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By Larry, June 16, 2019 10:45 am

Funky16Corners Presents: Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache
A Solid Hour of Soul For Dancers 

Isley Brothers – Got To Have You Back (Tamla)|
Bandwagon – Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache (Epic)
Teri Nelson Group – Love Is Getting Better (Kama Sutra)
Yvonne Fair – Just As Sure As You Play (You Will Pay) (Smash)
Little Richard – Whole Lotta Shaking Going On (Veejay)
Billy Graham and the Escalators – Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Atlantic)
Anna King- If You Don’t Think (Smash)
Jimmy Jones – Don’t You Just Know It (Parkway)
Bobby Whitlock – And I Love You (HIP)
Big Dee Irwin – Discotheque (Roulette)
Aldora Britton – Do It With Soul (Columbia)
Betty Everett – I Can’t Hear You No More (Veejay)
Monti Rock III – For Days and Days (Mercury)
Johnny Moore – A Dollar Ninety Eight (Wand)
Maxine Brown – Anything You Do Is Alright (Wand)
Jun Mayuzumi – Black Room (Capitol JP)
Spyder Turner – Dream Lover (MGM)
Sweet Inspirations – Just Walk In My Shoes (Atco)
Bobby Lester – Hang Up Your Hang Ups (Columbia)
Johnny Daye – I Need You (Stax)
Toni Lamarr  – If I Didn’t Love You (Buddah)
Capitols – We Got a Thing That’s In the Groove (Karen)
Delcords – Just a Little Misunderstanding (UP)
Joe E Young and the Toniks – Get That Feeling (Toast)
Alvin Cash and the Crawlers – Do It One More Time (the Twine) (Mar V Lus)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners: Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache – 114MB Mixed MP3

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Funky16Corners Presents: Loose and Groovy
An Hour of Instrumental Wonderfullness Packed With Breaks!

Dizzy Gillespie – Stomped and Wasted (GWP)
Sonny Cox – Chocolate Candy (Bell)
Cal Tjader – The Tra La La Song (Skye)
George Shearing, the Quintet and the Amigos – Aquarius (MPS/BASF)
Gordon Staples and the String Thing – Get Down (Tamla)
Bob Dorough – A Taste of Honey (MMO)
Harry J All Stars – Spyrone (Harry J)
Impact of Brass – So Far So Good (Rare Earth)
Al Serafini his Electronic Sax and Orchestra – Lil Rosey (Audio Fidelity)
Willie Bobo – Grazing In the Grass (Verve)
Odell Brown and the Organizers – Day Tripper (Cadet)
Terumasa Hino Quintet – Snake Hip (Capitol JP)
Lou Garno Quintet – Chicken In the Basket (Giovannia)
Johnny Frigo Quartet – Dance of Love (Orion)
Richard Fudoli – Gwee (Date)
Soulful Strings – Zambezi (Cadet)
The Touch – Pick and Shovel (LeCasVer)
Soul Searchers – Think (Sussex)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners: Loose and Groovy – 87MB Mixed MP3

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Greetings all.

The Funky16Corners 2019 Allnighter/Pledge Drive is here!

Things are looking (much) different this year.

This is the 10th year of doing a pledge drive here at Funky16Corners, and the landscape, and (forgive the use of the word) ‘mission’ of Funky16Corners has evolved fairly drastically since the blog opened it’s doors nearly 15 years ago (not counting the webzine years).

The world of music blogging is not what it once was. The way people access music and information on the web is a whole different thing than it was when I started. Traffic is a small fraction of what it once was.

The main thrust of what I do here at Funky16Corners has also changed significantly.

Starting with single-song blog posts in the early days, moving on to DJ mixes, then the beginning of the Funky16Corners Radio Show (which is nearing the 500 episode mark!), then the various and sundry guest mixes, in and outside of the pledge drive context.

I have to begin by sending out my thanks to all of the amazing DJs that have been generous with their time and their records over the years, all of whom I am proud to have featured at Funky16Corners.

The last few years have seen my move into live radio broadcasts, with Funky16Corners Radio Show and Testify!, my show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio appearing weekly, and the Iron Leg Radio Show (nearing 100 episodes) monthly.

As a result of the workload associated with this change, the frequency of blog posts has decreased to once a week.

This year I decided that I needed to take a break from the Allnighter/Summer of Soul format, if only to ease off of the workload associated with putting it all together (and maybe spend a little more time with the fam while they’re home for the summer).

In it’s place I have created two brand new, hour-long mixes.

The first, Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache is an hour of dancefloor soul, with a grip of new and recent arrivals in the Funky16Corners crates.

The second. Loose and Groovy is a collection of instrumentals, many of them funky, packed with breaks and loopable grooves for days.

