Comments (14)

By Larry, November 13, 2011 3:36 pm

Reuben Wilson

Grover Washington Jr.

Listen/Download – Reuben Wilson – Inner City Blues

Listen/Download – Grover Washington Jr. – Inner City Blues

Listen/Download – Grover Washington Jr. – Mercy Mercy Me

Greetings all.

Here’s simultaneously hoping that you all are well and telling you that things are progressing as well as can be expected in our corner of the world.

My incredibly brave wife is standing tall despite chemo beating her like a rented mule.

These are hard times (a la Curtis Mayfield, Gene Chandler and Baby Huey) for her to endure treatment and for us to watch her do it.

It is alternately inspiring and disheartening, since the process reveals her ever deeper well of resilience, but also a seemingly endless supply of physical and psychological pain for her to deal with.

But, deal with it she does.

My thanks go out to the doctors and nurses who are helping her (and all of us) through this experience, as well as all the good folks who have sent messages of hope and prayer.

I’ve never had a huge amount of faith in humanity, but this experience – no matter how harrowing on its face – has also exposed our family to an extraordinary show of kindness and generosity from family and friends.

If there is an upside to this, that is it and it is humbling.

My (our) thanks to all of you.

Since I can’t guarantee more than one post a week while all of this is going on, I figure it behooves me to ensure that it brings with it a healthy dose of sounds, on which you can focus your aural ruminations until the next time I can get it together.

While I was combing the wilds of my hard drive, I happened upon a Reuben Wilson album, with an especially Hammond-groovy take on Marvin Gaye’s ‘Inner City Blues’ from his (Reuben’s) 1972 ‘The Sweet Life’ LP.

As I was giving it a listen, it occurred to me that I had other cool covers of  cuts from ‘What’s Going On’ in storage – of a similar vintage – and that I ought to pair them up in the dual causes of thematic consistency and general good music-ness.

I doubt that anyone reading this will dispute the greatness of Marvin’s 1971 epic, considered by many to be his greatest work, and one of the single finest soul LPs ever recorded.

It was a significant hit for Gaye, and it’s influence was far reaching, generating many cover versions across the soul, funk and jazz spectrums.

The first track I bring you today is the aforementioned Reuben Wilson take on ‘Inner City Blues’ (see Funky16Corners Radio v.24.5 for a very nice cover of this tune by Brian Auger).

Wilson is one of my favorite jazz funk organists of the classic era, never flashy but always stylish and on point. While he doesn’t always get the shine that some of his better known contemporaries do, his work with the Wildare Express (on Brunswick) and solo sides for Blue Note and Groove Merchant are essential.

His take on ‘Inner City Blues’ grooves hard, with some very nice soloing on the Hammond and tight, funky backing by his group.

The second and third cuts in this post are from an artist that continually shows up in surprising places.

Grover Washington Jr is a cat that I only knew from his big hits, and always assumed to have sprung up, fully formed as one of the standard bearers of smooth, R&B inflected jazz.

However, it was during my obsessive Hammond digging that I discovered that he had played with the Mark 3 Trio, and had done time in Philly area combos with none other than the mighty Charles Earland also recording as a sideman for other Prestige artists like Boogaloo Joe Jones, and Leon Spencer.

A few years back someone hepped me to his first solo album ‘Inner City Blues’, recorded for the Kudu label in 1971.

Backed by a serious group of sidemen, including Idris Muhammad, Ron Carter, Eric Gale, Bob James and Richard Tee, Washington displayed a tougher side of his sound.

I was surprised when I discovered how much work he did as a sideman for organists like Johnny Hammond Smith and Dr Lonnie Smith (were they giving everyone named Smith a Hammond organ??), as I was to discover how much I dug this album.

I was initially going to post only his lyrical, mellow cover of ‘Mercy Mercy Me’, but as I was writing this post I was listening to the album and decided that I had to include the title cut from the album as well.

Washington’s version of ‘Inner City Blues’ features some wild guitar as well as some very cool sax work by the man himself that I rougher than just about anything I’ve ever heard him play.

And really, could anyone possibly not dig the opportunity to hear two very cool versions of a song like this?

I thought not.

So, dig the Marvin worship and if I’m not back before Friday, remember that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, and then posted as an MP3 on Saturday.

Keep the faith and I’ll see you when I see you.

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (10)

By Larry, November 8, 2011 2:48 pm

All hail the King

Clean cut but wild.

Listen/Download – King Curtis and the Noble Knights – Sack O’Woe

Listen/Download – Viceroys – Sack O’Woe

Greetings all.

Despite all handicaps temporal or emotional, my pathological need to share sounds with you all has elbowed its way onto the scene.

To begin, a brief update.

All is proceeding as expected with my wife currently reaching her treatment benchmarks.

This is not to suggest that she is up and doing a sprightly jig either, because as anyone who has ever endure chemotherapy will attest, there’s nothing quite like having a war going on inside your body at the microscopic level.

She is beyond tired, perpetually uncomfortable – though the term ‘uncomfortable’ seems sorrowfully inadequate to describe what she’s experiencing – worried (about the rest of us first, herself second), perplexed and most importantly angry, since one must meet the offending disease on all fronts, chemically and spiritually.

We all miss her terribly (especially the little Corners) but know that we all have to hang tough and keep her as “up” as we possibly can (while doing the same for each other).

Your good wishes are very much appreciated, and I assure you that they are being relayed to the missus as they roll in.

Of course, what better way to express these travails in music than a couple of recently acquired versions of one of my all time favorite soul jazz classics, Cannonball Adderley’s mighty ‘Sack O’Woe’.

I’ve never approached this great song in any way but instrumental, and since Mr Adderley laid it down that way, it behooves yours truly to eschew any investigation of the lyrical content (Jon Hendricks’ poetic appendage notwithstanding).

That said, were I to venture a guess as to the overall intent of the song, starting with the title and then digesting the feel of the music (especially Adderley’s versions) one would be forgiven for assuming that the vibe is not any mere gripe, but a defiant fist in the air aimed squarely at any and all oppressions, be they racial, economic, romantic or other, in the style of

‘Like, you know man, when I survey the world around me it occurs to me that what I have slung over my shoulder here is a sack o’woe.’

Which of course is a bag we Grogans find ourselves in right now, but just as soon as we find out where this leukemia cat lives, we’re gonna drop that sack on his doorstep and burn his fucking house to the ground.

You dig?

I thought that you would.

The two sacks I bring you this day come from the horn of King Curtis of Ousley and his Noble Knights, and another royal outfit from the PNW hinterlands by the name of the Viceroys.

Both recordings are of a similar, early 60s vintage, with the King plowing into the songs like a soulful bulldozer, and the Viceroys taking a slightly more laconic approach.*

Either way, both versions cool in their own way, and as soon as I find some more that I like, I shall share them too.

Make sure that you head over to MNtothat to pick up the Funky16Corners 7th Anniversary Mix. I’ll eventually post links and info here, but why wait when you can dig it now?

Make sure to check out this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show, Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, and I’ll see you all as soon as I see you.

Peace

Larry

*Keep in mind that both of these albums contain other treasure worth hearing, which have been, or will be played on the Funky16Corners Radio Show

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, October 25, 2011 11:58 am

Ellen McIlwaine

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Toe Hold

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Up From the Skies

Greetings all.

I was wandering (not aimlessly) through the vast expanse of digimatized music looking for something to tickle my fancy and after picking out a few particularly tasty things and setting them aside for the full blogging treatment, I tripped over something very cool indeed.

Ellen McIlwaine is another one of those artists that I read about long before I heard any of her music.

I used to see her early records (including the album she recorded with her first band, Fear Itself) were perennials on crate diggers ‘finds’ lists, and then back in the 90s I picked up a compilation of her Polydor recordings.

What that collection revealed was a very talented and multi-faceted performer.

McIlwaine, who spent her early years in Japan (her family were missionaries) found her way to New York in the mid-60s where she shared stages with a wide variety of blues and folk performers.

Like many of her contemporaries, she was less interested in being shoehorned into a single genre, instead choosing to weave her own mixture of blues, rock, jazz, soul and folk/world sounds.

The two tracks I bring you today come from her first solo album, 1972’s ‘Honky Tonk Angel’, one side of which was recorded live at the Bitter End in NYC.

The first – her cover of the Isaac Hayes/David Porter* classic ‘Toe Hold’ is a great example of how a largely acoustic band can still manage to be funky (thanks in large part to McIlwaine’s guitar playing).

McIlwaine is also a particularly talented and interesting singer who manages to kind of sail all over the map without ever losing her way. While I was digging for information about the record I happened upon one of Robert Christgau’s old Consumer Guide reviews of this album where he makes the point that while at first impression her vocals might seem ‘overambitious’ she manages to succeed by virtue of the power of her instrument.

I’ve never been a big fan of ‘oversingers’ but I have to agree with the old sage that unlike so many others (especially in these times where vocal acrobatics seem to be the go to substitute for soul), McIlwaine has the wherewithal, balancing talent with taste, to stay just inside the lines.

The second track is a particularly groovy cover of the Jimi Hendrix Experience track ‘Up From the Skies’. It always bugs me that so many people seem to forget that Jimi had a soulful side. McIlwaine’s treatment of ‘Up From the Skies’ taps into – and expands on – that sound.

If you can find either of her first two solo albums (or the CD comp that collects them) grab them. Her later stuff moves further into an electric/rock sound but is still pretty cool.

She still records and performs today, and her recent stuff is particularly interesting, mixing her guitar with tabla and harmonium (dig her cover of ‘Take me To the River’).

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Friday with something cool.

Peace

Larry

* Recorded by Johnnie Taylor, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave among others

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 20, 2011 11:43 am

Freddy King

Listen/Download – Freddy King – San-Ho-Zay

Greetings all.

The end of yet another week has arrived which means it’s time for me to remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back pulsing through the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio with the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove all engineered to keep your ears wiggling and your feet sliding across the floor. If you can’t make the soiree, fall by this very blog on Saturday to pick up the show in easy to use MP3 form to be listened to at your leisure.

I come to you today to tell you that Freddy King was a mighty man.

Nine feet tall, hands like country hams, feet like canal boats and a high, shiny conk that outshone the sun whenever he picked up his tiny guitar.

Of course none of that is true, but were this a just world Freddy King would stand astride the world of the guitar the same way Paul Bunyan towered over any run of the mill forest.

He was a master of the guitar, but not in any of the teenage wet dream virtuoso way of so many of those he influenced.

Freddy King made it look easy.

I have to thank my buddy the Bluesman, who lo these many years ago hit me up with a handful of cassettes (remember those?) of cats like Slim Harpo, Albert King and of course Freddy, all of which helped me lock into the blues, at least enough so that I could proceed on my own.

The thing I remember most, especially with Freddy and Albert (no relation) is how much of the UK rock ‘masters’ I realized had appropriated their sounds and styles. Had either of these gents succumbed to a childhood illness old Slowhand would still be mopping up a chip shop somewhere instead of rolling around naked in piles of hundred pound notes.

That said, I don’t dig out my Bluesbreakers albums much these days, but I do find myself dialing up Freddy King on the old iPod, digging the way the power of his guitar solos rise up and transcend the pops and crackles of the 45s they were recorded from.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I pick up JBs 45s wherever I find them, and the same goes for Freddy King. While some of his rarer discs have evaded me, I have all the bigguns, and they don’t get any bigger than the mighty ‘San-Ho-Zay’.

He laid down today’s selection for the good folks at Federal in Nineteen and Sixty One, and though he barely hit the pop charts, ‘San-Ho-Zay’ was a Top 5 R&B hit. It wasn’t his biggest (the influential ‘Hideaway’ would hit Top 5 R&B and Top 40 Pop that same year) but it’s among his boldest, led by his axe in a way that guitar instros just don’t seem to be capable of anymore.

Interestingly, ‘San-Ho-Zay’ might also ring a bell because it was, how do they say, borrowed from a couple of New Orleans cats (see Dan Phillips great article on the history of the tune at the mighty Home of the Groove blog).

It’s a killer record and a great start to the weekend.

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

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 20, 2011 12:10 pm

T-Bone Walker

Listen/Download – T-Bone Walker – She’s a Hit

Greetings all.

Here we all are, burrowed deep inside the week, so far in fact that we can neither turn around nor be entirely sure we’ll find our way out.

What better time for some gritty Texas blues with soul?

The name T-Bone Walker should be a familiar one, by which I am not suggesting that you do know who he is, but rather that you should, on account of he is justly legendary in the lineage of the electric blues.

Born in 1910 (as Aaron Thibeaux Walker in Linden, TX) he made his first record in 1929 for Columbia, billed as ‘Oak Cliff T-Bone’.

It was in the early 1940s, after spending the previous 15 or so years as a working musician (crossing paths with both Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charlie Christian) , and experimenting with electric guitars that T-Bone returned to wax and, in the words of the great philosophers, blew that shit wide open.

The T-Bone Walker of the 40s and 50s was in many ways the very model of the modern blues guitarist (though his sound was much more sophisticated than that, incorporating R&B and jazz) , that being a singing soloist. Walker wrote and recorded the original of one of the genre’s greatest classics, ‘Stormy Monday’, as well as groundbreaking instrumentals like ‘T-Bone Shuffle’. One of the first great lead guitar soloists, Walker was also a showman supreme, introducing sounds and stage moves that would emerge years later in the repertoire of none other than Chuck Berry, and via osmosis, one James Marshall Hendrix.

That said, by the 1960s, T-Bone was in the very same boat of many of the players of his era that being one full of holes and in immediate danger of sinking into the unforgiving brine of obscurity.

We’ve addressed the issue of blues performers stirring some soul and funk into their cauldrons, and T-Bone Walker was no exception.

By the mid-60s he had intersected with Huey P Meaux, and recorded at least an album’s worth of material, and two singles for the Crazy Cajun’s Jetstream label.

The tune I bring you today, ‘She’s a Hit’ (written by Meaux) was released in 1966 and sees Walker with his feet still planted firmly in the blues, yet managing to soul things up just enough. The song wouldn’t sound out of place coming out of Doug Sahm’s mouth at around the same time, and it manages to give T-Bone a little of the 1966 appeal without tossing out his past like so much moldy bread.

The flip, ‘T-Bone’s Back’ is a much more conventional blues shuffle.

I hope you dig the sounds, and if you have a taste for the blues, and don’t know T-Bone’s classic material, get yourself out and find some, as I can assure you that you will not regret it.

See you on Friday.

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, September 7, 2011 4:00 pm

The Mighty Wardell Quezergue

Listen/Download – Earl King – Trick Bag (Imperial)

Listen/Download – Professor Longhair – Big Chief Pt2 (Watch)

Listen/Download – Marie Boubarere – I’m Going Home (NOLA)

Listen/Download – Robert Parker – Everybody’s Hip Huggin'(NOLA)

Listen/Download – Willie Tee – Walking Up a One Way Street (Atlantic)

Listen/Download – Willie Harper – A Certain Girl (Tou-Sea)

Greetings all.

I hope that everyone is in a groovy place nearing the end of the week.

It behooves me to remind you all (as it always does) that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday evening at 9PM at Viva Radio. This week we have an interesting one, with half the show devoted to the funky side of disco, and the other half to the sounds of classic-era soul. I know you’ll dig it, and if you can’t bet there to hear it, you can always drop by on Saturday to pick up the show in MP3 form here at the blog.

Also, if you have yet to check out the DJ Forty Fivan mix from earlier this week, please do so. It is excellent and really worth your time.

It was with great sadness that I heard the news this week of the passing of one of the last giants of New Orleans soul, Mr. Wardell Quezergue.

Working mostly as an arranger (but also in the producers and composers chairs) Wardell was instrumental (pun fully intended) in grafting the New Orleans sound onto the brains of the listening public. It has been said that he created every record he touched from the ground up, applying his talents to best fit the song, and the individual artist, giving his catalog a tremendous amount of stylistic breadth.

Known as the ‘Creole Beethoven’, WQ (his last name was often misspelled – at times by yours truly –  as Quezerque) was born in 1930. He served as a musician in military bands during the Korean War, and rejoined Dave Bartholomew’s band upon his return to the Crescent City.

He really started to make his mark in the early 60s, with his work on classic 45s by Earl King (‘Trick Bag’ is included above) and the formation of the storied NOLA label where he would arrange some of the finest R&B, soul and funk to come out of the city in the 1960s.

His first big hit was Robert Parker’s ‘Barefootin’ in 1965 (he arranged all of Parker’s sides for the label), still one of the biggest hits to come out of New Orleans.

His biggest success however would come half a decade later with his work for the Chimneyville/Malaco labels and huge hits like King Floyd’s ‘Groove Me’ and Jean Knight’s ‘Mr Big Stuff’ – both recorded on the same day in 1970 – and Dorothy Moore’s ‘Misty Blue’ in 1976.

The tunes included here are a random sampling of Wardell Quezergue’s work that I’ve covered here at Funky16Corners over the years, whether as individual tracks, or in various and sundry mixes. I’ve tried not to duplicate what I’ve seen in other tributes (make sure to check out Soul Sides).

I mentioned Earl King’s ‘Trick Bag’, but I’ve also included Part Two of Professor Longhair’s 1964 landmark ‘Big Chief’, which was written by King and features his vocal.

There are also two tracks from WQ’s extensive NOLA discography, including Marie Boubarere’s Eddie Bo-penned ‘I’m Going Home’ (a live session) from 1967, and Robert Parker’s funky ‘Everybody’s Hip Huggin’ from 1968.

One of the more interesting, and testimony to WQ’s considerable talent as an arranger (dig the way the trumpets and the saxes play off of each other in the horn chart), is Willie Tee’s ‘Walking Up a One Way Street’.

The last track is one that appeared here last summer, and remains one of my favorite Quezergue-related sides, especially since he produced and arranged it. The record in question is Willie Harper’s version of Ernie K Doe’s (written by Allen Toussaint) ‘A Certain Girl’.

Unlike most covers of the tune, Harper and Quezergue take the song at a slow, New Orleans roll, in one of the great examples of bridging the old-school NOLA feel and then contemporary (1968) soul music. It’s also interesting because it has WQ producing an artist who had worked almost exclusively with Toussaint, on one of Toussaint’s labels, as he also did with Warren Lee’s ‘Underdog Backstreet’, also on Tou-Sea.

I’ve never gotten the whole story on why Toussaint seemed to loosen the reins a bit during this period, but the records that came out of it (including another WQ production/arrangement with Gus ‘The Groove’ Lewis’s ‘Let the Groove Move You’) were consistently excellent.

Unfortunately Wardell Quezergue was stricken in his later years by poor physical health, as well as the being victimized by the  destruction of forces natural (Hurricane Katrina) and otherwise (the record industry).

He will always be remembered by fans of the New Orleans sound as one of its greatest geniuses.

He will be missed.

______________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget that I’ll be spinning some tunes during the annual Point Pleasant Lions Seafood 5K and 1 Mile FUN Run/Walk on Saturday, September 17th in Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ. The run benefits the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness and runs right before the Seafood Fest (which starts at 10AM). I’ll be spinning all of the funk soul and disco you’d expect, so if you’re in the area, come on down and run, sit and watch people run while listening to music, or get your groove on before hunting down some delicious seafood. It’s a great cause and there’ll be good music, good people and good food, so what else do you need to know?

____________________________________________________________________________________

See you on Monday

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (9)

By Larry, August 23, 2011 11:57 am

Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber

Listen/Download – Alvin Robinson – Down Home Girl

Listen/Download – The Coasters – Down Home Girl

Listen/Download – The Coasters – Soul Pad
Greetings all.

Sweet weeping jeebus I am bummed, on account of last night, as I was settling in for my rest word came down that one of my all-time musical idols, Jerry Leiber had passed away.

If the name is not immediately familiar, pair it with that of Mike Stoller, and then step off the curb into an abyss of rock’n’roll, R&B and soul history, where the pair stand astride the past 50 plus years as a mighty colossus of songwriting and production.

To say that Leiber/Stoller songs were a huge part of my musical mindset would be a giant understatement.

As I sit here writing this tribute, with the Coasters version of ‘Down Home Girl’ playing on a loop in my headphones, tears welling up in my eyes, I think of how much Leiber and Stoller’s work, from the Coasters on up through Miss Peggy Lee (see Iron Leg next Monday) has meant to me.

Though both of them hailed from the East Coast, Leiber and Stoller came together in Los Angeles in the early 50s where their songwriting empire (using that word to denote a kingdom as opposed to merely a financial construct) came into being, where their earliest successes formed a veritable cornerstone of 50s R&B, with ‘Kansas City’ and ‘Hound Dog’ (the proceeds of which probably yielded enough hundred dollar bills to compact them into solid blocks and build a literal foundation).

They went on to work with the Robins, which begat the Coasters for whom L&S created almost two dozen chart hits, on to the Drifters (There Goes My Baby, On Broadway), Ben E King and countless others.

The pair also had their own labels for a time, with the Red Bird/Blue Cat/Tiger axis that brought us the Dixie Cups, Shangri Las, Alvin Robinson, Ad Libs, Bessie Banks, Evie Sands, and many more.

The thing that always grabbed me about their best work as songwriters/record crafters was the fact that they were almost unequalled in the amount of gritty joie de vive that they could pack into the grooves of a three-minute record.

Though the Coasters were always known for the comedic feel of their 45s, the records they made with L&S were far more sophisticated than “funny”. They were kinetic, explosive, sexy, and manic, layered with heart and soul.

Though their collaboration (which often expanded to include other songwriters like Artie Butler, Phil Spector or Mann and Weil) could be described as symbiotic, the lion’s share of the lyrics were created by Jerry Leiber.

Of all the classics they created, none resonates with me more than ‘Down Home Girl’.

I first encountered the original recording by Alvin Robinson many years ago on a comp of New Orleans soul and though I came away from that record wanting to know more about many of the artists, none of the songs kicked me in the ass like ‘Down Home Girl’.

I can’t think of a finer bit of pop poetry:

Lord I swear the perfume you wear
Was made out of turnip greens
And everytime I kiss you girl
It tastes like pork and beans
Even though you’re wearin’ them
Citified high heels
I can tell by your giant step
You been walkin’ through the cotton fields
Oh, you’re so down home girl

Everytime you monkey child
You take my breath away
And everytime you move like that
I gotta get down and pray
Don’t you know that dress of yours
Was made out of fiberglass
And everytime you move like that
I gotta go to Sunday mass
Oh, you’re so down home girl

Oh, you’re so down home girl

I’m gonna take you to the muddy river
And push you in
Just to watch the water roll on
Down your velvet skin
I’m gonna take you back to New Orleans
Down in Dixieland
I’m gonna watch you do the second line
With an umbrella in your hand
Oh, you’re so down home girl

I’m with ya baby
You’re so down home
Ow! Yeah, too much
Outta sight
You’re so down home girl

The fact that Leiber and Stoller thought to have Alvin Robinson, an obscure New Orleans guitarist and singer (who just happened to have a remarkable voice) deliver such a vivid, lascivious, funny set of lyrics is one of the great musical intersections of their long, stellar career.

It’s a record that these many years later I still find new things to love every time I listen to it. Robinson’s vocal is up to the task (and then some) of delivering one of Leiber’s finest lyrics, packed with subtle twists and turns.

The Coasters remarkable 1967 two-sider of ‘Down Home Girl’ and ‘Soul Pad’ was almost a half-decade past their last hit, and despite its obvious quality, did not return them to the charts.

Their slightly funky take on ‘Down Home Girl’ shows a more relaxed side of the group, but their old selves still manage to poke through here and there.

‘Soul Pad’ is – at least in my opinion – one of Leiber’s funniest lyrics with references to Thelonious Monk and psychedelics, and the arrangement by Mike Stoller is perfection.

Jerry Leiber may not be with us any longer, but the music he created over more than 60 years will live forever. I know that sounds like a cliché (and it is, really), but it’s also true.

You know that somewhere, long after we’re all gone, some space amoeba in the far reaches of the universe will be splitting over and over again to the reverberations of a Leiber and Stoller song, pulsing on radio waves, galloping through the ether.

As it should be.

See you all on Friday with a tribute to the mighty Nick Ashford.

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, August 7, 2011 2:34 pm

Miss Etta James

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

Greetings all.

If you were hanging about on the interwebs this past Thursday, you might have stumbled upon the news (thankfully untrue) that the mighty Etta James had shaken off this mortal coil and was now singing with the choir invisible.

Some jackass, somewhere (not sure who) posted a fake story indicating that Miss Etta had died and the rumor spread like wildfire with any number of my Facebook friends (a list that includes a wide variety of record fiends, DJs etc) posting tributes.

It struck me as odd that I couldn’t find any corroboration for the story anywhere on the web (the one link that kept being posted on Facebook turned out to be a hoax).

While it is true that James has been seriously ill for some time, she is in fact still with us.

This unfortunate glitch is an object lesson in both the speed (and often inaccuracy) of the internet, and why folks ought to double check their sources before posting stuff like this.

If there was a positive by-product at all, it was that I was reminded that I hadn’t posted anything Miss James in a long time, so here you go.

This amazing 45 that came into the world the same year I did (that being 1962).

I’ve often packed ‘Something’s Got a Hold On Me’ in my DJ box but have seldom actually spun it, due in large part (in only part) to its extended intro. It’s a brilliant record, but unless you plan on starting a set with it, not ideal to DJ with.

That said, once Miss Etta gets the preaching out of the way, the tune rolls out of the amen corner like a semi-sanctified juggernaut.

‘Something’s Got a Hold On Me’ is as gospel-feeling as upbeat soul 45s get. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that it was modeled on a specific gospel tune (as several soul songs are).

Dig it, keep Miss Etta in your thoughts and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (4)

By Larry, August 2, 2011 11:33 am

Richard Berry

Listen/Download – Richard Berry and the Pharaohs – Have Love Will Travel

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your little corner of the interwebs, as well as whatever connection any of us has to the “real” (less so every day) world.

As referenced in Monday’s post, this has been an exceptionally busy couple of weeks for yours truly as well as a fantastic example the old saw about how life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.

