Comments (0)

By Larry, June 16, 2019 10:45 am

Funky16Corners Presents: Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache
A Solid Hour of Soul For Dancers 

Isley Brothers – Got To Have You Back (Tamla)|
Bandwagon – Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache (Epic)
Teri Nelson Group – Love Is Getting Better (Kama Sutra)
Yvonne Fair – Just As Sure As You Play (You Will Pay) (Smash)
Little Richard – Whole Lotta Shaking Going On (Veejay)
Billy Graham and the Escalators – Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Atlantic)
Anna King- If You Don’t Think (Smash)
Jimmy Jones – Don’t You Just Know It (Parkway)
Bobby Whitlock – And I Love You (HIP)
Big Dee Irwin – Discotheque (Roulette)
Aldora Britton – Do It With Soul (Columbia)
Betty Everett – I Can’t Hear You No More (Veejay)
Monti Rock III – For Days and Days (Mercury)
Johnny Moore – A Dollar Ninety Eight (Wand)
Maxine Brown – Anything You Do Is Alright (Wand)
Jun Mayuzumi – Black Room (Capitol JP)
Spyder Turner – Dream Lover (MGM)
Sweet Inspirations – Just Walk In My Shoes (Atco)
Bobby Lester – Hang Up Your Hang Ups (Columbia)
Johnny Daye – I Need You (Stax)
Toni Lamarr  – If I Didn’t Love You (Buddah)
Capitols – We Got a Thing That’s In the Groove (Karen)
Delcords – Just a Little Misunderstanding (UP)
Joe E Young and the Toniks – Get That Feeling (Toast)
Alvin Cash and the Crawlers – Do It One More Time (the Twine) (Mar V Lus)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners: Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache – 114MB Mixed MP3

__________________________________________________________

Funky16Corners Presents: Loose and Groovy
An Hour of Instrumental Wonderfullness Packed With Breaks!

Dizzy Gillespie – Stomped and Wasted (GWP)
Sonny Cox – Chocolate Candy (Bell)
Cal Tjader – The Tra La La Song (Skye)
George Shearing, the Quintet and the Amigos – Aquarius (MPS/BASF)
Gordon Staples and the String Thing – Get Down (Tamla)
Bob Dorough – A Taste of Honey (MMO)
Harry J All Stars – Spyrone (Harry J)
Impact of Brass – So Far So Good (Rare Earth)
Al Serafini his Electronic Sax and Orchestra – Lil Rosey (Audio Fidelity)
Willie Bobo – Grazing In the Grass (Verve)
Odell Brown and the Organizers – Day Tripper (Cadet)
Terumasa Hino Quintet – Snake Hip (Capitol JP)
Lou Garno Quintet – Chicken In the Basket (Giovannia)
Johnny Frigo Quartet – Dance of Love (Orion)
Richard Fudoli – Gwee (Date)
Soulful Strings – Zambezi (Cadet)
The Touch – Pick and Shovel (LeCasVer)
Soul Searchers – Think (Sussex)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners: Loose and Groovy – 87MB Mixed MP3

__________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

The Funky16Corners 2019 Allnighter/Pledge Drive is here!

Things are looking (much) different this year.

This is the 10th year of doing a pledge drive here at Funky16Corners, and the landscape, and (forgive the use of the word) ‘mission’ of Funky16Corners has evolved fairly drastically since the blog opened it’s doors nearly 15 years ago (not counting the webzine years).

The world of music blogging is not what it once was. The way people access music and information on the web is a whole different thing than it was when I started. Traffic is a small fraction of what it once was.

The main thrust of what I do here at Funky16Corners has also changed significantly.

Starting with single-song blog posts in the early days, moving on to DJ mixes, then the beginning of the Funky16Corners Radio Show (which is nearing the 500 episode mark!), then the various and sundry guest mixes, in and outside of the pledge drive context.

I have to begin by sending out my thanks to all of the amazing DJs that have been generous with their time and their records over the years, all of whom I am proud to have featured at Funky16Corners.

The last few years have seen my move into live radio broadcasts, with Funky16Corners Radio Show and Testify!, my show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio appearing weekly, and the Iron Leg Radio Show (nearing 100 episodes) monthly.

