Comments (4)

By Larry, February 12, 2012 2:53 pm

Listen/Download -Bobby Hollaway – Cornbread, Hog Maws and Chitterlins

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the madhouse with sixteen funky corners.

I have to begin by telling you all, that if you intend to click on the MP3 link in today’s post that you should really strap yourselves in.

One of the most important part of being a good DJ is taste, not only ones own, but the ability to recognize it in others.

Over the years I’ve come to trust the opinions of several DJs/collectors, one of whom is the mighty Midnight Cowbwoy down in Crackalack.

He’s one of those guys who has excellent taste in music, and who is always putting excellent stuff in his playlists that I haven’t heard before.

Late last year, when I posted a couple of versions of ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ in this very space, he mentioned to me that I ought to pick up a 45 by a cat named Bobby Hollaway called ‘Funky Little Drummer Boy’.

It wasn’t long before I found a copy and grabbed it sight unheard.

So, a few days go by and the record in question falls through the mail slot and I promptly carry it to the turntable where I placed it under the needle with care.

As soon as it started spinning I knew it would be featured prominently during the Funky16Corners Christmas 2012 festivities.

That said, I then flipped the disc over and saw that the B-side was entitled ‘Cornbread, Hog Maws and Chitterlins’, and since I can’t very well see a title like that and not play the record, I gave it a spin.

Holy shit…

It was like finding a ten dollar bill, flipping it over and realizing that the number in the corner was really ‘100’!

The song in question is just a hair under two minutes of fast-moving, spellbinding, hair-raising, ass-kicking (there was a special on hyphens down at the blog store!) instrumental soul.

Wham bam thank you ma’am – as the saying goes – what you get here is some greasy organ, hard-hitting drums, saxo-mo-phone and fatback guitar – all piled up on a paper plate and slathered in gravy.

The whole thing is like a stick of dynamite, but it’d be worth it if all you got to hear was the drums at the beginning of every chorus.

I haven’t been able to nail down any info on Bobby Hollaway, but once again, reading the fine print on the label provides some important clues.

I noticed that the record had been produced by Bobbie Howard (which sounded familiar) so I set out into the interwebs and discovered that this was in all likelihood the very same Bobbie Howard who had been in Washington, DC-area band the British Walkers.

The British Walkers were an R&B/garage/beat band who’s ranks included the likes of Roy Buchanan and John Hall.

Howard was also responsible for the Mod fave ‘Sh’Mon’ – released under the name Mr. Dynamite – and was in a band called The Sweet (not the UK band).

Interestingly enough, The Sweet’s 45 on Smash, produced by and featuring Bobbie Howard is exactly one catalog number down the list from the Bobby Hollaway 45.

Whether ‘Bobby Hollaway’ was a DC-area musician (sax or organ?) or a pseudonym for somebody else, I do not know, and if one of you does know, I would appreciate you dropping me a line clearing this whole thing up on account of I LOVE this record.

I hope you dig it as much as I do, 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.

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By Larry, February 9, 2012 1:17 pm

Jimmy Sabater

Listen/Download -Joe Cuba Sextet – El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia)
Listen/Download -Joe Cuba Sextet – Que Son Uno
Listen/Download -Odell Brown and the Organizers – Que Son Uno

Greetings all.

Welcome to the end of another funky week here at the Corners Sixteen.

I hope you’ve all weathered the work week well, or at least well enough to get some enjoyment out of the weekend.

I should take a moment to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show drops Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, followed of course by the MP3 version thereof, posted right here at the blog over the weekend.

I had something else planned for today, but then I heard of the passing of the great Jimmy Sabater.

Sabater, one of the great Nuyorican movers of the boogaloo era (and beyond) was a timbalero, singer and composer who first met Joe Cuba (then Gilberto Calderon) during a stickball game on the streets of Spanish Harlem in the early 50s.

The Joe Cuba Sextet had their first crossover hit in 1966 with ‘El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia)’ and then into the R&B Top 20 and the Pop Hot 100 later that same year with ‘Bang Bang, a million seller and one of the cornerstones of the boogaloo movement’.

Sabater was a key member of the Sextet, writing or co-writing (see Odub’s excellent post at Soul Sides for some info on Cuba taking undeserved writing credit on ‘Bang Bang’) some of their finest records (eight of the eleven tracks on the album above).

The two tracks I bring you today are the aforementioned ‘El Pito’ and ‘Que Son Uno’, both co-written by Sabater.

‘El Pito’ is one of the breat Latin soul party starters of all time. With its fast moving piano riff and percussion, as well as its stop-start pattern in which the band reaches a frenzied pace only to come crashing to a halt (and then rise again from the ashes) ‘El Pito’ is positively explosive. The production is remarkable, with the percussion coming alive (slap on the headphones for this one), the vibes moving at a breakneck pace, and the band’s foot stomping rattling everything in the studio.

The second cut, ‘Que Son Uno’ is probably my favorite cut by the Sextet. Diverging from the boogaloo feel of much of the ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ album, ‘Que Son Uno’ is a beautiful, sublimely powerful piece of Latin jazz.

I’m also including the groovy cover of the tune by none other than Odell Brown and the Organizers, which they recorded in 1967 on the ‘Mellow Yellow’ album. Considering the popularity of the ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ LP, I’m surprised that ‘Que Son Uno’ wasn’t covered more often.

Jimmy Sabater went on to record  a lot of solo material (including this funky gem), but also remained with the Joe Cuba Sextet into the late 70s.

I hope you dig the tunes, 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 (3)

By Larry, February 7, 2012 4:18 pm

The Evergreen Blues

Listen/Download -Evergreen Blues – Bring It On Back

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today is a little something from my ongoing horn rock obsession, crossed with the sounds of East LA.

I picked up the Evergreen Blues album while I was out digging, knowing nothing of their music, but sure (thanks to various and sundry context clues) that they were of a 1960s vintage.

When I got the record home and gave it a listen I was surprised to hear a lot of soul where I was expecting something a little psyche and decided that I ought to see what I could discover.

As it turns out, the Evergreen Blues got their start in East LA as the Two Thirds Majority, changing their name to the Evergreen Blues around the time they signed their first major label record contract (with Mercury) in 1967.

They recorded their first album that year, which included the original version of song that would become much better known in a recording by the Grass Roots, ‘Midnight Confession’.

That song was written by Lou T Josie, who would contribute a few songs to their second album (recorded for ABC) , including today’s selection ‘Bring It On Back’ (not the same song that was recorded by Dyke and the Blazers).

The Evergreen Blues sound, led by vocalist Manny Esparza, was organ and horn driven soul/rock. Unlike a lot of their contemporaries, the horn section wasn’t employed as a jazz proxy, but rather in the classic Stax/Volt style.

The Evergreen Blues were a great example of the kind of fusions going on in East LA where Chicano musicians were mixing R&B and rock in lots of interesting ways.

Following their second album, Evergreen Blues changed their name to Elijah and recorded two albums (at least one with the help of Al Kooper) during the early 70s.

I hope you dig the tune, 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, February 5, 2012 1:23 pm

Listen/Download -Jesse Gresham Plus Three – Bust Out

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the Corners.

The tune I bring you today is something I’ve had warming up my crates for many years, that I knew almost nothing about.

I picked up my first Jesse Gresham Plus Three 45, ‘Shootin’ the Grease’ way back in the way back, and dug it for its organ groove grease, but also because it was on a strange label (Head) with a Robert Parker hit (‘Barefootin’) inexplicably placed on its flip side.

A few years after that score, I happened upon today’s selection, ‘Bust Out’ and then later heard (but have yet to score a copy of) ‘The Penguin’.

‘Bust Out’ has always tickled my fancy because, in the late period Merl Saunders/Toussaint McCall stylee,  it features the keyboard player doing double duty on the organ and the electric piano.

I had been unable to find any information about Gresham, until I recently set to Googling and happened upon a page on the Mississippi Blues Trail site, where in an article about the Staple Singers, they happened to mention several other musicians who worked out of the Drew, Mississippi area, one of whom was Jesse Gresham.

The site mentioned that Gresham was a keyboard player, who also worked as a school teacher and who had become a minister.