The Funky16Corners fam had quite a bit of planning (and travel) already penciled in on the calendar, and then a death in the family ended up sending us a few hundred miles in the opposite direction.

Fortunately the week ended on a big up note, with the Funky16Corners Mobile Sound System rolling into Philly to provide the musical entertainment for a wedding party.

I’ve spun many a night, but never before in celebration of someone’s nuptials, and it was a stone gas.

This probably has to do with the fact that the loving couple put together quite a wingding. In addition to requesting a soundtrack of the finest in funk and soul (me again) with a concentration of the sounds of the Big Easy (you know how I roll), the people were very cool (there were even a couple of Funky16Corners fans in the crowd) and the food was spectacular.

It’s always nice to be a part of a happy occasion (usually as a partygoer) but spinning records (there were more than a few people who were stunned to see vinyl being used) and seeing folks get down to stuff like Roger and the Gypsies and Professor Longhair was – in the words of my old man – “something else”.

If anyone else out there decides to get hitched and wants to hear music like that, you know where to find me.

That said, I pulled out a grip of “love” related 45s on Saturday night (on account of what else are you celebrating at a wedding??) but didn’t get around to spinning today’s selection, which is more a reflection of the fact that I went in loaded for bear than anything to do with the quality of the music in the grooves, which is – as usual – quite high.

However, it would have been groovy for two reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I use a spin on the title for the motto on the back of my DJ business cards (as seen directly below this sentence).

You see, if you haven’t heard the OG version of Richard Berry’s ‘Have Love Will Travel’ (which is something that can also be said about his original ‘Louie Louie’, featured here a few years back) you have almost certainly heard the song covered by folks like the might PNW garage gods the Sonics, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Black Keys, Thee Headcoatees, and Central Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.

Released in 1960 (the title is a tip of the hat to Richard Boone’s TV cowboy Paladin aka ‘Have Gun Will Travel’), and like ‘Louie Louie’ doomed to see success only in the hands of others (though in this case not much more) the original ‘Have Love Will Travel’ is a tightly swinging bit of West Coast R&B by Berry and his Pharaohs.

Opening with the “bow bow bow bow” of the bass singer and pushed along by a hard-hitting snare drum and piano, ‘Have Love…’ sees (hears?) Berry’s stellar lead sailing on top of the tight harmonies of the Pharaohs. Once heard – or danced to – it is immediately obvious why this record became an anthem of sorts.

It was already a killer, but like ‘Louie Louie’ it was ripe for seismic reinterpretations by disaffected, snotty, testosterone fueled headbangers, fired up enough to convince their audience that the title was not in fact an idle threat.

The record is sought after by both the Mod and Northern Soul crowd because it kicks all kinds of ass while retaining a stylish, dare I say soulful veneer lost in most of the later interpretations.

Not too long ago I got into a small interwebs shouting match with some thickheaded garage purist who insisted that in the case of ‘Louie Louie’ Richard Berry had been consistently outdone by most of his coverers. This goon had the poor taste to try to serve me a dish of cold “Paul Revere and the Raiders did the best version”, which I promptly sent back to the kitchen with a note that said something to the effect of “pull your head out of your ass”.

I am of the opinion that if you have any taste at all for black music, once you’ve heard Richard Berry’s originals there’s really no going back.

Those that know me (or have happened upon my other blog Iron Leg) know that I have a definite taste for (and strong roots in) garage rock (the fuzzy 60s kind) but I’m smart enough to know the real thing when it falls into my ears, and Richard Berry and the Pharaohs were/are that real thing. All following versions are reinterpretations on a theme, and that theme has strong, deep roots in R&B that are not coming out no matter how hard some pageboyed, Beatle-booted stooge yanks on them.

If today’s story had a moral, it has something to do with knowing the value of those roots and paying respect to the people that cultivated them in the first place.

So there.

Bow bow bow bow, bow bow bow, bow bow bow….

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, July 27, 2011 11:33 am

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners – Set 1 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

Funky16Corners – Botanica 7/18 – Set 1

Earl King – Come On Pt1 (Imperial)

Johnny Otis Show – Country Girl (Kent)

Frank Frost – My Back Scratcher (Jewel)

Timmy Thomas – Have Some Boogaloo (Goldwax)

Betty Harris – Ride Your Pony (Sansu)

Oscar Toney Jr – Ain’t That True Love (Bell)

Human Beinz – Nobody But me (Capitol)

Buddy McKnight – Every Time Pt2 (Renfro)

Eddie Bo – Skate It Out (Seven B)

Howard Tate – Stop (Verve)

Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In the Basement Pt1 (Cadet)

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Listen/Download – DJ Hambone – Set 2 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

DJ Hambone – Botanica 7/18 – Set 2

The Interpretations – Trippin’ – Jubilee

Duralcha – Ghet-o-funk – Microtronics Records

The Soul Lovers – Gonna Have Fun Tonight – Pacemaker

Big Al & The Star Treks – Funky Funk – Double M

Big Jay Bush – Funky Horns – Vangee

Kim Melvin – Doin’ The Popcorn – Hi Records

Frank Williams Rocketeers ft. Little Beaver – Good Thing Pt. 1 – Lloyd Records

The Czars – Get Down Pt. 1 – Key-Loc

Flip Flop Stevens & his Psychedelic Soul Orchestra – Live Your Own Life – Dynamite

