N.C.C.U. -

N.C.C.U. — aka New Central Connection Unlimited — was an American funk band from Durham, N.C., that released the 1977 album Super Trick on United Artists.

Members: Stanley Baird (saxophone), Thomas ‘Bonnie’ Clyde (alto saxophone, synthesizer, electric piano), Marion ‘Mouse’ Wiggins (trumpet, flugelhorn, synthesizer), Charlie Brown (drums), Norris ‘Country’ Duckett (guitar), Aaron ‘Electric Man’ Mills (bass), Clifton Cotton (organ)

Background

N.C.C.U. formed at North Carolina Central University in Durham in the mid-1970s after saxophonist Stanley Baird asked trumpeter-educator Donald Byrd to coach a student-centered band.

Baird recruited reedist-keyboardist Thomas “Bonnie” Clyde, bassist Aaron “Electric Man” Mills, and guitarist Norris “Country” Duckett from a western North Carolina circle he knew around Shelby and Asheville. Organist Clifton Cotton entered through a separate route, while Baird joined the group on saxophone and percussion instructor Charlie Brown joined on drums. Trumpeter-synthesist Marion “Mouse” Wiggins completed the lineup.

Mills grew up in Asheville as the son of a jazz saxophonist who had worked with Lionel Hampton. He played trumpet at Asheville High School and worked regional dates with the Antiques. Mills toured with Chuck Jackson and recorded with Willie Hobbs before he entered North Carolina Central University.

Gene Strassler chaired the North Carolina Central University music department and brought Byrd to Durham for lecture-demonstrations during the early development of a jazz curriculum. Byrd and Baird helped launch the state’s first bachelor-degree jazz studies program at the university in 1977. Baird organized N.C.C.U. inside that curriculum as a student ensemble with faculty participation. Byrd used his industry contacts to secure a one-record United Artists agreement.

Super Trick

N.C.C.U. released their debut album, Super Trick, in 1977 on United Artists.

Super Trick puts New Central Connection Unlimited into long-form dance-band arrangements with chant refrains, clipped backbeats, keyboard-led vamps, and solo space from the NCCU jazz-program setting.

“Bull City Party” struts through a Durham party text, with group voices locking onto the title refrain and school-mascot shout lines. “Super Trick,” “Hey Girl,” and “You & I” extend the album’s vocal side through sustained lead parts and repeated response phrases. “Washing Machine” works a longer rhythm figure around the title image. “Sleepy Time Is Over” closes the set with a wake-up refrain and a looser ensemble finish.

A1. “Super Trick” (7:13) – Mills, Clyde
A2. “Hey Girl” (5:25) – Mills, Duckett, Clyde
A3. “Bull City Party” (6:25) – Williams, Byrd, Baird

B1. “You & I” (6:10) – Duckett
B2. “Washing Machine” (6:56) – Wiggins, Baird, Clyde
B3. “Sleepy Time Is Over” (5:29) – Clyde

Super Trick features three trombonists (Lew McCreary, Charlie Loper, George Bohanon), trumpeters (Gene Goe, Oscar Brashear, Steve Madaio), and reedists (Bill Green, Ernie Watts, Fred Jackson).

Sessions occurred under Donald Byrd with string arranger Wade Marcus. Super Trick features sleeve photography by Gary Regester and design by Kosh.

United Artists lifted “Bull City Party” as a 1977 single (b/w “Sleepy Time Is Over”), which reached No. 91 on Billboard R&B.

Discography: