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By Larry, April 28, 2011 12:01 pm

King Curtis

Listen/Download – King Curtis – Pop Corn Willy
Listen/Download – King Curtis – Patty Cake (Valdez In the Country)

Greetings all.

I hope the end of the week finds you all robust, rosy cheeked and filled to the gills with soul.

I am – as usual – up to my substantial ass in alligators, with an exceptionally busy vacation followed immediately with an equally jam packed week.

I will save my recap of my DJ gigs in Massachusetts (which were a gas) for next week, but I did want to fill out this week’s posting with a very recent acquisition, that has (and this should come as no surprise) an interesting story attached to it.

The first part of our family vacation was occupied with an ongoing, very important errand, and as a result, when an opportunity opened up to do a little on-the-road 45 digging, I was both surprised and very pleased.

I hit a spot in upstate NY, that has – like many record stores that I haunt on the reg – seemed like a case of diminishing returns, i.e., the more I go back, the less there is to look through.

This time out was a different story, and by the time I had worked my way through the soul and funk section I had built up a nice stack of 45s to peruse, including some new (to me) stuff, one longtime want list item, 45 versions of things I previously had only on LP, as well as a couple of nice items for the trade box.

Among the new things was a King Curtis 45 with two tracks that were both previously unknown to me.

The one that caught my eye was ‘Pop Corn Willy’, which seemed – thanks to the mention of the funky snack food in the title – to be part and parcel of the 1969 dance craze.

Once I got it to the listening station, my suspicions were confirmed. It was extremely funky, and fast moving, and I gave it a spin when I took to the decks in Northampton, MA.

‘Pop Corn Willy’ is one of those cheap 45s that would likely be worth a nice chunk of change if it were rarer.

I gave the other side a brief needle drop, but since it didn’t grab me right away, I didn’t give it much thought.

When we finally returned home, and I got all my ducks in a row – including the acquisition of a brand new DJ coffin (not something you bury a DJ in, but rather a road case for two turntables and a mixer) – I sat down to digimatize the new records so that I might include them in next week’s edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show (which by the way will air, on schedule, this Friday evening at 9PM on Viva Radio), I decided to give the King Curtis flipside a closer listen, and it’s a good thing I did too.

When I put the needle on the record, the song coming out of the speakers was pleasant enough, but after about 20 seconds it started to sound oddly familiar, and by the time the chorus rolled around I realized that although the song was titled ‘Patty Cake’, what I was actually hearing was a version of one of my favorite Donny Hathaway tunes, ‘Valdez In the Country’.

I’d first heard the song in a cover by the Soulful Strings, then by Hathaway himself, and eventually in a smoking version by Cold Blood.

The thing that bugged me though, was why it had been recorded by Mr Ousley under a different title.

As it turns out, this may very well have been the initial waxing of this composition. Hathaway himself (credited here, oddly as ‘Don Hathaway’) wouldn’t record it until 1973 on his ‘Extensions of a Man’ LP, after the Soulful Strings, Cold Blood, Nite Liters and Black Sugar (it would later be covered by George Benson).

As it turns out, the keyboardist on this session (recorded in August of 1969) was none other than Hathaway himself*, which would explain where King Curtis got his hands on the song. I don’t know for sure, but it’s possible that Curtis changed the title (the song would only appear on a non-LP 45) in an effort to keep it simple for the juke boxes and the dance floor. It’s also possible that it had yet to take on the ‘Valdez…’ title (I’ve never been able to discover the origin or significance of the title), though the Soulful Strings version, also recorded in 1969 carried the longer title.

That all said, it’s a great song (one of my favorite instrumentals), and I hope you dig it.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry

*Interestingly, Hathaway also plays on (as well as produced and arranged) the Cold Blood version, and may very well have had something to do with the Soulful Strings version as well. He was clearly proud of the composition and did a lot to get it out there.

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recr events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 24, 2011 6:12 pm

Wayne Cochran

Listen/Download – Wayne Cochran – Hootchie Cootchie Man

Greetings all.

As I have been/am on vacation, this post is being prepared well in advance of publication, all pending and timely issues to be addressed upon my return.

I have gone on at length in this space, several times about my deep and abiding love for the sounds of the mighty Wayne Cochran.

As far as crazed, insanely be-conked white soul guys go, there was no one deeper in the game than brother Wayne.

He recorded rock, R&B, blazing soul and funk, all with his big, cornbread fuelled frame jammed into sparkling, skin tight togs, all placed carefully under what can only be described as the craziest haircut in the history of the tonsorial arts.

It’s like an atomic cotton candy process, as if Mr Softee had gotten himself a head full of Dixie Peach, Aqua-Net and gym-floor shellac, and then let all of his ice cream melt while he drove the truck at high speed listening to nothing but heat-distressed James Brown and Otis Redding tapes.

The tune I bring you today is his cover of the Willie Dixon standard ‘Hootchie Cootchie Man.