As a result of the workload associated with this change, the frequency of blog posts has decreased to once a week.

This year I decided that I needed to take a break from the Allnighter/Summer of Soul format, if only to ease off of the workload associated with putting it all together (and maybe spend a little more time with the fam while they’re home for the summer).

In it’s place I have created two brand new, hour-long mixes.

The first, Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache is an hour of dancefloor soul, with a grip of new and recent arrivals in the Funky16Corners crates.

The second. Loose and Groovy is a collection of instrumentals, many of them funky, packed with breaks and loopable grooves for days.

The focus on using Patreon to raise money to pay the bills around here (paying for server space/bandwidth and broadcast fees) has proven to make a lot of sense, moreso than the previously used Paypal model.

If you dig any of the stuff I do here, any of the radio shows, or the mix archives, or even if you’re one of the few that still read the blog posts, please consider signing up for Patreon and making a small, recurring, monthly donation of a few dollars.

You can click on the link below.

It’s pretty simple, very safe and a great way to keep Funky16Corners up and running for another year.

So thanks in advance, and enjoy the tunes!

Keep the Faith

Larry

_____________________________________________________________

The pledging will continue this year with Patreon (click here or on the logo below to go to the Funky16Corners page) , where you will be able to spread your contributions out over the entire year, which will help cover the ongoing server/broadcast/hardware expenses. This year has seen the move to 100 percent live broadcasting (Mixlr.com/Funky16corners)  and continued hardware and software upgrades at Funky16Corners central, to keep the radio/podcasting experience as seamless and groovy as possible. So please dig deep so we can continue to do the same, and if you’re already a Patreon donor, please accept my heartfelt thanks!

_____________________________________________________________________

I am also including a Paypal donation button (below) if you’d rather donate in a lump sum instead of the rolling donation in Patreon.

_______________________________________________

So, download and dig the mixes, keep digging the radio shows!

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

PS Head over to Iron Leg when you have a minute!. <

Comments (0)

By Larry, June 9, 2019 9:09 am

Charles Earland

Listen/Download – Charles Earland – (You Caught Me) Smiling MP3

Greetings all.

I come to you today with an exceptionally tasty bit of Hammond goodness, courtesy of one of my all time faves, the mighty Charles Earland. It is made all the more tasty by its roots as a Sly and the Family Stone cover.

Earland was the preeminent second-wave (post Jimmy Smith) Pennsylvania Hammond giants, getting his start in the early 60s and then moving on to a solid career all the way through the 90s until his passing in 1999. His early, local Philly 45s are classics, as are all the albums he made for the soul jazz powerhouse Prestige Records.

Today’s selection is the opening track on his 1972 LP ‘Live at the Lighthouse’.

Recorded at the storied jazz club in Hermosa Beach, CA, it’s a fantastic set with Earland leading a tight band.

The song, originally titled ‘You Caught Me Smilin’ (truncated to ‘Smiling’ here) originated on Sly and the Family Stone’s 1971 LP ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On’. The original, vocal version of the song has a kind of dreamy/stoned vibe to it. Earland’s cover lights a bit of a fire under it, with a big Hammond sound that sometimes verges on (but never crossed into) distortion.

The album as a whole is quite good, but this track is by far my fave.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, May 12, 2019 3:40 pm

Kelly Gordon

Listen/Download – Kelly Gordon – If ThatDon’t Get It, It Ain’t There MP3

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today is from the sole album by Kelly Gordon.

I forget where I first heard about Gordon, but I do remember that it had to do with today’s selection being an interesting, funky track.

After I grabbed a copy of the album, I dug a little deeper into Gordon’s story and discovered some interesting things.

First and foremost, Gordon was the composer of one of Frank Sinatra’s biggest hits, ‘That’s Life’. He was also the producer on Bobbie Gentry’s classic run of mid-60s albums, including the epic ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ (he appears to have been a staff producer at Capitol records, working the board for a wide variety of artists).

Though he recorded a few 45s under his own name through the 60s, 1969’s ‘Defunked’ was his only album.

Featuring a variety of R&B based styles (leaning in the same direction as Joe South during the same period), the album also includes the first recording of the song ‘He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother’.

