tonite we will hear some samples of the
musical oevre of genius Weldon Irvine
aka Master Wel and beyond; read more below
about his lifetime achievments and check out the link

from the Bitish tribute page:www.soulwalking.co.uk/Respect.html
"Irvine has been an accomplished musician since 1964, a
time when he was involved with a quintet, that won an
award at a college jazz festival.
Weldon also studied English, Drama and music theory.
He relocated to New York in 1965 and formed a 17 piece
band that included Billy Cobham, Randy Brecker and Lenny White amongst others.
The group recorded seven albums and toured the globe.
In 1977 he began an involvement in musicals, namely
`Young Gifted and Broke´, `The Vampire And The Dentist´, `The Will´ and `Keep It Real´, all of which
contained music penned by Weldon.
Weldon penned the lyrics to `Young, Gifted and Black´, along with many other songs performed by artists ranging
from Stevie Wonder to Donny Hathaway.
Weldon´s songs were sampled by A Tribe Called Quest and Ice Cube among many other rap artists.
He also played instruments on several hip hop tunes.
Weldon worked closely with Nina Simone, who performed
`Young, Gifted and Black´.
Weldon Irvine was a close friend of the artist Don Blackman.
A really sad loss".