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By Larry, September 25, 2011 3:15 pm

The Four Tops, featuring Levi Stubbs and his bad-ass tam’o’shanter…

Listen/Download – The Four Tops – Turn On the Light of Your Love

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.

The tune I bring you today was the fruit of a trip to a recently discovered digging spot this summer.

The way things are going these days, finding a new place to look for actual, vinyl records is always a welcome surprise.

Now, you know I’m a big fan of the Four Tops (they were last seen in this space back in May), considering Levi Stubbs to be one of the greatest voices of the classic soul era.

However, until recently my vinyl stock had only included material from their Motown era.

The Four Tops were among the contingent that opted not to follow Motown on the label’s move to Los Angeles in 1972.

They moved to ABC-Dunhill, and hit gold almost immediately.

Their first album for the label, ‘Keeper of the Castle’ yielded a couple of hits, including the smash ‘Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got)’.

So, I’m out digging and I happen upon a copy of said album, and while I’ve heard ‘Ain’t No Woman…’ more than enough times (including when it was repurposed as a lottery ad) I had also heard that ‘Keeper of the Castle’ displayed a funkier side of the Tops, so I threw it on the keeper pile and took it home.

When I finally got to needle-dropping, I discovered that the rumors of funk were indeed true, but especially so with the tune I bring you today ‘Turn On the Light of Your Love’.

Opening with some tastefully rendered synthesizer, which is soon joined by wah wah guitar and drums, the Tops fall in with the chorus before the full band kicks in.

Levi, Lawrence, Duke and Obie are in rare form, and the band – featuring a bunch of west coast heavies like Larry Carlton and Paul Humphreys – come correct.

The horn section is especially cool.

The Four Tops would remain a chart fixture through the 70s, leaving ABC for Casablanca in 1980 and having another R&B#1 in 1981 with “When She Was My Girl”.

They would find their way back to Motown a few years later.

I hope you dig the cut, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (2)

By Larry, September 18, 2011 1:56 pm

.

Sweetwater

Listen/Download – Sweetwater – Compared to What

Greetings all.

The new week is here, and so am I (for what it’s worth).

There quite a chill in the air, and taking the little Corners out to the bus is getting to be a brisk undertaking.

I need to adjust my brain so that I begin to appreciate the onset of fall, which is a season that I usually dig quite a bit, but I’m having an especially hard time letting go of summer this year.

Not sure why that is, but as is often the case, if I feed my ears enough groovy music, all paths will be clearer, roads smoothed, thoughts more productive and positive.

That said I had a great time this past Saturday DJ-ing at the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness 5K Run in Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ.

This was by far the earliest (first record went under the needle at 7:30am) and chilliest (temps hovering in the mid-50s) DJ gig I’ve ever done, but the high spirits of all the people gathered to raise money and awareness of autism more than made up for the hour.

There were lots of familiar faces from the local autism community, and the setting (right by the water) couldn’t have been nicer.

I even got the now familiar “You actually spin vinyl?” comments which seem to pop up every single time I DJ outside of a club setting. It’s a little strange to hear, but it is a bracing reminder of how deep and insular the world of record collecting is. Each time this happens, without fail, there’s a brief moment of “Who’s crazy? Me or them?” followed immediately by the realization that it is  – without question –  me.

The whole Funky16Corners fam was there as yours truly dropped a wide variety of funk, soul and disco classics for about three hours.

Yours truly (not all sixteen corners visible) selecting something cool.

The crowd as seen from my perch in the band shell.

Cueing up a little Stevie Wonder to take the chill out of the air.

So, let’s get the week started with what Slim Gaillard would refer to as a very mellow groove.

If you have in fact heard of Sweetwater, it might very well be as one of the little known artists to have graced the stage at Woodstock.

They released a couple of albums for Reprise in the late 60s and early 70s before their lead singer Nancy Nevins was badly injured in a car accident and forced out of the lineup.

I’m tempted to describe Sweetwater as an archetypal hippy band, but the reality was that in everything except the broadest sense the only thing most of the bands of the era had in common (aside from an interesting fashion sense) was their diversity in all things.

Sweetwater was integrated, both racially and musically, with a sound that exemplified the melting pot aesthetic, a little rock, a little soul, some baroque touches all served up with a garnish of freak scene freedom.

Naturally, across the musical spectrum, this tie-dyed bouillabaisse wasn’t always entirely successful or coherent, but that is almost always the case when a lot of free thinkers decide to get loose, and thankfully when their fusions were successful, they were often exceptional.

Gene McDaniel’s epic testament ‘Compared to What’ is one of those soul jazz evergreens (like Cannonball Adderley’s ‘Sack’O’Woe’) that managed to expand beyond its original bailiwick into the world of rock.

