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By Larry, January 18, 2015 1:49 pm

Funky16Corners @ Spindletop – Early Set 1/10/11

Playlist

Listen/Download 80MB/256kb Mixed MP3

NOTE: Since my unexpected hospital captivity continues unabated, I thought I’d dip into the archives to hold you all until I could get myself back to the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault.

So dig this mellow mix from 2011 and I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Keep the Faith

Larry

Greetings all.

The mix I bring you today is yet another live set from the archives, recorded at Botanica in NYC back in 2011.

This one was an early set, where I was allowed to indulge my taste for some low-to-mid-tempo soul jazz and moody soul instrumentals.

This is another late night groover, so pull down the ones and zeros and let it fly while you’re in a mellow mood.

I’ll be back on Friday with something new.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 15, 2015 11:47 am

This guy? Funky?!

Greetings all.

The end of the week is nigh, so I will take this opportunity to remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva-Radio.com. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Having started the week with some Northern Soul, and moved on to Library, I thought I’d keep the spirit of diversity alive and bring you some funky big band ish to close things out.

You know I love to dig up examples of old-school jazzers dipping their beaks into funk and soul, but when I heard there was a joint worth seeking out by Stan Kenton, my bullshit detector blew a fuse.

Kenton was one of the coolest (some might say cold) of the West Coast jazzers running a cerebral, heavily brassy, outfit from the 40s on through the 70s.

He started out as a pianist, and eventually concentrated on arranging and working as a bandleader, running an orchestra that produced alumni like Maynard Ferguson, Art Pepper and Shorty Rogers.

Kenton was very successful and always kept an experimental edge to his sound, but at no point did he produce anything that would suggest to me that he had anything like today’s selection in him.

Of course, by the time he recorded ‘2002 Zarathustrevisited’ in 1973, Deodato had already had a substantial hit with his own funky reworking of the Strauss classic ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’.

The early 70s were not a great time for big jazz bands in America, and the few old heads that were still working it, guys like Kenton, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich, were doing everything they could to stay relevant and commercially viable.

Though I can’t say for sure, it seems likely that Kenton (or the arranger on this number Dale Devoe) heard the Deodato arrangement and thought piling a truckload of brass on top of it would send it into the stratosphere, and decided to take a shot at it.

While it lacks some of the subtlety of the Deodato version, the Kenton version has a substantial amount of kick to it, from the drums (very nicely recorded) and of course, the brass, which comes on in wave after wave.

There’s a groovy sax solo, and some Maynard Ferguson-esque high-note antics, but the drums and percussion keep coming on strong, all the way to the end.

Oddly enough, I owned the LP version of this for years (which also features a nice version of ‘Live and Let Die’) but when a 45 popped up I had to grab it, because…come on…funky Stan Kenton on 45. You can’t leave that sitting in the bin.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 13, 2015 10:39 am

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is upon us, so I thought I’d smooth us all over the hump with some tasty library/sample source sounds.

I don’t recall when I became aware of guitarist Clive Hicks’ ‘Look Hear’, but when I did it immediately lit up multiple pleasure centers in the brain.

The first thing – is that ‘Look Hear’ is the sample source for one ofmy favorite hip hop joints, ‘What’s Golden’ by Jurassic 5 from their 2002 LP ‘Power In Numbers’. There’s something special about hearing a sample well-flipped, that also manages to stand on its own.

‘Look Hear’ is such a sample.

I haven’t been able to track down much info on Clive Hicks, other than that he was a UK-based studio guitarist who recorded a number of sessions for the KPM and Bruton library music houses, as well as sessions for the likes of Elton John.

‘Look Hear’ was released in 1973 on KPM 1121/Fusion, alongside pieces by Brian Bennett and Alan Hawkshaw among others.

The tune seems to be aiming for Zep-like heaviness, but also manages to work in some of that band’s underlying funk as well.

The guitar takes the lead but this one is all about the organ and the drums.

It is a very groovy one indeed. I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, January 4, 2015 2:15 pm

Messrs Baker, Bruce, Bond and Heckstall-Smith

 NOTE/UPDATE 01/05/15 – Thanks go out to Nick Rossi for hepping me to the fact that the version of ‘Wade In the Water’ released in the US by the GBO was recorded just after Jack Bruce had departed the group (Jan ’66) for greener musical pastures. The version of the group featured on this 45 includes Graham Bond (covering the bass with his left hand) , Ginger Baker, Dick Heckstall-Smith, and new member Mike Falana on trumpet. Nick  also pointed me in the direction of this excellent Graham Bond discography.

Greetings all.

I thought I’d start the new week with some hot and heavy Hammond action.

The Graham Bond Organization’s version of ‘Wade in the Water’ had been on my want list for years, and I only managed to score a copy a few months ago.

