracy Morgan Show, the turn of the century seemed to mark a renewed interest in producing as he contributed to high-profile projects by Babyface, Carl Thomas, and Jay-Z.
But it was his contribution to Beanie Sigel’s 2005 release The B. Coming that demonstrated a truly unique sample-spotting ability. Nobody in the history of recorded music had ever flipped a Raphael Ravenscroft song until Heavy D flawlessly turned the opening of “Whole Lotta Something Goin' On” into Sigel’s “Feel It In The Air.”
Ravenscroft’s lyrics may be open to interpretation, but Heavy D somehow recontextualized them to provide the perfect canvas for Sigel’s ruminations about his paranoia and deep distrust of both friends and enemies.
When modern listeners think of Heavy D, they’re sometimes unaware of his impressive production credentials. The Beanie Sigel collaboration seems to be especially surprising for some. To highlight the depth and breadth of his work as a producer I decided to compile a Heavy D production thread for those of you who use Twitter. There’s also a 28-track YouTube playlist to complement the thread.
Sadly, both Heavy D and Raphael Ravenscroft passed away well before their time at age 44 and 60 respectively. Though they’re no longer with us, their legacy lives on through their music.
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