Today’s selection is the only instrumental on the album. ‘If That Don’t Get It, It Ain’t There’ features twangy guitar, funky drums and a chunky electric piano foundation, along with some punchy horns. It’s a great slice of funky rock, and the kind of thing people would be crawling over each other to get had it been issued on 45.

Sadly, Gordon was stricken with lung cancer and passed away in 1981 at the age of 49.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, April 14, 2019 9:13 am

Little Richie Varola

Listen/Download – Little Richie Varola – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s feature is one of my all time favorite, obscure Hammond organ burners.

Little Richie Varola did almost all of his recorded work – save the album you see above – as the organist for Louis Prima.

Born in central Pennsylvania (what was in the water in PA that produced so many Hammond players?), Varola joined up with Prima in the 1960s after a starting up playing in the lounges of Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

He was a keyboard prodigy, capable of lightning-fast speed and showmanship.

He recorded his sole LP as a solo artist in 1968 for the Verve label, backed by Sam Butera and the Witnesses.

The album was a combination of popular organ features like ‘Walk On the Wild Side’ and today’s selection ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’, standards and contemporary pop like Tom Jones’s ‘It’s Not Unusual’.

‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ was first recorded by Jimmy Smith in 1964 and quickly became something of a Hammond standard, being recorded by James Brown, Graham Bond, the Dynamics, The Pieces of Eight and even the Buckinghams.

Varola’s version of ‘Who’s Afraid…’ starts out with a quote from the James Bond theme, storming into a 100MPH version of the song with unbelievable keyboard work by Varola.

His speed and precision on the Hammond is remarkable and it’s not hard to see why Butera recruited him for Prima’s band.

Varola played on a couple of Louis Prima albums before leaving the group in 1972.

He was apparently working toward a jazz-rock fusion sound when he was killed in a car accident in 1974 at the age of 30.

I can only imagine what he might have been capable of musically had he lived.

As far as I can tell his album has never been reissued, so if you dig the sound you’ll have to find yourself an original copy.

I hope you dig the sounds and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (1)

By Larry, April 7, 2019 2:46 pm

Listen/Download – Chip and Dave – Seventh Round MP3

Greetings all.

The track I bring you today is proof yet again that the Pacific Northwest scene of the 1960s – filled with rock bands with deep R&B roots –  is a gift that keeps on giving.

I have absolutely no recollection of how I first encountered Chip and Dave’s ‘Seventh Round’ (though I suspect it was an Ebay search for ‘organ 45s’) but I was very happy indeed when I slipped it under the needle.

Chip and Dave were the drum and piano/organ duo of Chip Rawson and Dave Immer, who – with the addition of various and sundry vocalists and instrumentalists – were an Oregon-based outfit that made two 45s in 1965 and 1966.

‘Seventh Round’ appeared on their first record, which came out on Sure Star in 1965 and was picked up by Jerden the following year.

The tune is a raw, fast moving, Ray Charles-influenced instrumental opening with drums (they even helpfully included the time signature on the label!) and piano, soon joined by the organ.

It’s the kind of record you can imagine a roomful of kids tearing it up to back in the day.

There’s almost no info out there about Chip and Dave, but the fact that their 45 was picked up by Jerden suggests to me that it must have had a certain amount of regional popularity. Their second 45 (for Decca) charted briefly in Washington (state) early in 1967.

Immer appears to have had at least one solo 45, on the PNW label Burdette in the early 70s.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 20, 2019 2:16 pm

Joe Johnson and his Hammond

Listen/Download – Joe Johnson Trio – Son of Ice Bag MP3

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you well.

The track I bring you today is from what most would consider a private press album (as far a I can tell the ‘label’ never issued anything else).

The performer is organist Joe Johnson, and the track, ‘Son of Ice Bag’ appears on the album ‘Jazz In Jersey’.

I can’t find any information to indicate that Johnson ever recorded anything else, under how own name, or as a sideman.

‘Jazz In Jersey’ appears to have been released in 1973, and while Johnson and most of the sidemen listed are obscure, the guitarist, Thornell Schwartz spent a lot of time recording with big name organists like Jimmy Smith, Johnny Hammond Smith and Larry Young.

