Funky16Corners Radio v.87 – Wind of Change

Playlist

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

How are the closing days of summer treating you?
I know we’ve got lots of good weather ahead, but it’s only a few weeks until the mass exodus of the tourists, when I will once again be able roam free amidst traffic that is just ‘bad’, not mind-bogglingly so.
The mix I bring you today is a continuation of a minor series of sorts, in which the Funky16Corners Radio thingy takes time out to focus on a specific instrument. We’ve already surveyed the vibes and the electric piano, and I’m sure that there are a few more such collections huddling in the crates awaiting release.
This time out we take a look (listen) to the much maligned, but very groovy sounds of the (mostly) jazz flute.
As I said when I wrote about the vibes, there are those among us for whom the sound of the flute is too ‘cool’, which naturally is why I dig it so much.
I love the sound of the flute in the hands of a great musician, and what you’re getting in this mix is 15 examples of that very thing.
Of course, not every single cut contains a virtuoso performance, on account of that would be boring and a few steps away from the prog sound of my teenage years that I have come to despise.
The vast majority of the players here (although one of them is anonymous) are at least tangentially connected to the world of jazz, with a few having crossed over into pop and rock and one (yes, you know the one…the one who’s name sent a shiver up your spine when you saw it, unfairly I might add) solidly camped out in rock and roll.
This one took a while to assemble, if only because a few of the artists in question have appeared in this space frequently (Koffman, Steig, Wess, Mann), their dulcet tones gracing other Funky16Corners Radio playlists.
Things get off to a serious start with Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s epic reading of Bill Withers’ ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’. Kirk, a master on many wind instruments – often simultaneously – had a pronounced influence on two of the other players in this mix, namely Jeremy Steig and Ian Anderson (more on him later). His frequent use of ‘overblowing’, and vocalizing through the flute make him one of the most dynamic stylists the instrument has ever produced.
Paul Horn is best known for his pioneering new age recordings like ‘Inside’, but in the early to mid-60s he was still working a straight ahead jazz style. The Eastern-influenced ‘Paramahansa’ (which he re-recorded years later) appeared on his 1967 ‘Monday Monday’ LP, alongside a number of contemporary pop and rock covers. The tune sees Horn playing over a big band producing something that sounds like it’s from the soundtrack to a spy thriller.
Moe Koffman, who has been featured here a number of time is one of those cats that started out as a pretty ‘straight’ jazz player and as the 60s progressed he got further out. In addition to the flute Koffman was a proponent of the electrified saxophone (like Eddie Harris and Sonny Stitt) and he made some very cool, au go go flavored stuff during the era. His take on Bob Dorough and Ben Tucker’s “Coming Home Baby’ has a relaxed swing to it, sounding once again like something lifted from era-specific TV or movie soundtrack.
Bobbi Humphrey’s ‘Sad Bag’ has a mournful sound, with some very nice, reverbed flute.
David ‘Fathead’ Newman is better known for his sax playing, especially in his association with the mighty Ray Charles. I first heard ‘The 13th Floor’ on an early-90s comp called ‘Heavy Flute’, shortly after which I grabbed myself a copy of the 45. The tune originally appeared on Newman’s 1968 ‘Bigger and Better’ LP and is a great illustration of that fact that he certainly knew his way around the flute.
‘Teenage Chase’ is a Keith Mansfield penned cut from the KPM sound library album ‘Beat Incidental’. Like many of the cuts it was intended to be used as a ‘theme’, and so it is relatively short. I have no idea who the flute player us, but it sure as hell sounds like the same cat blowing on the Hawkshaw/Parker tune ‘Hot Pants’ (also a KPM selection).
Hubert Laws went on to great success with radio friendly R&B in the 70s with the CTI label, but in the mid-60s he was recording powerful soul jazz sessions for Atlantic. ‘Bloodshot’ is the opening track from his 1966 ‘Flute By Laws’ LP, and is driven by Laws’ flute, powerful brass and spot on Latin percussion.
Jerome Richardson is best known as a prolific studio musician, but he spent decades playing bop and soul jazz. His take on Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ is from his 1968 ‘Groove Merchant’ album, which features Richardson on a variety of wind instruments, including a few different kinds of flute (more than one on this track!). Aside from an odd, intermittent chime, this version of ‘Ode…’ is pretty cool, including some well placed harpsichord.
Like many of the players here, Joe Thomas doubled (tripled) on a variety of wind instruments. ‘Big Heart, Giant Soul’ from his 1970 Cobblestone album ‘Comin’ Home’ is indicative of the high quality of that funky soul jazz session. You get to hear Thomas (who also played in Rhoda Scott’s trio) vocalizing on what sounds like a Varitone (maybe attached to the flute), and then playing it straight. Thomas went on to record funkier stuff (even disco) in the 70s.
Ernie Fields’ ‘Watch Your Step’ is one of my favorite 45s, period. I’ve never been able to find out much about Fields, but ‘Watch Your Step’ is so high-concept, so soulful yet psychedelic and well-arranged, that you can only hope that he did more stuff like this.
If you were to put together a list of cats with serious jazz chops who spent most of their career trying to reach a mass audience (and sometimes succeeding) Herbie Mann would have to be at the top of the list. Mann started out working in a Latin bag, but went on to record a serious grip of soul jazz and even pop through the 60s and 70s. The title track of his 1971 ‘Push Push’ album shows that Mann was very comfortable in a funky bag (where he spent most of the early 70s), eventually having his biggest hit with 1975’s ‘Hijack’.
Jeremy Steig is beloved by crate diggers/beat heads for his track ‘Howling for Judy’ which was the main sample behind the Beastie Boys’ ‘Sure Shot’. Steig’s late 60s/early 70s stuff for Solid State and Blue Note is generally pretty far out, and skipping right along the border between funky and ‘out’. ‘Alias (ALi’as)’ (named for drummer Don Alias) features a wild performance by Steig over bass, drums and percussion., is from the same 1969 LP (‘Legwork’) as ‘Howling…’.
I’ve featured a number of very cool tunes from Frank Wess’s 1970 ‘Wess to Memphis’ LP on the Stax subsidiary Enterprise. Once again I must recommend this album highly, since it’s one of those great sessions where a jazz cat (Wess was well known as a tenor player as well as his work on the flute) really got into a more popular vibe with excellent results. The album, which includes a number of covers is well played and produced, and one I go back to frequently. He wails on his version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed Sealed and Delivered’.
I can’t remember where I first heard of Tim Weisberg’s ‘Streak-Out’, but I know I was surprised because it was the very same Weisberg who had a mid-70s chart hit alongside Dan Fogelberg! ‘Streak-Out’ from 1974 (which he apparently performed on the ‘Midnight Special’, so it must have been a minor hit) is a nice bit of funky rock, with a little bit of a break at the beginning.
This edition of Funky16Corners Radio closes out with what no doubt seems like the oddest of artists, Jethro Tull. All 1970s prog/hobbit-isms aside, when Tull got started in the late 60s they were a jazz inflected heavy blues band, not unlike Cream. The song presented here is, to bring things full circle, a Rahsaan Roland Kirk tune called ‘Serenade to a Cuckoo’. It was reportedly the first song Ian Anderson learned on the flute (Kirk being by far his strongest influence), and he and the band acquit themselves nicely.
I hope you dig this little survey, and I’ll be back later in the week.