I’ll go ahead and assume that many of you are unfamiliar with Bond, one of the key figures of the 1960s UK R&B movement.

He got his start on saxophone (much like Charles Earland in the US) eventually moving onto the organ, which became his signature axe.

The Graham Bond Organization is not only worth knowing for the music they made during their relatively short time together, but because of those that made it. Joining Bond, and saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith were two youngsters who would go on to (much) bigger things, Jack Bruce on bass, and Ginger Baker on drums.

That rhythm section would have a tumultuous relationship from their earliest collaborations, on through Cream and that band’s reunion in the 2000s.

‘Wade In the Water’, the oft-covered spiritual was recorded by the Organization in 1964 and released in the US on the Ascot label in 1965.

Opening and closing with organ work by Bond that suggests a Hammer horror film as much as a sweaty R&B basement club, the tune soon swings into action, with stellar work by the whole band, but especially Bond and Baker, whose thunderous drumming is particularly well recorded.

The flip side is a slow, vocal reading of the blues standard ‘St James Infirmary’.

Withing a year and a half, Bruce and Baker would join Eric Clapton in Cream, and Bond continued a truncated version of the Organization and would eventually reappear in Ginger Baker’s Air Force, as well as making a few solo LPs before is suicide in 1974.

Fortunately for us all, he left a trail of hard-hitting wax in his wake.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, December 11, 2014 1:03 pm

Marvin Gaye and Grover Washington, Jr.

Listen/Download – Grover Washington, Jr. – Trouble Man

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and so I must remond you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t dig the show at airtime, you can subscribe to it as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Also, make sure to stop by next week. The Christmas soul posts start on Monday, and the Funky16Corners Radio Show Christmas Special drops next Friday!

The tunes I bring you today are two versions (OG and cover) from one of the more interesting chapters in the career of the mighty Marvin Gaye.

We featured one of the mighty Marvin’s early classics here some weeks ago, and today we take a look at classic (though underplayed/underappreciated) mid-period ish.

When 1972 rolled around, Marvin had just layed ‘What’s Going On’ on the world.

How would he follow one of the greatest albums of all time?

Gaye took a step back, and decided to compose the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film ‘Trouble Man’.

He was in good company, alongside other soul stars, like Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield, who had done stellar work on the soundtrack tip.

Gaye’s soundtrack for ‘Trouble Man’ was smooth and atmospheric, perfect for late nights.

The title track of the album was a substantial hit, making it to #4 R&B and #7 Pop in December of 1972.

‘Trouble Man’ has a slow, jazzy groove, with falsetto vocals by Gaye and instrumental backing from a mixture of Funk Brothers and West Coast players.

The following year, Grover Washington, Jr.  recorded his two-part ‘Soul Box’ project, in which he layed down extended versions of ‘Trouble Man’ and the Temptations’Masterpiece’, with a host of CTI stalwarts like Bob James, Ron Carter and Idris Muhammad.

Washington’s version of ‘Trouble Man’ isn’t much of a departure from the original, with the exception of Creed Taylor’s horn and woodwind production fleshing out the sound a bit. There’s also a very nice organ solo by Richard Tee around the five-minute mark.

What is exceptional is the fact that Washington has almost 16 minutes in which to stretch and expand upon Gaye’s theme. If you dig the CTI sound (and you know I do) that is a very groovy thing indeed.

So, turn the lights down low, pour yourself a drink, let these two play back-to-back, and slide yourself into the weekend.

I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, December 7, 2014 1:17 pm

King Curtis

Greetings all.

The new week is upons us, and I thought we’d get things started with something hot.

A few years ago I was out digging at a local fall-back spot (I say fall-back because although it is a record store, it rarely has anything good, but sometimes you just gotta get your dig on) and I happened upon a slightly beat, quite old (at least as old as I am) King Curtis album.

King Curtis was one of the most important soul players of the 1960s, as a bandleader, and as one of the most prolific sidemen in the Atlantic studios.

His albums – especially the Atlantic stuff – are plentiful and usually inexpensive, and always worth picking up when you find them.

The album in question predated his own signing with Atlantic (though he had already been all over the Coasters Atco 45s), and was recorded for Bobby Robinson’s Enjoy label in 1962.

Recorded with the Noble Knights (then composed of Ernie Hayes (organ), Billy Butler (guitar), Jimmy Lewis (bass) and Ray Lucas (drums), the LP is composed of instrumentals, with five of its eleven tracks featuring ‘Twist’ in the title.

Unlike a lot of twist cash-in sets, King Curtis had a shit-hot band, displayed to great effect on today’s selection, a cover of Ray Charles’ classic ‘What’d I Say’.