I adjusted my search criteria, and found a comment on the mighty Home of the Groove blog from the researcher who had written the Blues Trail page, who fleshed out the Jesse Gresham Plus Three story somewhat.

Apparently Gresham and his band worked out of the Clarksdale, MS area and recorded their one session in Memphis, TN. The group featured Gresham on keys, Johnny Agnew on guitar, Larry Haggans on bass and Nathaniel Jefferson on drums (Agnew and Haggans get writing credit on this cut).

That the group’s entire output was limited to a single session isn’t surprising, since all that appears to exist is the two sides of today’s 45, plus two different edits of the song that appeared first as ‘Shootin’ the Grease’ and later as ‘The Penguin Pts 1&2’.

All told, for a three-song run, they were pretty much batting .1000.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back on Wednesday 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 (5)

By Larry, February 2, 2012 4:11 pm

Booker T and the MGs

Listen/Download -Booker T and the MGs – Plum Nellie

Greetings all.

The end of another week is finally upon us.

Things are so busy/topsy turvy these days that the end of the week has lost almost all meaning (other than the fact that the boys get the weekend off).

It seems sometimes as if we’re lost in a blur marked by the analog “hospital/no hospital”.

This is not to say that that my wife’s health situation has gotten worse, because it hasn’t, but rather that the grind of treatment and the ensuing disruption of what little routine we could depend on tends to leave us in a fog of sorts, composed of equal parts confusion, boredom and angst.

That said, one of the things you can depend on is that if Friday is here, so is the latest episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We have a very special episode this week, composed entirely of a tribute to Etta James and Johnny Otis. It will hit the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t make it at airtime, you can always fall by this very spot over the weekend when and where I post a downloadable MP3 of every week’s show (see the Radio Show tab in the header).

The tune I have chosen to close out the week this time is a veritable audio grease fire from the Memphis law firm of Jones, Cropper, Jackson and Dunn.

I am not ashamed to admit that the first time I heard the song ‘Plum Nellie’ is was on a Small Faces record, since Messrs Marriott, Jones, McGlagan and Lane were a big part of my ear-filling during the Mod/garage days of the 80s.

Though the Small Faces version (released in 67, but a part of their repertoire prior) of the tune is a killer, there is simply no getting past the fact that when Booker T and the MGs set foot in the Stax studio in 1963 they were gunning for bear.

Though – like every other largely instrumental unit of the day – the MGs recorded their share of filler (though even that was soulful) when they were at their best they were very, very heavy, and ‘Plum Nellie’ is a great example of that very heaviosity.

Opening with some whipcrack guitar from Steve Cropper, the tune settles into a ‘Green Onion’-y pace, but with a much grittier overall vibe. The horn arrangement is inspired, boiling up menacingly when needed. There’s a particularly inspired moment (at around 1:20) when the horns rise up and seemingly morph into Cropper’s guitar which then opens up into a raging solo.

The whole affair comes to a close at around the two-minute mark, and my thought is, had they taken it any further, they may have burned the studio down.

It’s that hot.

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

Comments (3)

By Larry, February 1, 2012 2:09 pm

Mr Don Cornelius

Listen/Download -The Ramrods – Soul Train Pts 1&2

Listen/Download -The Rimshots – Soultrain Pts 1&2

Greetings all.

I come to you on what would normally be a ‘between-posts’ day because the news came down today that the great Don Cornelius had died.

Cornelius was the host of the long-running ‘Soul Train’, the premiere showcase for black music on national TV in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

I spent many a Saturday morning watching the best dancers in America groove on the Soul Train line and listening to his deep, rich voice end every show with the phrase “You can bet your last money it’ll be a stone gas honey!”

Cornelius got his start as an insurance salesman, but moved into entertainment as a DJ on Chicago’s legendary WVON in 1966.

Soul Train started as a local Chicago show on 1970, moving into national syndication in 1971 (Cornelius was the host until 1993).

Though the theme that most people associate with the show is ‘TSOP’ by MFSB and the Three Degrees, which was the show’s theme from 1973 to 1975, the original theme was an unusual, very groovy, and totally recycled record.