Peace

Larry

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F16C Soul Club Presents – Vincent the Soul Chef – I Learned It By Watching You

Playlist

You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

I hope the new week finds you all well.
The mix you see before you is the newest installment in the groovy juggernaut known as the Funky16Corners Soul Club.

The name of the mixer should be familiar to fans of soul and funk blogging, that being the mighty Vincent the Soul Chef of Fufu Stew. I’ve known Vincent for a few years now, and can tell you from personal experience that he knows his shit, can handle a couple of turntables with the best of them, and has exquisite taste in music (which when you get down to it is really the bedrock).

What the Soul Chef has cooked up for us is over an hour of tasty funk  – a bouillabaisse if you will – composed of breaks, beats, thumping bass, wah wah guitar and vocals, with ingredients foraged in New Jersey, DC, San Fran, Memphis, New Orleans, Chitown and many points in between.

Vincent uses only the freshest funk, prepared with skill and whisked to your table so you might fill up on the good stuff.

I’ve given this one a couple of spins, and I’m sure you’ll dig it.

So fix yourself a plate, and make sure to head over to Fufu Stew.

See you later in the week.

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

 

PPS – Make sure to fall by Iron Leg for something unexpected.

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George Semper, from the cover of ‘Makin’ Waves’

Listen/Download – Love – That’s the Way It Is

 

Greetings all.
I come to you midweek with a somewhat mysterious 45.
I can’t even recall how or when I picked this one up, but my suspicions suggest to me that it was procured at a record show.
I think I pulled it out of a box of 45s because I recognized the label (I already had a Jimmy Reed 45 on RRG), but I’m sure I decided to buy it when I noticed that both sides were written, arranged and produced by George Semper.
If that name is not familiar, head over to the podcast archive and search for his name, which appears in no less than four different mixes in his capacity as a creator of Hammond grooves, which until I found this 45 was the only thing I knew about him.
Hammond heads will already be hip to his ‘Makin’ Waves’ LP, and the funky 45 version of ‘It’s Your Thing’ by the George Semper Rhythm Committee.
I’ll only go as far as to state that Semper was a West Coast cat, since I’ve seen references that base him in both San Diego and Oakland and have no way to be sure which one (or both) is the correct location.
The fact that the band was called Love – though it was immediately obvious that it was not the Arthur Lee organization – is unusual, since this 45 likely dates from the late 60s or very early 70s (or at least that’s the way it sounds to me) and the LA/Arthur Lee band was still a going concern, on a major label.
Of course they had their only hit in 1966, so it’s entirely possible they didn’t pop up on Semper’s radar, but the name of the band is a minor issue that only stands in the way of Google-based research.
The sound of ‘That’s the Way It Is’  is interesting and funky, with some electric piano and clavinet (no doubt provided by Semper), restrained strings and a cool lead vocal. I don’t really know who the singer is, and I’m reluctant to suggest that it’s George Semper, since all of his other work (that I’m aware of) is instrumental in nature.
As far as the provenance of the RRG label, it seems to have been a Wally Roker led imprint that existed for a brief time after the demise of the Canyon label. Roker was also involved in the Roker and Soul Clock labels around the same time. They released a handful of 45s by Jimmy Reed (then in his decline and trying all kinds of things to stay relevant) and at least one by Doris Duke and of course the Love 45.
As far as I can tell the RRG 45 was the first and last thing that this ‘Love’ recorded. That’s too bad since the tune is memorable and the record definitely had (unfulfilled) commercial potential.
I hope you dig it, and if you have any more info to fill in the blanks, please drop me a line.

Peace

Larry

NOTE: Thanks to commenter Piet who included a Popsike link to an issue of this same 45 on the Law-Ton label!

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Chicago garage punk.

 

Whatcha smokin’ George??

Listen/Download – The Magictones – Good Old Music

 

Greetings all.
The end of the week is here, and I just finished reading the autobiography of the mighty Grandmaster Flash, and I have breaks on my mind.
It might have something to do with the sad passing of Melvin Bliss, which has the Purdie break from ‘Synthetic Substitution’ running through my head in a loop, or reading how Flash and Kool Herc were cutting breaks way back when in the old school, or maybe because as an ex-drummer myself, I have those sounds ricocheting around my skull pretty much all the time.
Either way, there’s something undeniably magical about the isolated sounds of snares, rack toms and kick drums (and the occasional cymbal) whipped together in a syncopated stew that is really the heart and soul of funk, that secret ingredient that makes your head turn and your backbone slip and your eyes roll back in your head as you are compelled to say ‘UNH!’, the break – especially a really good one (on account of I have probably twice as many sloppy, poorly thought out breaks in my crates as I do the tight ones) is a mighty powerful thing.

So, how about a mighty powerful break?

One of my favorite breaks for years was the one that starts out the Parliaments’ 1968 ‘Good Old Music’. Snappy, powerful and tasteful (but not wasteful), the ‘Good Old Music’ break was not only groovy all by its lonesome, but led into a whole big pile of psychedelic funk that had even the most restrained among us taking off their clothes and running out onto the front lawn to hoist the freak flag.

So, many years, and many records later I get hepped to the fact that there’s another Detroit-based, Clinton-produced version of the song by a group called the Magictones (from 1970), and I am assured that I need to hear it.