Sweetwater manage to keep the built-in groove of the song, but ease off the gas a little, creating a very groovy, somewhat restrained, yet still soulful feel. The basic groove is constructed with bass, drums and electric piano, with the flute and cello (yes, cello) weaving in and out of things tastefully.

This is also one of those records where I’m shocked no one has chopped or looped either the bass or flute lines, both ripe for the audio harvest.

I hope you dig it.

Make sure you stop over at Iron Leg and pull down the ones and zeros on the fifth episode of the Iron Leg Radio Show.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 13, 2011 11:16 am

The mighty Swamp Dogg astride Sparky the Funky Rat

Listen/Download – Swamp Dogg – Sal-A-Faster

Greetings all.

How’s by you?

I’m still not reconciled to the loss of summer, and while we still have a little taste of it to savor here at the shore, it has been an especially brisk week. It’s like Labor Day happened and someone threw a switch somewhere, sucking all the “hot” out of the air.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not done sweating yet, so how about something hot and sassy for the middle of the week?

Swamp Dogg is one of those cats who’s name I’ve known forever, but who’s music had evaded me almost completely.

The first time I heard one of his songs it was via a cover version of ‘Total Destruction To Your Mind’ by Eric Ambel of the Del-Lords, which got some airplay on our local alternative station about 20 years ago.

Dogg, who hailed from southern Virginia, recorded for years under his given name, Jerry Williams (and as Little Jerry Williams) for a wide variety of labels through the 60s, including Calla, Loma and Musicor before mutating into Swamp Dogg at the end of the decade.

As Swamp Dogg he recorded for the Canyon label, and wrote songs with another Virginia Tidewater native, Gary US Bonds, for artists like Doris Duke (and Swamp Dogg himself).

Today’s selection, the wild and somewhat incomprehensible ‘Sal-A-Faster’ has a serious New Orleans vibe (with no real connection to the region other than any of the Crescent City zeitgeist that might have taken root in Swamp Dogg’s fevered brain).

The magical substance of the title is recommended for the self, the disobedient wife and the dog that has fits, and the rabbit “that only sits”. Whether ‘sal-a-faster’ is a relation to the contents of a trick bag, or just something that Swamp Dogg pull out of, um, thin air, remains a mystery.

What is not mysterious is the groove of the record, which is, without question, heavy.

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

______________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget that I’ll be spinning some tunes during the annual Point Pleasant Lions Seafood 5K and 1 Mile FUN Run/Walk on Saturday, September 17th in Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ. The run benefits the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness and runs right before the Seafood Fest (which starts at 10AM). I’ll be spinning all of the funk soul and disco you’d expect, so if you’re in the area, come on down and run, sit and watch people run while listening to music, or get your groove on before hunting down some delicious seafood. It’s a great cause and there’ll be good music, good people and good food, so what else do you need to know?

____________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 11, 2011 10:46 am

Listen/Download – Natural Gas – Live and Learn

Listen/Download – Natural Gas – Rameses 1

Greetings all.

I hope everyone had themselves a groovy weekend and took the time to check out the Wardell Quezergue-related sounds. I also hope you took the time to paddle out into the wilds of the intertubes in search of a little more of his story (and history). He was an important figure in the sound of New Orleans and deserves to be remembered (and the music he made, heard).

So, now that the new week is here, how about some of the funky, jazzy horn rock sound??

I picked up the sole LP by the Canadian band Natural Gas a few years back when it popped up on a sale list with an intriguing description (probably something along the lines of ‘funky horn rock’) and an equally intriguing price tag. I’d never heard of the band, but all signs pointed to “BUY”, so I did, and when it came through the mail slot onto the turntable I knew that I’d done a groovy thing.

Natural Gas (could they have selected a more un-Google-icious name?) hailed – as mentioned – from north of the border and put out their only album in 1970 on the Firebird label.

Though I can’t tell you much about the band itself (one of their tracks, a cover of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ already appeared here in F16C Radio v.74 ‘Day Tripping’), it has roots (via singer George Olliver) in the prime of Canadian 60s rock, first with the Rogues, and then in the much more successful soul-rock outfit Mandala.

Olliver left Mandala in 1969 to for Natural Gas.

If I were to describe the Natural Gas sound, I’d say a slightly more progressive take on the horn-rock vibe of the time (led of course by Blood Sweat and Tears, which was helmed by David Clayton Thomas who for a brief time had been in the Rogues with Olliver).

That the sound was verily omnipresent for a few years should be evident to anyone with a passing acquaintance with the era, with bands that were first and foremost a horn driven thang, with the BS&Ts, Chicagos, as well many soulful or jazz-inspired rock bands of the day (like Melting Pot) packing a horn section.