The original ‘Soul Train’, as credited by the Ramrods was used as the theme to the show from 1971 to 1973. It may very well have sounded familiar to some of the older heads in the audience, because it had originally been released almost ten years before as recorded by the Rinky Dinks (actually a group led by King Curtis on guitar) under the title ‘Hot Potato’.

I had never heard this ‘version’ of the Soul Train theme until a few years after I picked up a copy of the Ramrods 45, when I saw a clip from the early years of the show and heard it playing in the background.

When it was released on Rampage records in 1972 under the Ramrods name, it grazed the R&B Top 40, remaining on the charts for several weeks.

That same year, the Rimshots covered the song and released their version on the All Platinum subsidiary A-1 records.

I present both two-part versions in full today in remembrance of the mighty Don Cornelius, and because they both represent a good, greasy, soulful groove.

He will be missed and we wish him love, peace and soul.

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, January 31, 2012 3:14 pm

Mr Freddie Hughes

Listen/Download -The Casanova II – Maybe They’re Right

Greetings all.

I come to you in mid week with a powerful slice of West Coast soul.

The Casanova Two were a mystery to me when I picked up this 45 some years back. I added it to my keeper stack at a record show on the strength of the fact that I already had a Merl Saunders 45 on the same label, and because I was constitutionally incapable of passing up a record by a group with a name like that.

I’ve always been of the opinion that most of the male duet groups that recorded in the 60s were doing so in the wake of Sam and Dave and The Casanova Two are no exception, trading lines in the style of the masters.

Early Bird was a bay area subsidiary of the Fantasy label that appears to have been under the guidance of pianist Lonnie Hewitt (who just happens to have written and produced this very single). The label released a dozen singles between 1966 and 1968.

The Casanova Two were Freddie (not Fred*) Hughes and Wylie Trass, two Bay Area singers who would go on to record under their own names, Hughes for Wand and Trass for ABC and Pashlo.

The duo recorded a pair of 45s for Early Bird, the other of which (I seem to be the king of picking up the less valuable of anyone’s 45s) “We Got To Keep On” is a Northern fave that has been known to change hands for well over 100 bucks.

‘Maybe They’re Right” – from 1967 – is a fantastic, upbeat side with some very interesting (dare I say, jazzy?) melodic things going on in the background (courtesy of Mr Hewitt, who had spent time as a sideman for Cal Tjader among others).

It’s just this side of funky, with some very nice horn bursts and organ bubbling up underneath.

Both Hughes and Trass appear to still be active, performing around the Bay Area.

I hope you dig the 45, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

*This is not the same person as Fred Hughes (also from the West Coast) who recorded brilliant stuff like ‘Oo Wee Baby, I Love You’ for VeeJay

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 (9)

By Larry, January 26, 2012 2:56 pm

Magic Sam

Listen/Download -Magic Sam – I’ll Pay You Back

Greetings all.

Welcome to the end of yet another week at the Les Corners Seize Funkee.

It behooves me to remind you that were you to tune into Viva Radio Friday night at 9PM you would encounter (once again) the Funky16Corners Radio Show, where yours truly whips the funk, soul, jazz and rare groove on the masses via the airwaves of the interwebs. If this is an appointment you are unable to make at the time of broadcast, you can always come by here over the weekend and pick yourselves up an MP3 of same.

This week’s show is especially interesting if you dig the “now” sounds of soul and funk with new stuff from Japan, the good ole US of A, and Australia.

That all said, the tune I bring you today is something out of the blues guys go funky bag.

What’s particularly interesting is that the blues guy in question is the mighty Magic Sam and the funky tune in question is yet another iteration of the thousand-petaled lotus known as ‘It’s Your Thing’.

Magic Sam Maghett was a generation younger than many of the bluesmen that made the trek from Mississippi to Chicago, and his approach to the blues guitar was a new(er) one.

One need only listen to his recordings for labels like Cobra and Delmark to realize that he was on to something new.

Unfortunately, he was felled by a heart attack in 1969 (not long after he recorded this 45) and never really got to build the kind of discography that might have elevated him into a position of prominence.