The track, ‘Son of Ice Bag’ was written and first released by Hugh Masekela in 1967. It was covered a few years later by Lonnie Smith.

Johnson aquits himself nicely, and the arrangement, which hews pretty closely to the Lonnie Smith take, is cool.

I wish I knew more about Johnson. The record – despite the title – was recorded in Philadelphia, and the liner notes mention that he received an award in Philadelphia. They also say he worked with Lou Donaldson and Houston Person, but I can’t find any information to suggest that he recorded with either of them. My suspicion is that he was another working musician, probably grinding it out in night clubs and bars but never making the connection in the studios.

I hope you dig the sounds, and if you have any info on Joe Johnson, please drop me a line.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 13, 2019 11:19 am

Funky16Corners Presents: All Strung Out

San Remo Golden Strings – Hungry For Love (Ric Tic) 1965
San Remo Golden Strings – I’m Satisfied (Ric Tic) 1966
Luther Ingram Orchestra – Exus Trek (Hib) 1966
Kaddo Strings – Crying Over You (Impact) 1966
Robert Walker and the Soul Strings – Stick To Me (RCA) 1967
Lebaron Strings – Now She’s Gone (Solid Hit) 1967
Soulful Strings – Burning Spear (Cadet) 1967
Soulful Strings – Soul Message (Cadet) 1968
Soul Strings and a Funky Horn – Yester Love (Solid State) 1968
Soul Strings and a Funky Horn – Think (Solid State) 1968
Soft Summer Soul Strings – I’m Doing My Thing (Columbia) 1969
Soulful Strings – Chocolate Candy (Cadet) 1969
Soulful Strings – Zambezi (Cadet) 1969
101 Strings – A Taste of Soul (Alshire) 1970 (also billed as Les Baxter and 101 Strings)
Gordon Staples & the Motown Strings – Strung Out (Tamla/Motown) 1971
Gordon Staples & the Motown Strings – Get Down (Tamla/Motown) 1971
Soft Summer Soul Strings – Theme For Soul Strings (Columbia 1969)

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Presents: All Strung Out – 98MB Mixed Mp3/256K

NOTE: This has been an exceptionally busy week, so I thought I’d dig into the archives and repost a favorite mix. I hope you dig it (or re-dig it) and I’ll catch you all next week. – Larry

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at Funky16Corners.

What you see before you is the result of one of my musical obsessions, taken to the nth degree.

Longtime readers of Funky16Corners will already be hip to the fact that I am a huge fan of the Soulful Strings.

I consider Richard Evans to be a genius, and the work he did for the Cadet label, with the Soulful Strings and otherwise made for some of the finest music of the 1960s.

It was a while back, while prepping a blog post about a JJ Barnes 45, that I discovered, quite by accident that two of his sides had been redone (using the same raw tracks) as string instrumentals on a Solid Hit 45, billed as the Lebaron Strings (after label honcho Lebaron Taylor).

This got me thinking about other “strings” instrumentals, and so the search began.

I dug back into my own crates, and started to look elsewhere and was surprised by much of what I found.

The “soulful string” instrumentals can be divided into pre-and-post Soulful Strings.

The first wave, starting with the San Remo Golden Strings made its way onto vinyl in 1965.

The first of these tracks, ‘Hungry For Love’ got its start as an uncredited instrumental on the flipside of Barbara Mercer’s 1965 Golden World 45 ‘The Things We Do Together’.

Reportedly, when the instrumental started to get some airplay, Ed Wingate, using the name of an Italian town that he and his wife had been to on vacation, paired the tune with ‘All Turned On’ (featuring pianist Bob Wilson) and the San Remo Golden Strings were born.

The “group” was in fact various and sundry moonlighting Funk Brothers, backed by string players from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, led by violinist/concertmaster Gordon Staples.

‘Hungry For Love’ was a minor hit, as was its follow-up ‘I’m Satisfied’. Another San Remo cut, ‘Festival Time’ buoyed by the Northern Soul scene, became a UK Top 40 hit in 1971.

The UK soul scene is an important link, especially in regard to the early string-laden instrumentals.