Therein you get to hear WC rip through the litany of hoodoo talismans, until, filled with the spirit, he declares that he is going to ‘Hootchie your Cootchie’, which on the surface doesn’t sound at all like an idle threat, and while the common 21st century usage may not have been in effect, I suspect it meant the same thing anyway, since we’re talking about Wayne Cochran.

Released in 1967, wedged in between very hot 45s by Laura Lee and Lonnie Brooks, Wayne’s version stands up proudly alongside all soulful interpretations thereof, as well as floating near the top of his own discography.

I dig it, and I suspect you will as well.

I’ll be back on Wednesday to regale you with tales of my time on the road.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recr events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 10, 2011 12:54 pm

Medley and Hatfield hail a cab!

Listen/Download – Righteous Brothers – Harlem Shuffle

Greetings all.

How’s by you? Groovy, I hope.

This post sees the beginning of a very busy month for me and my record box, with another appearance at Spindletop @ Botanica Monday night 4/11, which I suspect will be a gritty, mostly 60s funk bag. Things get rolling at 10PM, so drop by if you’re in the neighborhood.

This will be followed on Saturday 4/16 by my first appearance at the storied Subway Soul Club. I’ll be digging deeply into my Northern crates for this one, and I have a whole stack of recent acquisitions as well as many storming old faves that I assure you – if you are in a terpsichorean mode – will get you out of your seats and onto the floor. Since I’ll be spinning alongside Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus and Connie T Empress I can say without hesitation that you will be in for a night of the finest dance floor soul available on 45RPM discs. You do not want to miss it.

Assuming I survive the week, the Funky16Corners fam will be hitting the road for a little rest and relaxation, which will be capped off by two nights in northwestern Massachusetts, with stops on Friday 4/22 in Greenfield (Sweet Exorcist @ The People’s Pint)  and Saturday 4/23 in Northampton (Wooly Bully @ The Basement) . I’ll post more details as the week moves on.

The tune I bring you today comes to you courtesy of my own curiosity.

While I would say that it’s safe to assume that my record jones is by and large a 45 thing, one of my favorite things to do is grab albums and plumb their depths to see what might be hidden in the grooves. Sometime last year I was out (I can’t remember exactly where) and I happened upon the Righteous Brothers 1967 LP ‘Sayin’ Somethin’.

I would not describe myself as a big fan of the duo, at least not of their biggest hits (some of which hail from the Wall of Sound). I would say that I dig both Bill Medley’s thundering baritone, and to a lesser extent Bobby Hatfield’s soaring tenor (occasionally falsetto).

When I found the LP in question, and noticed that it contained a variety of interesting cover songs, I tossed it in the ‘keeper’ stack and took it home.

When I got back to the crib and dropped the needle a few times, the track that really hit me was (not coincidentally) today’s selection, the Brothers’ cover of Bob and Earl’s classic ‘Harlem Shuffle’.

What grabbed me was the fact that Medley and Hatfield crank down the tempo a few steps, giving the song a menacing, vaguely sexy feel.

The arrangement, by Bill Baker makes excellent use of the brass section (the trombones are tearing it up), and I dig the throbbing bass guitar in the background.

While I don’t see many people getting up and dancing to this one, it really is a groovy twist on a classic, and it sounds great on the old headphones.

I hope you dig it, and that I’ll see some of you good folks down at Botanica.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, March 29, 2011 11:46 am

Jackie Mittoo and a huge stone lion…

Listen/Download – Jackie Mittoo – Soul Finger

Listen/Download – Jackie Mittoo – Who Done It

Listen/Download – Byron Lee and the Dragonaires – Who Done It

Greetings all.

I hope everyone is feeling groovy in the middle of week.

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, I’ve been in discussions about some cool DJ stuff in the next few months, and as soon as it’s all firmed up I’ll pass on all the details to you.

I would also like to request once again that if you have a couple of bucks you feel like throwing at a very good cause, please click on the POAC link below. The whole Funky16Corners fam will be walking to raise money for autism services here in the area. This is a cause that hits very close to home (so close as to actually be in it), so anything you can do is greatly appreciated (and many thanks to those of you who have already donated).

Today’s post manages to both bring you something new, and do a little bit of a call-back/clarification to an earlier post.
I’ll go ahead and assume that most of you are already familiar with the name Jackie Mittoo.

Mittoo was one of the most prominent ska/rock steady/reggae organists (playing with the Skatalites and the Soul Vendors among others) in Jamaica during the 60s, before he relocated to Canada at the end of the decade. He continued to play and record until his untimely death on 1990.

Like most other Jamaican musicians of the time, Mittoo was a big fan of American soul and funk, and recorded his fair share of cover material (one of my fave being ‘Hip Hug’ his funky take on Booker T and the MGs ‘Hip Hug Her’).

Back in October of last year I posted a very groovy cover of Monk Higgins ‘Who Dun It?’ as recorded/retitled by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires as ‘Who Done It’. The version on that album gave writer’s credit to Jackie Mittoo, and at the time I wondered if it were him playing on the track (the Lee album didn’t list any individual musicians).