Now the OG is so good, I wasn’t exactly filled with anticipation that the cover was going to be anything special…until…yes, until I heard the break.

Holy fucking nutballs.

The break that opens the Magcitones’ version of ‘Good Old Music’ is about nineteen seconds of rock solid, laid back, ass-kick, seasoned with just a pinch of snapped fingers (with a couple of mumbled bits of encouragement) that is an absolute game changer. It goes on well past the pint when any sane person would expect the band to fall in, which is one of the reasons it rules.

When you go back in history, and take into account the greatest breaks of all, especially primordial, almost prehistoric jawns like Clyde Stubblefield’s break in James Brown’s ‘Cold Sweat’, you’re talking less about aggressive power, than you are about restraint and swing. This is not the sound of a hammer, but more the feeling of a series of deftly rendered brush strokes, engineered to make your head nod, while you try figure out if what you’re digging more are the drum hits or the space in between them.

The Magictones version of the song is not the same backing track as the Parliaments, though I’d venture a guess as to say that it’s almost definitely the same band (listen to the guitars and keys). The really cool thing is that the Magictones dial back the tempo just a hair, making the whole enterprise a little bit heavier, a little bit hippier, spreading it out like a swimming pool filled with molasses, into which you are invited to take a dive, off of the high board (in slow motion for the duration of the break) and into the funky goo, where you will proceed to roll, slowly, for just about three minutes and fifty seconds.

I mean honest to jumping Jiminy Jeebus, this is one motherfucking funky record in every possible sense of the word, and if you can get your bearings back after being knocked on your ass by those drums, you will surely have them unsettled in short order by the Magictones and what is undoubtedly a gang of Funkadelics getting down behind them.

I dare you not to listen to this over and over again, restarting the break in a loop, and them laying back and letting the whole thing wash over you a few times. How a record this good isn’t a major part of the funk 45 canon (on account of funk records don’t have to be fast, just funky) is an almost unspeakable omission, and I suggest that all you DJs out there that don’t already have one go out there and dig one up so that you can whip it on the people, wherein they will also be blown away and you will be hoisted upon their shoulders and paraded around the room, hands filled with free beer, like the god that you are.

Seriously.

Don’t forget to hit up the Funky16Corners Radio Show this Friday night over yonder at Viva Radio, 9PM EST for more of the good stuff you all know and love.

See you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some pop-psyche from an unexpected source.

 

 

Today’s selection (above)
The mighty Fame Studio (below)
There’s soul between those bricks…

Listen/Download – The Inclines – Pressure Cooker Pt 1

Listen/Download – The Inclines – Pressure Cooker Pt2

 

Greetings all.
I hope the new week finds you all well.
The heat (in measure of actual temperature) has seen a decline. Unfortunately this was met with an incline in the humidity, so while it is not technically as hot as it was last week, it is just as uncomfortable, so, instead of catching fire when you step out of the house, you merely start to melt.
The 45 I bring you today is something that was initially passed on to me years ago by my man Haim, who had a spare copy of the 45, which although it was in rough condition, since it cost me exactly nothing I was (and still am) grateful, and placed it in the crates as what we record nerds refer to as a space-holder/keeper copy.
I dug ‘Pressure Cooker Pts 1&2’ by the Inclines, and kept my eyes peeled for an opportunity to upgrade.
Just such an opportunity was encountered at this year’s All-45 Show in Allentown.
I’d already pretty much emptied my wallet when I happened upon a dealer I did not know, and started digging in what soon turned out to be a box full of excellent funk and soul 45s.
There was only one problem…
Not a single one of these gems was priced, and there was no indicator anywhere on the table as to how much this fine gentleman might be asking for his stock.
This is rarely a good thing, since such discoveries are often met with a stock playlet, inevitably leading to my disappointment.
It kind of goes like this (with me trying to find a satisfying middle ground between looking like a rube and/or a shark):

Me: Um, how much for the 45s?
Dealer: Oh, let me take a look at those..hmmmmm…that’s a good one….so’s that…
Me: Oh, uh, I don’t know those…they looked cool.
Dealer: How about $200 for the lot?
Me: Gulp…

Aaaand scene!

(Magnify the discomfort in the above situation when LPs are involved)

However, once in a great while, an unpriced box of 45s is just what it seems, i.e. a random collection of stock that a dealer wants to move.
That was the deal this time, and I minted up on two faves (the Emperors ‘Mumble Shingaling’ and today’s selection) at the extremely beneficial price of two US dollars per, which was more than amenable. I took my records and skulked away.
Now I haven’t been able to nail down a whole lot of info on the Inclines. They seem to have released two 45s on Atco, one as the Inclines and one under the name of group member Tyrone McCollum.
They seem to have hailed from either northern Georgia or southern Tennessee, having recorded a few records for the Chattanooga based Gil label.
‘Pressure Cooker Pts 1&2’ was originally released on the Hawk label (I have no idea where that label was based but wouldn’t be surprised if it was from the same region).
Today’s selection was recorded at the storied Fame studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in 1969 and is a fantastic, mid-tempo slice of southern instrumental funk. The first part is dominated by the horns, with a repeated riff which drops out for a saxophone solo. The bass, drums and electric piano form a thick, muddy bottom that gives the relaxed, slightly jazzy tune a funky kick.
The flip side (make sure to download side 2) sees the keyboards come to the front, with the electric piano and organ both getting time to shine.
It’s a very cool record precisely because it’s so laid back. It has a kind of ‘nighttime’ vibe to it, not quite as spooky as a side like ‘Nickol Nickol’ by the Brothers of Hope, but moving in that direction.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Canadian sunshine pop

 

Clay Tyson

Listen/Download – Clay Tyson – If You See a Ring Around Your Bathtub (Baby You Know I’ve Left You Clean)

 

