Chicago footwork pioneer Cornelius Ferguson, aka Traxman, is the latest artist to pay tribute to Maurice White through song in the wake of the Earth, Wind & Fire founder's death in Los Angeles last week at the age of 74.
Stream the producer's tribute mix, titled Traxman Does E.W.F. Footwork (R.I.P. Brother Maurice White), below.
Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, the mix samples mostly (if not completely) from Earth, Wind & Fire's discography as well as from the producer's own tracks. While there is no tracklist online as of now, "Can't Hide Love" is featured in the mix along with countless other classic cuts, MixMag reports.
The mix starts out jazzy with samples of the band's horn section and xylophones before the old school Chicago-style claps chime in. The first few minutes emphasize the DJ's sample source and feature some of White's soulful vocals before the frenetic sub-bass beats really kick in.
Traxman combines his typically aggressive approach to fast-paced sampling -- which, as Thump points out, has some especially glitchy house moments in this mix -- with the band's multilayered, lush composition. The dance-floor-ready result is as much an homage to Chicago-style night music as it is to the late great Maurice White.
Both Earth, Wind & Fire and Traxman have come to represent different elements of Chicago's music scenes in past decades, and this mix celebrates many of the intersections of juke and house-influenced footwork and soul, funk and rock. It's like a funky footwork deep dish pizza with all the toppings.
Traxman has been posting a lot of techno and juke mixes on Soundcloud under his Corky Strong alias lately. A few weeks ago he posted a brief mix of Detroit techno pioneer Derrick May's tracks.
