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By Larry, November 2, 2014 2:24 pm

Bob and Earl – Harlem Shuffle (Cheyne)
Don Covay and the Goodtimers – Sookie Sookie (Atlantic)
The Shells – Whiplash (Conlo)
Scatman Crothers – Golly Zonk! It’s Scatman! (HBR)
Rodge Martin – Lovin’ Machine (Bragg)
Roger and the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet Pt1 (Seven B)
The Mighty Hannibal – Jerkin’ the Dog (Shurfine)
Derek Martin – Daddy Rolling Stone (Crackerjack)
Chuck Berry – Club Nitty Gritty (Mercury)
Bobby Parker – Watch Your Step (V-Tone)
Chuck Edwards – Downtown Soulville (Punch)
Gene Waiters – Shake and Shingaling (Fairmount)
Etta James and Sugarpie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Cadet)
L’il Bob and the Lollipops – I Got Loaded (La Louisianne)
Ray Charles – I Don’t Need No Doctor (ABC/Paramount)
Danny White – Natural Soul Brother (SSS Intl)
Johnny Jones and the King Casuals – Soul Poppin’ (Brunswick)
Roy Lee Johnson – Boogaloo #3 (Josie)
The Rubaiyats – Omar Khayyam (Sansu)
Don Gardner – My Baby Likes to Boogaloo (Tru-Glo-Town)
Larry Williams and Johnny Watson – Two For the Price of One (Okeh)
Wilson Pickett – Land of 1000 Dances (Atlantic)
Wayne Cochran – Going Back to Miami (Mercury)
Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Out On the Floor) (Like)

NOTE: Big thanks to Jeff Ash who noticed that I left two songs out of the set list right after Roy Lee Johnson!

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt1 – Soul Party

Greetings all

This week (11/4 to be exact) marks the 10th anniversary of the Funky16Corners Blog.

Yeah…I can barely believe it myself.

Back in 2004, when I first started posting here (which was a slightly different “here” than it is now, but that’s not important) I had already been writing about music for nearly 20 years, first in a series of fanzines (my own and those of others), then from 2000 the Funky16Corners Web Zine (see the archive, above).

It was in 2004 that my wife and I welcomed our first son, and the long-term prep involved with the web zine wasn’t  looking sustainable, so I decided to switch over to the short form structure of the blog.

I had the good fortune to make that switch around the time that the blogging ‘wave’ was starting to build, and while there were music blogs out there, there weren’t  many using the kind of format that Funky16Corners was.

When I started, the idea was to continue – as much as possible – the historical slant of the web zine, in single (usually) record form. I settled into the three-post-a-week format fairly quickly, and that’s the way it remained for a couple of years.

Then, in the Spring of 2005, thanks to a reference on BoingBoing.net, the blog was hit with a sudden burst of traffic that sucked up a month’s worth of bandwidth in a single day. It was at that point that I started paying for server space, and the following year, instituted the yearly Pledge Drive to assist with costs.

It was in May of 2006 that I posted the first of what ended up being well over 100 themed mixes (Funky Philadelphia was the first), all of which (including a number of mixes prepared for other sites) are still downloadable in the archive.

Things continued apace for a few more years until the Funky16Corners Radio Show started on Viva Radio. Beginning in 2010 I started recording/mixing the show as a podcast, and posting it here. There are now more than 200 episodes in the archive.

Today, the Funky16Corners blog is still up and running at full steam. I suspect that barring unforeseen circumstances, it will go on, and on, as long as my passion for the music lives.

It is important to stop here and to say thank you to all the people that have helped to make Funky16Corners a success.

First and foremost, I need to thank my wife Jen, who has supported my efforts over the years. Ours is – like the home I grew up in – a musical house, and we all listen, sing along with and sometimes even play the sounds we love.

I’d also like to thank my friends who have shared their musical passions with me over the years, among them fellow bloggers/writers, DJs, collectors and fans, with which I’ve shared music, ideas and good times.

The roots of Funky16Corners run deep, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the fanzine writers/makers that influenced me back in the 80s, especially Billy and Miriam at Kicks and Jim Testa at Jersey Beat, and from the interwebs days, the crew at Soulstrut and the guys who put together the late, lamented Rehash site, which was a big influence in the early days.

Big ups as well to folks like Mr Luther, my man Haim, DJ Prestige, DJ Birdman, Tony C, Tarik Thornton, Agent 45, Kris Holmes, Jeff Ash at AM Then FM, Vincent the Soul Chef, Derek See, Heavysoulbrutha Dave B, Red Kelly, Dan at Home of the Groove, all of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew (Connie T Empress, Devil Dick, Prime Mundo, M-Fasis, Jack the Ripper, DJ Bluewater), Mr Finewine, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and everybody else that has been kind enough to bring me in to spin my records over the years.

