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By Larry, February 3, 2011 2:52 pm

Gene Ammons

Listen/Download – Gene Ammons – Son of a Preacher Man

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, and so I must pause here to share a few important programming notes.

First, I was supposed to do a guest spot at the After the Laughter Soul Club at Lulu’s in Greenpoint this Friday night, but received word on Wednesday that the gig was cancelled. I was really looking forward to this one (had some especially hot 45s ready to go) but sometimes these things happen.

I’ll make sure to let you all know when it gets rescheduled.

Of course, you can always tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva radio, this Friday at 9PM, where I will be spinning lots of great sounds, including some cool new acquisitions and some old favorites, followed of course by the posting of the show in MP3/Podcast form at the blog over the weekend.

That all said, how about some jazz funk?

I grabbed this 45 as part of a two-fer deal with a buddy of mine, and ended up getting them both for nothing in return for a previous, record related good deed on my part. I hadn’t heard this particular 45 before, but since I knew Gene Ammons, and am constitutionally incapable of passing by a cover of ‘Son of a Preacher Man’, I grabbed it.

Good thing too.

The other 45 (the one I knew) is a groover, and will be featured in this space soon enough, but this is one I needed to share with you as soon as possible.

There is, at least in the world of jazz and jazz-related, a long tradition of covering songs in what we shall call a unique manner. This often has something to do with advanced concepts of harmony and music theory, since we’re dealing not with back alley guitar smashers, but rather a somewhat more elevated class of instrument wranglers who made their mark applying sophisticated musical concepts to the popular song.

This is sometimes displayed in subtle shifts in key where a song is rebuilt on a new frame and is still kind of floating in the background for those with more sophisticated (or receptive) ears (any of the headier bop or post bop sounds) , and other times shows up as the end result of free-wheeling jamming, wherein the musicians allow themselves to be swept up in and carried away by the creative currents.

I would suggest that Gene Ammons version of ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ is a little bit of both.

Recorded in 1970 for his Prestige LP ‘Brother Jug’ (his first after a long stretch in prison), with support from organist Sonny Phillips, guitarist Billy Butler and drummer Bernard Purdie (among others), Ammon’s take on ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ is, until late in the side, barely recognizable as said song.

It is undeniably funky, with the tight drums, and the wah wah, and the overall groove, but if you showed up expecting any taste of the famous Dusty Springfield hit, you would have to listen long and hard, with exceptionally wide open ears, and it’s not until almost two minutes into the song that Ammons states the familiar theme, and even then it’s a little bit off the track.

This is not meant as a criticism of Ammons or the 45, since he was one of the great tenor players of his day, and the 45 is certainly tasty, but rather a caveat for those expecting something a little bit closer to the original source.

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

Peace

Larry

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 for some psychedelia.

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By Larry, January 20, 2011 3:48 pm

Listen/Download – The Impacts – Thunder Chicken

NOTE: If you downloaded the file in the first half hour or so after I published this post, you got a shortened version of the track that cuts off about 15 seconds too soon. I have since uploaded a new file that should be OK.

Greetings all.

How’s about some smoking, hard charging soul jazz to close out the week?

First, might I remind you that this Friday night at 9PM the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back on Viva Radio with another hour of the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on vinyl.

I can’t tell you much about today’s selection, other than it kicks a boatload of ass.

I picked the Impacts ‘Thunder Chicken’ 45 (gotta love that title) years ago during an attempt to complete the Marmaduke discography.

A Philadelphia-based imprint started by Len Barry and Bernie Binnick, Marmaduke was originally home to the Electric Indian (before a move to UA) and a few much more obscure bands like the Hidden Cost, Norma and the Heartaches, Race Street Chinatown Band and Daley’s Diggers.

The only thing I’ve been able to track down about the Impacts is that they seem to have been the backing band on a number of Philly 45s for artists like Rocky Brown, Monica and Herb Johnson on the Toxsan label.

None of those recordings would indicate that that had a killer like ‘Thunder Chicken’ in their repertoire.

I can’t say for sure, but it seems to me that like many other musicians working in the soul recording studios of America’s cities in the 60s, the Impacts may have been frustrated jazzers churning out pop, soul and funk to get a paycheck.

Listening to the raging ‘Thunder Chicken’, with its unison jazz guitar and saxophone leads, swinging drums and hand claps, you get a picture of a Saturday night party in a smoky Philly bar.

The flipside, ‘Brown Finger’ (?!?!) is a much slower, laid back affair with none of the fire of ‘Thunder Chicken’.

A brilliant, but obscure record that needs to be heard.

So there you go.

Have a great weekend!

Peace

Larry

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 for some obscure, New England garage pop.

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By Larry, January 13, 2011 4:37 pm

Funky16Corners @ Spindletop – Early Set 1/10/11

Playlist

Listen/Download 80MB/256kb Mixed MP3

The end of another week is upon us, and as promised I have recreated part of my three-hours worth of soul jazz from this past Monday’s Spindletop night at Botanica in NYC.