Greetings all.
I hope you’ve all avoided melting in the ungodly heat. I’m still solvent but on the verge of liquefaction should I spend more than my allotted time in the sun. Like my ancestors before me, I am a pale man, with white-blond hair and my love for sunshine is decidedly one-sided. My childhood is filled with repeated, drastic episodes of sunburn, only repeated in adulthood during simultaneous bouts of alcohol consumption (as in ‘Oh come on, a little sun never hurt anyone!’, except – of course – me, who spent the next week clutching a bottle of aloe and praying for death).
I fear that my Irish/Viking genes have been passed on to both of my sons, who look like Casper and any one of the ghostly trio. They cannot head to the beach without shirts, sunscreen and hats lest they burst into flames.
It’s that bad.
There was a very brief window, right after I moved into my first apartment (which was a block from the beach) where I spent time at the beach every day, rationing my time in the sun where I developed something like a mid tan, but decided that the discomfort of sand in my pants outweighed any ‘healthy glow’, so I never tried again.
That said, I sit here now, ensconced in conditioned air, tapping away at yon laptop in an effort to get the blogging done before I nod off.
Before I start, make sure to check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show this Friday night at 9PM EST at Viva internet radio. This week – as in all weeks – what you’ll be hearing is the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, brought to you in living, crackling color, harvested from original vinyl sources and mixed live for your delectation.
You should also fall by the Gentleman’s Guide to Midnite Cinema podcast to dig the filmic discussion, and to sample my inaugural contribution of a weekly, funky track (see episode #89).
Also, stop by Iron Leg where I go on at length in reflection about 25 years of zine (paper and web) production by yours truly.
The tune I bring you today is something I picked up a while back, mainly on the strength of the Identify label. For those of you that aren’t familiar, it was a James Brown-related imprint, and until I found this 45, the only one I’d ever seen in person was the A.A.B.B. 45 ‘Pick Up the Pieces One By One’, featured here many moons ago.
The disc was cheap (probably because of a noticeable edge warp, but since it was so unusual I decided to risk the dough and take it home.
Good thing too, because when I finally got to give it a spin, I realized that what I had was not only funky, but also funny, making it yet another entry in the soulful comedy sweepstakes (wherein I have a bunch of similar sides and ought to get down to making a mix).
The performer was a cat named Clay Tyson, who according to what little I’ve been able to find was a ‘chitlin circuit’ comic who hooked up with the Godfather of Soul and released a couple of 45s; one on King, and the one you see before you today (in addition to a number of other records on other labels).
When I was researching this record I happened upon a previous post over at the mighty Stepfather of Soul blog (and if you are not familiar, you should get…familiar that is) where my man Jason says that the King 45 (which I do not own) is pretty much the same two routines on the Identify disc, redone with different backing tracks.

What you get here with ‘If You See a Ring Around Your Bathtub…’ , is James, jiving alongside Mr. Tyson (with the JB’s I’ll assume) with a tight funk groove. Oddly enough, it’s pretty much like any James Brown record of a similar vintage, only you get a series of so-so jokes (which James seemed to think were HILARIOUS) instead of the HYEEAAHH!s and YOWW!s and whatnot. I’m not suggesting that this is as good as a James Brown or JBs 45 (though in a lot of ways, that’s what it is), but that the funk is right, tight and naturally, out of sight, and since the tune is co-credited to the mighty Fred ‘Trombonicus Rex’ Wesley, you know it’s a quality sound.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for thoughts about 25 years of DIY/zine work by yours truly…

 

Lyn Collins

Listen/Download – Lyn Collins – Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose

 

Greetings all.

Welcome to the middle of the first authentic, brain-baking, sweat-inducing heatwave of the summer of two-thousand-ten.
The Fourth of July festivities were an authentic pain in the ass. The fam and I have been heading down to Asbury Park for the fireworks for the last three years, on account of it’s been a very chill scene. Unfortunately/fortunately, the restoration of Asbury Park, which has made the town a very cool place to be has increased its appeal to the point where the 4th of July turned the city into a veritable mob scene with near-gridlock conditions, and the Funky16Corners-mobile and all that sailed upon her were forced out of Asbury Park, first to Ocean Grove (which was also packed to capacity) and then further south into Bradley Beach* until we located a parking space (my three-year-old son ‘Thanks for parking Daddy!!’) well over a mile away (maybe two) from the fireworks about 10 seconds before the fireworks commenced.
We were a long way from the boom-boom, but the rockets red glare was still visible and the kids dug it, so all things considered it was enough of a success to keep the peace (but also enough to let Mrs Corners and I know that we were going to have to retool the entire Independence Day experience next year).
That said, I couldn’t very well let the descent of the oppressive heat go by without whipping a little bit of volcanic funk on you as the accompanying soundtrack.
Hows about some Lyn Collins?
I thought you might like that…
Arguably the pinnacle of that rarified species known as James Brown’s Funky Divas, Miz Collins, aka the Female Preacher is best remembered as the woman responsible for the 1972 atomic explosion known as ‘Think (About It)’ one of the funkiest records ever recorded and the very heavily sampled source for the heart and soul of Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock’s ‘It Takes Two’, a 45 that I pack in my record box on the reg on account of it’s a funky killer all on its own.
The record I bring you today is something from a few years further down Lyn Collins discography, her 1974 cover of the Godfather’s 1969 hit, ‘Give It Or Turnit A Loose’. For some bizarre reason I was unaware of this record’s existence until recently, and when I heard it I was filled with an odd mixture of ‘DAMN this record’s hot’ and ‘Where has this been all my life?’ but more importantly ‘Where can I get myself a copy?, the answer to the last question being answered within a few weeks.
Aside from being Soul Brother Number One, Mr Dynamite, Mr Please Please Please and the Hardest Working Man In Show Business, James Brown was above all an astute judge of talent, packing his band with dead on the super heavy funk players, and his stable of performers with some of the finest female soul and funk singers to have ever graced this mortal coil. I mean, sure Lyn Collins was bad-ass, but when you step back and realize that she stood alongside voices like Vicki Anderson and Marva Whitney it’s an awful lot to take in.
Collins’ version of the tune is updated to the slightly smoother, certainly more synthesized 1974-era funk, but it still kicks ass in a BIG way. There’s all the crispness of your run of the mill James Brown production, as well as the complex, clockwork funk, but there’s something else at work, the heart of which is Lyn Collin’s mighty voice.
Collins had the ability to leap from a soulful growl to a jagged edged scream in no time at all, and she does so several times in the course of this record.
While there are synthesizers, and it was 1974, and I don’t doubt for a second that this record set any number of discotheques afire, there’s never any question that the music pouring from the grooves is anything but funk.
So, get up out of your seat, on your feet and start moving your ass. If you thought you were done sweating, you have another think coming brothers and sisters.
See you on Friday.