The tune in question, ‘I’ll Pay You Back’ is something I knew only as an instrumental (‘Sams Funck’) for years until I scored a copy of the 45 and had the opportunity to flip it over.

When I did I was pleasantly surprised not only because of its basic coolness, but also because I finally realized that ‘I’ll Pay You Back’ was in fact a vehicle rebuilt on the Isley Brothers’ ‘It’s Your Thing’ frame.

Along with Archie Bell and the Drells ‘Tighten Up’, ‘It’s Your Thing’ was one of the most imitated and borrowed from songs of the late 60s. It was on the R&B charts for 14 weeks in the Spring of 1969 (4 weeks at Number One).

Magic Sam reprises the song’s title and rhythmic structure, but lays his own guitar style on top of things, and the lo-fi production by Bobby Rush (a master of the soulful blues himself, who is also credited with the writing the song) gives the whole affair a rougher edge, less funky than muddy.

We can only wonder how far Magic Sam might have gone had he not met such a premature end.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll I’ll see you all 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, January 24, 2012 2:04 pm

Fania All Stars

Listen/Download -Fania All Stars – Viva Tirado

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your part of the universe, and that you all had a chance to dig the Etta James goodness from the first part of the week.

The term gets overused, but Miss Etta was a giant, and unfortunately one that never really got her due.

How much of this had to do with a comparable lack of crossover success, and how much to her drug troubles (though the halls of fame are littered with junkies, ex and otherwise) I can’t say for sure, but she certainly deserved to be up there with the best.

The tune I bring you today is something groovy I picked up a while ago, always dug, but had no idea of its, how do they say, hidden charms until recently.

You already know that I dig me some Latin soul and boogaloo, and as a result I am am incapable of passing up an interesting looking Fania or Allegre 45 when I see it in the field.

It was that very formula – with the addition of an interesting cover version – that made me grab ‘Viva Tirado’ by the Fania All Stars.

The song ‘Viva Tirado’, written in the 1960s by West Coast orchestra leader/arranger Gerald Wilson in tribute to bullfighter Jose Ramon Tirado and then taken into the Top 40 by El Chicano in 1970 (and covered many times) is an acknowledged classic of Latin jazz.

When I saw that it had been covered by the Fania All Stars I knew I had to grab it.

They recorded it for the 1974 album ‘Latin – Soul – Rock’ and their version doesn’t stray too far from the source material.

Now, I always knew that the Fania All Stars included heavies like Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow and Willie Colon.

What I didn’t know is that when they went into the studio to record this album, they brought some equally heavy friends with them, two of whom, Manu Dibango on sax and Jan Hammer on Hammond organ, take solos on this version of ‘Viva Tirado’.

Very groovy indeed!

So dig the 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 (7)

By Larry, January 22, 2012 12:58 pm

Miss Etta James

Listen/Download -Etta James – Something’s Got a Hold On Me

Listen/Download -Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1

Listen/Download -Etta James – I’m So Glad

Listen/Download -Etta James – Tell Mama

Listen/Download -Etta James – I Got You Babe

Listen/Download -Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind

Listen/Download -Etta James – I Worship the Ground You Walk On

Listen/Download -Etta James – Out On the Street Again

Listen/Download -Etta James – Groove Me

Greetings all.

I think that it would not be overstating things to say that for fans of the music we call soul, this has been an absolute motherfucker of a week.

First Jimmy Castor, then Johnny Otis, and then on Friday we got the news that the mighty Etta James had gone to her great reward.

Goddamn…

I mean, as we have discussed previously, we are in the midst of an era when these sad events will be coming with increasing frequency, but the inevitability of age doesn’t make these losses any easier to take.

Etta James was as bad-ass as they came.

When you talk about serious, heavy, real performers, they seldom got any realer than Etta James.

She came out of R&B, walked straight on into soul and funk, all the while packing one of the most powerful, emotional voices ever heard.

And that voice carried with it the seasoning of a hard life.

Born Jamesetta Hawkins  in Los Angeles in 1938, she first recorded (discovered by none other than Johnny Otis) in 1954 and hit the top of the charts in 1955 with ‘The Wallflower’ (aka Dance With Me Henry) in 1955.