‘Exus Trek’ by the Luther Ingram Orchestra was released in 1966. It was an instrumental dub of that single’s A-side ‘If It’s All the Same To You’. Both sides of the 45 became popular spins in the UK.

The same can be said of 1966s ‘Crying Over You’. An instrumental version of Duke Browner’s vocal of the same name got its own 45 release, three catalog numbers before Browner’s version (both writing and production are credited to Browner. As with the Ingram 45, both sides became popular spins on Northern dance floors.

I haven’t been able to track down much in the way of info on Robert Walker and the Soul Strings. The involvement of producer/arranger Ernie Wilkins suggests to me that it was a Detroit record. The side presented here, ‘Stick To Me’ is classic Northern Soul and is one of the rarer 45s in this mix. The flipside ‘The Blizzard’ is a great, uptempo dance craze vocal.

‘Now She’s Gone’ by the aforementioned Lebaron Strings was released in 1967, pre-dating the vocal version of the tune by JJ Barnes by a year.

As I mentioned earlier, these tracks can largely be divided into pre-and-post Soulful Strings eras.

Though Detroit producers and musicians were ladling strings over all kinds of records (the classy sound of strings an important component of what would become known/collected as Northern Soul) Richard Evans work with the Soulful Strings was the first purpose-built example of the sound.

It was in Evans hands that the string aspect of the music became more than an embellishment. He integrated the sound of the string section with the more innovative aspects of the Cadet Records sound. That he had access to the finest musicians in Chicago had a lot to do with the artistic success of the records.

Their first album ‘Paint It Black’ was released in 1966, but it wasn’t until ‘Burning Spear’ charted, making it into the R&B Top 40 in early 1968 as well as having regional success on Chicago radio that the group had some success.

Not only was ‘Burning Spear’ covered many times, but the group must have been selling LPs, since Cadet released no less than seven albums, including a live set and a Christmas record.

Evans was no less than a visionary, taking what could have been a simple, easy listening concept and doing something entirely unexpected with it.

The first two Soulful Strings tracks included in this mix are the classic ‘Burning Spear’ from the 1967 LP “Groovin’ With the Soulful Strings’ and ‘Soul Message’ from 1968’s ‘Another Exposure’. Both are fantastic examples of the broad palette that Evans was working with.

The remainder of the tracks in the mix seem to have been following the lead of Evans and the Soulful Strings to varying degrees.

‘Soul Strings and a Funky Horn’, released in 1968 seems a direct attempt to capitalize on the sound of the Soulful Strings. Produced by Sonny Lester for his Solid State label, the record bears no other credits whatsoever (aside from songwriting).

The LP was a mixture of covers of obvious hits and more obscure numbers.

The two tracks included here, a cover of the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles ‘Yester Love’ and Aretha Franklin’s ‘Think’ may not be nearly as adventurous as the Soulful Strings, but the band and the arrangements are tight.

The Soft Summer Soul Strings are another mystery. Though the catalog number of the 45 seems to indicate a 1969 vintage, the music on the 45 points to a somewhat earlier time.

The first tune included here, ‘I’m Doing My Thing’ is a fairly obvious lift of the Supremes’ ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ and the flip (with which we close the mix) ‘Theme For Soul Strings’ applies the same MO to King Curtis’ ‘Soul Serenade’ (both 1964 records). I haven’t been able to make any connections using the info on the labels, so if anyone knows where this one is from, please drop me a line.

The next two cuts hail from what in my opinion is the finest of all the Soulful Strings albums, 1969’s ‘String Fever’. The first of the group’s albums to be composed almost entirely of original material and featuring some of the grooviest sounds of their catalog, ‘String Fever’ is also one of the hardest Soulful Strings albums to come by.

‘Chocolate Candy’ and ‘Zambezi’ are both funky, forward thinking and leave the listener wondering why the Soulful Strings weren’t much more successful.

The next cut is an aberration of sorts, since it comes not from the world of soul, but out of Exotica. ‘A Taste of Soul’ was released a few different times, credited to Les Baxter, Les Baxter and 101 Strings and just 101 Strings.

One of the more prolific exploit-Exotica outfits, 101 Strings created albums aimed squarely at squares, especially those with ‘hi fi’ systems.

