Gus Jenkins

 

Listen/Download Gus Jenkins – Chittlins

Greetings all

A while back I was reading the always excellent Echoes In the Wind blog and I saw that my man Whiteray had posted a very interesting looking song.

As an inveterate soul 45 hound, I am constitutionally unable to pass by a song entitled ‘Chittlins’ for any reason, so I had to stop, unsheathe my ears and have a listen.

Good thing I did, too, on account of the fact that Gus Jenkins’ ‘Chittlins’ is a little slice of late night, smoky, uptown bar perfection.

Jenkins was a pianist/singer who had an earlier hit (as ‘Gus Jinkins’) in 1956 with the tune ‘Tricky’ on the Flash label.

A lo-fi affair, with Gus’s piano dueling with an organ and some groovy guitar, ‘Tricky’ sounds like it could have been recorded at any time between 1945 and when it actually hit the charts.

Jinkins/Jenkins appears to have recorded a handful of 45s for Flash in the late 50s, one for Pioneer International in 1960, and then a few years of radio silence before a couple of discs for Tower in 1964.

‘Chittlins’, which made it into the R&B Top 30 in November of 1964 is the kind of thing you’d expect to hear on the radio during a late night road trip.

The production is much better than his earlier hit, and the piano and the guitar (especially the guitar) sound as if they’d been woven in and out of a skyline full of electric lights and clouds of cigarette smoke.

The flip side – ‘You’ll Be The One’ – is a pretty straight ahead blues vocal with some nice horn backing and a great vocal by Jenkins. Once again, the guitarist is outstanding (I’d love to know who it was).

Jenkins went on to record one more 45 for Tower, and then a couple of sides, including the funky ‘Funk With a Feeling’ for the General Artist imprint (it seems ‘Chittlins’ was either reissued, or rerecorded for General Artists at some point).

So turn down the lights, pour yourself a drink, and give this one a spin or three.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.