question about Zambezi

[Nick Cope]

Does anyone know any details about the Donny Hathaway/Richard Evans track, Zambezi? What I want to know is what exactly was Hathaway's involvement in it and if he actually sang on it. The only versions I know are by the Soulful Strings and The Fun Company.

This question is in relation to the sleevenotes I'm writing for this LP I've been working on, and I'm trying to save valuable time by dipping into the VV well of knowledge.

There may be more questions like this to follow...


Cheers in advance.

[son of stan]

Donny Hathaway did quite a bit of stuff in Chicago in the mid / late 60s as a writer / arranger before making his mark as an artist. He was involved in the Mayfield Singers with his mate Leroy Hutson but most of their stuff was unreleased at the time. I can't actually locate my copy of Zambesi right now but I would hazard a guess that the Soulful Strings is the original. That said, they reworked and recycled stuff like crazy in those days (cf Soulful Strings, "Burning Spear" and Clea Bradford "Summertime").

Richard Evans is just a legend. He was I believe, a member of early line ups of Sun Ra's Arkestra before his time at Chess and so on...

Sorry if this doesn't actually help!

[son of stan]

Just worked it out:Richard Evans, bass player, would have come up with the bass line /rythmn and Donny Hathaway, piano/organ, would have done the melody. That's what I reckon.

[Nick Cope]

Yeah, that was my hunch. Thanks!