There is of course the question of fusion, but it’s probably more accurate (at least as I see it) to assign pre-existing jazzers attempting (with varying degrees of success) to rockify their sound with that term, where most of what I’m talking about could loosely be called jazz rock.

Much of what fell under the jazz rock sound is in retrospect often guilty of musical overreaching, with musicians who’s hearts might have been in the right place but who’s chops and or ears were not up to the task, making for cluttered, sometime clumsy attempts at jazz which were simultaneously overcooked versions of rock.

Naturally, it was the late 60s and early 70s and hordes of drugged out kids with their feet in the mud couldn’t have cared less as long as they could keep grooving, and now, forty years on, a lot of that stuff doesn’t hold up well as either jazz or rock.

That said, I find that despite their undeserved obscurity, Natural Gas were actually pretty good, with enough compositional and technical wherewithal to create music that was sonically interesting and – it bears mentioning – rarely overbearing.

The two tracks I bring you this fine day exhibit two sides of the band.

The first, ‘Live and Learn’ is a slightly funky excursion featuring Olliver’s vocals running in and out of a tight instrumental backing. The band is tight, and the horn charts are tasteful, with the two sections of the group actually working together cooperatively (not always the case with these things). Olliver was a good singer, generally free of the sloppy, white soulboy-isms of many of his contemporaries. I’ll have to dig out a Mandala 45 and post it so you can get a taste for his earlier work.

The second cut, the instrumental ‘Rameses 1’ starts out as a Hammond groover, evolving into a more expansive jazz tableau, featuring some cool guitar. There are whispers of UK prog around the edges, but the organ drops out and the piano comes in (around the 2:00 mark) before it really unfolds too much. The remaining six minutes is split between contemplative piano, swinging, small-group action, and then a gradual return of the horn section.

It is – especially for the time – a work of remarkable good taste and subtlety, the band never straying outside the boundaries of their instrumental (or compositional) prowess.

The album ought to be better known.

George Olliver still performs and records today.

______________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget that I’ll be spinning some tunes during the annual Point Pleasant Lions Seafood 5K and 1 Mile FUN Run/Walk on Saturday, September 17th in Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ. The run benefits the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness and runs right before the Seafood Fest (which starts at 10AM). I’ll be spinning all of the funk soul and disco you’d expect, so if you’re in the area, come on down and run, sit and watch people run while listening to music, or get your groove on before hunting down some delicious seafood. It’s a great cause and there’ll be good music, good people and good food, so what else do you need to know?

____________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (3)

By Larry, September 7, 2011 4:00 pm

The Mighty Wardell Quezergue

Listen/Download – Earl King – Trick Bag (Imperial)

Listen/Download – Professor Longhair – Big Chief Pt2 (Watch)

Listen/Download – Marie Boubarere – I’m Going Home (NOLA)

Listen/Download – Robert Parker – Everybody’s Hip Huggin'(NOLA)

Listen/Download – Willie Tee – Walking Up a One Way Street (Atlantic)

Listen/Download – Willie Harper – A Certain Girl (Tou-Sea)

Greetings all.

I hope that everyone is in a groovy place nearing the end of the week.

It behooves me to remind you all (as it always does) that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday evening at 9PM at Viva Radio. This week we have an interesting one, with half the show devoted to the funky side of disco, and the other half to the sounds of classic-era soul. I know you’ll dig it, and if you can’t bet there to hear it, you can always drop by on Saturday to pick up the show in MP3 form here at the blog.

Also, if you have yet to check out the DJ Forty Fivan mix from earlier this week, please do so. It is excellent and really worth your time.

It was with great sadness that I heard the news this week of the passing of one of the last giants of New Orleans soul, Mr. Wardell Quezergue.

Working mostly as an arranger (but also in the producers and composers chairs) Wardell was instrumental (pun fully intended) in grafting the New Orleans sound onto the brains of the listening public. It has been said that he created every record he touched from the ground up, applying his talents to best fit the song, and the individual artist, giving his catalog a tremendous amount of stylistic breadth.

Known as the ‘Creole Beethoven’, WQ (his last name was often misspelled – at times by yours truly –  as Quezerque) was born in 1930. He served as a musician in military bands during the Korean War, and rejoined Dave Bartholomew’s band upon his return to the Crescent City.

He really started to make his mark in the early 60s, with his work on classic 45s by Earl King (‘Trick Bag’ is included above) and the formation of the storied NOLA label where he would arrange some of the finest R&B, soul and funk to come out of the city in the 1960s.

His first big hit was Robert Parker’s ‘Barefootin’ in 1965 (he arranged all of Parker’s sides for the label), still one of the biggest hits to come out of New Orleans.