The focus on using Patreon to raise money to pay the bills around here (paying for server space/bandwidth and broadcast fees) has proven to make a lot of sense, moreso than the previously used Paypal model.

If you dig any of the stuff I do here, any of the radio shows, or the mix archives, or even if you’re one of the few that still read the blog posts, please consider signing up for Patreon and making a small, recurring, monthly donation of a few dollars.

You can click on the link below.

It’s pretty simple, very safe and a great way to keep Funky16Corners up and running for another year.

So thanks in advance, and enjoy the tunes!

Keep the Faith

Larry

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The pledging will continue this year with Patreon (click here or on the logo below to go to the Funky16Corners page) , where you will be able to spread your contributions out over the entire year, which will help cover the ongoing server/broadcast/hardware expenses. This year has seen the move to 100 percent live broadcasting (Mixlr.com/Funky16corners)  and continued hardware and software upgrades at Funky16Corners central, to keep the radio/podcasting experience as seamless and groovy as possible. So please dig deep so we can continue to do the same, and if you’re already a Patreon donor, please accept my heartfelt thanks!

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I am also including a Paypal donation button (below) if you’d rather donate in a lump sum instead of the rolling donation in Patreon.

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So, download and dig the mixes, keep digging the radio shows!

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg when you have a minute!. <

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By Larry, January 27, 2015 1:32 pm

The Loading Zone

Greetings all.

What better way to slide through the middle of the week than with some of that funky, head-nodding goodness?

I have made mention of the Loading Zone previously, in relation to the singing of its one-time vocalist Linda Tillery, aka Sweet Linda Divine.

The group formed in the mid-60s, then recruited Tillery, recording an album for RCA before the singer left to go solo.

The Loading Zone’s sound, if they can truly be said to have had one, was an odd mixture of soul, jazz and rock, which doesn’t sound all that complicated, but instead of blending the three strains into a single admixture, they kind of rode it like a sliding scale, moving from one sound to another.

That they did this in 1960s San Francisco (or just in the 60s) explains how they got signed to a major label.

Everybody was experimenting with stylistic blends, and where a band these days might be accused of aimlessness, in the earliest days of progressive (in the truest sense of the word) rock, this was the mark of versatility.

I’m of the school that leans toward the latter characterization, and sees it as a net positive. You have to remember that in 1967, rock was barely a decade old, yet in incubators like San Francisco, Los Angeles and London, (ostensibly) rock musicians were dipping into all kinds of sounds and redefining what that style meant.

There’s hardly a better example of this than the closing track from the Loading Zone LP, ‘Can I Dedicate’.

Sounding at times like Horace Silver and the Holding Company, ‘Can I Dedicate’ (later sampled by the Souls of Mischief for ‘Live and Let Live’) is a nine-plus minute exercise in jazzy, stoned funk. Listening to it today it sounds like something stitched together using soul jazz samples and looped drums, waiting for someone to drop a verse or two on top of it.

There are traces of hard bop, woven around a hypnotic, rolling bass line, tight drums, and the out of the blue, a Fillmore West-style guitar solo (followed, naturally, by a jazz trombone solo…).

It is heavy, wonderful stuff, and one of those tracks I find myself going back to a digging all the time.

I hope you dig it too, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 13, 2015 10:39 am

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is upon us, so I thought I’d smooth us all over the hump with some tasty library/sample source sounds.

I don’t recall when I became aware of guitarist Clive Hicks’ ‘Look Hear’, but when I did it immediately lit up multiple pleasure centers in the brain.

The first thing – is that ‘Look Hear’ is the sample source for one ofmy favorite hip hop joints, ‘What’s Golden’ by Jurassic 5 from their 2002 LP ‘Power In Numbers’. There’s something special about hearing a sample well-flipped, that also manages to stand on its own.

‘Look Hear’ is such a sample.

I haven’t been able to track down much info on Clive Hicks, other than that he was a UK-based studio guitarist who recorded a number of sessions for the KPM and Bruton library music houses, as well as sessions for the likes of Elton John.

‘Look Hear’ was released in 1973 on KPM 1121/Fusion, alongside pieces by Brian Bennett and Alan Hawkshaw among others.

The tune seems to be aiming for Zep-like heaviness, but also manages to work in some of that band’s underlying funk as well.

The guitar takes the lead but this one is all about the organ and the drums.

It is a very groovy one indeed. I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

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.

Comments (3)

By Larry, October 9, 2014 4:42 pm

Marlena Shaw

Richard Evans (l) and Charles Stepney (r)

Listen/Download Marlena Shaw – California Soul

Greetings all

I want to start by reminding you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen through the TuneIn app on a mobile device, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

I was going to leave the Richard Evans memorial up at the top of the page until Monday, but then I thought I might resurrect something from the archives (sort of) to continue the tribute, as it were.