The Soul Machine – Twitchie Feet – Pzazz

The Meters – Ease Back -Josie

Lee Dorsey – Tears Tears and More Tears – Polydor

Gary Griffin & The Top Notes – Bootleg – HMF Records

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Listen/Download -M-Fasis – Set 1 – Botanica 7/18/11

You can hear these mixes over at the Funky16Corners Soul Club Archive

M-Fasis – Botanica 7/18 – Set

the wash – brenda & the tabulations – dionn

2. give me you – lee dorsey – fury

3. jungle beat – sir victor uwaifo – phillips

4. take your love (and shove it) – kane’s cousins – shove love

5. humpin’ – the bar kays – volt

6. s’cuse uz y’all – brenda & the tabulations – top and bottom

7. the stretch – detroit sex machines – soul track

8. it’s amazing – johnny taylor – stax

9. knocking ’round the zoo – james taylor – euphoria

10. hard life – motherlode – buddah

11. summertime – billy stewart – chess

12. utica club natural beer drinking song – national carbonation band – rca

______________________________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

This post is the tiniest bit rushed, since some unexpected and unpleasant news rendered an already jam-packed week even more jam-packier.

What you have here is evidence of a hot night at Botanica which was also (sadly) the last Spindletop.

A few weeks back the mighty Perry Lane said that he’d be bringing things to a close, and honored me by asking if I’d man the decks on the final night.

Though I was bummed – Spindletop has been my favorite place to spin this year – I agreed to helm things for the night and kept things sharp by enlisting the help of my buddies M-Fasis and Joe Cristando (aka DJ Hambone).

We had a hell of a time getting the somewhat beleaguered equipment to behave itself (the battered mixer was especially problematic) and then when we finally did, the digital recorder started to misbehave. As a result there are segments of the night that either went unrecorded, or were – thanks to technical difficulties – unacceptable for presentation herein.

I’ve decided to post one set each by the DJs and I think you’ll be satisfied with the results.

I brought a mix of soul that included a tip of the hat (via Howard Tate) to the recently departed Jerry Ragovoy.

DJ Hambone brought a grip of serious  heat including a bunch of stuff I’d never heard before, and M-Fasis dropped yet another incredibly diverse set, packed (as always) with surprises.

That said, I hope you dig it all, and I’ll be back next week.

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, July 17, 2011 3:25 pm

Jerry Ragovoy

Listen/Download – Howard Tate – Get It While You Can (1)

Listen/Download – Lorraine Ellison – Stay With Me (2)

Listen/Download – Lorraine Ellison – Try (Just A Little Bit Harder (3)

Listen/Download – Erma Franklin – Piece Of My Heart (4)

Listen/Download – Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters – Cry Baby(5)

Listen/Download – Irma Thomas – Time Is On My Side(6)

Listen/Download – The Olympics – Good Lovin(7)

Listen/Download – Terry Reid – Stay With Me Baby (8)

1 – Written/produced/arranged by Jerry Ragovoy

2 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and George David Weiss, produced by Ragovoy

3 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Chip Taylor, produced by Ragovoy

4 – Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns

5 – Written by Ragovoy and Berns as Meade and Russell

6 – Written by Jerry Ragavoy with additional lyrics by Jimmy Norman

7 – Produced by Jerry Ragovoy

8 – Ragovoy/Weiss

Greetings all.

I hope everyone is well.

I come to you this day with a heavy heart, since the news came down last week that one of the greatest soul songwriters and producers of the classic era, the mighty Jerry Ragovoy had passed away at the age of 80.

His name was probably familiar to label scanning record nerds (like myself) and soulies, but largely unknown to the general public.

The same cannot – thankfully – be said of the music he made as a songwriter, producer and arranger.

Ragovoy got his start working as a music buyer for an appliance and record store in his native Philadelphia. He eventually found work as an arranger and writer for Chancellor Records, before moving to New York and hooking up with Bert Berns with whom he wrote his first big soul hit, Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters ‘Cry Baby’ in 1963.

Through the 60s, under his own name and psuedonyms like ‘Norman Meade’ and ‘Norman Margulies’ – it’s been said that he thought the record he worked on would lose airplay if he was listed as producer and songwriter – he wrote or co-wrote a string of genuine soul classics for the likes of Howard Tate, Erma Franklin and Lorraine Ellison, and had his songs covered by the James Gang, Terry Reid and most famously, Janis Joplin.

I don’t exaggerate when I say that many records from the Ragovoy canon hold a special place of honor in my record box and my heart.

The most important of these is Howard Tate’s ‘Get It While You Can’.

One of the greatest soul ballads of the 1960s by any measure, it’s the finest thing that Ragovoy and Tate created during their time working together, and epic in every sense. Co-written by Ragovoy and Mort Shuman, ‘Get It While You Can’ is a slow building show-stopper with a brilliant lyric, delivered with both intensity and nuance by Tate (and piano by Ragovoy himself). It is a record of singular power that never fails to bring me to tears.

It would be a gross understatement to say that Ragovoy had a special talent for grand soul ballads. If the best songs he wrote were spread over the catalogs of a few different songwriters they would be hailed as masters.

How surprising must it be for some people to discover that the same man wrote or co-wrote ‘Time Is On My Side’, ‘Cry Baby’, ‘Piece of My Heart’, ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Get It While You Can’, and then even more shocking when you realize that he also produced the landmark versions of many of them?