Peace

Larry

*Yes, I know these town names are meaningless to people outside of the area. Please bear with me…

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for a look at one of my favorite pop bands

 

 

Lionel Hampton

Listen/Download – Lionel Hampton – Chameleon (45 Edit)

Greetings all.

I hope everyone – at least those of you so effected – is weathering the heat wave in good health.
It has been brutally hot, and occasionally humid as well here in the Northeast…the kind of hot where it takes miles of high speed driving before the air conditioning is able to cool down the inside of the car, which is OK too, since driving with the windows opening is like watching a cake bake from inside the oven.
It’s been a busy week hereabouts, with my beloved – Mrs Corners – heading into the hospital to meet her own health challenge this weekend. It’s getting to the point where we may have to look into bionic replacement parents to care for our children while we spend all of our time with our friends in the medical profession.
It is surely a drag, but since you gotta do, what you gotta do (as they say), we gotta do this, so keep your fingers crossed.
I hope everyone has been digging the latest edition of Funky16Corners Radio, and I thought it would be fitting to close out the week with something else that is both jazzy and funky.
The tune in question is something written by a younger jazz master, interpreted by one of his forefathers in a late career (successful) attempt at relevance, that being a very tasty rendering of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’ as performed by the mighty Lionel Hampton.
Mr. Hampton’s funky sides have appeared in this space before and I have previously rhapsodized about how groovy it was that a man who came to prominence caressing the vibes alongside Benny Goodman in the 1930s lit things up again in the 60s and 70s with all things soulful and funky.
On both his own Glad-Hamp imprint, as well as Brunswick Records, Hampton got down with some decidedly contemporary sounds with both small groups and his own big band.
I had previously heard – and dug – a live, big band version of ‘Chameleon’ by Hampton, when I was going through a friend’s sale box and discovered a studio version of the tune on Glad-Hamp. Fortunately for me another friend happened to have his portable turntable there and I was able to give the record a spin, discovering that the studio version was just as tasty – if not tastier – that the one I already had. The dude in question was letting the record go for a very reasonable price, so I grabbed it for my record box and brought it home.
So, I hope you dig it, and remember to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva internet radio, this Friday night at 9PM EST, with the episode available here for download on Saturday.
Have a great weekend and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

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Mr. Ross Carnegie at work on the Hammond

Listen/Download – Ross Carnegie & Co. – Open Up Your Mind

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.
I spent Thursday, Friday and the rest of the godforsaken weekend dealing with yet another in a seemingly endless parade of kidney-related roadblocks. Long story short, one of the newer kidney stones (which weren’t supposed to be happening) became dislodged from its home in the “meat” of the kidney (as my doctor likes to call it) and scored itself an eagle, dropping directly into the ureter, which in accordance with Murphy’s Law, was too narrow to afford it egress. As a result, my doctor (always properly cautious) dragged me back into the surgi-center and reinserted a stent, so that my sole, remaining kidney would not fail.
How’s that for fun?
This all sounds a lot worse than it is. Aside from being a huge inconvenience (with the added risks of anesthesia), if the greatest minds of the urological/nephrological world could figure out why I’m still getting stones, and cause it to cease, there would be no problem at all.
Until then, I’m trapped in this bizarre loop where I go through another surgical procedure, only to discover another speed bump when I emerge on the other side.
That (and the fact that I had to take my sick three-year-old to the doctor) is why there was no Friday post.
But, all is – if not well – at least back to the status quo, so continue on I will.
The tune I bring you today is something of a slightly later vintage by a great producer of Hammond 45s, Mr. Ross Carnegie.
I first heard/heard of Mr. Carnegie via the legendary ‘Vital Organs’ comp which featured his song ‘Cool Dad’, as well as his visage on the cover.
Some years later, deep into my own Hammond obsession I scored a copy of ‘The Kid’ (as featured in Funky16Corners Radio v.48), also very groovy.
Anyhoo, the tune I bring you today falls somewhat later in Mr. Carnegie’s limited discography, bears no date but the sound in the grooves suggests to me a recording sometime in the early-to-mid 70s.
Ross Carnegie emigrated to New York from Canada as a young man to work as a jazz pianist. He ended up working not only on piano but mastering the Hammond organ as well, eventually leading his own band which featured a young Alphonse Mouzon on drums in the late 60s.
Later on, Carnegie became known (at least locally) as the pianist in the White Plains, NY Nordstroms department store.
Today’s selection, ‘Open Up Your Mind’, credited to Ross Carnegie and Co. , is a funky, semi-blaxplo experience with all manner of keyboards – analog and synthesized – horns, police whistles and chants (no doubt courtesy of the ‘& Co.’ of the title) of ‘Open up your mind’.
While there are elements that would later come to signify disco, this is most decidedly a non-disco affair (though Carnegie would later release the tune ‘F-Minor Disco’ on his El-Con label, using the same exact catalog number as ‘Open Up Your Mind’).
I hope you dig the tune, and, assuming I’m not hit by a bus or falling space junk, I’ll be back mid-week.

Peace

Larry

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Greetings all, and welcome to the 2010 Funky16Corners Pledge Drive, beer blast and chili cook-off (well…just the first one, really, but I wouldn’t mind some cold beer and hot chili alongside the funk and soul 45s).

This is the fifth year I’ve come to you with my hand outstretched, asking that those of you that are so inclined, and of course can afford to, donate some small sum to contribute to the upkeep of the Funky16Corners empire (as it is).

To go into the WABAC machine for a moment, this all started four years ago, when Funky16Corners was the only blog I did, and was operated at very little cost, employing the same cheapo file storage and bandwidth that I used for the Funky16Corners web zine.

Then, out of the blue the good people at BoingBoing, a VERY heavily traveled site, linked to one of my posts, and in a single day Funky16Corners got enough traffic to erase a months worth of bandwidth, just about shutting things down.

It was at that point that I checked in with some of my more, how do they say ‘web savvy’ friends, who informed me that I should probably take the opportunity to move the whole shebang to a paid server space where storage and bandwidth spikes would not present such an issue.

So, I signed up and moved on to bigger and better things.

As a result, I started the yearly Pledge Drive in an attempt to offset the cost of the server.