Flash forward a few months and I needed a 12 x 12 picture frame, so I took down my copy of the ‘Jackie Mittoo in London’ album, which had been hanging over my turntables for a few years. I grabbed it originally maybe 10 years ago, recorded the cuts I liked and filed it, forgetting until I took it down that it also contained a version of ‘Who Done It’.

I re-recorded a couple of tracks for the blog, and decided to go back and compare the version from ‘Jackie Mittoo In London’ with the one I posted last year (reposted above).

As it turns out, the arrangement is very similar, with the earlier version by Mittoo winning out (at least to my ears).

While this doesn’t exactly confirm that Mittoo is playing on the Lee album (that could very well be someone who wasn’t familiar with the Higgins OG and copying/crediting Mittoo’s arrangement), it pushed me a little further in that direction.

That said, the cut I was originally going to post today, was Mittoo’s excellent cover version of the Bar-Kays’ ‘Soul Finger’. Here you get Mittoo’s organ subbing for the Bar-Kays horns (though there is a trumpet in the mix), and someone (not sure who) laying down a very tasty guitar solo. The only clue that this is from a reggae album is the sound of the second lead guitar, and the somewhat suspect fidelity (as opposed to ‘Who Done It’ which is played with a rock steady beat).

Both cuts are very cool and I hope you dig them.

I’ll be back on Friday with the second mix from last week’s Spindletop gig.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some late period British Beat.

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By Larry, March 27, 2011 1:48 pm

Miss Della Reese

Listen/Download – Della Reese – It Was a Very Good Year

Greetings all.

How’s by you?

All is as well as can be expected on my end of the interwebs.

The weekend was relatively uneventful, and despite anything the calendar says, Spring has yet to arrive in any real way.

I should mention that I have a couple of very groovy DJ gigs in the pipe, details to follow soon.

I’m not going to be able to make it to the Allentown 45 show this year, but I don’t really mind.

The vinyl gods have been good to me these last few months, bringing in all manner of cool stuff, including a couple of longtime white whales, as well as a bunch of low priced, but uniformly excellent groovers.

I’ve also been edging up to the second big push in the reorganization of the Funky16Corners Record Vault and Podcasting Nerve Center, which always yields cool stuff from deep in the crates that had been unjustly neglected.

I just dug out a groovy Northern 45 last week that I had either forgotten about – or more likely – had not listened to closely the first time I found it. I like when stuff like that happens.

The tune I bring you today is one of the aforementioned white whales, which I chased like Ahab for a long time before finally landing it late last year.

When you mention the name Della Reese to folks, the reaction you get depends on generational variables.

Folks my parent’s age remember her career as a pop/jazz vocalist that produced a couple of big hits in the late 50s.

Younger folks will remember her mainly as a TV actress, on shows like ‘Touched By an Angel’.

Sit down with a couple of hip DJs, and you very well may hear tell of a lesser known, but truly interesting part of her career, when despite a lack of commercial success she managed to make some very soulful, very danceable records.

Back in the early days of the blog (2005) I featured one of these sides, Ms. Reese’s excellent take on Gene McDaniels’ soul jazz epic ‘Compared to What’, recorded for AVCO in 1969.

The tune I bring you today hails from 1966, and like that session was made with jazz trumpeter Bobby Bryant (search the F16C Podcast Archive for some of his groovier tracks) and his band.

The tune ‘It Was a Very Good Year’, was written in 1961 by Ervin Drake. It was originally recorded by the Kingston Trio, but the song will forever be identified with Frank Sinatra, who recorded – and had a hit with the song – in 1966.

The Sinatra version is a doleful lament, sung by an old man looking back on his life.

Della Reese’s version is a radical reworking of the song, both lyrically (she embellishes the verses) and stylistically. Arranged by Bryant, the song is recast as a funky, hard charging cri de coeur, less wistful than the musical equivalent of a fist in the air. Reese sings the song like someone who despite a colorful past, is looking forward to bigger and better things.

Her vocal is powerful, often sounding as if she was testing the limits of the recording equipment.

The band is on fire, with a pumping Hammond and remarkable drums. The recording has a very hot sound, and the snare and kick drum are – next to Della – the loudest things on the record.

This is one of those records that would have languished in obscurity, had it not been revived by DJs on the jazz dance scene in the UK. It has become increasingly popular with funk and soul DJs, and was reissued by the Jazzman label (with a live version on the B-side).

As far as I can tell, this version is not in print on CD and the 45 can be quite expensive, so unless you need one to play out, slip the ones and zeros on your pod-like-thingy and dig.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some late period British Beat.

Comments (4)

By Larry, March 24, 2011 9:31 am

Listen to him Lucy. He know’s what he’s talking about.