The California-based Alshire label was home to all manner of cash-in records aimed at the rock, pop, country and easy listening markets. There were dozens of albums issued under the 101 Strings name, including classical, ethnic, exotica and pop efforts.

This material, once recorded was often issued and reissued with different covers, in different collections, getting the maximum mileage out of the product.

‘A Taste of Soul’ is itself an anomaly in the Alshire catalog. Though the cut opens with waves of strings that sound like they were lifted from a contemporary movie soundtrack, once the drums come in (and they come in heavy) you begin to realize that you’re hearing something unusual.

Where Cadet may have been casting an eye at the easy/hi-fi crowd with the Soulful Strings albums, leaving them in the hands of Richard Evans and the Cadet house band took them in another direction entirely.

101 Strings, emanating from the 99 cent bins in supermarkets, gas stations and occasionally record stores had no overt musical agenda beyond basic competence, but like any broken clock that reads the correct time twice a day, they struck gold with ‘A Taste of Soul’ (which even had a 45 release under Baxter’s name).

Gordon Staples and his compadres from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra were fixtures on all manner of Detroit soul records, for Motown as well as various and sundry smaller labels. It was in 1970 that Staples and the Funk Brothers (once again, anonymously) were paired yet again as ‘Gordon Staples and the String Thing’ (aka the Motown Strings).

Of all the tracks in this mix, Gordon Staples and the String Thing meet the Soulful Strings on their own turf and come away looking (and sounding) quite good.

The 1970 LP ‘Strung Out’ features a couple of well-chosen covers, as well as a grip of excellent originals penned by Motown arranger Paul Riser. Riser, who won a Grammy with Norman Whitfield for the instrumental b-side of ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ wrote some stellar material for the String Thing/Motown Strings.

The first cut here ‘Strung Out’ – which also saw release as a 45 – is sought out by crate diggers and is a great showcase for the Funk Brothers (dig that James Jamerson bass line).

‘Get Down’, which is a little less laid back features some excellent guitar work.

Many of the tracks from the ‘Strung Out’ album were recycled a few years later on the soundtrack to the Fred Williamson Blaxploitation flick ‘Mean Johnny Barrows’.

The last track in this mix – the only one presented out of chronological order – is the Soft Summer Soul Strings ‘Theme For Soul Strings’. As I mentioned before, it sounds as if it was written as a ‘tribute’ to King Curtis’ 1964 ‘Soul Serenade’. It’s slow, mellow, and is a great way to close out the mix.

I hope you dig this look into an often forgotten chapter of the ‘soul story’.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, December 9, 2018 11:58 am

The Picture Sleeve

Listen/Download – Georges Raudi – Stercok MP3

Greetings all.

The track I bring you today is one of those things that I first encountered back in the old Soulstrut days, and managed to pick up a few years later.

The track ‘Stercok’ originated on the soundtrack to a 1970s French TV series about the cat burglar Arsene Lupin (about whom other films had been made, before and after this show).

The ‘soundtrack’ as it was, was restricted to two sides of a 45. One side a terrible Jacques Dutronc song, and the other, this very groovy, funky Hammond instrumental.

Though the cut is credited to Georges Raudi and His Orchestra, it seems the artists name is correctly spelled ‘Rodi’.

Georges Rodi was a keyboardist and composer with a ton of credits as a sideman and several albums under his own name.

‘Stercok’ (I have no idea what the title refers to) starts out with a punchy drum roll, followed by thumping bass, distorted rhythm guitar and lots of atmospheric, Hawkshaw-esque organ work. There are also piano solos (probably Rodi, as well).

The feel is very much a perfect late 60s/early 70s discotheque-au-go-go vibe, and I can definitely picture it being used as the background to a swinging scene.

Interestingly, for a groovy, French-only 45 release, ‘Stercok’ isn’t terribly expensive or hard to track down, so go get yourself a copy.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, December 2, 2018 11:55 am

Lionel Hampton

Listen/Download – Lionel Hampton – Funky Chicken MP3

Greetings all.

I have sung the praises of the mighty Lionel Hampton in this space many times over the years.