She remained on the charts, both R&B and Pop, through the 50s, 60s and 70s, wrestling on and off with heroin addiction, yet still making some remarkably powerful records.

James recorded for Modern through the 50s, moving to the Chess organization (recording for Chess, Argo and Cadet) where she remained from 1960 to 1976.

The records she made during this period were some of the best soul of the era.

The songs I’m posting today while not by any means comprehensive, represent what I would consider to be her finest work*.

Starting with the epic ‘Something’s Got a Hold On Me’ from 1962 (I love pulling out a record that’s as old as I am…), you get Etta reaching back to her teenage, gospel roots, gathering some R&B on the way and whipping it all up into a solid blast of soul. The record is a great sampler of her vocal range, from her rich contralto right on through to her piercing growl.

Her epic duet with Sugar Pie DeSanto, ‘In the Basement’ has appeared in this space before, but to attempt to pay appropriate tribute to Etta without including it would be the work of a fool. Not only is one of the truly great soul sides of the 60s – by anyone – but you get to hear two monumental divas trading lines.

Another cut from 1966 (coming from the period right before she headed down to Muscle Shoals) ‘I’m So Glad’ sees James working a slightly different groove. While the vocal is classic, mid-period Etta, the instrumental backing – arranged by Monk Higgins – is pure Chitown soul.

Leonard Chess’ decision to send James down to Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama was without a doubt one of the smartest things he ever did.

If ever a voice existed that sounded purpose-made for the backing of the legendary Fame house band, it belonged to Etta James.

James recorded just under two dozen sides (almost all released) at Muscle Shoals, and they represent not only a high point in her discography, but also in the long stream of genius that emitted from those hallowed halls during the 60s and 70s.

The best known of her Fame-era tracks is undoubtedly 1967’s‘Tell Mama’, which hit the R&B Top 10 and grazed the Pop Top 20. The tune is hard-charging Southern soul with a supremely confident vocal by James and a horn chart that is in itself a soulful bit of genius. It puts the well-known cover by Janis Joplin to shame.

It was only last year, courtesy of my man Vincent the Soul Chef that I was exposed to James’ insanely good cover of Sonny and Cher’s ‘I Got You Babe’. Never in a million years would I have imagined anyone, even a master like Etta James, taking a hippy-dippy pop confection and turning it into hard hitting proto-funk, but that’s exactly what she did.

Interestingly enough, both of the previously mentioned 45s had powerful ballads on the flip side.

‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ (the flip of ‘Tell Mama’) is widely regarded as one of James’ finest recordings, and for good reason. It’s one of those deep, bluesy soul ballads that sounds less like a performance than a late-night confession.

‘I Worship the Ground You Walk On’ (the flip of ‘I Got You Babe’) is cut from the same cloth, if a little less raw. It features a great change-up in the chorus as well.

By the 1970s, James was still with Chess/Cadet, but her sound was evolving. Her 1974 album ‘Come a Little Closer’ was reportedly recorded concurrent with a stint in rehab, and while her voice seems a touch deeper, dare I say smoother (though not to a fault), the power is still there. The track ‘Out On the Street Again’ is particularly interesting, with a a dark, smoky early-70s Motown feel (a la Norman Whitfield) feel to it.

The latest track I bring you today comes from her 1976 LP “Etta and Betta than Evah’. Produced by none other than the great Mike Terry, the album definitely has a 70s feel to it (some era-appropriate synth/clavinet action), but her cover of King Floyd’s ‘Groove Me’ is classic, funky Etta.

The album was her last for Chess, after which she moved to Warner Brothers.

What she left behind after a decade and a half is a veritable mountain of high quality soul music.

Despite her personal struggles, first with drugs and later with failing health Etta James remained an icon continuing to record and perform almost to the end, releasing her final album last year.

What you need to do next – assuming you already haven’t – is get out there and start digging for some Etta James records. There are plenty of them, and aside from a couple of heavily sweated 45s, they shouldn’t cost you all that much, and no matter what they cost, it’s worth it to add so much musical gravitas to your crates.

I hope you dig the sounds.

See you later in the week.