Listen/Download – F16C Soul Club Presents – Spindletop New Breed 76MB/256K Mixed MP3

Jimmy Hannah & the Dynamics – Leaving Here (Seafair/Bolo)
Frank Frost – My Back Scratcher (Jewel)
Bobby Powell – Why Am I Treated So Bad (Whit)
Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm – The New Breed Pt1 (Sue)
Richard Berry & the Pharaohs – Louie Louie (Flip)
Roy Thompson – Sookie Sookie (Okeh)
Mighty Hannibal – Jerkin’ the Dog (Shurfine)
Bobby Parker – Watch Your Step (V Tone)
Gene Waiters – Shake and Shingaling Pt1 (Fairmount)
Roger & the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet Pt1 (Seven B)
Scatman Crothers – Golly! Zonk! It’s Scatman (HBR)
Derek Martin – Daddy Rollin’ Stone (Crackerjack)
King Coleman – Boo Boo Song Pt2 (King)
Billy Preston – Let the Music Play (Capitol)
Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Chess)
Dottie Cambridge – He’s About a Mover (MGM)
Freddie Scott – Pow City! (Marlin)

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and I am in dire need of some form of stress relief, whether it’s extended, uninterrupted sleep, intoxication of some sort or just deep, silent meditation.

It’s not that this week has been extraordinarily rough, ‘cause it hasn’t, but rather some combination of not enough sleep (DJ-ing two hours away on a Monday night will do that), a cold (and/or the onset of seasonal allergies) and the normal slate of irritants, have all combined to do a number on my head.

That said, I’m going to take a tip from the Sims Twins and let a little soul music ‘Soothe Me’.

First, I’ll remind you that this Friday night at 9PM the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to Viva Radio with another hour of the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all straight from my crates to your ears. As always you can either tune in on the interwebs, or come by here over the weekend to pick up the show in its easy to use MP3 form. Either way, the sounds are equally excellent.

I had a gas on Monday spinning at Spindletop, and managed once again to capture the goings on with my handheld digital recorder, so that I might share some of it with you good folks.

I went through the musical fruits (no beans…) of the evening and carved out two sets of grooves, one of which I’ll whip on you today, the second which I’ll drop at the end of next week.

This time out I dipped into the crates and whipped out the best in hard-charging, soul party action, from gritty R&B, tough dance floor soul, right on to early funk.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating, that one of the prime reasons I love to DJ in a bar or club is the opportunity to hear really amazing records pumping out of a great big set of speakers. You can set the Mighty Hannibal loose in your earbuds, but it’s just not as cool as hearing him unwind his turban with ‘Jerkin’ the Dog’ shaking a room full of people like a minor earthquake.

Every single one of the records in these mixes is perfect for such an environment. I’d go as far as to say that gathered together like this, they might be too powerful for a Friday or Saturday, yet pack just enough musical TNT to set things off on a Monday.

If I was you, I’d pull down the ones and zeros, hit the liquor store, invite over some friends, roll back the carpet and turn up the stereo and do like Mr. Waiters says:

Jump back honey and let the New Breed by!

See you on Monday

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Laurel Canyon cool from Mama Cass.

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By Larry, March 22, 2011 11:10 am

Melvin Sparks 1946 – 2011

Listen/Download – Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt1

Listen/Download -Melvin Sparks – Thank You Pt2

Greetings all.

I had an excellent time spinning soul 45s last night at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC. Once again my man Perry Lane was the host with the most, and some cool people (including my brother) came by to join in the fun. I recorded my sets again, and will be posting one of them on Friday, so stay tuned for that.

Late last week I heard via the Facebook grapevine that the mighty Melvin Sparks had passed, just short of his 65th birthday. The news was confirmed later that day.

If you’re a hardcore soul jazz fiend (like me) especially someone who really digs Hammond sounds, then his name looms large.

Born and raised in Texas, Sparks went on to be the go-to guitarist on late 60s/early 70s Prestige (and Blue Note) dates, working with heavies like Leon Spencer, Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, Reuben Wilson, Rusty Bryant, Lou Donaldson, Caesar Frazier, Jack McDuff, Charles Kynard and Sonny Phillips among many others.

If you recognize a lot of organists in that list, it’s a testament to the fact that Sparks was a treasured sideman for the Hammond set, laying his licks deep inside the groove in a career that lasted more than 40 years.

Sparks also recorded a number of sought after albums as a leader for labels like Prestige, Eastbound/Westbound and Muse.
The 45 I bring you today (both extremely tasty sides) is his reading of Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’ (truncated here to just ‘Thank You’). It was recorded in 1970 with a tight group that included Idris Muhammad on drums, Leon Spencer on the organ (you really get to hear him cut loose on Pt2) and Virgil Jones and John Manning on horns.

Sparks’ style was economical, soulful and right in the groove. Listen to his sustain at the end of the verse phrases, and the way he builds complexity gradually, never flashy, but always solid.

Part one sees Sparks soloing, with Spencer comping in the background, the two masters switching places in part two.

It’s a fantastic example of the Prestige jazz funk sound, and an all-around great 45 with which to groove.

Melvin Sparks was a giant and he will be missed.

See you on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk. The whole Funky16Corners gang will be walking in support of autism services, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Laurel Canyon cool from Mama Cass.

Comments (3)

By Larry, March 15, 2011 10:15 am

Pat Rhoden

Listen/Download -Pat Rhoden – Boogie On Reggae Woman

Greetings all.