Hampton had serious, solid jazz credentials going back to the mid-1930s and the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Like many of his contemporaries, when the 1960’s rolled around, and the demand for, and popularity of large jazz bands started to wane, Hampton made many (artistically) successful attempts at musical relevancy, including the epic 45 ‘Greasy Greens’ on his own Glad-Hamp label.

Starting in 1972 Hampton signed with Brunswick Records and recorded a series of albums aimed at a younger market, recording versions of many contemporary pop and soul hits.

1976’s ‘Off Into a Black Thing’ was his fifth and final outing for Brunswick, and despite it’s placement firmly in the disco era, it included a number of earlier, funkier sounds.

The track I bring you today is Hampton covering Willie Henderson’s 1970 ‘Funky Chicken’ (the title track of Hampton’s album is another tune from Henderson’s album).

‘Funky Chicken’ isn’t only a cover, but it also uses the same backing track as the 1970 original, with Hampton soloing over it (and someone rapping over that).

It’s nothing groundbreaking, but since the OG is so funky, and Hamp’s (he was closing in on 70 when he recorded it!) vibes sound very groovy indeed, I’ll take it.

Oddly enough, Hampton’s Brunswick albums are fairly hard to come by, but worth picking up when you find them.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 16, 2018 10:56 am

Perez Prado

Listen/Download – Perez Prado – Mama A Go Go MP3

Greetings all.

You find music in the strangest places.

A few years back someone posted a psychotronic video, with a clip of a dancer from some old black and white grindhouse flick, but the music playing over the clip was wild.

It took some finagling, but after asking around and doing a little digging I discovered that the track was toady’s selection, ‘Mama A Go Go’ by Perez Prado.

Prado was a Cuban/Mexican bandleader, known as the King of the Mambo who had hits in the 50s with the original ‘Mambo No 5′, Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White’ and ‘Patricia’.

Originally released in 1967 on the United Artists LP ‘Concierto Para Bongo’, ‘Mama A Go Go’ is a crazy fusion of Latin boogaloo and 60s au go go.
The mixture of styles is unusual, but I’m a little shocked it wasn’t more prevalent. The collision of the two styles seems like a natural fit to me, with the hard percussion and the wailing combo organ.

The album as a whole is a very interesting mix of styles, with a few tracks (‘Estoy’ and ‘A Go Go’) following the pattern of ‘Mama A Go Go’, ‘Cayitano’ moving in a straighter boogaloo direction and ‘Fantasia’ and the title track going straight up Latin jazz.

The album must have been popular in some markets, as it was released in a number of countries in 1967, then reissued in Spain and the US in the 70s (this is a 1979 Raiz issue) then again in a few countries in the 80s, then on CD a number of times in the following decades.

There was also a 45 issue of this track and as far as I can tell it’s rarer and more expensive than the LP.

I hope you dig it and I’ll see you next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 18, 2018 12:00 pm

Walter Wanderley

Listen/Download – Walter Wanderley – Kee-Ka-Roo MP3

Greetings all.

Welcome back to the Funky16Corners thing for another week of musical wonderfulness.

The track I bring you today is a long (loooong) time fave, introduced (and initially gifted) to me by my buddy Haim.

Haim used to turn me on to all kinds of cool music, and one day he played Walter Wanderley’s ‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ for me and just about blew my mind.

You all know that I’m a certified Hammond nut, and while I knew of Wanderley (already owning a couple of his boss nova LPs) I had no idea he had anything like this in his arsenal.

Wanderley was a Brazilian organist who had a significant recording/playing career in his native country before hitting the charts in 1967 with ‘Summer Samba’, which became one of the best known/most popular ‘easy’ instrumentals of the 1960s (which would gain ever more reknown via the vocal version he recorded with Astrud Gilberto under the title ‘So Nice’).

‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ originated on his 1967 album of the same name.

Where ‘Summer Samba’ was all smooth bossa jazz, ‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ is a swinging slice of Brazil-au-go-go, mixing sharp, hard-hitting drums with cuica, and guitar.

It sounds like it was custom made for a discotheque scene in a period film.

The band on ‘Kee-Ka-Roo’ is amix of Brazilian and American players (including Bobby Rosengarden who laid down some similarly cool drums on a number of Enoch Light-related things).