His biggest success however would come half a decade later with his work for the Chimneyville/Malaco labels and huge hits like King Floyd’s ‘Groove Me’ and Jean Knight’s ‘Mr Big Stuff’ – both recorded on the same day in 1970 – and Dorothy Moore’s ‘Misty Blue’ in 1976.

The tunes included here are a random sampling of Wardell Quezergue’s work that I’ve covered here at Funky16Corners over the years, whether as individual tracks, or in various and sundry mixes. I’ve tried not to duplicate what I’ve seen in other tributes (make sure to check out Soul Sides).

I mentioned Earl King’s ‘Trick Bag’, but I’ve also included Part Two of Professor Longhair’s 1964 landmark ‘Big Chief’, which was written by King and features his vocal.

There are also two tracks from WQ’s extensive NOLA discography, including Marie Boubarere’s Eddie Bo-penned ‘I’m Going Home’ (a live session) from 1967, and Robert Parker’s funky ‘Everybody’s Hip Huggin’ from 1968.

One of the more interesting, and testimony to WQ’s considerable talent as an arranger (dig the way the trumpets and the saxes play off of each other in the horn chart), is Willie Tee’s ‘Walking Up a One Way Street’.

The last track is one that appeared here last summer, and remains one of my favorite Quezergue-related sides, especially since he produced and arranged it. The record in question is Willie Harper’s version of Ernie K Doe’s (written by Allen Toussaint) ‘A Certain Girl’.

Unlike most covers of the tune, Harper and Quezergue take the song at a slow, New Orleans roll, in one of the great examples of bridging the old-school NOLA feel and then contemporary (1968) soul music. It’s also interesting because it has WQ producing an artist who had worked almost exclusively with Toussaint, on one of Toussaint’s labels, as he also did with Warren Lee’s ‘Underdog Backstreet’, also on Tou-Sea.

I’ve never gotten the whole story on why Toussaint seemed to loosen the reins a bit during this period, but the records that came out of it (including another WQ production/arrangement with Gus ‘The Groove’ Lewis’s ‘Let the Groove Move You’) were consistently excellent.

Unfortunately Wardell Quezergue was stricken in his later years by poor physical health, as well as the being victimized by the  destruction of forces natural (Hurricane Katrina) and otherwise (the record industry).

He will always be remembered by fans of the New Orleans sound as one of its greatest geniuses.

He will be missed.

______________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget that I’ll be spinning some tunes during the annual Point Pleasant Lions Seafood 5K and 1 Mile FUN Run/Walk on Saturday, September 17th in Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ. The run benefits the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness and runs right before the Seafood Fest (which starts at 10AM). I’ll be spinning all of the funk soul and disco you’d expect, so if you’re in the area, come on down and run, sit and watch people run while listening to music, or get your groove on before hunting down some delicious seafood. It’s a great cause and there’ll be good music, good people and good food, so what else do you need to know?

____________________________________________________________________________________

See you on Monday

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 4, 2011 12:00 pm

Set List

Motherhood – Soul Town
Scorpio & His People – The Unforgiven
Bobby Reed – The Time is Right For Love
Eddie & Ernie – Bullets Don’t Have Eyes
TSU Toronadoes – Got To Get Through To You
Four Sonics – Easier Said Than Done
Tony Clarke – Ghetto Man
Total Experience – Contradiction
Honey B’s – What Love Can Do
Black Velvet – An Earthquake’s Coming
Honey Ltd – Silk n Honey
Mighty Lovers – Ain’t Gonna Run No More
Rosetta Hightower – A Little More Line
Rose Williams – Whatever makes My baby Feel Good
Curtis the Brothers – You Make Everything Better
Eddie Bo – Getting to the Middle
Explosions – Garden of Four Trees
Fellows – Let’s Make it Last
Summits – Sleepwalking
Fabulous Souls – Take Me
Waymond Hall – What Will Tomorrow Bring
The Arcades – There’s Got to Be a Loser
Connie Tanzell – Don’t Knock Me
Stone Coal White – Free

Listen/Download – DJ Forty Fivan – Forty Fivan Vol4 131MB/320K Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

Happy Labor Day to those of you here in the US, where we honor the work of the American worker and the labor movement (though lately it’s looking more like a wake).

This also marks the end of the summer vacation season, which here at the shore is something of a mixed blessing, since my wife and kids have to return to school, but we also get to experience the phenomenon of ‘local summer’ during which we experience the fair weather and outdoor recreation largely free of the tourist horde.

Late last week one of my longtime fellow Soulstrut-ters, DJ Forty Fivan contacted me about the possibility of running his latest mix, the extremely groovy and very heavy ‘FortyFivan Vol 4’ as part of the Funky16Corners Soul Club guest mix series.