Led by Billy Butler’s guitar, the band sets off at top speed, tearing into the tune.

Oddly enough, as far as I can tell, King Curtis himself does not appear on this track at all.

The title track of the LP, ‘Soul Twist’ was a #1 R&B hit in 1962.

These sessions – which also include a stellar version of ‘Sack’o’Woe’ – have been reissued on CD.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, November 30, 2014 12:06 pm

Tony Camillo

Greetings all.

I thought we’d get the week started with something smooth, and a little bit funky.

‘The Black Motion Picture Experience’ LP, credited to the Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds has long been a crate diggers staple, packed as it is with rerecordings of early 70s Blaxploitation soundtrack heavies.

As popular as it is, the LP has continued to elude me in the field. However, a few months back I was out digging and what should I turn up, but the 45 you see before you.

The big question for me, was always, who is ‘Cecil Holmes’?

The answer, as it turns out, is someone who had little or nothing to do with this record.

The Cecil Holmes that gave the record his name was a record executive (prominently for Casablanca Records).

There were a few different projects released sporting his name in the early 70s, including the Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds, and the Cecil Holmes Orchestra.

What both of these groups have in common, beside the lack of any direct musical involvement by Holmes, is the guiding hand of Tony Camillo.

Best remembered for his 1975 disco/funk hit ‘Dynomite!’ (credited to Tony Camillo’s Bazuka), Camillo was a NY/NJ-based composer/arranger/producer.

‘The Black Motion Picture Experience’ LP was recorded and released in 1973, featuring a band of East Coast studio heavies.

The track I feature today is their version of Curtis Mayfield’s theme from ‘Superfly’.

Camillo and band take the track, smooth it out and open it up just a bit, turning up the bass and giving the drums plenty of room to snap.

Naturally, things suffer from the absence of the mighty Curtis, but the sounds are still groovy.

There was one more LP by Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds, the slowjam collection ‘Music For Soulful Lovers’ (also 1973), again featuring Camillo.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, November 27, 2014 8:11 am

Mmmmmmmm!

Greetings all!

I first gathered these food-related mixes together for Thanksgiving 2011.

Since the Grogans will be chilling together this extended weekend, I thought I’d repost them for you to stuff into your ears/iPods/whatever.

There’s even a turkey song!

Don’t forget to tune into the Funky16Corners Radio Show this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t dig it at airtime, make sure to subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen in on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, have a great weekend with your friends and family, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 
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Funky16Corners Radio v.3 – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) Pt1

Track listing

Brother Jack McDuff – Hot Barbecue (Prestige)

 Soul Runners – Chittlin’ Salad Pt1 (MoSoul)

Lionel Hampton – Greasy Greens (GladHamp)

Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century)

Andre Williams – Rib Tips (Avin)

Maurice Simon & The Pie Men – Sweet Potato Gravy (Carnival)

Mel Brown – Chicken Fat (Impulse)

Lonnie Youngblood – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) (Fairmount)

Prime Mates – Hot Tamales (Sansu)

Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes (Music Merchant)

Leon Haywood – Cornbread and Buttermilk (Decca)

Bobby Rush – Chicken Heads (Galaxy)

Booker T & The MGs – Jelly Bread (Stax)

Gentleman June Gardner – Mustard Greens (Blue Rock)

West Siders – Candy Yams (Infinity)

Hank Jacobs – Monkey Hips and Rice (Sue)

George Semper – Collard Greens (Imperial)

Billy Clark & His Orchestra – Hot Gravy (Dynamo)

Listen Download Mixed MP3

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Funky16Corners Radio v.9 – Soul Food Pt2

Playlist

1. Simtec Simmons – Tea Box (Maurci)

2. Johnny Barfield & The Men of S.O.U.L. – Soul Butter (SSS Intl)

3. Ronnie Woods – Sugar Pt2 (Everest)

4. Stan Hunter & Sonny Fortune – Corn Flakes (Prestige)

5. Fabulous Counts – Scrambled Eggs (Moira)

6. Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band – Spreadin Honey (Keymen)

7. Freddie Roach – Brown Sugar (Blue Note)

8. Albert Collins – Sno Cone Pt1 (TCF Hall)

9. Chuck Edwards – Chuck Roast (Rene)

10. Willie Mitchell – Mashed Potatoes (Hi)

11. Booker T & The MGs – Red Beans & Rice (Atlantic)

12. Righteous Brothers Band – Green Onions (Verve)

13. George Semper – Hog Maws & Collard Greens (Imperial)

14. Lee Dorsey – Candy Yam (Amy)

15. Roosevelt Fountain & his Pens of Rhythm – Red Pepper Pt1 (Prince Adams)

16. Bad Boys – Black Olives (Paula)

17. Willie Bobo – Spanish Grease (Verve)

18. American Group – Enchilada Soul (AGP)

DOWNLOAD – 39.3 MB Mixed MP3

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Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Playlist