I gave a lot of thought about how I wanted to mark this anniversary. I eventually decided that what I would do, was create a series of mixes in five categories (Ballads, Northern Soul, Soul Party, Organs and Funk), selecting an hour’s worth of my very favorite records in each category.

This was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be, with the decisions about which records to include coming down to which discs really meant the most to me. As is the case in any genre, there are ‘important’ records, and there are rare records, and then there are just good records. These are not always the same ones, either.

There are a lot of big Northern Soul (or funk) 45s that demand serious coin, but for any number of reasons just don’t do it for me. By the same token, there are a grip of two-dollar records that I think are just brilliant. The driving force behind the Funky16Corners blog is my own need to figure out why the great ones are great, sharing the stories behind them and attempting to articulate what it is about these records that move me.

If there’s anything in any of these playlists that strikes you as odd, or out of place, take the time to search the archives of the blog to find the original posts (though some of them haven’t been written about yet) and you’ll probably find the key there.
Some of these records have been wedged in my brain for decades, others are more recent discoveries, and there is no doubt in my mind that there are many still out there that I have yet to fall in love with.

You can never know all the great music there is, and anyone that says that they do, is full of shit.

The first mix this week (there will be a new one posted every day, Monday through Friday) is the Soul Party mix.

Though I’m sure there’s someone out there trying to sell records using ‘soul party’ as a designator, I don’t mean it to suggest a genre per se, but rather a mood/atmosphere that these records bring. These are fun, exciting, energetic records with which to get down. Party starters, each and every one.

The records in this mix are some of my very favorites, and I’d go to the mat defending any one of them. They are all essential.

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Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

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So dig in, get your download on, and above all, enjoy.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some more goodness.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, October 30, 2014 12:49 pm

Johnny Sayles and Clea Bradford

Listen/Download – Johnny Sayles – My Love’s a Monster – MP3

Listen/Download – Clea Bradford – My Love’s a Monster – MP3

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Greetings all.

Time to close out the week.

First, I’d like to suggest that since this Friday is Halloween, you all huddle around the wireless set with your cider and popcorn balls and dig this years Funky16Corners Radio Show Halloween Special, which hits the airwaves of the interwebs at 9PM on Viva Radio. There’ll be lots of groovy, spooky things to hear. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, check it out on your mobile device in the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here in the archive.

I’m digging into the archive for today’s tracks, both of which have appeared in this space before (2006/2009).

What you’re getting is two very groovy, completely different songs that share the same title: ‘My Love’s a Monster’. Both of them hail from Chicago, with the Johnny Sayles number (arranged by Monk Higgins) coming from 1965, and the Clea Bradford (produced, arranged and co-written by no less a light than Richard Evans) in 1968.

They are both outstanding in their own way, with Johnny Sayles getting a touch more Halloween-y with his intro, but Miss Bradford getting a little funkier in her outing, which reminds me a lot of Marlena Shaw’s work with Mr Evans.

Both are yet more evidence that when it came to making soul 45s, the great city of Chicago was near the top of the list.

I hope you dig the sounds and get a chance to check out the Halloween show.

See you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, October 26, 2014 11:07 am

Marvin Gaye

Listen/Download Marvin Gaye – Baby Don’t You Do It

Greetings all

Allow me to usher you all in to the new week, with some of the old time soul music.

But first, I have to let you know that next week (Tuesday, to be exact) marks the 10th Anniversary of the Funky16Corners Blog.

To commemorate this momentous occasion, I have put together five mixes containing my favorite sides in separate categories.

I’ve put a lot of work (and thought) in these playlists, and I think you’ll dig them. So stay tuned, stop by and get your download on.

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I was digging in my record room the other day, looking for something else (found it quick, too!) and in my travels I pulled the record you see before you from the box.

Marvin Gaye is unquestionably one of the greatest soul singers of the classic era, though there are many for whom his early (non-duet) works are largely unheard.

This is due to the fact that over the years the moody, worldy Marvin of ‘What’s Going On’ and beyond has become in many ways THE Marvin Gaye.

But die-hard soulies, who like to hit the dance floor and groove on that sweet Tamla/Motown ish, know that Marvin had many years of great work behind him before that landmark album.

Looking back, I’m still not sure if I initially heard today’s selection via Mr Gaye or by the Small Faces.

I do remember buying a copy of the old ‘Marvin Gaye Super Hits’ LP, the one with the Marvin-as-Superman cartoon cover, in the city, but I suspect that the Small Faces ripping take on the song made it into my ears first via a mix tape.

That said, ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’, written and produced by Holland/Dozier/Holland is prime 1964 Motor City soul clapping beauty, with a machine gun snare drum opening, and dueling piano and guitar.

The tune is a dance floor mover, which is something that coverers, from the Small Faces, to the Who, to the Band, (who turn the fast-forward soul into rolling funk) recognized and capitalized on.