In the years that followed, the Funky16Corners Radio Podcast (and the ensuing archive, the most heavily attended section of the site) got started, the blog moved from Blogger to WordPress, and then this year, following some menacing behavior by the otherwise wonderful folks at the free WordPress service, I crated up the whole mess and made the move to run the WordPress software (a related but separate entity from the blog host) our of my own server space. While doing that, I redesigned the blog, opened the Guest Mix Archive and watched my stats drop and subsequently rebound as the rest of the world adjusted their links accordingly. Of course, the fact that I only just discovered that I neglected to set up the post archives properly, means that they’ve been offline from when the blog moved in January until yesterday. That didn’t help.

As in previous Pledge Drives, I wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. This year’s shindig evolved out of a recent change, in the blog, and the real world as well.

The last year has seen two important acquisitions in the Funky16Corners equipment arsenal. First and foremost, last Christmas my wife got me a portable digital recorder. Second – thanks to an unexpected windfall from a rare trip to the slot machines – I finally picked up a second turntable and a mixer, completing my home DJ set-up.

What this new equipment allowed me to do was (among other things) to record, and present to you, ‘live’ DJ mixes. The first of these appeared at Funky16Corners via sets recorded live at  Master Groove in New York City. Later on, after the Funky16Corners Record Vault and Podcast Lab was up and running, I started to record mixes from my own turntables.

It was after I posted one of these, with the caveat that mixes recorded live would not have accompanying zip files of individually recorded tracks (for obvious, labor intensive reasons), that a reader (thanks Michael!) suggested that these mixes have their own section of the blog, and their own numbering sequence.

I had been thinking of something similar, and decided to take this idea a step further.

Though I have done a fair number of guest mixes for other blogs/sites, I have never (aside from a collaboration with my man DJ Prestige) ever hosted guest mixes by other DJs here at Funky16Corners.

Taking a page from the ‘two birds with one stone’ book, I decided that this year’s Pledge Drive would be a great time for the opening of what I’m calling the Funky16Corners Soul Club.

The Soul Club will be a repository for live mixes (whether recorded in the club, or on the decks at home), both by yours truly, and by DJs whoes work and sensibility I respect.

The Funky16Corners Soul Club will be opening with a virtual ‘Allnighter’, that being a collection of eight separate mixes (two by me to open and close the festivities, six by others). Once you pull down the ones and zeros you’ll be able to simulate, in the home setting, free of sweat (other people’s anyway), spilled beer (same there) and the like, a full evening (and then some) of high quality, professionally mixed funk and soul music.

When I decided to put this together, I put out some feelers to some of my favorite DJs, including the core of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions Crew, Brian Poust aka Agent45, and DJ Tarik Thornton and asked them to contribute mixes for the grand opening of Soul Club.

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you’ve definitely heard about DJs Prestige, Prime Mundo, Bluewater and M-Fasis. I’ve been spinning with the Asbury Park 45 sessions crew for almost three years now, and during that time have developed a huge amount of respect for my fellow resident selectors.

Though I’ve DJ’d with a lot of people, my time with the AP45 crew  has been a serious learning experience. These DJs have not only skills, and deep crates, but above all it’s their extraordinary taste that makes them great. I’ve written about it in this space before, but I have to reiterate how often an AP45 Sessions turns into a learning experience with one (or often more) DJ running up to the decks to see what another selector is spinning. There are many hot 45s in my DJ box that can be traced directly back to the AP45 Sessions, whether from one of the residents, or from one of the many distinguished guests that have graced us with their presence over the years.

DJ Prestige, in addition to being the founder of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions, also works regular gigs locally (Tasty Beats) and in NYC (the new Free Thinking night with James Poole). He runs the highly regarded Fleamarket Funk blog.

DJ Prime Mundo may very well have the deepest crates of any working chef (including well known digger Julia Child). He applies the same levels of care and imagination to his DJ sets as he does to his food. Prime Mundo is – like every DJ represented here – a tireless digger with exceptional taste.

DJ Bluewater, in addition to being a longtime resident selector on the AP45 crew is the founder of Master Groove in NYC and a well regarded drum’n’bass DJ. He is a self described ‘funk 45 nerd’ and a connoisseur of heavy, heavy breakbeats.

M-Fasis, DJ and producer is the master of digging up and uncovering the heaviest records you’ve never heard of (or never expected). A resident at both the Asbury Park 45 Sessions and Master Groove, he also makes beats and produces.

Brian Poust, aka Agent45 is, in addition to running the most excellent Georgia Soul web site and blog, is one of the most respected soul DJs working today. Based out of Georgia, but traveling far and wide to spin funk, soul and gospel, Brian always brings the heat.

DJ Tarik Thornton is a native of New Orleans who has DJ’d (in clubs and on the radio) all over the country. He has a generosity of spirit, and like all the other DJs here, excellent taste in music. He started in college radio at WTUL in New Orleans, before relocating to New York City, and eventually Milwaukee, WI where he met up and started working with the crew at Burn Hearts. He has since spun with DJ Finewine (WFMU), Justin Salinas and the Hot Pants crew as well as the Hipshaker DJs in Minneapolis.

I don’t  expect many of you to listen to these mixes end to end (though considering the amount of heat therein, you could do much worse with the next seven plus hours of your life) but the interwebs and MP3s being what they are, you can pull them down, file them however you like and soak up the good stuff at your leisure.

Once again, if you dig what I do here at Funky16Corners (and over at Iron Leg as well), and the current economy hasn’t left you destitute, please take the time to click on the Paypal link and toss a couple of shekels into the hat to help keep things going. It would be greatly appreciated, and since I’m going to keep working on this blog as long as time (and money) allow, it’ll keep the long list (close to 100) of mixes up and growing.

Over the last ten years, with the web zine, the blogs and getting to spin records  in a variety of settings, the whole Funky16Corners ‘thing’ has become a big part of my life. The reason for this (aside from obvious matters of time spent) has a lot to do with the interaction these efforts bring me with many cool people, including the collectors and DJs, but also with the folks who just plain love the music and take the time to come out to the gigs or stop by the blog to add to the conversation, or just to say ‘Hi!’.

I’ve made many new friends, been turned on to lots of new music and most importantly found a productive outlet for my passion.