I first posted about Marlena Shaw’s mighty rendition of ‘California Soul’ back in 2008, in tandem with the Marvin/Tammi version.

The record, which returned to prominence when its remarkable break was harvested and repurposed by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist fifteen (!?!?) years ago (in Brainfreeze) is the ne plus ultra of sophisticated urban soul with a funky edge and a fantastic vocal by Ms Shaw.

Shaw’s version was arranged by Charles Stepney, and co-produced by Stepney and Richard Evans.

This is especially fitting since the two men constituted the driving stylistic force behind Cadet Records, each with their own pet project (Stepney with Rotary Connection, Evans with the Soulful Strings), and working separately and together on a wide variety of other projects.

‘California Soul’ is one of those records that sounds impossibly large, seemingly pushing beyond the normal limits of a 45RPM record. This has everything to do with the remarkable production skills of Stepney and Evans, managing to layer instrumentation and vocals in such a way that the end result is simultaneously massive, yet never sounds crowded.

It’s a landmark session, and I thought I’d dig it out, re-record it, and whip it on you to carry you through the weekend.

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

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.

Comments (2)

By Larry, August 7, 2014 11:07 am

Listen/Download Artie Christopher – Stoned Soul

Greetings all

The week is coming to its conclusion (logical, or not) and that means that it’s Funky16Corners Radio Show time again. This and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, I bring you the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you can’t fall by at airtime, you can always keep up at your leisure by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a little bit of Memphis funk.

I can’t tell you much about Artie Christopher, aside from the fact that he seems to have laid down a pair of 45s for the Atlantic label in 1968 (at least one of them originally released on the 5-High imprint).

He was one of many similarly inclined soulful Caucasians operating in the south at around the same time (see South, Joe and White, Tony Joe for starters), and was the brother of guitarist/songwriter Johnnie Christopher, who co-wrote Elvis Presley’s smash ‘Always On My Mind’ (covered by many, many others).

That’s pretty much where the obtainable facts run out.

The tune you see before you today, the instrumental ‘Stoned Soul’ was released in 1968 as the flipside of Christopher’s version of ‘Hello LA, Bye Bye Birmingham’, the song that led me to seek out this 45 in the first place.

Interestingly enough, it’s ‘Stoned Soul’ for which most folks grab this disc, it having been included on Rhino’s ‘What It Is’ boxed set.

A funky, guitar and organ led instro, the tune features a great (Philly sounding) horn line, wild effects laden guitar (or keyboard, I’m not sure, but was eventually sampled by Method Man) and a very nice bass breakdown as well.

The groovy thing is, both of Christopher’s Atlantic 45s are relatively easy to find, and fairly inexpensive as well.

Unfortunately, according to Sir Shambling’s site, Christopher passed away some time ago.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 31, 2014 11:58 am

Idris lays into the traps…

Listen/Download Idris Muhammad – Express Yourself

Listen/Download Idris Muhammad – Super Bad

Listen/Download Leon Spencer – Message From the Meters

Listen/Download Lou Donaldson – Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky From Now On

Listen/Download Lonnie Smith – See Saw

Listen/Download Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt1

Listen/Download Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt2

Listen/Download Bob James – Nautilus

Greetings all

I logged on to the interwebs last night only to be greeted by rumors of the passing of the mighty Idris Muhammad.

It wasn’t long before the rumors were confirmed by this obituary out of his home port of New Orleans.

Idris Muhammad was born Leo Morris in New Orleans in 1939.

He was childhood friends with the Neville brothers, and one of his first gigs was playing on Fats Domino’s 1956 smash ‘Blueberry Hill’ (he also played on the seminal Crescent City track, the Hawketts ‘Mardi Gras Mambo’).

Muhammad left New Orleans in the mid-60s and headed north to make his bones as a jazz drummer.

He soon became a fixture on a seemingly endless succession of heavy New York soul jazz dates, playing alongside a wide variety of organists, guitarists and others (dig the discography in his Wikipedia entry), eventually leading his own dates for Prestige starting in 1970.

Idris has appeared here at Funky16Corners many times over the years, both as leader and sideman.

His drumming style was steeped in the New Orleans second line, and was deeply funky, both in the wayback Ninth Ward way and also in the post-James Brown get down.

I’m posting a wide variety of tracks blessed with his beats, but that mixture of Big Easy and Good Foot was never more obvious than  in  the solo in his cover of Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band’s ‘Express Yourself, the opening track’ from his 1970 debut as a leader ‘Black Rhythm Revolution’. Listening to it is hearing a very groovy bunch of uptown jazzers suddenly morphing into a high-stepping, umbrella-waving parade.

It is bad-ass.