As groovy as ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’ is, wasn’t a huge hit, grazing the R&B Top 30 in September of 1964.

Of course, knowledgeable tastemakers such as yourselves don’t need a chart to prove how solid a record this is, right?

Dig it,and I’ll will return on Wednesday with some more stuff.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 23, 2014 12:49 pm

Jeff Afdem

Listen/Download Jeff Afdem and the Springfield Flute – Watermelon Man

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, so I will take this opportunity to invite you all to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which hits the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen in on the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 download here at the blog.

I should also let you know that  the 10th Anniversary of the Funky16Corners blog is coming up in two weeks. That’s right, ten years in, so I’m working on some special mixes to mark the occasion, so keep you eyes and ears peeled for those.

Today’s selection is a very groovy cover of a very familiar song from a very unusual place.

If you follow the comings and goings over at my other blog, Iron Leg, where I travel the roads of (mostly) 60s pop, psych and garage sounds, you may have noticed that I have a special place in my heart (and my crates) for the Pacific Northwest Sound (PNW).

This includes all kinds of stuff, but especially bands like the Sonics, Wailers, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Don and the Goodtimes, and the Springfield Rifle.

Jeff Afdem was a flute and sax player in a number of PNW bands, including Jimmy Hanna and the Dynamics (who did a killer version of ‘Leaving Here’), and the last band on the list above, the Springfield Rifle.

I happened upon Afdem’s version of ‘Watermelon Man’ quite by accident, which searching for 45s on the storied Jerden label.

I spotted the cover, figured it was worth a try, and was not disappointed.

The song was a non-LP 45* released around the same time as Afdem’s 1969 LP ‘Jeff Afdem and the Springfield Flute’ which included a number of pop covers, as well as a couple of soul jazz groovers like ‘Florence of Arabia’ (also covered by Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band).

Afdem’s version of ‘Watermelon Man’ gets off to a great start with booming bass, latin percussion and piano, before the flute comes in to solo. He takes the tune at a brisk tempo making this one great for the dance floor.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

*Though it looks like it was included on a 1977 re-issue of the album 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 21, 2014 12:05 pm

Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland

Listen/Download Bobby Bland – Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week, and brace yourselves for something heavy.

A few years back, I was tuned in to my man Kris Holmes’ radio show, and he dropped a record that I’d never heard before, that absolutely blew me away.

While I knew I was hearing the unmistakable sound of Bobby Bland’s voice, it was coming over the airwaves inside of a really weird record.

The tune, was ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’.

The record, which grazed the R&B Top 10 in 1968 (hanging just outside the Pop Top 50) is one of the freakiest (and I mean that in the best way possible) juxtapositions of a singer and a style.

Bland, one of the greatest blues/R&B vocalists of the 50s and 60s, is heard here in the midst of an arrangement that is plainly psychedelic.

Drenched in echo, and taken at a slow, almost spooky pace, ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’ sees our hero bringing his “A” game to a far out place.

The overall style of the record isn’t weird or out of place for 1968, since pretty much the entire musical landscape had gotten a little wilder and more experimental, but the thought that someone thought to take the mighty voice of Bobby ‘Blue’ Band and wrap it up in a trippy package like this, still boggles the mind.

The way the echoed saxophone winds its way in and out of the arrangement, abetted by tasteful lead guitar on a platform of thick, plodding bass and nearly non-existent drumming is a thing of beauty.

What’s spectacularly weird (to me, anyway) is the “kind” of psychedelic this song is. This is no flower power, candy coated, Technicolor dream. ‘Rockin’ In the Same Old Boat’ is two bottles of codeine cough syrup and a heavy four way hit of acid, with Bobby sounding like he’s pleading for release from some kind of psychic dungeon.

The record takes the hint of darkness present in a record like Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ and dials it all the way up.

This is especially strange considering the fact that if you listen to the lyrics, the song seems to have a happy ending.

It’s just one of those records that I can listen to over and over again, if only to sample the vibe. You don’t just listen to a record like this, you feel it.

As far as I know, the mighty Mr Bland never did anything like this again.

That’s probably because he didn’t have to.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 12, 2014 1:21 pm

Timmy Thomas

Listen/Download Timmy Thomas – It’s My Life

Greetings all

Longtime listeners (first time callers?) will have read the saga of how I chased (and eventually harpooned) Timmy Thomas’s ‘Have Some Boogaloo’.

It was a long-time white whale/grail of mine, and one of those records I really had to put up a fight for.

Sometimes they fall in your lap.

Sometimes you have to strap on your pith helmet and elephant gun and set off into the bush.

This is often the case with the 45s that Thomas recorded for Memphis-based Goldwax records in 1967.

Though he would become world famous years later when he and his beatbox hit with ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’, his earlier sides were elusive.

Compared to his later hits, Thomas’s work for Goldwax was something else entirely, taking a much harder, organ-heavy tack than the mellow grooves of the 70s.