When I was pulling 45s to bring with me last week I started to build my set and decided that I’d get things started with a slower, moodier set than I normally do, kind of easing my way onto the burning Hammond groovers.

What I ended up with was a very interesting mix of soul jazz, soul instros and even laid back funk, all of which seemed to stick together when all was said and done.

I mentioned on Wednesday that we were unable to get a signal out of the mixer to my digital recorder, so I had to re-record this selection on my decks at home. I was originally thinking of re-recording the whole night, but then I realized that I’d played no less than 60 45s and I just didn’t have the time to do it.

I enjoy presenting the live mixes here at the blog, so hopefully next time I hit Botanica we’ll have figured the problem out.

At the request of a number of people who were at the gig, I have included the entire set list below.

The mix features some old faves and some stuff that hasn’t been heard in this space before. As I mentioned above, it’s a mellow affair, so pour yourself a snifter of brandy (or a mug of cocoa, whichever), dim the lights, sit back and let the sounds flow gently into your ears.

If you’re close to the interwebs this Friday at 9PM, make sure to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio. This week we have an hour of funky 45s from New Orleans to get the party started. The show will of course be archived and ready to download at the blog over the weekend.

I’ll be back next week with more of the funk and soul you love.

Have a great weekend.

Peace

Larry

The rest of the evening’s music:
Harry J All Stars – Liquidator (Harry J)
Winston Wright – Heads or Tails (Green Door)
Gary McFarland – Fried Bananas (Verve)
Cal Tjader – Moneypenny (Skye)
Dave Davani Four – The Jupe (Capitol)
Sonny Knight Quartette – Let’s Get It On Pt1 (Aura)
Odell Brown and the Organizers – No More Water In the Well (Cadet)
Freddie Roach – One Track Mind (Prestige)
Merl Saunders – Soul Groving (Galaxy)
Alan Price Set – Iechyd Da (Decca)
Hank Marr – White House Party (Wingate)
Georgie Fame – El Bandido (Imperial)
Brown Brothers of Soul – Cholo (Specialty)
Mel Brown – Chicken Fat (Impulse)
Federalmen – Soul Serenade (Steady)
Freddy McCoy – Funk Drops (Prestige)
Afro Blues Quintet Plus One – La La La La La (Mira)
Benny Poole – Pearl Baby Pearl (Solid Hit)
Cha Cha Hogan – Grit Gitter (Soulville)
Perry and the Harmonics – Do the Monkey With James (Mercury)
Gentelman June Gardner – It’s Gonna Rain (Emarcy)

Lionel Hampton – Greasy Greens (Glad Hamp)
Fabulous Counts – Jan Jan (Moira)
Boogaloo Joe Jones – Right On (Prestige)
Fred Ramirez – Hold On I’m Coming (WB)
Dee Felice Trio – There Was a Time (Bethlehem)
Louis Chachere – The Hen Pt1 (Paula)
Toussaint McCall – Shimmy (Ronn)
Lou Garno Trio – Chicken In The Basket (Giovanni)
Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century Fox)
Andre Brasseur – The Duck (Palette)
Memphis Black – Why Don’t You Play the Organ Man (Ascot)
Cal Tjader – Soul Sauce (Verve)
Soulful Strings – Burning Spear (Cadet)
Keith Mansfield – Boogaloo (Epic)
Mohawks – The Champ (Philips)
Wynder K Frog – I’m a Man (UA)
Goldie & the Gingerbreads – The Skip (Decca)
Tony Newman – Soul Thing (Parrot)
John Philip Soul and His Stone Marching Band – That Memphis Thing (Pepper)
La Bert Ellis – Batman Theme (A&M)
James Brown – Shhhhhhhh For a Little While (King)
The Impacts – Thunder Chicken (Marmaduke)
Dave Baby Cortez – Getting’ To the Point (Chess)
RD Stokes – My Sandra’s Jump (II Bros)

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By Larry, December 9, 2010 2:46 pm

Isaac Redd Holt & Eldee Young

Listen/Download – Young-Holt Unlimited – Horoscope

Greetings all.

I hope the end of the week finds you well.

It’s been a busy one hereabouts, with the kids, and the errands and Hanukkah ending and Christmas coming and jeebus knows what else going on.

This is the part of Friday’s post where I pause for my regularly scheduled reminder that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be airing, as is the custom, Friday night at 9PM. There will be some old favorites, a couple of new arrivals and some groovy stuff out of the archives, so if you have your ears pointed at the interwebs this Friday night, make sure to point the browser of your choice at Viva Radio and tune in. If you are otherwise occupied, you can always come by the blog over the weekend and pull down the ones and zeros, since every single episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show is promptly digimatized and posted at the blog after it airs.

I thought I had the whole week planned out, but when I sat down to write today’s post, I had a change of heart, and went back into the to-be-blogged folder to see what tickled my fancy. After some deliberation, I saw that I had no less than three very groovy tracks from the Young-Holt organization waiting to go, all funky, all very groovy.

This of course opened up a whole new can of worms, since I didn’t want to post all three at the same time. Despite all stories to the contrary, the Funky16Corners record vault is not six stories deep with an endless supply of vinyl, and things need to be parceled out gradually.