I’m including the flipside of that 45, his cover of JB’s ‘Super Bad’ (bringing it all back around, as it were) as well as a grip of sessions from the late 60s/early 70s that feature Muhammad. It’s worth noting that two of the best tracks hail from NOLA, Lou Donaldson covering Lee Dorsey and Leon Spencer, the Meters.

The last track, Bob James’ epic – heavily sampled, see below* –  1974 track ‘Nautilus’, in which Muhammad lays out one of the smoothest/tastiest breaks ever.

Idris Muhammad went on to play with a host of jazz greats, spending may years working with Ahmad Jamal, before retiring to his home town in 2011.

He was a master of the skins, who carried the beat in his heart and soul.

He will be missed.

See you on Monday

Keep the faith

Larry

     *Songs that sample ‘Nautilus’ (from the-breaks.com)

     A Tribe Called Quest’s “Clap Your Hands”
     Alkaholiks’s “Daaam!”
     All Natural’s “Think Again”
     Basement Khemist’s “Correct Technique”
     Camp Lo’s “Black Nostaljack”
     Chubb Rock’s “Keep it Street”
     DJ Food’s “Spiral Dub”
     DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s “Jazzy’s Groove”
     Dream Warriors’s “Voyage Through the Multiverse”
     EPMD’s “Brothers on My Jock”
     Eric B and Rakim’s “Follow the Leader”
     Eric B and Rakim’s “Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em”
     Freestylers’s “Warning”
     Geto Boys’s “Snitches”
     Ghostface Killah’s “Daytona 500”
     Group Home’s “Inna Citi Life”
     Ice T’s “?”
     JCD and the Dawg lb’s “Over Pussy”
     Jeru’s “My Mind Spray”
     Joe Budden’s “Yo, Yo, Yo”
     Jungle Brothers’s “Book of Rhyme Pages”
     K-Solo’s “Everybody Knows Me”
     Keith Murray’s “The Rhyme”
     King Sun’s “Big Shots”
     Kruder & Dorfmeister’s “Original Bedroom Rockers”
     Large Professor ft Pete Rock’s “The Rap World”
     Leaders of the New School’s “Show Me a Hero”
     Lord Shafiyq’s “My Mic is on Fire”
     Lyrical Prophecy’s “You Can’t Swing This”
     Main Source’s “Live at the Barbecue”
     Mary J. Blige’s “Just Mary”
     Mary J. Blige ft Nas & DMX’s “Sincerity”
     Mekon’s “Phatty’s Lunch Box”
     Mike Zoot’s “Scene”
     Naughty by Nature’s “Cruddy Clique”
     Nice & Smooth’s “No Delayin’”
     Onyx’s “Black Vagina Finda”
     Onyx’s “Throw Ya Gunz”
     Organized Konfusion’s “Stray Bullet”
     Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “Take You There”
     Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “The Sun Won’t Come Out”
     Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “What’s Next on the Menu?”
     Poison Clan’s “Paper Chase”
     Poor Righteous Teachers’s “Word is Bond”
     Project M’s “The Place to Be”
     Public Enemy’s “Anti-N*gger Machine”
     Puff Daddy ft Busta Rhymes and Notorious BIG’s “Victory”
     Queen Mother Rage’s “Slippin’ into Darkness”
     Red Myers’s “Shoplifter”
     Run-DMC’s “Beats to the Rhyme”
     Run-DMC’s “Groove to the Sound”
     Salt-N-Pepa’s “Doper than Dope”
     Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story”
     Soul II Soul’s “Jazzie’s Groove”
     Tame One’s “Torture Chamber”
     The Roots ft Mos Def’s “Double Trouble”
     Threat’s “Bust One Fa Me”
     Tim Dog’s “Bronx Nigga”
     Tim Dog’s “I’ll Wax Anybody”
     Tim Dog’s “Low Down Nigg*”
     Ultramagnetic MCs’s “Ced Gee (Delta Force One)”
     Ultramagnetic MCs’s “Moe Love on the One & Two”
     Ultramagnetic MCs’s “Raise it Up”

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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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, July 15, 2014 12:10 pm

Joe Williams

Listen/Download Joe Williams and the Jazz Orchestra – Get Out of My Life

Greetings all

I thought I’d whip something as smooth and delicious as a snifter of cognac on you this fine day.

Years ago I remember watching a documentary in which someone was talking about Burt Bacharach, and remarking on how when he arranged a song, they were so important to the structure of a number, that the elements of the arrangement often remained in plce when the song was covered.

Such is the case with renditions of Lee Dorsey’s (written by the mighty Allen Toussaint) 1966 hit (R&B Top 5, Pop Top50) hit ‘Get Out of My Life, Woman’.

No matter who decided to cover it, from rock bands like the Leaves/Q65, soul artists like Solomon Burke/Wilmer and the Dukes, to jazzers like Jimmy Smith and George Semper, you always seem to get that funky, loping, New Orleans drum figure kicking open the door at the beginning.