Peace

Larry

*Though I’m not posting her 1961 hit ‘At Last’ it holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first song my wife and I danced to at our wedding.

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, January 20, 2012 2:32 pm

A Younger Johnny Otis

Shuggie, Delmar and Johnny doing the Watts Breakaway

Johnny Otis in later years

Listen/Download -Johnny Otis Show – Country Girl

Listen/Download -Johnny Otis Show – Watts Breakaway

Listen/Download -Preston Love – Cool Ade

Listen/Download -The Mighty Flea – Ode To Billie Joe

Greetings all.

NOTE: I had planned to post this tribute to Johnny Otis on Monday. However, the word came down today that Miss Etta James had passed away, so I’m moving this post up a few days, and will pay tribute to Etta after the weekend.

A few days back I heard that the mighty Johnny Otis had passed away at the ripe old age of 90.

It had occurred to me that here in the year 2012, the name Johnny Otis would very likely be unfamiliar to many and known only peripherally (like they know they name but not the music behind it) to others.

Certainly many of you fine people that fall by here on the reg know and love not only the music he made, but much of the music that he facilitated, whether as talent scout, bandleader or even as father (on account of Shuggie is his son).

The sounds of Johnny Otis have been in my ears since I was a kid.

Though it’s fair to say that much of what I dig these days is his later funk and soul jams, I spent most of my formative years listening to oldies radio, which is why my ears (and head) are where they are now.

Any oldies station worth its salt would have been spinning his best known record, 1958’s ‘Willie and the Hand Jive’, though that was not his first or biggest hit* (he’d topped the R&B charts several times since 1950) but the first one to cross over to the pop chart (where it was Top 10).

Born John Veliotes in 1921, he got his start drumming in swing bands before starting his own outfit and hitting with ‘Harlem Nocturne’ in 1945.

Though he continued to record, he diversified, opening his own nightclub, working as a talent scout (he discovered both Little Esther Phillips and Etta James), A&R man for King Records (among other labels) and disc jockey.

Otis was particularly important because over the many decades of his career he touched on almost all aspects of black music (as it evolved) during that time, recording himself, or with others in blues, R&B, jazz, soul and funk.

It’s almost fitting to look at Johnny Otis as the center of an ever-expanding musical “galaxy” of sorts, with him as the hub around which of a wide variety of performers and supporting players expanded out into the world.

From his earliest days on Los Angeles’ Central Avenue scene, through his work with the revolving cast of the Johnny Otis Show (musicians and vocalists, performing and recording), on through his radio work Otis was constantly making or breaking music in some capacity. That he was able to do this in a professional capacity for almost 70 years is truly amazing.

The four tracks I bring you today have all appeared here at the blog over the years, and represent an interesting cross-section of Otis’ late 60s/early 70s funk and soul recordings.

The first two are the best known funk tracks recorded by the Johnny Otis Show, ‘Watts Breakaway’ and ‘Country Girl’, both featuring Johnny, his son Shuggie (you all know Shuggie, yes?) and vocalist Delmar Evans. Both tracks are prime, dance floor funk with the addition of sharp, often funny lyrics (especially ‘Country Girl’ which hit the R&B Top 40 in 1969).

The second pair of tracks are by Johnny Otis satellites/sidemen saxophonist Preston Love and trombonist Gene ‘The Mighty Flea’ Connors.

Preston Love’s ‘Cool Ade’ has the same humorous vibe (as well as Shuggie’s guitar) but moves at a slightly slower pace.

The Mighty Flea’s version of ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ is one of the funkier outings on that tune, with organ, drum breaks and Connors working the trombone in a Fred Wesley style. Otis and his pals also made some other excellent, in-demand funky 45s (with the same party vibe) for the Eldo label like ‘Keep the Faith’ and ‘Banana Peels’.

It also bears mentioning (once again) that the Vibrettes funk classic ‘Humpty Dump’ emerged from the Johnny Otis laboratory, not – as is often reported – that of Mr Eddie Bo.

That said, there is a lot more music out there to add to the Johnny Otis story.

I for one am going to settle in with a copy of ‘Midnight at the Barrelhouse: The Johnny Otis Story’ and get my learn on.