The record you see before you today was the second, and last 45 he would record for Goldwax.

Though his take on Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On’ is hard charging and excellent, it is the record’s other side that we gather to speak of this fine day.

Were you to take a look at the song title,and writing credits on the label – without listening to the record – you might never discover that what you had was one of the cooler,and more obscure Animals covers ever laid down.

Why the song ‘It’s My Life’ is credited to Thomas, Quinton Claunch and Rudolph Russell, which is odd, since the song was written by Roger Atkins and Carl D’Errico, and first recorded by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1965.

Timmy Thomas’s version departs from the original melody in places, but you need only listen for a few seconds before you realize what song it is you’re hearing.

The arrangement reminds me somewhat of another Goldwax 45 cover tune, Ben Atkins and the Nomads version of the Young Rascals ‘Love Is a Beautiful Thing’, which reworks its source material in a similar way.

The end result is actually pretty cool (how cool depending how attached you are to the Animals version). Timmy’s vocal is excellent, and the arrangement is interesting.

After parting ways with Goldwax, Thomas would record one 45 for the Climax label in 1970, before finally hooking up with Glades and having a string of hits in the 70s.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, October 9, 2014 4:42 pm

Marlena Shaw

Richard Evans (l) and Charles Stepney (r)

Listen/Download Marlena Shaw – California Soul

Greetings all

I want to start by reminding you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen through the TuneIn app on a mobile device, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

I was going to leave the Richard Evans memorial up at the top of the page until Monday, but then I thought I might resurrect something from the archives (sort of) to continue the tribute, as it were.

I first posted about Marlena Shaw’s mighty rendition of ‘California Soul’ back in 2008, in tandem with the Marvin/Tammi version.

The record, which returned to prominence when its remarkable break was harvested and repurposed by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist fifteen (!?!?) years ago (in Brainfreeze) is the ne plus ultra of sophisticated urban soul with a funky edge and a fantastic vocal by Ms Shaw.

Shaw’s version was arranged by Charles Stepney, and co-produced by Stepney and Richard Evans.

This is especially fitting since the two men constituted the driving stylistic force behind Cadet Records, each with their own pet project (Stepney with Rotary Connection, Evans with the Soulful Strings), and working separately and together on a wide variety of other projects.

‘California Soul’ is one of those records that sounds impossibly large, seemingly pushing beyond the normal limits of a 45RPM record. This has everything to do with the remarkable production skills of Stepney and Evans, managing to layer instrumentation and vocals in such a way that the end result is simultaneously massive, yet never sounds crowded.

It’s a landmark session, and I thought I’d dig it out, re-record it, and whip it on you to carry you through the weekend.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, October 8, 2014 12:22 pm

Richard Evans

Listen/Download Dorothy Ashby – Soul Vibrations

Greetings all

I come to you today with a heavy heart, and the news that the mighty Richard Evans has passed away.

He had been living in Massachusetts, where he’d taught at Berklee College of Music for more than two decades.

If you’ve spent any time here at Funky16Corners, either in the early days at the web zine, or over the last decade here at the blog, you know that there are few musicians I respect as much as Richard Evans.

Evans was a composer, producer, arranger and bassist who, alongside (sometimes in collaboration with) Charles Stepney created the Cadet Records sound in the 1960s.

Born in Alabama, but raised in Chicago, Evans started working as a sideman (including a stint with Sun Ra and the Arkestra), eventually making his mark at the Chess subsidiary Cadet Records.

His work as producer/arranger/composer appeared on a grip of records through the 60s by artists like Ramsey Lewis, Dorothy Ashby, Odell Brown and the Organizers, Terry Callier, Marlena Shaw, but most importantly with his pet project the Soulful Strings.

Beginning in 1966, Evans put the full weight of his talents behind the group that would create some of the most sublimely grooving music of the late 60s.

The role of arranger has generally been a behind the scenes one, with many of its most important/trailblazing figures – Fletcher Henderson, Gil Evans, Tadd Dameron etc – working in the jazz world.

The ability to ‘paint’ musically with the various voices of an ensemble to create something greater than the sum of its parts is – when done well – a truly remarkable thing.

Richard Evans was such a gifted ‘painter’.

Never losing sight of his jazz roots, Evans moved on to a more explicitly soulful platform, employing electric instruments, unusual percussive elements, and most importantly strings, to make some of the best albums that many people have never heard.

The Soulful Strings only had a single Top 40 R&B hit, 1968’s ‘Burning Spear’, yet the group proved to be very influential.

They released seven LPs between 1966 and 1971 that consistently subverted the established idea of instrumental pop, taking the music in new and often surprising directions.

Evans was also working with other artists in the Cadet stable, as well as the occasional outside project (Victor Johnson, Nolan Chance, Young Holt Unlimited), but the Soulful Strings form the core of his legacy.