I hope all is groovy in your neck of the interwebs.

As I mentioned on Monday, my wife, the little Corners and I will be walking in the 2011 Monmouth/Ocean County POAC (Parents of Autistic Children) Walk for a Difference on April 2, 2011.

Thanks to those of you that have already donated.

I’ll be keeping the donation link in my posts (click on the logo below) until the date of the walk (4/2). If you can afford to toss a few bucks into the pot to advance a very important cause, please do so. It is greatly appreciated.

I should also mention today that I will be returning to Spindletop @ Botanica with DJ Perry Lane this coming Monday 3/21. I’ll be bringing a mixed bag of soulful sounds with me, including hard charging party soul, Northern, Hammond grooves and maybe even a little bit of early funk for your feet. Drop on by and say hi if you’re in Manhattan.

The tune I bring you today is something I happened upon a few years back.

I don’t know much about Pat Rhoden, other than that he seems to have been a journeyman ska/rock steady/reggae singer.

He recorded for a variety of labels, including Ska Beat, Trojan, Attack, Pama and Horse between the mid-60s and the early 80s as a solo, and also as part of the duo Winston and Pat (with Winston Groovy of ‘Please Don’t Make Me Cry’ fame) for Bullet.

He recorded his cover of Stevie Wonder’s big hit ‘Boogie On Reggae Woman’ for the Trojan subsidiary Horse. The date on the label says 1974, but Stevie didn’t hit with it until the very end of ’74, so unless he was sending his demos over to Pat, I’m going to go with 1975.

I thought this was a groovy bit of circle-closing, that being a Jamaican cover of Mr. Wonder’s tribute to the sounds of the island.

Rhoden takes things at a mellow – ever so slightly funky – pace, and I really dig the drums at the beginning.

He also did a very cool cover of Stevie’s ‘Living For the City’ which I’ll have to post sometime in the future.

I hope you dig this one, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some insane surf instros.

Comments (2)

By Larry, March 13, 2011 3:04 pm

Haiiiiii-YA!

Listen/Download -Jimmy Ruffin – 96 Tears

Greetings all.

I hope all is well on your end.

Before we get started this week, I would like to let you know that the entire Funky16Corners clan will be walking in the 2011 Monmouth/Ocean County POAC (Parents of Autistic Children) Walk for a Difference on April 2, 2011.

As you may have gleaned via mentions here over the past few years, or by the prominent link in the sidebar, my wife and are the proud parents of two sons with Autism Spectrum Disorders. We are extremely fortunate that they are both high-functioning, and all-round wonderful kids.

We are also very lucky to have an organization like POAC operating locally. They provide information, training for professionals and parents, as well as a wide range of activities for the kids.

The walk (held again this year at the local minor league baseball park) raises money to help make sure that POAC can continue providing much needed services to the kids and their families in our communities.

If this sounds like something you can get behind, click on the this link (or the logo above) and you will be taken to a secure donation page for the team we’ll be walking with and donate whatever you can afford.

Anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated.

That all said, how about some music?

While I’ve known of Jimmy Ruffin since I was a kid (who among us hasn’t heard his 1966 hit ‘What Becomes of the Brokenhearted’?), and later learned that he was the brother of David Ruffin of the Temptations, I never knew much beyond that.

Then late last year I’m out digging and what should I pull out of a moldy box but an LP with Jimmy Ruffin on the cover whipping a little soulful martial arts on the kids.

That album, 1968’s ‘Ruff’n Ready’ was initially of interest because it contained his version of one of my favorite Motown cuts, ‘Lonely Lonely Man Am I’, also recorded by the Velvelettes (as ‘Lonely Lonely Girl Am I’, by far the finest version of the tune) as the Temptations.

When I got the record home and gave it a spin, I discovered that among its many treasures was a smoking cover of Question Mark and the Mysterians ’96 Tears’.

The tune, a grungy epic in its original Mich/Mex garage-a-delic form has been covered a number of times – seldom successfully – the finest (that I’d heard before) being Big Maybelle’s recording on Rojac.

Interestingly, most of the material on ‘Ruff’n Ready’ wears the influence of 1968 on its sleeve, moving in a vaguely funky direction, yet ’96 Tears’ sounds like it could have been recorded two years before, with a pulsing, almost Northern beat, opening with one of those patented Funk Brothers snare/rack-tom combos that adorn countless Motown recordings.

It is very groovy indeed, highly danceable and manages to do justice to the OG.

I hope you dig it and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some insane surf instros.

Comments (5)

By Larry, March 10, 2011 11:12 am

The Eyes of Blue

Listen/Download – The Eyes of Blue

Greetings all.

The end of a very long week is here, and despite pounding out more than my quota of words and such, I’m still ready and raring to go.

But first this update from the Funky16Corners newsroom…

This Friday night at 9PM the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns once again to Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all brought to you with the hot wax squeezed through the digital meat grinder and transplanted onto the throbbing airwaves of the interwebs. This week we have more of the groovy gravy you have come to know and love, including some cool new arrivals.