The version I bring you today is very groovy, and in the words of Slim Gaillard, mellow as a cello.

Performed by legendary jazz singer Joe Williams, backed by the Thad Jones big band, ‘Get Out of My Life’ (‘Woman’ symbolically, our of his life, and the title) was recorded in 1966 for the Solid State label.

Taken at a relaxed, yet solid pace, with an outstanding vocal by Williams, the recording also features (at around six seconds in) one of the tastiest, choppable/loopable bits of sound ever laid down.

So tasty, that it was sampled more than a dozen times* by cats like Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Doug E Fresh and Pete Nice, which is why when copies turn up, they change hands for a few dollars more than your average Solid State 45.

As soul jazz 45s go, it’s one of those biscuits that you can just put on repeat and soak in it like a tub of warm water.

I hope you dig it (I know I do).

Keep the faith

Larry

 *Songs that sampled Joe Williams ‘Get Out of My Life’:
    Big Daddy Kane’s “Very Special”
     Biz Markie’s “Funk is Back”
     Double XX Posse’s “Ruffneck”
     Doug E Fresh’s “Bounce”
     Funkdoobiest’s “I’m Shittin’ on ‘Em”
     Jill Scott’s “Brotha”
     Kool G Rap’s “Ill Street Blues”
     Main Source’s “How My Man Went Down in the Game”
     Pete Nice’s “Outta My Way Baby”
     Queen Latifah’s “Latifah’s Had it up 2 Here”
     Shabazz the Disciple’s “Party with a Tec”
     Skoolbeats’s “Outta My Way”
     UMC’s “Woman Be Out”

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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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, June 12, 2014 11:18 am

Prime Mundo – Soundset
rudy ray moore – put your weight on it [generation int.] wilson pickett – baby call on me [double l] meters – just kissed my baby [soul jazz] dave and ansell collins – that girl [big tree] hector rivera – drown my heart [barry] fatback band – njia walk [perception] the people’s choice – hot wire [grandland] bo diddley – ooh baby [checker] jackie verdell – hush [peacock] bobby moore’s rhythm aces – try my love again [checker] junior parker – lover to friend [blue rock] billy fury – what do you think you’re doing of [decca] jaynetts – sally go ’round the roses [tuff] b bumble and the stingers – nautilus [rendezvous] roy ayers – i can’t help myself [polydor] trevor dandy – is there any love [numero] dennis brown – black magic woman [sun shot] roscoe shelton – you got to roll with the punch [sound stage] jesse boone and the astros – no particular one [sunburst] sly and the family stone – remember who you are [warner bros.]

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Presents: DJ Prime Mundo – Soundset

NOTE: Today’s mix is from another Asbury Park 45 Sessions hitter, this time from my man DJ Prime Mundo.

Prime is another one of those guys that always has a surprise up his sleeve. His taste is unfuckwithable, and he is well versed in funk, soul, jazz, reggae and rock.

When you strap yourself in with a DJ Prime Mundo mix you know you’re in for an exciting ride

.
He is a master chef out in the real world, and applies the same level of craft when on the turntables.

We have six more new mixes coming, starting on Monday with the mighty Tarik Thornton. You will not want to miss it!

If this is the first you’re seeing of the 2014 Allnighter, make sure to scroll back for mixes by M-Fasis, Tony C, DJ Prestige, Kris Holmes and Funky16Corners!

See you next week.

Larry

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Contest!

Anyone that donates today to the Allnighter/Pledge Drive will (in addition to getting the badge and stickers) be entered into a random drawing for a copy of the Cultures of Soul 45 reissue of two very solid tracks by Roy Roberts, ‘So Much In Love’ (upbeat Northern Soul) and ‘You Move Me’ (Gritty, mid-tempo funk).
There will be more drawings over the next few weeks for CDs by Cultures of Soul, Light In the Attic and Secret Stash, and 45s from Cultures of Soul!

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The winner of yesterday’s drawing for The Wheedle’s Groove II CD is Manual Records and Comics!

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Greetings all

Welcome to the 2014 edition of the Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive.

This is the ninth annual Pledge Drive, and the fifth Allnighter.

If you haven’t experienced the Allnighter/Pledge Drive, it can be explained as thus: once a year, the Funky16Corners Blog, your home for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove vinyl for almost 10 years comes to you with hand outstretched, asking for donations to offset the operating expenses of the web site.

The Funky16Corners ‘operation’ (as it is) included the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg blogs, the mix archives for both (containing well over 200 mixes), and the Funky16Corners Radio Show/Podcast (another 200+ files available for download, or through subscription in iTunes).

The money raised during the pledge drive goes to pay for the server space and fees associated with hosting the whole megillah.