So, dig in, enjoy the music (click on the pledge links) and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Danny White – Natural Soul Brother (SSS Intl)

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Dancing’s Alright (Tamla)

The Marvelows – I Do (ABC/Paramount)

Sugar Pie DeSanto – Go Go Power (Checker)

Tom Jones – Get Ready (Parrot)

Roy Lee Johnson – Boogaloo #3 (Josie)

Otis Redding – Love Man (Atlantic)

R. Dean Taylor – There’s a Ghost In My House (VIP)

Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels – Breakout (New Voice)

Lou Courtney – Me and You Doing the Boogaloo (Riverside)

The Rubaiyats – Omar Khayyam (Sansu)

Don Gardner – My Baby Likes to Boogaloo (Tru Glo Town)

Righteous Brothers Band – Rat Race (Verve)

Chris Clark – Love’s Gone Bad (Motown)

Syl Johnson – Come On and Sock It To Me (Twilight)

Fantastic Johnny C – (She’s) Some Kind of Wonderful (Phil LA of Soul)

Jackie Lee – The Shotgun and the Duck (Mirwood)

The Magnificent Men – I Got News (Capitol)

Wilson Pickett – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Atlantic)

Wayne Cochran and the CC Riders – Goin’ Back to Miami (Mercury)

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Shelley Fisher – I’ll Leave You (Kapp)

Eula Cooper – My Man Is More Man (Note)

Louis & Melva – We’re Out of Your Life (Walker)

The Monorays – Love (20th Century)

Chuck Jackson – Good Things Come To Those Who Wait (Wand)

Jimmy Norman – Know I’m In Love (Little Star)

Joe L – I’m Not Gonna Be Worried (Clissac)

Unknown – John Fuzz (New Faces 69)

Larry Williams & Johnny Watson – Can’t Find No Substitute For Love (Bell)

The Ethics – I Want My Baby Back (Vent)

The Trey J’s – I Found It All In You (Tee Gem)

The Soul City – Cold Hearted Blues (Good Time)

Sunny & The Sunliners – I’m No Stranger (London)

Little Willie Johnson – Loneliness (Vendellas)

Billy Byrd – Lost In the Crowd (Scream)

Hellaphinalia – Think Twice Before You Speak (Tangerine)

Bobby Womack – Find Me Somebody (Atlantic)

John Thomas – Come See Me (Veep)

Liberation – Don’t Spread Your Love Around (GSF)

Freddie Scott – Girl I Love You (Probe)

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Honey and the Bees – Why Do You Hurt the One That LOves You/ Arctic

LJ Reynolds & Chocolate Syrup – What’s A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)/ Law-Ton

The Witches and the Warlock – I Don’t Want To Live My Life Alone/ Sew City

Bettye Swann – I Will Not Cry/ Money

Brothers of Soul – Hurry, Don’t Linger/ Boo

Woman – I Want To Get Back/ Shock

Young Ladies – I’m Tired of Running Around/ Stang

The Five Stairsteps – Don’t Waste Your Time/ Windy C

Thelma Jones – Stronger/ Barry Records

Chris Clark – I Love You/ V.I.P.

Barbara Mason – I Don’t Want to Lose You/ Arctic

Ruby Andrews – Whatever It Takes/ Zodiac

The Hesitations – Is This the Way to Treat a Girl (You Bet It Is)/ GWP Records

The Notations – I’m Still Here/ Twinight

Sir Lattimore Brown – Please, PLease, Please/ Sound Stage 7

The Temprees – Love’s Maze/ We Produce

The Producers – Lady Lady Lady/ Huff Puff

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

earth wind & fire – bad tune

yellow sunshine – yellow sunshine

moments – la la la

curtis knight – hi-low

eddie kendricks – girl you need a change of mind

brother to brother – hey, what’s that you say

the politicians – psycha-soula-funkadelic

burundi black

sweetwater – compared to what

kc & the sunshine band – do it good

lincoln mayorga – peace train

watts 103rd st. rhythm band – fried okra

undisputed truth – ungena za ulimwengu

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

1. Black Conversation- Rhythm Masters

2. Catch The Potato – Porgie Jones

3. Collision in Black- Blue Mitchell

4. Rocking (Funky Broadway)- Wayne Bennett

5. Boogaloo Tramp – A.C. Reed

6. Long John- Jarvis Jackson

7. Out O Sight- Soul Setters

8. Practical Guy- Lee Rogers

9. Action- Willie Hobbs

10. Do the Dance Called The Motion- Marvelle & The Blue Mats

11. Soul Affection – The Interpretations

12. Do You Wanna Dance 1970- Bobby Freeman

13. Skate A While – Leon Haywood

14I’m So Glad I Found You- O’Jays

15. Up and Down The Ladder- Intruders

16. I Can’t Stop You – The Performers

17. Heavenly Father- Eula Cooper

18. Heart Breaker- James Kelly Duhon

19. Too Much Pride- Little Charles

20. I Don’t Want Leave You- Little Hooks with Ray Nato & The Kings

21. Gotta Be Funky- Bobby Rush

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow Pt. 1 Kay Robinson

Working The Mighty Mocambos

El Mismo Soul Fantastic

One Man Song The Qualitons

Mama Annette Poindexter

Hot Pants Road Pt. 1 Osaka Monaurail

What Goes Around Comes Around Arthur Monday

You Better Think Twice Sharon Jones

Just Plain Funk James Polk

It’s A Shame Myron & E With The Soul Investigators

No No Baby Chuck Sibit

Something Different The Prepositions

Who Do You Think You Are Krissy K

Nobody Knows Little Charles and The Sidewinders

The Rain Song The Olympians

Paper Cut Reverend Cleatus and The Soul Saviours

Pretty Women Pt. 2 Soul Investigators

Money Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings

A Part Of You Brenda and The Tabulations

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Kool & The Gang North, East, South, West

Rose Royce – Yo Yo

Hi Rhythm – Black Rock

John Phillip Soul – That Memphis Thing

Johnny Barfield & The Men Of S.O.U.L. – Soul Butter

The Nite-Liters – Afro Strut

The Insiders – Lonely Teardrops

Elephant’s Memory – Mongoose

Bobby Dixon – Woman You Made Me

Afrique – Hot Mud

Sammy Gordon & The Hiphuggers – Breezin’