The sad thing is, that outside of people who dug them the first time around, and crate diggers and soul heads, the Soulful Strings are largely unknown, their records having been out of print (and never reissued domestically as far as I can tell) since the 1970s.

Some of their 45s are easy to come by, but the LPs can prove elusive. More than once I’ve had people who  loved the group tell me that they had no idea they had released seven albums.

I made reference above to arrangers being ‘painters’ of sound, and Evans was a virtuouso.

It helped that Evans had at his disposal some of the finest musicians working at the time,folks like Phil Upchurch, Donny Hathaway, Morris Jenning Jr, Cleveland Eaton, Bobby Christian and Billy Wooten among others.

Great painters will use pigments and brush strokes to recreate light and texture in ways that are interesting and pleasing to the eye. A great arranger – like Richard Evans – does much the same thing, using aural textures and dynamics to please the ear (and the mind).

Evans’ arranging ‘signature’ can be heard in string voicings and the appearance of unusual instrumentation like kalimba, or theremin, in such a way that after digesting enough of his work, a listener begins to recognize these trademarks.

Yesterday, after news of Evans death began to appear on social media, a friend posted a track that I’d never heard before, Ahmad Jamal’s 1973 cover of Foster Sylvers’ hit ‘Misdemeanor’. As soon as I played the clip, I could hear Richard Evans hand in the ‘canvas’, crisp, but grooving rhythm section, and then the strings.

The track I feature today, in memory of Richard Evans is one that I was shocked that I’d never posted here (outside of mixes) at Funky16Corners.

Dorothy Ashby, the jazz harpist who made some of the most interesting LPs in the Cadet catalog (and appeared on Soulful Strings sessions as well), recorded ‘Soul Vibrations’ in 1968.

The song, composed, arranged and produced by Richard Evans, is in many ways the finest thing he ever put his stamp on outside of the Soulful Strings.

‘Soul Vibrations’ is simultaneously head-noddingly funky, and positively avant garde.

Propelled by a throbbing acoustic bass, drums and percussion, and a jarring theremin, the palette is balanced by Ashby’s beautifully played harp, and, of course, those strings.

There are times where it sounds like a transmission from some funky corner of outer space. When I was putting together the tracks for the Mothership Mix, it was the first thing I thought to include.

I’m also reposting the Soulful Strings mix I put together back in 2007 (see below) , and you should check out the ‘All Strung Out’ mix from 2012, which features all manner of soul and funk featuring strings, including many tracks directly influenced by Evans’ work with the Soulful Strings.

As I said before, outside of the occasional comp appearance (some of them very strange, search Soulful Strings in iTunes…) these amazing records are long out of print, a problem that who ever is owns the Cadet catalog should take care of as soon as possible.

I hope you dig it all, and if the music is new to you, give it all a nice, deep listen (headphones, people!) and appreciate the genius of Richard Evans.

See you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Originally posted in 2007

Funky16Corners Radio v.33- Soul Message – the Soulful Strings

Playlist

Burning Spear (B) (Evans)
The Stepper (C) (Evans)
Soul Message (C) (Evans)
Listen Here (E) (Eddie Harris)
I Wish It Would Rain (E) (Whitfield/Strong/Penzabene)
There Was a Time (E) (James Brown)
You’re All I Need (E) (Ashford/Simpson)
Zambezi (F) (Evans/Hathaway)
Chocolate Candy (F) (Upchurch)
Valdez In the Country (F) (Hathaway)
1974 Blues (F) (Eddie Harris)
Hey Western Union Man (G) (Gamble/Huff)
I’ve Got the Groove (G) (Gamble/Huff)
I Can’t Stop Dancing (G) (Gamble/Huff)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Radio v.33 – Soul Message

Greetings all.

Today’s edition of Funky16Corners Radio is a project that I’ve been promising to do (after several requests) for a long time. I finally got my shit together this weekend, and so here you have Funky16Corners Radio v.33 – Soul Message, the sound of the Soulful Strings.

I’ve only ever done one other single-artist edition of Funky16Corners radio (Lee Dorsey), and after much delay decided to devote a mix to the Soulful Strings as they are not only one of my all-time favorite groups, but also because they are woefully underrepresented in reissue. As far as I’ve been able to tell none of their albums have ever been reissued domestically, and aside from a track here are there on comps, you’d pretty much have to dig up the original vinyl (which took me quite some time) to get the whole picture.

Though their 45s aren’t too hard to come by, the albums (most of them anyway) are another story entirely. They don’t command too high a price, but they can be very hard to track down.

If you’ve hung around here (or the webzine) for a while you already know that I am a huge fan of the legendary Richard Evans.

Evans, along with Charles Stepney – was the major creative force behind Chicago’s Cadet Records in the 60’s and 70’s. Originally a jazz bassist, Evans went to write, arrange and produce some of the finest records to come out of the Cadet catalog.

