Tom Browne ~ Thighs High (Grip Your Hips & Move) 1980 Disco Purrfection Version

Gather round neophyte disco travellers....way way way back in the 70's, jazz music was invading the airwaves. I grew up with a transistor AM radio in my ear, and often during algebra class. FM radios were a thing for the rich, not a five kid family like mine. But my dad's boss gave him a DELUXE 12 band radio in 1971. That radio had the most excellent sound to convey the new FM format. My mom had that radio posted on Top 40 stations most of the time, but others I would come home to country, R&B, soul (thank you Marvin Gaye), "beautiful music" stations, "blast from the past" stations...I never knew what I would hear. I started messing around with the stations when my parents were out, to see what else was on this thing...and the strains of Earth, Wind and Fire singing on Ramsey Lewis's "Sun Goddess". It was jazz infused R&B and it was intoxicating as hell. I used to trip to it reading the saturday funnies in the late afternoon (after everyone but my dad would read it). I found that there was more music like that, "Westchester Lady" was the next jazz funk song I fell in love with. The structure of the notes mimics the arrangement of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" (another album I tripped to many times from the age of 14 to today). This new genre increased in popularity at the same time disco developed, both becoming beat heavy. Suddenly, jazz went from being this rarefied and abstract topic that few enjoyed to becoming a driving force in pop music. Proof of that pop crossover appeal is Kool & The Gang, and on the R&B charts it was Tom Browne. From Queens NY, he began playing trumpet in the 70's playing behind other jazz funk artists. Soon he was ready for a solo career, and he set about to record his first album. He hit big with "Funkin' For Jamaica (N.Y.)" a reference to his neighborhood he grew up in, spent four weeks at #1. It never entered the Hot 100, although there was a commercial single available, but only R&B stores and stations were reporting plays. His second LP "Move" contained his second biggest R&B hit the #4 Thighs High (Grip Your Hips & Move).