I’d already had a preview of the mix and thought this a capital idea, so here you have it.

What you get is a stellar mix with just under and hour of rare and ultra-rare funk and soul goodness.

Believe me when I tell you that this one exudes heat in a big way, and I know you’ll dig it.

Here’s Forty Fivan’s bio.

Forty Fivan, formerly known as DJ Ferrari, is one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier rare groove DJs and vinyl collectors creatively spinning the best and rarest funk and soul records from around the world. Highly regarded for his deep and diverse record collection, Forty Fivan has played shows all around the world including exotic locations like Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro. Never one to compromise in taste, Forty Fivan remains a trusted selector amongst those with a discerning ear for proper soul music.

When not scouring the globe for obscure vinyl, Forty Fivan, real name Ivan Dwyer, remains beyond busy in the fast paced Silicon Valley technology world as both the Head of Digital Publishing for ACCESS (www.access-company.com), a global provider of advanced software solutions for connected devices, and the CEO & Founder of Maravil (www.maravil.com), a creative technology and services provider working with independent musicians and record labels to create personalized mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad.

So go on, pull down the ones and zeros and dig the sounds.

I’ll be back on Thursday with something cool.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, August 25, 2011 8:06 am

Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson

Listen/Download – Marlena Shaw – California Soul

Listen/Download – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell – California Soul

Listen/Download – Undisputed Truth – California Soul

Listen/Download – Tamba 4 – California Soul

Listen/Download – Steve Allen and Oliver Nelson – California Soul

Greetings all.

Before we get started I’d like to remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the air this Friday night at 9PM at Viva Radio. You can also pick up the MP3 download of the show here at the blog (click on the Radio Show tab in the header) the day after the show airs.

This has been another one of those exceedingly sad weeks when musical giants seem to be falling whenever you turn around.

This particular week has been an especially bad one when you take into account the loss of not one but two exceptional songwriters, first Jerry Leiber, and then the mighty Nick Ashford.

Though he’s known to a generation or two as part of the singing duo of Ashford and Simpson (with his wife and writing partner Valerie Simpson), soul and R&B fans know him first and foremost as part of the team that wrote a long list of certifiable soul music classics.

During the mid-to-late 60s, Ashford and Simpson (sometimes with the help of Jo Armstead) composed a series of hits for artists like Ray Charles (Let’s Go Get Stoned and I Don’t Need No Doctor), Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, You’re All I Need To Get By), Diana Ross (Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand), and Chaka Khan (I’m Every Woman), before hitting as a performing duo, from ‘Don’t Cost You Nothin’ in 1977 to their biggest hit ‘Solid’ in 1984.

Both Ashford and Simpson had recorded as solos in the 60s, including Ashford’s original versions of ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’ and the song we remember today ‘California Soul’.

The first time I remember hearing (and falling in love with) ‘California Soul’ was in 1969, when my Mom was playing the hit version by the 5th Dimension (also the first place I ever heard a Laura Nyro song).

Many years later, when I was digging for funk and soul and became enamored of the work of the genius Richard Evans, it was the version by Marlena Shaw that I sought, after hearing is chopped by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist.

The song has become my favorite Ashford and Simpson composition for a number of reasons, but mainly the chord changes and the lyrics.

It harkens back to a time when California held a special place in the American imagination as a spot on the western horizon filled with the promise of a new, sunshine-filled life and prosperity (though it would be very interesting to juxtapose any vocal version of this with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s less optimistic ‘Black California’).

Like Jerry Leiber, Nickolas Ashford was the main lyricist in the songwriting duo, and ‘California Soul’ is a fantastic example of his prowess in the regard, especially the following stanza:

They say the sun comes up every morning
And if you listen oh so carefully
The winds that ride on the high time
Whistle in melody
And so the people started to sing
And that’s how the surf gave birth untold
To California soul, California soul

Collecting versions of ‘California Soul’ became something of a hobby, and over the years I’ve found several, many of which I bring you today.

First and foremost is the Marlena Shaw take. I’ve spun this out at funk and soul night’s many times, and while the appeal may start with that stellar break (Morris Jennings Jr) it only grows when Miss Shaw starts singing. Hers is by far the most powerful version of the song I’ve heard, from her own voice to the brilliant arrangement by Charles Stepney and production by Evans. It simply kills from start to finish.

Next up we have a couple of takes from the Motown stable.

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s version, while not as dynamic as Shaw’s features their fantastic vocal blend, so it is definitely worth hearing.

The Undisputed Truth’s version of the song, produced by none other than Norman Whitfield is a tiny bit funkier, and most definitely more atmospheric. I really dig the bass, as well as the background vocals. This is the moodiest of the versions I’ve heard.