As always, if you are otherwise occupied during our normal time slot, you can always fall by the blog over the weekend to collect your very own MP3 copy of this week’s show that you may insert onto the pod-like thingy of your choice.

Oh, and this…

I mentioned that I’m all fired up, and the record I bring you today is the reason why.

I can say with some certainty that the Eyes of Blue version of ‘Heart Trouble’ made its way into my ears some time during the mighty mod days of the mid-80s, courtesy of the tape-making mania of my man Mr Luther. From that moment it was lodged in my brain like the thorn in the foot of Androcles lion, nagging at me for decades until the day when a copy this very 45 and yours truly finally intersected.

I had copies of the song on tape, and then CD, but as any DJ worth their wax will tell you, when a record really knocks you out, until you have a copy in your box to whip on the groovers (which I will be doing when I return to Spindletop on 3/21), nothing else matters.

As I said, the song blew my mind but got even better when I found out that the song in question had originally been recorded by the Parliaments.

In fact, the Parliaments version is the rarest of their 45s, pulling in a few hundred smackers when it shows up.

The original version by Mr. Clinton and his pals was released on Detroit’s storied Golden World imprint in 1966. Written by George Clinton and Sidney Barnes, the original version (which can be heard here) is not only one of the group’s finest songs, but a certified Motor City soul classic. The lyrics would resurface years later in the Funkadelic song “You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure”.

That said, the Parliaments never got its due, and remains as obscure as it is good.

Which begs the question where did the Eyes of Blue, the pride of Neath, Wales get their hands on it?

While Northern Soul hadn’t really happened yet, there was certainly a soul scene in the UK, and it seems entirely possible that the Eyes of Blue heard the song in any number of clubs, or even played on the radio.

Ultimately, what matters is that they not only met the Parliaments on their own musical turf, and I would go as far as to say bested them when they waxed the tune for Deram in 1967*.

How do I arrive at this somewhat controversial conclusion?

Well, there are a couple of reasons, first and foremost being that the Eyes of Blue (ironic name for what might be termed blue-eyed soul, a subgenre we will henceforth refer to as – in the words of reader George Macklin – “equal opportunity soul”) version of ‘Heart Trouble’ is without any question one of the two or three finest mod soul covers ever recorded, up there alongside numbers like the Action’s epic version of the Radiants ‘Baby You’ve Got It’ and the Artwoods take on Solomon Burke’s ‘Keep Looking’.

It has a sonic power that the original lacks, and a fantastic vocal by Gary Pickford Hopkins sounding like a rougher-edged Paul Jones.

The Eyes of Blue version record is every bit as danceable as the Parliaments and then some.

Where the original has a more complex vocal mix – with female backing singers and a powerful male bass vocal – as well as strings (a role taken in the Eyes of Blue version by piano), the cover builds its power in an entirely different way. The beat is constructed on powerful snare drum hits, which are the mimicked by the tambourine, piano chords and pumping bass guitar.

Whenever you run into a cover of a soul tune by a white band, there are always perceived issues of authenticity, with ‘perceived’ being the operative term.

Our friends in the UK had a serious jones for US soul and R&B, and there were tons of such covers recorded with widely varying levels of success. When I tell you that I first fell in love with the song ‘Our Love Is In the Pocket’ when I heard the version by Amen Corner, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you while it’s groovy in its own way it doesn’t really stack up favorably with the versions by Darrell Banks or JJ Barnes and the same could be said for the Alan Bown Set’s cover of Edwin Starr’s ‘Headline News’.

However, every once in a while you get the perfect pairing of band and song that manages to transcend a soul original, and this is one of those times.

Oddly, the Eyes of Blue, which got its start as an R&B/soul band, recorded one more 45 for Deram, the excellent ‘Supermarket Full of Cans’ before signing with Mercury and morphing into a much heavier, prog/psych concern, with members of the band ending up in groups like Man, Gentle Giant and Wild Turkey.

I hope you dig this one as much as I do, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry

*What you see before you is a US issue of the 45. Go to this 2004 article in the Funky16Corners web zine for a gander at the UK pressing.

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some interesting late 60s pop.

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By Larry, March 3, 2011 10:15 am

The Gene Ludwig Trio

Listen/Download – The Gene Ludwig Trio – Mr Fink Pt1

Listen/Download – The Gene Ludwig Trio – Mr Fink Pt2

Greetings all.

I hope all is well on your end, and that my ramblings this week haven’t put you off your soul.

In programming notes, I will remind you now that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the intertubes this Friday night at 9PM at Viva Radio, where the elite meet to beat the heat. I have lots of classics lined up for you this week, as well as something new and groovy, so make sure to tune in, or fall by this very blog over the weekend to pick yourself up an MP3 copy of the show to dig on your computer or the iPod like device of your choice.

It was last summer that we got the sad news that the mighty Gene Ludwig had passed on suddenly at the age of 72.

You all know that I practically bathe in Hammond organ sounds on a daily basis, and Mr Ludwig created some fine examples of that genre during his five decade career.