It makes me wish that Wanderley had done some more music in this vein.

I dig it a lot and I hope you do too.

Until next time,

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 21, 2018 12:33 pm

Funky16Corners Radio v.80 – Forbidden City Organs

Recorded Live in NYC 1-27-10

Playlist

Funky16Corners Presents: Forbidden City Organs –
Recorded Live 1/27/10

Before we get started, I want to say that after serious consideration with the Funky16Corners board of directors, and close consultation with some serious heads (not the least of whom being my man DJ Prestige) I have decided not to deep six the old versions of the blog (WordPress and Blogger). While I did deactivate all active content links on both sites (replacing them with redirects where necessary), since I was unable to do a full export of the WordPress blog, and could not bring over the comments on the old blog posts, AND since I consider reader commentary to be an important part of the process (mainly because so many of you contribute information via those posts) I figured it would benefit all parties to keep the old sites up and running (with any luck as long as this sentence).

Anything you might travel back there to hear, can now be heard here in the new Funky16Corners Radio Podcast and Guest Mix Archives.

The mix you see before you today was supposed to be up in this space on Friday, but I just had too damn much to do, and so I had to put it off for a couple of days. I think, however that you will be pleased when you pull down the ones and zeros and stuff it in your ears.

For you see (hear), Funky16Corners Radio v.80* is just about an hour of high octane, Hammond fueled groove grease guaranteed to get you off your ass, slipping and sliding across the floor, with the hip-shaking, and the wild gesticulation, and the shaking of the hair, gospel wailing and general good times.

Big words those, but I think once the sounds have been ingested, you will concur.

It all started thusly…

Back before Christmas, my lovely wife asked me what I wanted as a holiday gift. I generally reply to these queries with a shrug and a ‘Don’t worry ‘bout me on account of I pretty much have everything I need’. However, this year there was something I had my eye on, so I sent my wife the link, and ‘Bob’s yer uncle’ a brand new digital recorded dropped into my stocking.

My main motivation in requesting this new bit of hardware was so that my casting of the pods would be facilitated, but as is the norm when I get a new toy, I find some other, more interesting way to put it to work, and so I did.

It was at the last Asbury Park 45 Sessions that I brought my recorder along and attempted to record my set right off the board. I thought everything had gone swimmingly, until I got up the next morning, transferred the file onto my laptop and discovered that Einstein (that’s me, heh heh…) hadn’t read the instructions properly, and what I had recorded was not the mix off the board, but all the ambient noise surrounding it. I tossed that one into the old electronic wastebasket and set my sights on my next set at Master Groove.

Well my friends, it was a success.

I had spoken to my host the esteemed DJ Bluewater about what I would play this time, and I suggested a ‘theme set’ of sorts. He thought this was a good idea, so I sat down in the midst of my record vault and started digging. I had originally thought I might do a Northern Soul thing (next time out maybe) but I happened upon a clump of solid Hammond 45s, so I took that as a sign and continued in that direction.

What you have here is an actual live mix, recorded directly from the booth monitor line on the mixer, no fiddling/editing involved.

If you’ve visited with me here over the years, you’ll already be aware that I am a first class Hammond organ nut, and my crates run deep. When I started pulling stuff to compose my set, I extracted enough records for three or four sets, and then sat down with the turntable and selected a little over an hour’s worth of faves.

The records you’ll hear in this mix are the very cream of the dancefloor Hammond crop, with lots of your big keyboard wranglers (Messrs Earland, Doggett, McCall, Lewis, Van Dyke, Frog and Carnegie) a couple of unusual sources (Albert Collins and the Turtles, yes, the Turtles) and a few things you may not have heard before.

As stated previously, my intention here was to whip something up to get the dancers moving, so if you’re playing this inside your corporate veal pen, try not to spill your coffee/disturb your neighbor. If you’re on the bus, piping it in via earbuds, don’t be surprised if your neighbor attempts to administer first aid, since you may appear to be involved in convulsions of some sort.

That said, I will refrain from further comment, letting the sounds speak for themselves.

I hope you dig the mix, and rest assured that I will endeavor to bring you more of the same (both live, and organ mixes) in the coming months.

Peace

Larry