Miss Fontella Bass
Listen/Download Fontella Bass and Bobby McLure – Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing
Greetings all
Since the end of the week is upon us it behooves me to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show is as well, airing each and every Friday night at 9pM on Viva Radio. If you can’t fall by at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.
We have to start off 2013 in much the same way as we did 2012, that is eulogizing the fallen greats of funk and soul (Miss Marva Whitney a few days ago and Jimmy McCracklin this coming Monday).
Today we mark the passing of Miss Fontella Bass.
Those that know me have heard my complaints about Ms Bass’s biggest hit, 1965’s ‘Rescue Me’ as a song so ubiquitous that I would feel safe never having to hear it again.
This is of course no fault of hers, but rather the tastemakers/compilers of oldies radio and movie soundtracks who have made that particular record an all but inescapable shorthand for 60s soul, much like James Brown’s ‘I Feel Good’, or the Four Tops ‘(I Can’t Help Myself) Sugar Pie Honey Bunch’, all in their way great records, but beaten so soundly into my brain as to have sucked all the joy out of the music.
Every time ‘Rescue Me’ is cued up it just conjures up images of ‘The Big Chill’ and makes me want to strangle a Baby Boomer with a tie-dyed shirt. And the remarkable thing is that it’s not even on that soundtrack, but rather just another house picked up by and forever swirling around inside of that horrifying tornado of nostalgia.
Though I have owned a copy of ‘Rescue Me’ for years, I have not pulled it out of the crates to play it, and for all intents and purposes, Fontella Bass was well off my radar.
That was, until one lazy day, when I was sprawled on the couch channel surfing and happened upon a soul documentary that while generally unpromising, was light years better than everything else on the tube.
It was during this program (on one of the VH-1s) that a clip came on with a song that I hadn’t heard before and my ears perked right up.
There on the screen were Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure belting out a tune called ‘Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing’.
There’s no question that my lack of interest in all things Fontella Bass was unfair, but in my defense, I had no idea that she’d done anything else, especially anything this cool.
I listen to a tremendous amount of music (especially soul and funk), much of it pulled out of dusty boxes and shoved directly into my ears, and I was, unfortunately, unaware of this record, but that’s the way things go. Despite what some people might say or think, you must be humble enough to admit that you cannot know every good record there is (and I do not, though maybe someday…).
That said, ‘Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing’ hit the R&B Top 5 and the Pop Top 40 in February of 1965.
Fontella Bass, Bobby McClure and the bandleader on the date Oliver Sain (the flipside of the 45 was ‘Jerk Loose’ by Sain and his orchestra) all hailed from St Louis, MO.
Bass had started out as a gospel singer, her mother Martha Bass being a member of the Clara Ward Singers. She got her start in the world of secular music playing piano in Little Milton’s band (alongside Oliver Sain).
She signed with Chess/Checker in 1964, had the duet hit with McClure in early 1965 and went on to have her biggest hit with ‘Rescue Me’ in September of that year, making it to the Number One spot on the R&B charts and the Pop Top 5.
Bass had three more R&B Top 40 hits in 1965 and 1966 but left the label after being denied a co-writing credit on ‘Rescue Me’.
She married avant garde jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie, with whom she moved to Paris in the late 60s where she recorded two albums with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, including the sought after ‘Les Stances a Sophie’.
Following her return to the US, Bass recorded more soul sides for the Paula label through 1972 but eventually retired from music.
She returned to record both gospel and jazz later in life but suffered a series of strokes in the last few years of her life and was in hospice care when she succumbed to a heart attack.
She will be missed.
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.
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