Song:Movin'
Album:Classic Masters
The funk band Brass Construction had a lot of success in the late 70s. mostly on the R & B and dance charts. Movin' was their biggest hit in 1976 and their only top 20 pop hit. Brass Construction was led by keyboard player Randy Muller. Muller was born in Guyana but grew up in Brooklyn, NY. He is a classically trained musician but he loved funk. The band was first called Dynamic Soul and then changed to Brass Construction when they signed with United Artists distributed Roadshow Records in 1975. Roadshow was owned by former Epic Records promotion man Sid Maurer. Jeff Lane produced and he also produced labelmate BT Express. Other members of Brass Construction were Larry Payton on drums, Wayne Parris and Morris Price on trumpet, Alvin Haskins and Duane Cahill on trobone, guitarist Joe Arthur-Wong, Sandy Billups on congas, Michael Grudge and Jackie Ward on sax and Wade Williamson on bass. Movin' was a marathon studio jam session. It was originally sixteen minutes long and it was cut down to eight minutes. That's the version that lit up the dance floor. A three minute version was played on the radio. It topped the R & B charts and reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Brass Construction had some other hits like Ha Cha Cha (Funktion) and L-O-V-E-U but Movin' was their biggest hit. You can get the full eight minute version of Movin' on this Capitol budget comp. They moved to Capitol when EMI bought United Artists in 1980 and a 1988 remix of Movin' charted and did very well in England. Movin' has been frequently sampled by hip hop guys since the 80s. Brass Construction continued to be active into the new millennium but I'm not sure if they are still active. Randy Muller was not part of the recent version of the group. Here's Brass Construction performing Movin' 1976.
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