I gave the matter some consideration, and settled upon the 45 you see before you today, Young-Holt Unlimited’s ‘Horoscope’.

I don’t recall where I came across this disc, or where I first heard it.

It’s entirely possible that I bought it sight unheard, since I’ve come to the conclusion that Young-Holt are verily the gift that keeps on giving. They were not only prolific, but their catalog – like the many petals of the lotus – unfolds to reveal more and more funky 45s at every turn.

Here you have two journeyman jazz cats – pianist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac Redd Holt – who made their bones with the mighty Ramsey Lewis, with the 1965 hit ‘The In Crowd’ (currently being used in TV ads in furtherance of the execrable Ashton Kutcher industry). They parlayed it into their own career, eventually hitting the charts with one of the best loved soul instrumentals of the 60s, ‘Soulful Strut’ (ironically, a record they are rumored not to have actually played on).

Over the course of the next decade they would go on to release ten albums (for Brunswick, Cotillion and Paula) and over a dozen singles, all taking the concept of soul jazz and flipping the formula. The music they would create would prove to be commercial (if not commercially successful) while still substantial, formulaic without being boring and much more soulful than that of a lot of their similarly labeled contemporaries.

I always find it odd that for a group that was obviously selling a lot of records, Young-Holt Unlimited didn’t really have much in the way of chart success. ‘Soulful Strut’ was a Pop and R&B hit in 1968, but they would only hit the R&B chart two other times, earlier in 1968 with ‘Wack Wack’ and barely scraping the Top 50 with ‘Just a Melody’ n 1969.

Yet the more I dig, especially into their later Cotillion and Paula periods (1970 to 1975) the more quality stuff I discover.

Today’s selection hails from 1969, at the very end of their time with the Brunswick label, just before their move to Cotillion.

‘Horoscope’ features funky piano and bright horns, and a shouted run (credited, hysterically as ‘Narration by Isaac Holt’) through the zodiac, hitting on all the signs, ex.Virgo (‘The virgin! Ha ha, you gotta be kidding!’), as well as timely references to the Age of Aquarius and Hair (“and NO CLOTHES!!”).

The tune was written by Young, Holt and their pianist at the time, Ken Chaney (who replaced Hysear Don Walker when the group morphed from the Young Holt Trio into Young Holt Unlimited).

They’ve appeared here a bunch of times, with individual tracks and in mixes, as long as I keep digging their stuff they’ll continue to do so.

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

Peace

Larry

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

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By Larry, November 28, 2010 3:30 pm

Miss Nina Simone

Listen/Download – Nina Simone – See Line Woman

Greetings all.

I return to you, post-Thanksgiving having enjoyed a delightful holiday weekend with the family, despite having thrown my back out the day before the turkey fest.

Fortunately, while I was unable to climb trees or bend down to pick up lucky pennies, I was able to indulge in turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes, so I can’t very well complain.

I got some reading done and we took the little Corners to the symphony for the first time as well, which is always a good thing.

I hope everyone dug last week’s mix, as well as Friday night’s Funky16Corners Radio Show (archived and available for download as we speak).

I’m gonna get the week started with some heat from the mighty Nina Simone.

Though she certainly had funky and soulful numbers in her vast catalog, it’s neither accurate nor fair to refer to Nina Simone as a funk or soul artist.

She preferred to think of herself as a jazz singer (which she was at times) but it’s probably more accurate to see her as a cross between an old school chanteuse, i.e. interpreter of songs and what used to be called a singer-songwriter.

The breadth of her repertoire is both stunning and daunting. During her career, which spanned five decades, Simone recorded for a wide variety of labels, often re-interpreting material many times over. The fact that her records have been repackaged so many times, in so many configurations makes focusing on her art all the more difficult.

Earlier this year I read ‘Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone’, Nadine Cohodas exhaustive, and exhausting biography of the musical giant.

Simone led a troubled life informed by her youth in the segregated south, racial injustice, a chronic inability to find an audience of long standing as well as a mounting struggle with mental illness.

Though Simone is best known for her interpretations of standards, as well as introducing songs like ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ (taken into the pop charts by the Animals), her most far reaching recording (for a few different reasons) is today’s selection ‘See Line Woman’.

A reinterpretation of a southern folk song/rhyme, first recorded in Mississippi in 1939 by a Library of Congress field researcher.

Nina Simone recorded it in 1964, and to say that her version could be described as epic is almost an understatement.

Featuring Simone’s powerful voice over a backing of percussion (and hand claps) and flute, with call and response backing by her band, ‘See Line Woman’ could be almost be described as funky.

I wouldn’t make any assumptions about the lyrics, since they seem to have changed over the decades*, and there appears to be some question as to what they originally were, including the possibility of coded messages from the Underground Railroad.

If you listen to the original field recording of sisters Christine and Katherine Shipp (you can hear a sample here) , it is immediately apparent that the basic framework of Simone’s version was present in 1939 (though much more explicitly as a kind of playground rhyme).