Despite what appears to have been a very busy schedule, in 1966 Evans began work on his own project, the Soulful Strings.

While Evans had always been an innovative arranger/producer, it was with the Soulful Strings that he began to experiment with the innovative instrumentation that he would go on to use to great effect with Dorothy Ashby, Marlena Shaw and Terry Callier among others.

Though at first glance the Soulful Strings appear to have been another easy listening/kitsch project engineered to cash in on an audience unable to stomach harder edged soul music (and the Chess brothers may very well have had that in mind) Evans was too much of a visionary to sit back and crank out dross. On the seven Soulful Strings LPs recorded between 1966 and 1971, Evans created some of the most interesting, vital sounds of his career.

It’s important to look past the name of the group and listen closely to the music on the records. When you do so the impression you get is not of a Montovani-esque vibe, but rather an energetic soul/funk/jazz rhythm section augmented (not overpowered) by strings.

This has everything to do with Evans’ vision of a truly soulful sound with a baroque twist (kind of a flipside of Stepney’s psychedelic soul experiments with Rotary Connection), but also with the players he worked with to build the sound.

Though only one Soulful Strings LP (Groovin’) sports a full personnel listing – the rest list only featured soloists – the core of the group was formed from the cream of Cadet sessioners like Stepney, Lennie Druss, Phil Upchurch, Donny Hathaway, Cleveland Eaton, Morris Jennings Jr. and Cash McCall, and vibraphonists Bobby Christian and Billy Wooten. The only strings players that are listed on multiple albums were violinist Sol Bobrov, and viola player Bruce Hayden, with bassist Eaton occasionally doubling on cello.

The debut LP, 1966’s ‘Paint It Black’ was composed entirely of covers. It wasn’t until 1967 and ‘Groovin’ with the Soulful Strings’ that Evans would include an original composition, and with ‘Burning Spear’ the group would have their biggest hit. The tune would go on to be covered by Kenny Burrell, S.O.U.L, Jimmy Smith, Joe Pass and the Salsoul Orchestra. There would be three Evans originals on ‘Another Exposure’, and none at all on ‘In Concert’.

It wasn’t until 1969 and ‘String Fever that an album would be dominated by original compositions, with tunes (and collaborations) by Evans, Phil Upchurch and Donny Hathaway beside two Eddie Harris tunes (1974 Blues and Cold Duck Time).

The final Soulful Strings LP, ‘Play Gamble-Huff’ was – as the title suggests – composed entirely of tunes written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

The tunes in this mix are not presented in chronological order, nor are all of the Soulful Strings albums represented. You can hear the title cut from ‘Paint It Black’ in Funky16Corners Radio v.31 – Soul Satisfaction*, and I’m holding off on tracks from the ‘Magic of Christmas’ LP until (wait for it…here it comes..) Christmas.

The mix opens with the Soulful Strings best known song, ‘Burning Spear’. Opening with kalimba (an instrument Evans would use frequently), the drums come in quickly until the flute takes the lead. It’s interesting that in a group where the Strings get top billing, the flute (mainly Lennie Druss, later Richie Fudali) is given an especially prominent role.

The next cut ‘The Stepper’ is a groovy swinger with some nice organ and a great guitar solo by Upchurch.

‘Soul Message’, another showcase for Lennie Druss has a propulsive beat and a seriously Eastern vibe.

Evans would dip into the Eddie Harris catalog several times, including a very nice version of the oft covered soul jazz standard ‘Listen Here’. It is one of the tracks from the ‘In Concert’ LP that sound (not surprisingly) ‘In studio’, or at least heavily overdubbed. Of the other ‘In Concert’ tracks included here, ‘I Wish It Would Rain’ is positively sublime, and one of my fave Soulful Strings cuts. ‘There Was a Time’, the group’s sole selection from the James Brown catalog actually manages to preserve some of the urgency of the original while recasting it in their own image. It also sounds as if it were actually recorded live. The final track included here from ‘In Concert’, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s ‘You’re All I Need (To Get By), is another great fit of material to setting.

The next four cuts all come from what I consider to be the Soulful Strings finest moment, the 1969 LP ‘String Fever’. As I said earlier, ‘String Fever’ was composed almost entirely of group originals, which are all excellent. As a result, this is their funkiest album, with some of the tracks tapping into a slick, urban vibe that anticipates a lot of early 70’s soul.

‘Zambezi’ and ‘Chocolate Candy’ – both of which I’ve spun at DJ nights to positive response – are both incredibly cool. ‘Zambezi’ features some very groovy scatting (by Upchurch, I think) and ‘Chocolate Candy’, written by Phil Upchurch is a lost classic.

