David Axelrod was a celebrated producer and composer, but the man surely deserved even more appreciation for his innovative work and his experimental ideas of fusing elements of jazz, rock, and R&B into his productions. He worked on a ton of records with Cannonball Adderley, The Electric Prunes (look up their two 1968 albums at any cost), Donna Loren, David McCallum, Gene Ammons and more and he was one of the most frequently sampled composers, especially by acclaimed hip-hop artists such as De La Soul, Inspectah Deck and Ghostface Killah, Kool G Rap, Madlib, Cypress Hill, as well as DJ Shadow, Manic Street Preachers and so much more. In a few words David Axelrod was a huge influence in popular music and culture.
Axelrod started his solo career with a sophisticated bang, a couple of incredible albums released in 1968 and 1969, titled Song Of Innocence and Songs Of Experience respectively, both comprised of musical interpretations of William Blake's illustrated collection of poems from 1789, Songs of Innocence and of Experience. While the first one is more of a jazz fusion album incorporated with many rock, funk and classical elements, the second one is a darker case that sounds less rocking and focuses more on the dimmer side of humanity.
Since it would be too tough and uncalled for to pick just one, we celebrate the life and art of David Axelrod by playing both right through the players below...
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