Creative Source – You Can’t Hide Love

MotherLode – Hard Life

Mavin Holmes & The Uptights – Ooh Ooh The Dragon Pt. 1

The Third Guitar – Lovin’ Lies

Shade of Soul – I’ll Take The Hurt

Lou Rawls – When Love Goes Wrong

Buddy Lamp – Where Have You Been

Ollie Nightingale – It’s A Sad Thing

Dee Dee Warwick – Foolish Fool

Soul Generation – Super Fine

Billy Stewart – Cross My Heart

The Mardi Gras – If I Can’t Have You

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You can check out this mix in the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Billy Harner – Sally Sayin’ Somethin’ (Kama Sutra)

Chuck Wood – Seven Days Is Too Long (Roulette)

The Producers – Lady Lady Lady (Huff Puff)

Cooperettes – Trouble (ABC)

Fantastic Four – Ain’t Love Wonderful (Ric Tic)

Billy Butler – I’ll Bet You (Brunswick)

Charlie Rich – Dance of Love (Mercury)

Clydie King – ‘Bout Love (Lizard)

Little Richard – I Don’t Want To Discuss It (Okeh)

Larry Williams and Johnny Guitar Watson – Too Late (Okeh)

Four Seasons – Beggin’ (Philips)

Bunny Sigler – Girl Don’t Make Me Wait (Parkway)

Len Barry – 1-2-3 (Decca)

The Platters – With This Ring (Musicor)

Other Brothers – It’s Been a Long Time Baby (Modern)

Martha and the Vandellas – In My Lonely Room (Gordy)

The Volcanos – Storm Warning (Arctic)

Chuck Bernard – Indian Giver (Satellite)

Tommy Hunt – Jerkin’ Around (Scepter)

Irma Thomas – Break-a-way (Imperial)

Judy Street – What (Grapevine)

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Listen/Download – La May – Free the Soul Man

Greetings all.

I just got in from mowing the lawn and I figured I’d steal some time in which to blogify, as it were.
Got me a busy shed-jool this week, so I’m trying to keep things going as smoothly as possible. In addition to the real world shit I have going every week, I have a normal blogging schedule, as well as preparation for next week’s Funky16Corners 2010 Pledge Drive. Things are moving along at a brink place, but I really need to keep my ducks in a row or else the chaos that is always on my tail is likely to overtake me and bollix up the whole deal.
The tune I bring you today is something I picked up a while back in an e-dig. After hearing a sound clip I made my bid, and fortunately for me, this record is either slept on, or does not meet the strict requirements of the funk 45 diggers of the world, because I ended up getting it for a (relative) pittance.
‘Free the Soul Man’ by La May is – I suspect, since I haven’t been able to date it conclusively – a mid-to-late 70s side created by someone (La May, I assume) who was likely the president of the local James Brown appreciation society. Like some Lee Fields (and others, I’m sure) 45s of a similar vintage, what you are hearing is something like the wake of the SS Soul Brother Number One, piloted by its funky captain who’s influence was for a time so wide ranging as to be almost inescapable (and La May clearly did not escape).
‘Free the Soul Man’, has some tight snappy drums, and a JB-esque vocal, but it also bears the mark of a later production era (as well as some synthesizers), so much so that I imagine that some of the crate diggers out there with impossibly high standards of the grit level in a funk 45 might not dig it, hearing something that is less gut-bucket than it is sequins and jheri curl and being drawn in by the orbit of the Disco Death Star.
This is not to say that ‘Free the Soul Man’ is disco, on account of it isn’t. It’s clearly funk, and even though some of those Mothership/FONK signifiers are there, the production is so enamored of James Brown that no matter how moogy/arpy things get, the good foot is still in the picture.
As far as provenance, SPQR – in its earlier days a storied R&B and soul label out of southern Virginia (with acts like Jimmy Soul, Lenis Guess and Sir Guy) – seems to have been reactivated in the 70s, since the discographies I’ve been able to find for the label seem to trail off before the end of the 60s. The label says that the tune was recorded in New York City at Guess Recording Studio (Lenis Guess???), but the label address is – as in the old days – Norfolk, VA.
If anyone knows more about La May, or the later years of the SPQR label, please drop me a line.
See you on Friday.

Peace

Larry

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Listen/Download – Premiers – Funky Monkey

Greetings all.

The new week is here, and odd as it may seem, I face it with guarded optimism.
Despite the nasty surprise that our local Vietnamese restaurant (home of sublime banh mi and pho) had closed – which we discovered as we drove up to the front door – things are on an uptick of sorts.
My health issues seem to have temporarily leveled off, and next week will see the arrival of the 2010 Funky16Corners Blog Pledge Drive, for which I am cooking up something very groovy indeed. I won’t spill the beans quite yet, but I assure you that something cool is afoot in the land of the funky corners.
The tune I bring you today is a little something I picked up in a trade with my man DJ Bluewater. He always packs some heat in his sale box, and I am always ready and willing to grab some of it for my crates, whether by exchange of folding money or by barter.
I haven’t been able to find out a whole lot about the Premiers or their song ‘Funky-Monkey’.
The J.O.B. label, named for its founders Joe Brown and James Burke Oden was a Chicago blues label that issued its first platter in 1949, a side by St. Louis Jimmy (aka James Burke Oden). Between 1949 and 1974, J.O.B. released dozens of sides by a variety of artists including Snooky Pryor, Sax Kari, Willie Cobbs and a cat named Eddie ‘Mr Kleen’ Clark.
Sometime around 1970, Clark wrote, produced and arranged the Premiers’ ‘Funky-Monkey’ for J.O.B.
This was the only 45 that the group would record for the label.
Interestingly enough, ‘Funky-Monkey’ was also issued on the Mississippi-based Odex label.
‘Funky-Monkey’ – which gets started with some tight, snappy drums – includes a sly, repeated guitar line, climbing bass, horns and of course, lots of (I’m assuming) human-produced, monkey sound effects. The Premiers don’t overdo it with the monkeyshines, but there is just enough to push ‘Funky-Monkey’ up against the novelty side of things.
This is not to say that the record is not funky, which it most certainly is, and there were tons of similarly adorned sides out there in the classic funk era. I mean honestly, line this up against the beginning of the Meters’ ‘Chicken Strut’ and it ends up looking like the very model of subtlety.
What you end up with is a nice little slice of urban funk, more than competently performed and altogether groovy.
I haven’t been able to ascertain if these Premiers (and there were several) went on to record anything else.
I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

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