The most unusual take on the tune is the rare promo-only version by Brazil’s Tamba 4. Recorded in 1969 for an LP that was never issued, Tamba 4 take the tune at a brisk pace and feature the electric piano.

The last version of ‘California Soul’ that I’ll bring you today is my most recent find, from a 1969 album by Steve Allen and Oliver Nelson. While Allen’s contributions to the sessions seem to be limited to his celebrity and some keyboard noodling, the arrangement by Nelson is (as always) top notch.

It’s a fantastic song no matter how you look at it (or hear it) and it is really worth hearing it interpreted several ways.

I hope you dig it, and raise a glass in memory of Nick Ashford.

See you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (2)

By Larry, August 18, 2011 1:15 pm

Shades of Joy from the cover of their 1969 album

Listen/Download – Shades of Joy – Flute In a Quarry (45 Edit)

Greetings all.

We’ve all packed away another week on the calendar, and I for one feel that it was well spent.

This has been a fairly (heh…fairly…) busy summer hereabouts, but a lot of the busy has been the good and productive kind, so I can’t really complain.

Since it is the end of the week, I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, with the funk, the soul, the jazz and the rare groove for your ears, your head and your heart, and if you can’t be huddled by the wireless set at airtime you can always pull down the ones and zeros of its convenient MP3 form over the weekend.

The tune I bring you today is something a little different with an interesting back story.

I don’t recall where I first heard of the Shades of Joy, but I do recall that it had something to do with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s epic cult film, ‘El Topo’.

While I have never seen ‘El Topo’ in the proper way (i.e. with a box of popcorn and my undivided attention) I did get to watch it play in a loop (and DJ in front of it) during a particularly memorable Asbury Park 45 Sessions.

It’s a crazy flick, and ironically, I did not actually hear any of it that night.

I say ironically since the 45 I bring you today is in fact a sampling (a 45 edit bringing you just under three minutes of a seven minute plus album track*) of that very soundtrack.

The group Shades of Joy was a SanFran Bay Area fixture in the late 60s and early 70s. Their leader, saxophonist Martin Fierro arranged the music that Jodorowsky composed for ‘El Topo’ and the Shades of Joy (augmented by other Bay heads like Frank Morin of the Sir Douglas Quintet** and keyboardist Howard Wales***) played.

The Shades of Joy had recorded a full LP for the Fontana label in 1969 (‘El Topo’ came out in 1970) but it appears that they recorded the soundtrack without their singer Millie Foster.

‘Flute In A Quarry’ is a very cool, somewhat progressive slice of funky, Latin-influenced jazz rock (dig the percussion). Considering the Bay Area roots, the temptation is to make a Santana reference, but the sound here is funkier and jazzier (and less Latin) than Carlos et al. In fact, Fierro’s tenor sax work is very edgy and light years beyond what you might expect from similarly shaped horn bands of the era.

The LP was produced by Jimi Hendrix producer Alan Douglas, and someone going by the name of Doris Dynamite (sounds like an R. Crumb creation).

It’s a cool tune, and I hope you dig it.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry

*The full length version from the ‘El Topo’ soundtrack included longer “mellow” sections and an extended guitar solo
**I’ve seen references that indicate that Fierro also played with the SDQ
***Wales was the man behind A.B. Skhyy and the in demand 45 ‘Huxley’s Howl’

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (4)

By Larry, August 16, 2011 3:09 pm

Ike tries to hitch a ride…

The Family Vibes speeds by trying to act like they didn’t notice…

Listen/Download – Ike Turner Presents the Family Vibes – the Scratch

Greetings all.

Before we get started I’d like to let you all know that if you dig the pop side of the 60s, with the garage, and the psyche, and the sunshine pop and what not you might want to fall by our sister blog, Iron Leg and check out the  Iron Leg Radio Show. It’s currently anchored at the blog (no interwebs radio station, but if someone knows one with an open slot, speak up) and is now up to four episodes.

The shows run around 90 minutes and I do them once a month. The format is very similar to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, but the content is slanted along the pop side of the spectrum.

If that sounds like something you’d dig, pop on over there and pull down the ones and zeros.

So, the middle of the week is here and I figured it was past time to dig into the archives and pluck out a little bit of Ike.

Turner, that is….

Ike has appeared in this space a couple of times over the years, sometimes with the mighty Tina, sometimes without.

A few years I was out a-digging and I happened upon a permutation of the Ike Turner discography that I’d never seen before, aka Ike Turner presents the Family Vibes.

Though there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of info out there on this period, what I have found seems to indicate that the Family Vibes were in fact the Kings of Rhythm (1973 edition) with a new name and a new sound.