As has been attested to many times in the past, Funky16Corners has humble beginnings, starting out on the old (free) Blogger service, moving to WordPress, and then to self-hosted WordPress. The move to paid hosting was necessitated by increased bandwidth usage, as well as the need for a place to store all the mixes (and eventually the radio show episodes).

The Allnighter/Pledge Drive is a once-yearly occurrence, in which yours truly, and some of the finest selectors out there whip up new mixes for your delectation.

In past years, I have posted all of the mixes in a single post, and left it up for a week.

This year, the quality and quantity of the mixes spurred me on to try something a little different, i.e. posting a new mix each weekday for a period of just over two weeks. This way, each selector gets their moment in the spotlight, and the mixes get spaced out so that the listeners don’t suffer from mix-fatigue.

Each day, you’ll get a fantastic mix (there really are some amazing ones this year) from one of my favorite DJs, many of whom have participated in the Allnighter before, as well as a couple of great new contributors.

So, if you dig what we do here at Funky16Corners, click on the Paypal link and toss some cash into the barrel.

Contributors will receive a 2014 Allnighter badge, as well as some stickers from the archive (as long as they last).

This year I will also be drawing the names of contributors at random for groovy swag, including CDs and 45s from Cultures of Soul, and CDs from Light in the Attic and Secret Stash.

So, dig the sounds for the next couple of weeks, and make sure you stop back on a daily basis to pick up new mixes and contribute for a chance to win some cool stuff.

Thanks, and as always,

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

Comments (3)

By Larry, June 5, 2014 11:51 am

Funky16Corners Presents: Walking In Space

Quincy Jones – Walking In Space (A&M)
Wes Montgomery – Up and At It (A&M)
Deodato – September 13 (CTI)
Lonnie Smith – Stand (Edit) (Kudu)
Grover Washington Jr – Masterpiece (Kudu)
Gabor Szabo – Rambler (CTI)
Johnny Hammond Smith – Big Sur Suite (Kudu)
Milt Jackson – People Make the World Go Round (CTI)
Bob James – Nautilus (CTI)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Presents: Walking In Space

NOTE: This – the first of two mixes I put together for this year’s Allnighter is a tribute to the sounds that Creed Taylor produced (usually engineered by Rudy Van Gelder) for A&M, CTI and Kudu in the late 60s and 70s. 

I’m a huge fan of the entire CTI aesthetic, from the amazing sounds (listen to the drums, brass and strings)  to the classic album covers. It’s no mystery why so much of the CTI catalog has been sampled over the years, and many of those sample sources are in this mix.

This one was a real labor of love, and I’ve given it a grip of listens since I recorded it.

I hope you dig it, too.

See you on Monday with a new mix from Kris Holmes!

– Larry

Greetings all

Welcome to the 2014 edition of the Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive.

This is the ninth annual Pledge Drive, and the fifth Allnighter.

If you haven’t experienced the Allnighter/Pledge Drive, it can be explained as thus: once a year, the Funky16Corners Blog, your home for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove vinyl for almost 10 years comes to you with hand outstretched, asking for donations to offset the operating expenses of the web site.

The Funky16Corners ‘operation’ (as it is) included the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg blogs, the mix archives for both (containing well over 200 mixes), and the Funky16Corners Radio Show/Podcast (another 200+ files available for download, or through subscription in iTunes).

The money raised during the pledge drive goes to pay for the server space and fees associated with hosting the whole megillah.

As has been attested to many times in the past, Funky16Corners has humble beginnings, starting out on the old (free) Blogger service, moving to WordPress, and then to self-hosted WordPress. The move to paid hosting was necessitated by increased bandwidth usage, as well as the need for a place to store all the mixes (and eventually the radio show episodes).

The Allnighter/Pledge Drive is a once-yearly occurrence, in which yours truly, and some of the finest selectors out there whip up new mixes for your delectation.

In past years, I have posted all of the mixes in a single post, and left it up for a week.

This year, the quality and quantity of the mixes spurred me on to try something a little different, i.e. posting a new mix each weekday for a period of just over two weeks. This way, each selector gets their moment in the spotlight, and the mixes get spaced out so that the listeners don’t suffer from mix-fatigue.

Each day, you’ll get a fantastic mix (there really are some amazing ones this year) from one of my favorite DJs, most of whom have participated in the Allnighter before, as well as a great new contributor.

So, if you dig what we do here at Funky16Corners, click on the Paypal link and toss some cash into the barrel.

Contributors will receive a 2014 Allnighter badge (see below), as well as some stickers from the archive (as long as they last).

This year I will also be drawing the names of contributors at random for groovy swag, including CDs and 45s from Cultures of Soul and LugnutBrand Records, and CDs from Light in the Attic and Secret Stash.

