Led by
James Mtume and featuring the powerful lead vocals of
Tawatha Agee,
Mtume were a dynamic, chart-topping R&B band that recorded for major-label Epic from 1978 through 1986. As a top-level jazz percussionist and composer whose most prominent work was with
Miles Davis from 1971 to 1975,
James Mtume was frequently credited simply as
Mtume. During the early part of that decade, the musician also recorded mononymously as a leader, blurring the distinction between the individual and the band.
Mtume the band continued the path
James Mtume and guitarist/partner
Reggie Lucas had taken when they departed from the jazz field and co-wrote "The Closer I Get to You," the sparkling
Roberta Flack and
Donny Hathaway duet that topped Billboard's R&B chart in 1978. The first lineup was filled out by keyboardist
Hubert Eaves III, bassist
Basil Fearington, and drummer
Howard King, though the band's founder and
Agee were the lone original members after the second full-length. The most significant departures were
Eaves, who moved on to
D Train and other production work, and
Lucas, whose greatest subsequent success came with producing the majority of
Madonna's self-titled debut.
Kiss This World Goodbye (1978),
In Search of the Rainbow Seekers (1980),
Juicy Fruit (1983),
You, Me and He (1984), and
Theater of the Mind (1986), the five
Mtume band albums, yielded 11 charting singles among expansive deep cuts. The biggest hits were "Give It on Up (If You Want To)" (number 26 R&B), "Juicy Fruit" (number one R&B), "You, Me and He" (number two R&B), and "Breathless" (number nine R&B). These A-sides traced the band's smooth evolution from uplifting, almost big-band-like funk -- within the same realm and class as
Earth, Wind & Fire and
the Brothers Johnson -- to lean, intimate machine soul.
Mtume himself, who continued to work primarily behind the scenes for over a decade after the band's end, simply termed the output "sophisti-funk," a sound that also characterized his and
Lucas' concurrent Grammy-winning songwriting and production work for the likes of
Phyllis Hyman,
Stephanie Mills,
the Spinners, and
Lou Rawls. Thanks in part to
the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" and dozens of other songs that have either sampled or referenced
Mtume, the band's discography remains ripe for discovery by younger generations.
James Mtume died on January 9, 2022 at the age of 76. ~ Andy Kellman