There’s the famous story of the creation of Lorraine Ellison’s ‘Stay With Me’ (co-written by Ragovoy and George David Weiss) in a block of abandoned Frank Sinatra studio/orchestra time, one of the greatest soul ballad performances ever, put together on incredibly short notice.

It is also a testament to the power of Ragovoy’s songs that they translated so well in the rock world.

The first Jerry Ragovoy song I remember associating with his name was the James Gang’s 1969 version of ‘Stop’ (originally recorded by Howard Tate), long a teenage favorite of mine which I only discovered was a cover years later when a friend played Tate’s version at a party.

The only rock take on one of Ragovoy’s tunes I bring you today has become one of my favorite recordings in any genre, Terry Reid’s 1969 recording of ‘Stay With Me (Baby)’.

Though he is not well known in the US, Reid had a brief heyday on the the underground FM airwaves of the late 60s and early 70s. he was possessed of a voice reminiscent of a somewhat more refined version of Steve Marriott and in the midst of an era filled with overkill, his recording of ‘Stay With Me Baby’ is a revelation. The instrumentation is fairly spare and restrained, giving Ragovoy’s melody full attention and is, at least in my opinion, every bit as majestic in its own way as Ellison’s version (whose 1968 original recording of ‘Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)’, another tune covered by Joplin, is also included).

For those that haven’t heard Erma Franklin’s original (1967) version of ‘Piece of My Heart’, it too should prove to be an eye-opening experience. Franklin’s approach to the song, cross-breeding lamentation and defiance and delivered in her deeply soulful voice employs a dynamic range and casual power that Joplin  – at least to my ears – never really achieved.

Also worth hearing is a great example of Ragovoy’s work as a producer, the Olympics 1965 recording of ‘Good Lovin’ (arranged, as was Franklin’s ‘Piece of My Heart’ by Gary Sherman).

Ragovoy continued to write and produce into the 70s and went on to open and run the famous Hit Factory recording studio from 1969 to 1975 when it was sold.

If the sounds herein interest you, make an effort to pick up the outstanding Ace Records comp ‘The Jerry Ragovoy Story’ which covers his best work as a songwriter and producer from the early 50s into the 70s.

He was a master, and will be missed.

Peace

Larry

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PS  – Don’t forget, Monday, 7/18 I will be sitting in for DJ Perry Lane and spinning at Spindletop @ Botanica (47 E. Houston St, NYC). I will be joined by M-Fasis and Joe Cristando, so come on by for some hot music and some cold drinks…

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (6)

By Larry, July 7, 2011 9:35 am

Washington Smith aka Nat Wright

Listen/Download – Washington Smith – Fat Cat

Listen/Download – Washington Smith – Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me

Greetings all.

The end of an exceptionally long (in spite of the holiday) week is finally at hand, and in commemoration I bring you something exceptionally groovy.

But first (always with the “but first”…) I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show, your source for all things soul and funk, will once again be taking to the airwaves this Friday night at 9PM over at Viva Radio. As always, I promise you an hour of the best groovy gravy pulled from the catacombs of the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault, so fall by and glue your ears to the interwebs, or stop here at the blog over the weekend to pick up the MP3 version of the show.

A little while back, Oscar winning songwriter Joe Brooks took his own life in the midst of a very dark scandal.
Known mainly for writing the 70s uber-schmaltz of ‘You Light Up My Life’, Brooks also had a little known and incredibly cool chapter in his past.

As covered here back in 2008, Brooks was the man behind one of the great breakbeat funk 45s of all time, ‘Yo Yo’ by Richard’s People.

Thanks in large part to the mighty Matt ‘Mr Finewine’ Weingarden, who provided some crucial information I was able to get to the bottom (or as close as possible) of the story.

When Brooks passed, Finewine made a Facebook post about it, first including a clip of ‘Yo Yo’, then a record I had never heard before, by a singer I’d never heard of named Washington Smith.

As soon as I hit the play button I was blown away, and even more so when I realized that the song in question ‘Fat Cat’ was another Brooks composition, and in this case (co) production.

What it also was/is, is as smoking a slice of Mod soul as you’re ever likely to hear.

Opening with a vaguely Beatle-y bass/guitar riff, the tune zips from zero to sixty in no time at all, with Smith (wait, there’s more on old ‘Washington’) blazing in with a Jackie Wilson-esque vocal, backed by a girl chorus and a pounding piano.

Things get kicked up to another level when a wild harmonica solo comes in. Though not always a welcome addition to a soul record, the harp gives ‘Fat Cat’ a hot R&B edge that makes for absolute, soulful perfection.

Interestingly, ‘Washington Smith’ appears to have been a nom de wax for a cat named Nat Wright, who also recorded under the pseudonym ‘Nat Love’. As Wright he recorded jazz, soul and R&B vocals, as Washington Smith and Nat Love soul and R&B, and then later on in his life, jazz again as Tony Moore. Wright also performed on Broadway in the 1950s.

There are clips on YouTube of some of his other efforts (soul and jazz)  as Nat Wright.

The flip side of this 45 (which was originally issued on the Rainbow label, then picked up for national distribution by Okeh in 1967) is an excellent, Walter Jackson-esque ballad called ‘Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me’ (also written by Brooks) which had a great deal of potential in its own right.

That said, ‘Fat Cat’ is a gasser of the first order and will be traveling with me (in yon record box) the next time I spin the 45s.

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

Peace

Larry

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

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

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.