It is also obvious, once you listen to today’s selection that Simone, while reaching back into the warp and weft of southern culture, took the song into an entirely new place, building into it a sense of urgency, drama and perhaps even menace.

‘See Line Woman’ explodes with the power of an incantation.

It is without a doubt, some seriously deep stuff, not to be taken lightly, and a landmark in the long journey of Nina Simone.

Simone’s re-imagination of the song also launched it into the future.

It was covered (quite successfully) in 1967 by the Easybeats, and then again in the 90s (also very cool) by Feist, both versions (which can be heard on Youtube) borrowing heavily from Simone’s.

I hope you dig it.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

*See this Wikipedia entry for a look at the variations the song has taken over the years.

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By Larry, October 9, 2010 12:49 pm

John…

and Antoine…

Listen/Download – Fats Domino – Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey

Greetings all.

This is a previously unplanned post, but that’s just the way we roll here, since one must allow themselves to be guided by inspirado, or something like that.

This weekend marks what would have been the 70th birthday of John Lennon.

I have gone into my deep and abiding love for the Beatles in this space before (and over at Iron Leg), but something I haven’t discussed is my growing ambivalence about Mr. Lennon.

I would not have discussed it at all were I not spurred on to introspection about this specific subject by various and sundry celebrations of the aforementioned occasion in every conceivable nook and cranny of the media, but especially the postings of my many Facebook friends, many of whom have exceptional taste in music.

The Beatles were the first music that I truly loved and connected with, and for a few years in the time when I was passing from childhood into adolescence they were pretty much all I listened to with any regularity (other than the jazz and classical music that was played by my father).

The walls of my room were plastered with clippings about the Beatles that I had collected from newspapers and magazines, as well as posters and ephemera like the inserts from the ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album.

This is all said only to indicate that the Beatles – as musicians, cultural avatars and people – and the music they made meant, and mean a great deal to me.

However, over the many, many years (I turned 48 this year) I have read a great deal about them, their impact on the culture and the way they created their records, and my impressions of the four Beatles have evolved considerably for a wide variety of reasons.

Back when I was younger, obsessed with rock’n’roll and with all the signifiers of “authenticity” that go along with it when you’re young and full of a wide variety of things, from beans, to piss and vinegar, and what in retrospect – if you’re being honest – something that is clearly shit, I followed the script that said that McCartney was the sellout, Lennon the rebel, Ringo the good natured post-Fabs hitmaker and Harrison the incorruptible mystic.

This had a lot to do with my brain being young, soft and unable (or unwilling) to process anything more complex than a handful of cliches.

That said, as I aged, and read more, I came to understand that the Beatles were much more complex and human that I was willing to allow them to be when I first fell in love with them and the wondrous sounds that they made.

Unfortunately, this evolution softened my appraisal of McCartney (no mean feat) and poked a number of holes in how I saw Lennon.

I’ll let you read up on your own, but I came to the end of this long reappraisal not liking John Lennon all that much.

What I’ve come to discover over the last few weeks of thought and discussion is that this is ultimately my own problem, and should be rightfully separated from his music.

That and the fact that while he wasn’t a saint, he wasn’t a complete asshole either.

John Lennon was a human being, just like the rest of us.

A prodigiously talented (and flawed) human being, but a human being nonetheless, who was never comfortable with the idolatry of many of his fans, and at the end of the day, he was also a Beatle, and responsible for some of the finest music of the last half of the previous century.

And when I say music, I don’t mean the Beatles recordings exclusively, but also their songs as interpreted by others.

Funky16Corners, while always a kind of free-flowing deal – as far as musical style goes – has always found it’s way back to a focus on funk, soul and jazz, and it was by way of that short list that I’ve paid my own sort of tribute to the Beatles and their music over the last five years.

I did so by compiling six mixes (se below) of funk, soul and jazz Beatles covers (one’s a shorter one, but I like it anyway), all of which I’ve pulled out of the Podcast Archive to repost today.

I’ve also included a cover of ‘Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey’ that I picked up after all of these mixes were assembled.

The version here is by the mighty Fats Domino. It was recorded in 1970 (I picked it up on an old Warner/Reprise sampler) and John Lennon was reportedly pleased to have one of his songs covered by one of his own idols.

Fats does a very nice version of the song, which is groovy, and brings things full circle since he was the stylistic inspiration for ‘Lady Madonna’.

I hope you dig it, and that – have you not already partaken (partooken???) that you dig into these mixes.

The day when Lennon would have turned 70 (!?!?) is a big deal, and since we only have two Beatles left, it’s worth celebrating.

There’s lots of groovy stuff.

See you later.