So, dig the sounds for the next couple of weeks, and make sure you stop back on a daily basis to pick up new mixes and contribute for a chance to win some cool stuff.

Thanks, and as always,

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

Comments (5)

By Larry, January 1, 2013 3:08 pm

Miss Marva Whitney

Listen/Download Marva Whitney – It’s My Thing

Listen/Download Marva Whitney – Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)

Listen/Download Marva Whitney – This Girl’s In Love With You

Greetings all

It was just a few days short of Christmas (the very day that the Godfather of Soul slipped the surly bonds of earth but six years ago) that word filtered down to me that the mighty Marva Whitney had died.

Marva Whitney – one of the great divas of the classic era of the James Brown Revue – was born in Kansas City, KA in 1944, where she grew up performing gospel music.

It wasn’t until the mid-60s that she made the move to the secular side of soul, eventually joing James Brown and recording her first 45 with his organization in 1967.

During her tenure with Brown, running from 1967 to 1970, she recorded more than a dozen 45s and three albums (one unreleased) before moving on to record sides for T-Neck, Forte and Excello.

She left music for a time in the 1980s before returning to perform with various and sundry James Brown alumni, eventually working with Osaka Monauril (big ups to DJ Pari who was instrumental in her return to the studio), recording new music and touring extensively in the 2000s.

Whitney had one of the most powerful voices in the realm of classic funk.

Though she didn’t have much in the way of commercial success in her heyday, Whitney is treasured both by crate diggers, who verily worship her hard-hitting funk sides, but also by the hip hop side of things for heavily sampled tracks like ‘Unwind Yourself’.

The three tunes I’m posting today have all appeared at Funky16Corners over the years and are staples in my crates and playlists.

The first is my personal favorite. ‘It’s My Thing’ – an obvious “answer” to the Isleys – was her biggest hit, making it into the R&B Top 20 in the Spring of 1969.

It’s a killer from its opening notes, and right up there with the best singles of James Brown’s King-era. The instrumental backing is rock solid, yet fairly rudimentary, with Marva’s remarkable voice dragging the whole show behind her in the dust.

The second is another banger, which ought to be familiar to listeners of the Funky16Corners Radio Show, via the whole song, but also from the sample of her voice that graces so many drops. ‘Things Got to Get Better (Get Together)’ is a fast mover with a tasty horn chart that propels the song from the bottom up. There’s a fantastic live performance clip from he show ‘Music Scene’ in 1969, with Marva laying it down in front of the mighty James Brown band that must be seen,not just for the undeniable power of the music, but for Ms Whitney’s platinum afro, which is a thing to behold.

The last track is something extra special that I was introduced to some years back when Dave Withers guested at the Asbury Park 45 Sessions.

Marva Whitney’s ‘This Girl’s In Love With You’ (a distaff remake of the huge Herb Albert hit) from 1969 is one of those records that ought to be much better known. Every time I play it out I see the same reaction that I had the first time I heard it, that being “where has this record been all my life?”.

It is in turns sweet, funky and a remarkable contrast to the harder edged stuff in Marva’s catalog. I’m not sure who did the arrangement, but it’s fantastic and the fact that this record doesn’t seem to have charted anywhere just makes me shake my head.

Though some of Marva Whitney’s old-school vinyl can be hard to come by and costly, you can find her 2006 comeback LP with Osaka Monaurail ‘I Am What I Am’ in iTunes, and most of her classic tracks can be found on the ‘James Brown’s Funky Divas’ collection (along with a lot of other indispensable music).

I hope you dig the sounds, and when you get a chance, get down in memory of the great Marva Whitney.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, December 4, 2012 3:48 pm

Drummers Jim Gordon (left) and King Errison (right)

Listen/Download Incredible Bongo Band – Let There Be Drums

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of another spectacularly crisp, post-Thanksgiving, pre-Yule day.

The tune I bring you today is a little something I grabbed on a recent dig, and on object lesson in how sometimes you really don’t need to hear a record to know it’s going to be good.

Any beat fiend worth their wax is already hip to the sounds of the Incredible Bongo Band, especially their version of Jerry Lordan’s oft-recorded ‘Apache’, one of the ur documents of hip hop.

The IBB’s first LP ‘Bongo Rock’ is fairly rare and sought after, mainly for ‘Apache’.

However, there is much to dig on ‘Bongo Rock’, up to and including the album’s opening track (and one of its singles), which you see before you presently, ‘Let There Be Drums’.

Like many of the tunes on ‘Bongo Rock’, ‘Let There Be Drums’ is a cover, in this case of Sandy Nelson’s 1961 hit.

Written by Nelson and producer/writer/guitarist Richie Podolor, ‘Let There Be Drums’ was, like so much of Nelson’s catalog, a percussion feature meant to highlight his skill on the skins.