Though I think even the staunchest mathematician would have a hell of a time drawing, a line between ‘New Breed Pts 1&2’ and today’s selection (I think Archimedes locates the intersection of the two somewhere within the area of Ike), the song in question is without a doubt funky.

If you were a student of the funk and gave ‘The Scratch’ even a single listen, I think you’d probably be able to place it within a year or two of the correct spot on the timeline. It has within it the sound of an era where rock bands were getting funky, and funk bands were getting rock-y and the lines were getting blurred (not just by the drugs).

Even the cover art and its airbrushed pseudo-Keep On Truckin-isms are practically waving a calendar in your face.

I’m not sure why Ike was trying to rebrand the Kings (there were at least two albums under this name) though trying to glom onto the rep of another famous, funky family (the Stones of SanFran) doesn’t seem out of the question. That and Family Vibes sounds a lot more 1970s-ish with the Kings of Rhythm sounding like a bunch of cheap tuxedos on a cruise ship.

This was released around the time Ike and Tina were hitting the charts with ‘Nutbush City Limits’ and probably still squeezing a little juice out of their huge 1971 hit ‘Proud Mary’ so I can understand why UA would invest a couple of albums worth of time and money in the group (that and it was the early 70s when most record companies were releasing veritable mountains of product in a coke addled haze).

That said, ‘The Scratch’ derives its funk from a loose, wobble-legged guitar line and nice fat bass line plodding along underneath as well as some nice, era-specific synth action.

It is all very redolent of bell-bottoms, cheap wine and sounds like something that might come wafting out of the window of a customized van, rocking behind a convenience store on a Saturday night.

I hope you dig it and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, August 9, 2011 4:39 pm

Eddie Jefferson

Listen/Download – Eddie Jefferson – Freedom Jazz Dance

Listen/Download – Eddie Jefferson – Thank You Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin

Greetings all.

I hope that all is well.

The mighty originator of vocalese, Mr. Eddie Jefferson has been covered in this space a couple of times before.

Though his career dips way back into the 40s, Jefferson recorded steadily through the 60s and 70s, until his murder in front of the storied Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit in 1979.

Like most of his soul jazz contemporaries, Jefferson liked to stay ahead of the game, and continued to create new ‘vocalese’, much of it related to current material, like his remake of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’ and the two tunes I bring you today.

Jefferson recorded the Eddie Harris composition ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’ twice in the 70s, both times for the Muse label.

The later version appeared in this space a while back and can still be heard as part of Funky16Corners Radio v.65.

I discovered the take I bring you today whilst out a-digging a few months back. I’m always game for some Eddie Jefferson I haven’t heard, and when I happened upon his 1974 album ‘Things Are Getting Better’, and noticed that it included several interesting covers (and cost less than a fiver) it went right onto the keeper pile and I took it home.

When it finally arrived on my turntable I was very pleasantly surprised to hear a different take on ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’ – less frantic and dare I say more funky – than the one previously featured, as well as a very groovy reworking of Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Thank You Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin’, with new lyrics namechecking the greats of midcentury jazz.

The feel of the album is a little looser and fusion-y than his other efforts of the period, and listening to some of the cuts several times I find it shocking that it does not seem to have been sampled by anyone.

Jefferson was always a swinging cat, and ‘Things Are Getting Better’, which also includes a very dark and sinister take on ‘Bitches Brew’ is at least in my opinion, the finest thing he recorded in the 70s.

If you get a chance, pick up one of the reissues of his earlier work (or even better, look for some of it on OG vinyl in the field). I think you’ll dig it.

I hope you dig these sounds, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (2)

By Larry, August 4, 2011 2:02 pm

Listen/Download – Willis Wooten – Your Love Is Indescribably Delicious

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally here and so is a little bit of that fabled light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel like I’ve been running a marathon this past month (I’d get tired driving one…) and the time for a little rest and relaxation is at hand, or at least a return to normalcy.

I should remind you that this Friday night sees the return of the Funky16Corners Radio Show to the airwaves, at 9PM on Viva Radio. This week’s show is (thanks to the insane schedule of the last few weeks) an encore performance of a show from last year, so if you didn’t hit it the first time around, dig it, and if you did, check it out again.

No matter how long I dig, or how late I keep my ears open for business, there is always something new and amazing waiting out there for me.

Earlier this year, during the Funky16Corners Pledge Drive, my man Vincent the Soul Chef contributed a mix which introduced me to today’s selection, and for that I will be forever grateful.

Willis Wooten is one of those cats who’s name I knew but who’s music managed to elude me for quite some time.

I have quite a lot of Virtue 45s in my Philly crates, but the one I bring you today was not one of them, and when I heard the song ‘Your Love is Indescribably Delicious’ for the first time in Vincent’s mix, my mind was good and truly blown.