Peace

Larry

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Funky16Corners Radio v.28 – Rubber Souled Pt1

Funky16Corners Radio v.28 – Rubber Souled Pt1

Playlist
Billy Preston – Eight Days a Week (Exodus)
Music Company – TheWord (Mirwood)
Bunny Sigler – Yesterday (Parkway)
Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out (Tamla)
Vontastics – Day Tripper (St Lawrence)
Chris Clark – Got To Get You Into My Life (Motown)
El Chicano – Eleanor Rigby (Kapp)
Junior Parker – Tomorrow Never Knows (Capitol)
Bill Cosby – Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (WB)
Soulful Strings – Within You Without You (Cadet)
Bud Shank – I Am the Walrus (World Pacific)
Soulful Strings – Hello Goodbye (Cadet)
Soulful Strings – The Inner Light (Cadet)

Listen/ Download 37MB Mixed MP3
Download 37MB Zip File

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Funky16Corners Radio v.29 – Rubber Souled Pt2

Playlist
Ramsey Lewis – Mother Natures Son (Cadet)
Bobby Bryant – Happiness Is a Warm Gun (Pacific Jazz)
Orchestra Harlow – Larry’s Complaint (Me & My Monkey) (Fania)
Ramsey Lewis – Back In the USSR (Cadet)
Chubby Checker – Back In the USSR (Buddah)
Groove Holmes & Ernie Watts – Come Together (Pacific Jazz)
Jazz Crusaders – Golden Slumbers (Chisa)
Gene Ammons – Something (Prestige)
Ike & Tina Turner – Get Back (UA)
Shirley Scott – Get Back (Atlantic)
Mohawks – Let It Be (Supreme)

Listen/ Download 37.5MB Mixed MP3
Download 37.5MB Zip File

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Funky16Corners Radio v.30 – Rubber Souled Pt3

Playlist
Overton Berry Trio – Hey Jude (Jaro)
Freddy McCoy – Hey Jude (Cobblestone)
Jimmy Caravan – Hey Jude (Vault)
Clarence Wheeler & the Enforcers – Hey Jude (Atlantic)
Fabulous Counts – Hey Jude (Cotillion)
Wilson Pickett – Hey Jude (Atlantic)

Listen/ Download 25MB Mixed MP3
Download 25MB Zip File

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Funky16Corners Radio v.54 – Come Together

Funky16Corners Radio v.54 – Come Together

Playlist

Funky16Corners Radio v.74 – Day Tripping

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By Larry, September 30, 2010 3:04 pm

Ekseption and their shiny silver sleeve…

Listen/Download – Ekseption – Ritual Fire Dance

Greetings all.

Please allow me to begin by making a simple statement of fact.

I am definitely getting too old for this shit.

Hooboy….

I piled myself and my records into the trusty Funky16Corners-mobile last Saturday morning, and set off (alone) for a whirlwind weekend of DJ-ing and digging in Washington, DC.

That was the easy part.

I had a grip of podcasts to keep me company on the trip and the drive down was uneventful (and quick). I rolled into the city by the early afternoon, meeting up with my buddy DJ Birdman and his lovely family (finally getting to meet Birdman Jr.!), followed by some digging (natch…whatup to Marshall and Mike) and then on to some delicious bar-b-que ribs.

That night Birdman and I did the late shift at Marvin where the crowd was predictably lively (with many predictable and unsuitable requests, but that’s how these things go). I recorded one of my sets (funk and disco), which I’ll be posting here sometime in the next few weeks.

The next morning, following an all too brief bit of sleep, we got up and rolled out to the DC Record Fair, where Birdman (and some other DC heads, whatup Neal and Nightkrawler) were running the show and had to get things set up. The U Street Music Hall was a very nice space, and the Record Fair produced some stellar results which will see the light of day well into the next year (or two) here on the blog.

I spun a set of uptempo Northern Soul at the Fair, which I did not record (left the recorder in the car…), but if you want a taste go back to the Northern set I did at Master Groove earlier this year (Funky16Corners Radio v.82 Groovin’ at the Go Go) which repeats about half of what I played on Sunday and you’ll get the idea. I’ll whip up an all-new Northern mix sometime in the not too distant future.

The folks at the Record Fair were very cool, especially the old school soulie right in front of the DJ booth (perhaps the most luxurious DJ booth I’ve ever been in, I felt spoiled) who requested the Just Brothers ‘Sliced Tomatoes’ about ten seconds after I’d already cued it up (it was kismet I tell you!), and it was very cool to meet up with some old friends and make first-person contact with a couple of interwebs acquaintances.

I have to say that DC is always a chill scene, with cool people and tons of great records to be had. The thought of restricting my digs to the DC area crossed my mind, but then I remembered what a degenerate record collector I am and realized that just wasn’t going to happen.

I rolled out of the Record Fair about an hour after I finished my set with a HUGE stack of vinyl, including more than a few longtime want list items (on 45 and LP). The only bummer being that I don’t have any pics, since I didn’t bring my camera, instead relying on my new phone, which I still haven’t learned to operate properly, rendering the few pictures I took tiny, low-res and unusable.

As is always the case, Igot lost on my way out of DC. It wasn’t too bad, but by the time I hit Baltimore I also hit the wall. My tired old carcass is not used to being treated like it’s 25 again, and I ran out of steam, forcing a pit stop at Starbucks where I loaded up on coffee and food and hit the road once again.

Unfortunately, as easy as my ride down to DC was, my ride home was plagued with difficulty, including an insane traffic jam in northern Maryland (understaffed toll booth related) and then another jam up in NJ which forced me to alter my route and take a time consuming detour.