He was first and foremost a jazz player – with the chops to back up that designation – but he also soaked his fingers in groove grease as well, laying down some particularly groovy soul jazz.

Gene was also, and this is the most important thing, artistically vital until the day he left us, playing live and recording at the top of his game.

Today’s post is – as is sometimes the case – a celebration of the old, as well as the new.

The record you see above, is one of my favorite two-siders in Gene’s discography, 1962s ‘Mr Fink Pts 1&2’ on Pittsburgh’s LaVere label.

Recorded with the classic Gene Ludwig Trio, with Gene on Hammond, Jerry Byrd on guitar and Randy Gillespie on drums, ‘Mr. Fink’ amounts to a skoshi under six minutes of the finest, smoky tavern Hammond wailing, soulful burning that anyone has ever packed onto two sides of a tiny vinyl record.

Aside from the epic ‘The Vamp’, this is by far my favorite of Gene’s 45s for both its elemental fire, and as a showcase for his keyboard skills. If you’re a stone Hammond junkie – like me – there’s something exceptional about hearing a master’s fingers fly over the keyboard, really making that huge hunk of wood and wires sing, and it doesn’t get much better than ‘Mr Fink’.

What I’m really here to rap about though is the fact that Gene Ludwig laid down one of the finest albums of his career just before he passed, and it has just been released.

The CD ‘Love Notes of Cole Porter’, recorded with a very tight quartet (with two different drummers) is without exaggeration, up there with the finest organ jazz of the classic era. A collection of the finest love songs to flow from the pen of the legendary Cole Porter, many classics of what the cliché machine has designated the ‘Great American Songbook’, ‘Love Notes…’ sees (hears) Gene and his band, Mark Strickland on guitar, Lou Stellute on tenor and Thomas Wendt and Billy Kuhn alternating on drums (all very good), working in the classic Prestige/Blue Note style, and when I say that I’m not just blowing smoke.

The late 50s and 1960s saw a lot of different varieties of practitioners recording on the Hammond organ, from purely soul/R&B based cats working it out on now rare 45s (like Louis Chachere, RD Stokes and Leo Valentine), post-bop visionaries like Larry Young, and the cats running in the mainstream like Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff and Groove Holmes, all of whom were widely recorded with widely varied results.

During the early part of his career, Gene Ludwig didn’t have the opportunity to record as frequently as many of those that I would consider his peers. Whether or not the consistently high quality of what he did record was merely a matter of conservation, i.e. never having been pressured to create more accessible/less inspiring records, or because all he had in him to create was pure class (I lean toward the latter) his legacy is smaller, and dare I say better.

That his final album reinforces that assessment is worth noting.

‘Love Notes of Cole Porter’ is every bit the equal of the best, swinging bop and soul organ sessions of the instrument’s (and Gene’s) golden era.

‘Love Notes of Cole Porter’ is also a gift to remind us that age need not be an impediment to a musicians growth. People do a lot of lip service to concepts like ‘maturity’ and ‘experience’, but listening to Gene wail and swing on this session one is treated to the sound of 70 years of technical prowess, seasoned by good taste and above all soul.

Another great thing about ‘Love Notes…’ is that alongside of well known material like ‘Night and Day’, ‘You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To’ and ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’, bona fide standards, covered hundreds of times by all manner of instrumentalists and singers, Gene works out on less familiar, but also exceptional numbers from Porter’s catalog like ‘I Love You’ and ‘Dream Dancing’.

This is serious, wonderfully played jazz and a fitting final statement from one of the great practitioners of the art.

You can pick up ‘Love Notes of Cole Porter’ directly from Big O Records, or over at CD Baby, where you can get it as a CD or as an MP3 download. You can hear samples of the album at both sites. It’s also available at iTunes, but make sure you search by the title, as a search of ‘Gene Ludwig’ only returns his older albums.

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

Peace

Larry

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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some fuzzed out, crunching garage punk.

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By Larry, March 1, 2011 1:09 pm

Callen Radcliffe Tjader

Listen/Download – Cal Tjader – Gimme Shelter

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your neck of the interwebs.

I mentioned in Monday’s post that I had a rather interesting weekend (or more specifically, Saturday) and that I’d fill you all in today.

This is the kind of tale that some would be tempted to refer to as a comedy of errors, but since it was all error and extremely light on the funny, I will refrain from doing so.

The day started out on an optimistic note when my lovely wife informed me that instead of taking my son to a birthday party, I could instead head up to Jersey City for the Record Riot.

This was very groovy, so I got my record bag and some crumpled up dollars, hopped in the Funky16Corners-mobile (a major player in this story)  and hit the road.

Now, I haven’t spent a great deal of time in Jersey City since the days of visiting my brother there when he lived there almost a decade ago*, but I know some folks who live in the area, and was expecting to see some of them at the show (hey, Pat).

I got up there (about a 90 minute trek) and the first thing I noticed was that seemingly every other street sign in the city had been removed, making it extremely hard to locate the record show.