I dig funky music (you already knew that, right?) but every once in a great while a funk 45 rolls along that absolutely swings in that get your ass up out of your seat and move it kinda way, and ‘Your Love Is Indescribably Delicious’ carries that vibe like a spike driver with a sledge hammer.

The phrase ‘hard-hitting’ doesn’t really do a record like this justice, since it’s not about power as much as it is about swagger, and swing, and feeling and that certain soulful je ne sais quoi that makes you want to leap onto the dance floor for the Soul Train Line of the mind.

The drums do indeed attack solidly, but check out that rhythm guitar and the vocals (I’ll go ahead and assume that it’s Mr. Wooten) and the horns with that little touch of Memphis and resist the temptation to rise up and, how do they say, boogie.

I have not been able to track down any information on Willis Wooten himself, though the info on the label indicated that many of the usual Philadelphia suspects were involved including Ronnie Baker (who wrote the song), Norman Harris and Johnny Stiles.

It is without question an ass-kicker of the first order, and just the thing to get a hot summer weekend underway.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, July 27, 2011 11:33 am

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners – Set 1 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Funky16Corners – Botanica 7/18 – Set 1

Earl King – Come On Pt1 (Imperial)

Johnny Otis Show – Country Girl (Kent)

Frank Frost – My Back Scratcher (Jewel)

Timmy Thomas – Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)

Betty Harris – Ride Your Pony (Sansu)

Oscar Toney Jr – Ain’t That True Love (Bell)

Human Beinz – Nobody But me (Capitol)

Buddy McKnight – Every Time Pt2 (Renfro)

Eddie Bo – Skate It Out (Seven B)

Howard Tate – Stop (Verve)

Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Cadet)

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Listen/Download – DJ Hambone – Set 2 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

DJ Hambone – Botanica 7/18 – Set 2

The Interpretations – Trippin’ – Jubilee

Duralcha – Ghet-o-funk – Microtronics Records

The Soul Lovers – Gonna Have Fun Tonight – Pacemaker

Big Al & The Star Treks – Funky Funk – Double M

Big Jay Bush – Funky Horns – Vangee

Kim Melvin – Doin’ The Popcorn – Hi Records

Frank Williams Rocketeers ft. Little Beaver – Good Thing Pt. 1 – Lloyd Records

The Czars – Get Down Pt. 1 – Key-Loc

Flip Flop Stevens & his Psychedelic Soul Orchestra – Live Your Own Life – Dynamite

The Soul Machine – Twitchie Feet – Pzazz

The Meters – Ease Back -Josie

Lee Dorsey – Tears Tears and More Tears – Polydor

Gary Griffin & The Top Notes – Bootleg – HMF Records

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Listen/Download -M-Fasis – Set 1 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

M-Fasis – Botanica 7/18 – Set

the wash – brenda & the tabulations – dionn

2. give me you – lee dorsey – fury

3. jungle beat – sir victor uwaifo – phillips

4. take your love (and shove it) – kane’s cousins – shove love

5. humpin’ – the bar kays – volt

6. s’cuse uz y’all – brenda & the tabulations – top and bottom

7. the stretch – detroit sex machines – soul track

8. it’s amazing – johnny taylor – stax

9. knocking ’round the zoo – james taylor – euphoria

10. hard life – motherlode – buddah

11. summertime – billy stewart – chess

12. utica club natural beer drinking song – national carbonation band – rca

______________________________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

This post is the tiniest bit rushed, since some unexpected and unpleasant news rendered an already jam-packed week even more jam-packier.

What you have here is evidence of a hot night at Botanica which was also (sadly) the last Spindletop.

A few weeks back the mighty Perry Lane said that he’d be bringing things to a close, and honored me by asking if I’d man the decks on the final night.

Though I was bummed – Spindletop has been my favorite place to spin this year – I agreed to helm things for the night and kept things sharp by enlisting the help of my buddies M-Fasis and Joe Cristando (aka DJ Hambone).

We had a hell of a time getting the somewhat beleaguered equipment to behave itself (the battered mixer was especially problematic) and then when we finally did, the digital recorder started to misbehave. As a result there are segments of the night that either went unrecorded, or were – thanks to technical difficulties – unacceptable for presentation herein.

I’ve decided to post one set each by the DJs and I think you’ll be satisfied with the results.

I brought a mix of soul that included a tip of the hat (via Howard Tate) to the recently departed Jerry Ragovoy.

DJ Hambone brought a grip of serious  heat including a bunch of stuff I’d never heard before, and M-Fasis dropped yet another incredibly diverse set, packed (as always) with surprises.

That said, I hope you dig it all, and I’ll be back next week.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

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.