This all followed by the fact that I had yet another medical procedure scheduled for Tuesday morning, and I’m sitting here at the laptop just about ready to go into hibernation.

I have something cool in the cooker for Monday morning (just waiting for all the pieces to arrive in the in-box) and after that I’m not sure what I’ll do, since I now have so much to choose from (in addition to everything else aging in the oaken barrels in the vinyl cellar).

I figured I’d close out the week with something I’ve wanted to post for a while now. Even though I’d digi-ma-tized it weeks (months?) ago, when I went to post it I discovered that I had neglected to photograph the label, but – as is always the case – when I was pulling records for the DC trip I put aside a number of records similarly afflicted, and I bring it to you now, better late than never.

I first posted something by the Dutch prog band Ekseption way back in 2007 when I included their version of the soul jazz classic ‘This Here’ in Funky16Corners Radio v.32. Some time after that, while engaged in a little e-digging, I discovered a 45 of yet another of their classical pastiches (something they did a lot), this time a version of Manuel de Falla’s ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ from his 1915 ballet ‘El Amor Brujo’.

I posted a couple of other jazz-funk reworkings of classical pieces a while back (with Deodato and Woody Herman covering Strauss and Copland), and while I’m not likely to make it a regular feature here at the Corners, the Ekseption 45 is so groovy I would be remiss were I not to share it with you.

I have to admit that I was not familiar with de Falla’s original piece when I first heard it (check out Artur Rubinstein playing it here, for comparison), but after hearing it in its original setting, it’s safe to say that aside from some heavy drums and organ (and giving it that Euro-swinger je ne sais quois), Ekseption don’t really stray too far from the source.

I don’t think I’d be telling tales out of school were I to suggest that this particular gem might get some of your modder types out onto the floor, with a little bit of that au-go-go flavour.

In other news, don’t forget to tune in Friday night at 9PM for this week’s all-new edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva internet radio. I assure you that the collection of funk, soul, jazz and rare groove that awaits you get your weekend off to a groovy start.

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

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some puh-sike-a-dellia….

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By Larry, September 26, 2010 5:46 pm

Funky16Corners Radio v.88 – Throbbing Organs

Playlist

You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Radio Podcast Archive

This is being prepared in advance of my excursion to Washington, so any reporting on that trip will have to wait until later in the week.

Hopefully it was a gas and I found lots of groovy records.

That said, it’s been a while since the last organ mix (a live mix, back in January), and I can’t go very long without a Hammond infusion, so I figured it was time.

This mix is all over the map, with some hard driving R&B, soul, funk and even a little bit of soul jazz, but since we’re talking about the universe of the Hammond organ, that’s kind of how these things swing.

A couple of these tracks have seen the light of day here on Funky16Corners individually (none recently), but since two slices of bacon is always better than one, and organ records are the soulful and delicious equivalent of bacon in the musical food pyramid, it couldn’t possibly hurt to hear them again.

Anyhoo… this week might be a little light, since I’m one hundred and eleventy seven percent that I will be returning from DC exhausted, and then I have a little surgical type thingy on Tuesday which is sure to knock me on my ass for a few days, but it’s one of those ‘gotta do it when you gotta do it’ deals, so there.

I hope you dig the mix, and I’m sure I’ll make it back onto the scene by the end of the week (if not sooner).

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PPS – Make sure to fall by Iron Leg for a new psyche mix!

PPPS Make sure to hit up Funky16Corners on Facebook

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By Larry, September 23, 2010 3:33 pm

Jimmy Smith

Listen/Download – Jimmy Smith – The Cat

Greetings all.

I have so much stuff to do this weekend that I was going to forgo the regularly scheduled Friday post, but thought it might be a good idea to touch base with you all about the goings on here in Funky16Cornersville that I changed my mind.

First and foremost, I’ll be traveling down to Washington, DC this weekend with my records for a couple of DJ-type extravaganzas.

Saturday night I’ll be sharing the decks with my man DJ Birdman at Marvin (2007 14th Street, NW), and while we’re likely to get started on the mellower side of things, you know that as soon as the little hand starts pointing up the place will be banging, so if you dig delicious food, Belgian beer and the best in funk, soul and disco, you should fall by and join us.

The following day I’ll be doing a set at the DC Record Fair, and naturally also buying some records. I expect I’ll be running into all manner of interwebs friends, so stop by and say hi if you’re there.

Of course if you’re about on Friday night, say around 9PM you should head over to Viva internet radio for the Funky16Corners Radio Show for an hour of the best funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all from original vinyl sources. The show will be then be archived (as an MP3) for download.

The track I bring you today is one of the truly great things that Jimmy Smith recorded during the 60s (maybe his best).

‘The Cat’ is a stunner, and that my friends is all I going to (or have time to) say this fine day (aside from the following bit of hyperbole…or is it???). It smokes from start to finish and is the bad-assiest of all the bad-ass, bad-assery ever committed via the intercession of Mr. Hammond’s mighty electric organ-o-phone.

Dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday with a whole new mix of Hammond organ goodness.