‘Valdez in the Country’ – which also features the guitar/scat combo) was one of the first Donny Hathaway tunes to be recorded, and went on to be covered several times by the likes of George Benson, Cold Blood, Gerald Veasely and Ernie Watts among others. Hathaway wouldn’t record it himself until 1973’s ‘Extensions of a Man’.

‘1974 Blues’, which originally appeared on Eddie Harris classic ‘Silver Cycles’ LP the year before takes a lighter approach than the original, with some great vibes (uncredited).

The final Soulful Strings LP ‘Play Gamble-Huff’ wouldn’t hit the racks until 1971. It features Strings-ized versions of several big hits, including Jerry Butler’s ‘Hey Western Union Man’ (also covered by Clarence Wheeler & the Enforcers), the O’Jay’s ‘I’ve Got the Groove’ and Archie Bell & the Drells’ ‘I Can’t Stop Dancing’.

Though I can’t say why that was the end of the Soulful Strings, it wasn’t long before Evans was releasing solo albums, as well as working as a bassist and arranger for Natalie Cole, Peabo Bryson and Ahmad Jahmal among others.

He eventually took a long-term position as a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

That all said, I hope you dig the Soulful Strings.
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Principal players
Richard Evans – Arranger/Producer/bass
Lennie Druss – Flute
Charles Stepney – organ, vibes
Phil Upchurch – Guitar
Cleveland Eaton – bass, cello
Morris Jennings Jr. – drums
Bobby Christian – vibes
Billy Wooten – vibes
Cash McCall – guitar
Richie Fudali – flute
Sol Bobrov – violin
Bruce Hayden – viola

LP Discography
A. Paint It Black 1966
B. Groovin’ With the Soulful Strings 1967
C. Another Exposure 1968
D. Magic of Christmas 1968
E. In Concert 1969
F. String Fever 1969
G. Play Gamble-Huff 1971

45 Discography
The Sidewinder / Message To Michael – 1966
Paint It Black / Love Is A Hurtin’ Thing– 1967
Burning Spear / Within You Without You – 1967
The Stepper / The Dock Of The Bay – 1968
Jericho / The Who Who Song – 1968
I Wish It Would Rain / Listen Here – 1969
Zambezi / A Love Song – 1969

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, October 7, 2014 11:45 am

Johnny Griffith

Listen/Download Detroit City Limits – 98 Cents Plus Tax

Greetings all

The middle of the week is upon us, and in furtherance of our collective Sisyphean journey, I thought we might endeavor to roll that rock up the hill with style.

We do so with a very tasty bit of Motor City instrumental groove, courtesy of Detroit City Limits.

Though I haven’t seen a definitive listing for who played on the album (released by Okeh in 1968), it is certainly the work of various and sundry Funk Brothers, some of whom (Messrs Johnny Griffith, Jack Ashford and Mighty Mike Terry) are credited directly.

The album is a collection of mostly contemporary cover material (Marvin and Tammi, Intruders, Delfonics, Martha and the Vandellas, Sly and the Family Stone), but there are a couple of extremely nice originals as well.

One of those is the track we gather to groove on today, ’98 Cents Plus Tax’ (composed by Johnny Griffith).

If memory serves, I was hipped to this cut originally on a mix tape passed on to me some years ago, failed in my initial attempts to track down the record, and filed it in the dusty back rooms of my memory.

That was until the LP popped up in a friend’s sales list, the old memory was jogged and for the low, low price of a single ten-dollar bill, the record she was mine.

The 45 of ’98 Cents…’ trades hands for heavy money, but as always (almost always, anyway) I’m happier with the LP since I get all of that extra music.

The tune is a hard-charging, organ driven burner with some heavy drums as well. Dig the way the tremeloed guitar plays in synch with the organ, It makes for a very meaty sound indeed!

Use this one to light up the dance floor of your choice, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 2, 2014 12:17 pm

Jimmy Castor

Listen/Download Jimmy Castor – Rattlesnake

Greetings all

The end of the week is approaching and so is the Funky16Corners Radio Show. Tune in Friday nights at 9PM on Viva Radio for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you ca’t be there at airtime, make sure to subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

While I’m pretty sure that most of you with a passing interest in old school soul and funk will already be aware of Jimmy Castor, I suspect that few of you have heard today’s selection.

Castor, a New York City native who’s musical career reaches back into the days of doowop, had a very interesting, and slightly convoluted path to success.

His first hit came in 1966 with the Latin flavored boogaloo of ‘Hey Leroy, Your Mama’s Callin’ You’, which was an R&B Top 20 hit (making it into the Pop Top 40).

His mid-60s recordings for Smash were built on a similar frame.

As far as most casual observers are concerned, the next chapter in the Castor story comes in 1973 with his hit ‘Troglodyte’ (a song that was even on my radar as a 10 year old).

A few years back I was out digging at a record show when I pulled the record you see before you today out of a box of 45s.