Since the IBB was a similar showcase (created by producer Michael Viner), this time for drummer Jim Gordon and percussionist King Errison, the recordings were aimed in the same general direction.

‘Let There Be Drums’ may lack the crisp breakbeats of ‘Apache’ there are still plenty of slamming drums (do you ever really ever get sick of walls of well recorded drums?) and some cool guitar.

As far as I can tell ‘Let There Be Drums’ was only sampled in 2007 by Buck 65 on the track ‘Dang’.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

Comments (5)

By Larry, May 6, 2012 4:17 pm

The Samplers – Beastie Boys

The Sampled – clockwise from top left – Johnny Hammond Smith, Norman Whitfield,
Jimmy Smith, The Commodores, Jeremy Steig

Listen/Download Johnny Hammond Smith – Big Sur Suite

Original release – Higher Ground LP (Kudu 1974) – Sampled on Pass the Mic (Check Your Head LP 1992)

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Listen/Download Commodores – Machine Gun

Original Release – Machine Gun LP (Motown 1974) – Sampled on Hey Ladies (Paul’s Boutique LP 1989)

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Listen/Download Jeremy Steig – Howling For Judy

Original Release – Legwork LP (Solid State 1969) – Sampled on Sure Shot (Ill Communication LP 1994)

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Listen/Download Jimmy Smith – I’m Gonna Love You Just A Little Bit More Babe

Original Release – Blacksmith LP (Pride 1974) – Sampled on Professor Booty (Check Your Head LP 1992)

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Listen/Download Norman Whitfield/Rose Royce – Yo Yo

Original Release – Car Wash OST (MCA 1976) – Sampled On Shake Your Rump (Paul’s Boutique LP 1989)

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Listen/Download Afrique – Kissing My Love

Original Release – Soul Makossa LP (Mainstream 1973) – Sampled on Bodhisattva Vow (Ill Communication LP 1994)

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Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the Corners du Fonque…

As has been mentioned several times recently most of what you’ve been reading here in the last few weeks was – due to necessity – prepared a few weeks in advance so as to facilitate the massive amount of commuting and other life-disrupting activities involved in my wife’s treatment (which, now that I mention it seems to be going well, so let’s keep those fingers crossed).

This weekend has been especially tiring, but the news of the passing of the mighty MCA, Adam Yauch could not be ignored, so as soon as we got home and rolled out of the Funky16Corners-mobile, I rolled into the record vault and got to work.

I have listened to hip hop, first passively (way back in the day) and then as a lightweight consumer with a focus therein on what I would consider dynamic use of sampled material.

You can’t really talk about that aspect of the game without giving props to the Beastie Boys.

Over the years the Beasties have played a big part in piqueing my interest in samples and by association the sounds sampled (why else would I have owned a copy of Alphonse Mouzon’s ‘Funky Snakefoot’) long before I was spinning (or writing about) funk, soul, jazz and rare groove.

Sampling/cut and paste is an art in which it’s not terribly difficult to separate the lazy slobs from the masters, i.e. being able to differentiate from someone who can lift a song wholesale and slap something new on it and someone who can hear a really interesting sound within another piece of music and re-purpose it in a way that makes your ears (and brain) perk up in admiration.

One of the dangers of trainspotting is that the listener runs the risk of getting lost in the component parts, losing sight of the forest for the digitally borrowed trees.

However, secure in the knowledge that good taste is sometimes its own reward, the best samples sound as good (or better) in their original form as they do when placed as a cog in another ‘machine’. Often (not always, obviously) groovy bits of sound are not sui generis, and are traceable back to an equally groovy “whole”, which is the case in the music I bring you today.

I like to think that the first time I had my mind blown by ‘Paul’s Boutique’ or ‘Check Your Head’ my crates (and ears) were deep enough that I recognized some of the coolest stuff, but at the same time I’m honest enough to admit that the ensuing years witnessed my recognition of some of that music for the first time (like the time my man Marshall down in DC dropped Jimmy Smith’s previously unknown – to me – version of ‘I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More Babe’ and the light bulb went off over my head).

It was in those moments of recognition that new digging targets were registered and I followed them into flea markets, record stores on onto the interwebs.

The cuts I bring you today are examples of some of my favorite Beastie Boys samples (drums, bass and guitar) out of my crates.

Some of them were things I already had, others, like the bass in ‘Big Sur Suite’ and ‘Yo Yo’ or the guitar in ‘Machine Gun’, I picked up first and discovered/recognized the sample(s) after the fact.

What all of them have in common, aside from the fact that they appealed to the Beasties, is that they are all worth listening to in their entirety.

Maybe some of you will be hearing the complete songs for the first time.

I hope you dig them all, and I’ll see you later in the week.

Keep the faith

Larry

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).

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.