I hope you dig the tunes, and raise a glass (or perhaps a little hell) in memory of one of the true greats, Mr Johnny Otis.

Peace

Larry

*If mid-60s boogaloo is your bag, make sure you check out Castor’s Smash records material, which is excellent.

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, January 19, 2012 2:42 pm

Listen/Download -Jimmy Castor Bunch – Prelude/It’s Just Begun

Listen/Download -Jimmy Castor Bunch – LTD (Life Truth & Death)

Greetings all.

I hope that you’re all still with us following the black-out yesterday, and that you took the time to educate yourselves on the importance of a SOPA/PIPA blackout.

If something like that gets written into law, the days of music blogs (as you know them) let alone the vast majority of what you read/enjoy on the internet will be over.

Also, a while back someone in Canada sent a request for a Funky16Corners sticker, and the envelope got lost in the maelstrom of our house. Please resend the request and I’ll send the sticker along with something extra.

________________________________________________________________________________

This has been an especially tiring and emotionally draining week.

Things on the health front are status quo, and remain optimistic.

It’s just that the cumulative effects of what has been a radical change/redirection in our lives is always daunting and sometimes, especially when physical and emotional fatigue start to catch up with you, difficult to deal with, at least as the future is concerned.

We are extraordinarily lucky that we have family and friends that we can depend on in times of crisis.

If we did not, an already difficult time would be a logistical nightmare.

If you know someone that is dealing with cancer, or any other major health crisis, take the time to extend your hand, whether it involves offering a ride somewhere, or watching the kids for a day, or even cooking a meal.

Every act of kindness makes a difference.

As I said, we are very, very lucky. Not everyone is as fortunate.

________________________________________________________________________________

That said, speaking strictly in the realm of soul and funk, this has been another really bad week, with the passing of not only Jimmy Castor (to whom we pay tribute today) but also the legendary Johnny Otis (on whom I have a post planned for Monday).

I know that I just put up the Benny Gordon post this morning, but I didn’t want to wait to put up some Jimmy Castor, so here you go.

Jimmy Castor had one of the most interesting careers in soul and funk, having started in doo-wop (he went to school with Frankie Lymon and later replaced him in the teenagers), moved on to Latin soul and boogaloo and then on to funk and disco in the 70s.

I first heard Jimmy Castor when I was but a wee lad of 10, when my next-door neighbor (oddly, also named Larry) and I thought that ‘Troglodyte’ was the funniest thing we’d ever heard. There was something about the name “Bertha Butt” that had us rolling on the floor.

It was years later when I got into soul that I heard ‘Hey Leroy, Your Mama’s Callin’ You’ and ‘Ham Hocks Espanol’*, but I had no idea how deep a cat Jimmy Castor was until a few years ago.

The fam and I were down in DC doing our tourist thang and I managed to snap off a few minutes of time to dig for vinyl.

I stopped into my favorite DC wax repository, Som Records, and while I was browsing the stock, my man Neal (the proprietor) whipped a record on the in-store turntable and in the course of a few short minutes I was all “What’s that?” and discovered that the sounds that were blowing my mind were none other than those you see before you today.

I knew of ‘It’s Just Begun’ as a heavily sampled classic, but never actually got around to picking myself up a copy of the record. In that I was undoubtedly remiss, and the situation was remedied forthwith.

If all you ever heard before was ‘Troglodyte’ or even ‘Hey Leroy’, which in its own way was a solid dose of comedy, the sophisticated orchestral opening to the LP version of ‘It’s Just Begun’, or the stylistic mix of ‘LTD’ could come as quite a surprise.

The LP “It’s Just Begun’ shows that Castor was much deeper than any novelty might indicate.

Where he started with a base of solid, early-70s funk, your also getting bits of Hendrixian psychedelia, and a rocked up take on his earlier Latin sounds.

Castor went on to place a number of records into the R&B (and occasionally pop) charts well into the 80s.
He will be missed.

I hope you dig the tunes, and make sure you check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show, Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, or pick up the MP3 here at the blog over the weekend.

Peace

Larry

*If mid-60s boogaloo is your bag, make sure you check out Castor’s Smash records material, which is excellent.

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.