Have yourselves a great weekend.

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some puh-sike-a-dellia….

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By Larry, August 31, 2010 5:17 pm

Joe Zawinul

Listen/Download – Joe Zawinul – Soul of a Village (45 edit)

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is here, and I may be tired, my nerves may be frayed, my brain may want to shut off, but I have a craving for some of that deep, deep stuff, so here we go.

The record I lay before you today is something I first heard during a long ago Asbury Park 45 Sessions, with my man Vincent the Soul Chef working the wheels du steel.

As I’ve said here many times before, the 45 Sessions are without fail, a DJs paradise, with the selectors slipping 45s under the needle that have the heads running up to the turntables to see what’s going on.

This blog has seen many, MANY sides that I first heard at the Lanes, and of we ever get it back up to speed, this will surely continue.

Anyway, when Vincent pulled this one out of his record box, and I heard the laid back but funky drums, and the electric piano (you know I love me some electric piano), and the spooky strings, my spidey sense started tingling, and when I found out that the music I was hearing had been created by none other than Joe Zawinul, I set out to find a copy of my own.

This took a little longer than I expected, and while I was waiting I pulled down the entire album from which it originated – ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Stream’ – and was surprised to discover that there wasn’t much on that album that resembled the 45 I had heard (though the flip side of this 45, an edit of the track ‘Lord Lord Lord’ has a decided gospel edge).

For those of you to whom the term ‘Third Stream’ doesn’t ring any bells, I’ll tell you that it was affixed to classically influenced jazz in the 50s and 60s by folks like John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. There’s a lot of string-based action on ‘Rise and Fall..’ but the overall effect is much more jazz than classical.

Zawinul (and the name should be very familiar) was the Austrian born pianist who made his mark in Cannonball Adderley’s band (Zawinul composed ‘Mercy Mercy Mercy’ and ‘Country Preacher’ among others) , moving on to work with Miles Davis (on ‘In a Silent Way’), and then eventually as one of the founding members of Weather Report.

‘Rise of the Third Stream’ was recorded in 1968 and was only Zawinul’s second solo effort in 10 years. It came a year before his work on ‘In a Silent Way’, and echoes of ‘Soul of a Village’ can be heard in his work with Davis.

Though the 45 lists the piece as only ‘Soul of a Village’, the music you’re hearing is actually an edited version of ‘Soul of a Village Pt2’, having been preceded on the album by just over two minutes of prepared piano and strings droning in an approximation of an Indian raga.

The 45 version of ‘Soul of a Village’ has such a perfect, self-contained vibe that I’m torn as to whether you need to hear both parts. The album is overall a much more challenging listening experience than the 45, but if serious jazz is your bag, I’d suggest you seek it out.

That said, the 45 version of ‘Soul of a Village’ (roughly one and a half minutes shorter than the Pt2 on the LP) is a slice of groove perfection. It opens (again) with the drone, before Zawinul comes in with the electric piano, followed by funky drums (either Roy McCurdy or Freddie Waits), Jimmy Owens’ muted trumpet, and even more strings, and the really groovy thing is that the string section actually swings along with the drums.

The tune was written (like almost every track on the album, save one) by saxophonist/arranger William Fischer, who as far as I can tell was first and foremost a classical composer/musician, and as a result ‘Rise and Fall of the Third Stream’ must be considered a  collaborative work between Fischer and Zawinul (a prolific composer in his own right).

This is serious ‘head’ music, in that it both spins around the inside of the cranium for full, mystical effect, but also compels the head to nod with the rhythm. I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest that anyone not sufficiently intoxicated might get up to dance, but it’s not entirely out of the question.

A truly unique and captivating record, and I hope you dig it.

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for a cool Nilsson cover.

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By Larry, August 24, 2010 5:28 pm

Howard Roberts

Jackie Cain and Roy Kral

Listen/Download – Howard Roberts – Crystal Illusions

Listen/Download – Jackie & Roy – Crystal Illusions

Greetings all.

When I left you on Monday, I promised that I would return with something mellow.

Back in the day, when I was falling in love with the sounds of Tropicalia, I happened upon a reissue CD of an album by a singer who’s name was familiar, but who’s music I’d never actually heard.
That man was Edu Lobo, and the album was ‘Sergio Mendes Presents Edu Lobo’.

This is not to say that Lobo was part of the Tropicalia movement, but rather that I was seeking out any and all Brazilian music from the late 60s and early 70s in the hopes that I would discover sounds of a similarly progressive bent that mixed Brazilian music with contemporary pop from other points of the musical landscape.

It was this search that led to to Edu Lobo, and folks like Dom Salvador and Tamba 4.

‘Sergio Mendes Presents Edu Lobo’ was recorded in the United States (in 1970) with a number of Brazilian musicians (including several members of Brasil 66), and includes rerecorded versions of a number of songs that had appeared (generally sung in Portuguese) on Lobo’s ‘Cantiga de Longe’ LP (which has also been reissued).