When I finally got there (the show was being held in a studio space behind a big shopping center) I ended up circling the area looking for what ended up being a non-existent parking space, eventually deciding to park in a lot that appeared to be shared by the shopping center and the light rail station (I should note here that not being a complete numbskull, I did survey the area for anything that would indicate that parking was prohibited. I did not see anything, and the proximity to the rail station now leads me to invite both the city of Jersey City, and the fine people at BJ’s Wholesale Club to go fuck themselves**).

There were no yellow curbs, no fire hydrants and the car was parked between two painted white lines, a tableaux that immediately brought to mind the time worn phrase, “parking space”.

I went into the show, which though not spectacular (very short on 45s) managed to yield some cool stuff.

I figure I was in there for about an hour, at which time I decided that I’d spent enough money and headed back to my car.

What I soon discovered was that I was in fact walking back not to my car, but rather to the spot where my car HAD ONCE BEEN.

Now I’m a big dude, but I am not too big to admit that my initial reaction came perilously close to tears.

I’m not sure how long I stood in the empty, oblong spot that once harbored my car, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before a tow track came tearing into the lot and started backing up to the car in the spot next to mine, preparing to take it away.

I banged on the window of the truck and discovered in short order that he had just finished taking my car to the impound lot. He also pointed out the small sign that I had missed that not only indicated this was an area where parking was prohibited (unless of course you were a customer of the warehouse store, and given the opportunity, I would have gladly gone inside and purchased a palette of toilet paper in order to bypass the towing nightmare), but was also courteous enough to include a schedule of penalties as well.

I was momentarily relieved that my car had not (technically) been stolen.

That didn’t last long.

He agreed to take me to the lot, and informed me that I would have to cough up 225USD, but there was an ATM machine right by the place.

Now, when I tell you that the further we got from the record show, the more bleak the landscape got***, I am not exaggerating.

When we got to the block where the lot was he instructed me that I’d have to walk a few blocks to the bodega where the ATM was located.

When I got there (after being yelled at by a guy across the street who apparently didn’t think I belonged in the neighborhood) I discovered that the door to the bodega was locked. The gentlemen at the gas pumps – after initially ignoring me  – eventually let on that their benefactor was likely indisposed on the bowl and would be returning in a few minutes.

He materialized shortly and let me into the store where I immediately withdrew cash from the machine, all the time wondering if I was going to be able to make it back to the garage without getting robbed.

The fact that I’m writing this now should indicate that I did in fact get my car back and made it out of the city in one piece.

I was shaken, but not because Jersey City was any more dangerous than any other city but because it was utterly unfamiliar.

Having Google Maps at your disposal makes it much easier to get to a destination, but is no help at all in granting egress once someone has made off with your vehicle.

I’ve spent a lot of time in New York City over the last 30 years, and were the same situation to occur there, it wouldn’t bring with it the immediate sense of disorientation I felt in JC. I also suspect that it would be much more difficult (and expensive) to get my car back in NYC, but that’s neither here nor there.

Needless to say, I will not be returning to Jersey City any time soon, unless of course one of you good sports offers to drive, in which case I’ll be glad to wait at the record show while you retrieve your vehicle from the impound lot.

That all said, I was planning on posting today’s selection long before the above events transpired, but once again, a more superstitious individual would see this song choice as the hand of fate at work.

I on the other hand am more inclined to attribute the whole clusterfuck to Murphy’s Law, and the coincidental song selection to its inherent high quality.

I can’t recall where I first heard Cal Tjader’s amazing cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ but I do remember digging it immediately.

Getting my hands on my own copy wasn’t quite so easy, but as is often the case time, luck and a little bit of money took care of that.

If you’ve spent any amount of time here (or more specifically in the Funky16Corners Radio Podcast Archive) you already know that I am a huge fan of the vibes in general, but most especially Mr. Tjader.

He was a master of Latin jazz, branching out into exotica and what would become known as rare groove.

Tjader’s version of ‘Gimme Shelter’ appeared on his 1971 ‘Agua Dulce’ LP, during a period where electric instrumentation (aside from his own vibes, natch) were taking a more prominent place in his band. Here you get synthesizers (employed tastefully), electric piano and the master himself working it out.

I think a few years ago if you’d suggested to me that a song like ‘Gimme Shelter’ would have worked within Tjader’s style I would have reacted with suspicion, but as the cats in the powdered wigs liked to say, the proof is in the pudding.

While much of the chaos and menace of the Stones**** version are missing, Tjader’s interpretation still has a certain something that comes on almost like a distant echo of the original.

Groovy indeed, and I hope you dig it.

With any luck I will avoid tragedy until I return on Friday.

Peace

Larry

* A time when his car was stolen from in front of his apartment.

** Though I’m sure there are those among the towing service sector who like to think of themselves as providing some kind of public service, I prefer to think of their business as a unique combination of car theft and extortion. The fact that the tow truck driver was a creep on a whole other level didn’t do anything to change this opionion.

*** Aside from travelling down one street where I had a perfect, almost poetic vista of the Statue of Liberty

**** Or Merry Clayton’s

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some fuzzed out, crunching garage punk.