The label – Compass – caught my eye, since I already owned 45s on it by Helena Ferguson (‘My Terms’) and the Ohio Players (‘Tresspassin’).

The NY-based label, which featured psychedelic pop alongside soul, only lasted from 1967 to 1968.

Castor recorded one 45 for Compass, ‘Rattlesnake’ b/w ‘Soul Sister’ in 1967.

‘Rattlesnake’ is a hard-edged soul number, complete with sound effects, and a groovy horn chart.

The flipside ‘Soul Sister’ is a slightly more melodic tune, both songs being written by Castor with his longtime collaborator John Pruitt.

Both sides of this 45 (which was also released in France on Barclay) were included – along with some of his other early sides (on Hull and Jet Set) – on an old Winley records comp called ‘From the Roots’, which – oddly enough – has resurfaced on iTunes.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, September 28, 2014 12:02 pm

Listen/Download Burgess Gardner and the Soul Crusaders – Do It

Listen/Download Burgess Gardner and the Soul Crusaders – Think About It

Greetings all

The week is gearing up so I thought it might be cool to whip some funky instrumentals (of the Chitown persuasion) on you all.

The disc you see before you is one of those 45s that was always kind of hovering in the ether of the collector world, respected as a kind of ‘stock item’ in any self-respecting DJ’s funk box.

It was a while before I finally laid my hands on a copy, not because it was expensive (it’s not) or particularly rare, but because sometimes that’s how it is.

That said, I was very pleasantly surprised when Burgess Gardner and the Soul Crusaders’ ‘Do It’ arrived in my mailbox, and I discovered that it was in fact a Chicago 45.

I’ve made something of a habit chasing down New Orleans and Philadelphia records, but it seems like I piled up a stack of Chicago 45s almost as large without even trying.

This has everything to do with the Windy City being – alongside Detroit – the most important soul music hub of the classic era.

Here you had a grip of amazing labels, and in the background some of the most talented songwriters, producers and performers creating a stunning archive of amazing music.

One of those ‘background’ heavies was trumpeter, producer, composer and arranger Burgess Gardner.

Born in 1936, Gardner worked for years as a player in jazz bands, before turning his talents toward the Chicago soul scene. You can find his name on 45s by Monk Higgins, Darrow Fletcher, General Crook, the Vontastics, Chuck Bernard and many others.

He recorded a string of 45s for the More Soul label in the early 70s with the Soul Crusaders Orchestra, of which ‘Do It’ was the third.

I haven’t been able to date the record definitively, but it sounds like an early 70s joint.

‘Do It’ opens with some tasty fuzz guitar, bass and horns, before a string section joins in to give it that uptown feel.

The record’s A-side, ‘Think About It’ has a sweeter edge to it (featuring a muted trumpet lead by Gardner himself) , and in combination with ‘Do It’ sound like tracks from a great, lost Blaxploitation flick.

Garnder is apparently still active today, with his own jazz orchestra.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

NOTE: Commenter Chekovsky let me know that this is the instrumental version of General Crook’s ‘Do It For Me’

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, September 25, 2014 1:59 pm

Casey and the Pressure Group

Listen/Download Casey and the Pressure Group – Powerhouse

Greetings all

I hope the new day finds you well.

The end of the weeks I finally at hand, and so that means you should prepare to dial up the Funky16Corners Radio Show on the old radiola, or better yet, point your intertubes browser in the direction of Viva Radio, this and every Friday night at 9PM. If you can’t dig in at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

The tune I bring you today first slipped over the transom and into my ears years ago via a mixtape of Hammond tunes, passed on to me by a friend.

I knew nothing of the band, Casey and the Pressure Group, but I dug the tune, ‘Powerhouse’.

‘Powerhouse’ – at least for me – hit all the same pleasure centers as the Turtles’ ‘Buzz Saw’, moving at a similar pace and driven along by insistent Hammond organ chords.

Flash forward a decade or so, and the record turns up on a sale list (at a very low price indeed), so I took the opportunity to pick it uo and add it to my arsenal.

As it turns out, Casey and the Pressure Group hailed from the Netherlands, and released several albums of instrumental grooves in the early 70s.

They were led by keyboard player Cees Schrama (aka ‘Casey’), and somehow managed to get the 45 you see before you (‘Powerhouse’ was also the title cut of their debut LP) released here in the US on Jimmy Wisner’s Wizdom label in 1970.

Schrama had spent the latter part of the 1960s as the keyboardist for the Golden Earrings (one of the Netherlands top pop bands, later better known simply as Golden Earring).

Casey and the Pressure group had a European hit in 1970 with the tune ‘Soul Tango’ (the flipside of this very record) which is probably how it ended up getting released here in the States.

‘Powerhouse’ is a very groovy record indeed, and the US version of the 45 is pretty cheap, and well worth adding to your Hammond box.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.