Lobo’s sound at the time was an updated take on MPB, which was already a mixture of traditional Brazilian music and other Western pop and rock styles. Lobo also whipped jazz into the mix, though you kind of get into a chicken/egg situation when it comes to jazz and Brazilian music at the time in that it’s not always clear whether what your hearing is the influence of Brazil on jazz or vice versa.

I was completely captivated by the ‘Sergio Mendes Presents…’ album, and it quickly became a favorite. Among the many great songs on that album (which I’ve never been able to score an original copy of) is the sublime ‘Crystal Illusions’.

I haven’t been able to nail down when ‘Crystal Illusions’ was first recorded, but there are a number of versions from 1969 and 1970, including those by Brasil 66 (who’s singer Lani Hall is credited with co-writing the song) and jazz saxophonist Paul Desmond, who’s ‘From the Hot Afternoon’ album is composed entirely of covers of songs by Lobo and Milton Nascimento.

That said, the tune was clearly getting around.

The first of the two versions of ‘Crystal Illusions’ I bring you today is from guitarist Howard Roberts’ 1970 album ‘Spinning Wheel’. I grabbed this record following the diggers credo of ‘never pass up a version of either ‘Spinning Wheel’ or ‘Get Out Of My Life Woman’ because of the possibility of drums’, and was pleasantly surprised when I found the version of today’s selection.

Featuring a young band that included Dave Grusin on keys, John Guerin on drums (nice drums on this one) and Tom Scott on sax, Roberts’ version of the song applies some sharper edges than the song is usually played with. It is unlike anything else on the album and is a real gem.

The second take on the song is from a 1980 album by hip singers Jackie Cain and Roy Kral.

Though Jackie and Roy go back to the big band era (where they recorded as part of Charlie Ventura’s band) through the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s they perfected a light, swinging style touching on wide ranging sounds like Bob Dorough, Mark Murphy and Lambert Hendricks and Ross, that while something of an acquired taste (there‘s a supper club/cabaret feel to some of their work), I happen to dig a lot.

Their take on ‘Crystal Illusions’ comes from their ‘Star Sounds’ album, which was devoted largely to the sounds of Brazil. You get a little more of a feel for Lobo’s delicately crafted melody in the Jackie and Roy version. The arrangement may be a little ‘light’ for some of you, but it’s all about the song.

Both ‘Sergio Mendes Presents Edu Lobo’ and ‘Cantiga de Longe’ can be obtained via iTunes. If you want either of the versions presented here today (in solid, vinyl form), you’re going to have to start digging, since I don’t think either one has been reissued.

I hope you like the tunes, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for a Lennon/McCartney tune.

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By Larry, August 19, 2010 6:44 pm

Ivan Joseph Jones aka Boogaloo Joe

Listen/Download – Boogaloo Joe Jones – Right On

Greetings all.
I hope everyone has had themselves a nice Funky16Corners Radio kind of week, filled with the dulcet, flute-y tones of this weeks mix.

I was going to double down on the flute-stravaganza and post a funky flute 45, but I couldn’t find the label pic, so it’ll have to keep.

Instead, may I request that you all get your hot pants on and your get-down shoes zipped up, because the track I’m going to whip on you today requires both.

I don’t suspect that those among you not enrolled in the crate digging or jazz collecting fraternities know the name Ivan ‘Boogaloo Joe’ Jones (how could you forget a name like that if you had?) but once you pull down the ones and zeroes on this one you shant soon forget it.

One might assume that he attached the ‘Boogaloo’ to his extremely common name merely to separate himself from the drummers Papa Jo and Philly Joe (both prominent Joneses) and that’s probably true to an extent, but if anyone ever deserved to be referred to as ‘Boogaloo’-anything, Ivan Joseph Jones was the man.

‘Right On’, one of my favorite Prestige jazz funk 45s (and they are legion) is as close to an all-star session as you’ll find with these things, plus you get that bad-ass, iconic Prestige blue-label 45 to stare at.

It’d be all groovy gravy if it was just Boogaloo Joe burning it up on the gee-tar, but you also get Charlie Earland on the Hammond, Pretty Purdie socking the shit out of his drums, Rusty Bryant on the sax and Jimmy Lewis on the bass.

And you REALLY have to dig the guitar. Boogaloo Joe winds his way in and out of the rhythm like a Ferrari on a race course.

All star-power aside, ‘Right On’ is an ass-whooper of the first order, with the head nod, and the hip slip, and all the rest of the involuntary anatomical expressions that go along with records that are this funky.

Funky, right, tight and outta sight, with enough chops for the jazzers and enough groove for the dancers, ‘Right On’ is a frequent flier in my DJ box, and though it’s a little on the crackly side (I tried to diminish the sound of sizzling bacon fat  as much as I could), this record is so hot you forget about it pretty quickly, unless you’re some kind of Hi-Fi hobbit nestled in the shire alongside a million dollars worth of audio equipment, in which case this isn’t for you anyway, so go have an herbal tea and come back when you’re feeling funky.

I know you’ll dig it, so do so, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

PS Make sure to hit up the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva internet radio Friday night at 9PM. Your ears will thank you.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some hippie rock with a Native American twist.