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, November 20, 2014 12:24 pm

Gabor Szabo and Bobby Womack

Listen/Download – Gabor Szabo and Bobby Womack – Breezin’ MP3

Listen/Downoad – Sammy Gordon and the Hiphuggers – Breezin’ MP3

Greetings all

The end of the week is here,and so I must remind you to tune into the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio, Friday night at 9PM. If you can’t dig in at airtime, make sure to subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes (or anywhere else you get your Pods handled) or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Today’s selections can be filed in the ‘roots of familiar songs’ section of your brain.

If you’re over 40 (or otherwise well-listened) I suspect that you already know George Benson’s 1976 hit ‘Breezin’’, which in addition to regular airplay seemed for the longest time to be the background instro of choice on all kinds of TV shows. It was, in many ways, the ultimate, smooth jazz instro of its time.

What I didn’t know until many years after its initial release, was that the song ‘Breezin’ had deep, and very interesting roots.

Back in 1970, in the midst of his long, itinerant and occasionally very successful career, Bobby Womack ended up in the studio with Gabor Szabo.

Womack provided half the songs, and much of the rhythm guitar on Szabo’s 1971 LP ‘High Contrast’*.

One of those songs – used as the LPs opening track – was ‘Breezin’.

The Szabo/Womack version is mellow, but sports a nice, fat bottom as well, and some tasty soloing from the always dependable Gabor (a big fave hereabouts).

The second version of the song you’ll hear today (which I originally posted when Bobby passed away, back in June) came into my crates in a kind of roundabout way.

I already had a couple of 45s by Sammy Gordon and the Hiphuggers in my crates when I found their version of ‘Breezin’ (previously featured here when Mr Womack passed away) about five years ago.

The thing is, I didn’t know it was the famous song until I got it home, picking it up simply because it was Sammy.

The SG and the HH version of ‘Breezin’ (from 1972) is by far my fave,and I suspect it’ll be yours as well.

The drums and bass are heavy, and the intro is as tasty a piece of head-nodding funk as you’re likely to turn up.

The overall vibe maintains the sweetness of the melody, but those drums keep punching through the mix.

It’s a killer 45, and despite a couple of price spikes in the past, not too hard to come by these days.

I hope you dig the compare/contrast action, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 *Interestingly, Womack is listed as a co-leader on the LP and 45 labels, but not on the album cover

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, November 9, 2014 3:45 pm

The Brothers/Silvetti

Listen/Download The Brothers – Are You Ready For This

Listen/Download Silvetti – Spring Rain

Greetings all

I hope you’re ready to get your groove on this week.

Having done a lot of reading about (and an exponential amount of listening to) the Northern Soul phenomenon over the last decade or so, something that I discovered – along with a grip of amazing music – is that the musical essence of that scene is not at as monolithic as you might think.

Surely there is a “Northern” sound, but if you dig into the annals, especially in the 1970s explosion in the UK, you discover that some of the DJs and the dancers had open minds (and ears).

Here in the US, where exposure to ‘Northern Soul’ is often tied directly to the mod/60s bag (hewing closer to the Manchester-based 60s scene at the Twisted Wheel, which was instrumental in the development of a rare soul scene in the UK), the idea of hearing a Philadelphia International side, or any other disco-identified sound, is all but blasphemous.

However, take a look at the playlists of many of the biggest Northern clubs in the 70s, and you alongside the ultra-rare Motown-influenced ish, you will also see records – then new – that many soul fans today would file off to the side as ‘disco’.

What a lot of people ignore (to their own peril) is that a much of the music associated with early disco culture is by any other name, soul music. Your anoraks/trainspotters/”experts”/killjoys will try to convince you that little after the end of the 60s is worth listening to, but like everyone else, they are wrong from time to time.

When they do that, they forget that Northern Soul was once a vibrant, living, breathing scene, and above all a dancer’s scene and if a record brought people out onto the floor, that’s all that mattered.

Today I bring you two examples of records that were created for disco dance floors and were absorbed into the Northern Soul scene.

The first, ‘Are You Ready For This’ by the Brothers is a solid, four on the floor dancer with the kind of sweeping, melodic string flourished that the soulies really dug.

The Brothers were a New York based studio creation, built around producer Warren Schatz and pianist Bhen Lanzaroni. Their 1975 LP ‘Disco-Soul’ was composed almost entirely of new versions of disco standards by groups like the Ohio Players (the LP features a very cool Hammond driven cover of ‘Fire’), Barry White, Disco Tex, Carol Douglas, and Gloria Gaynor, interspersed with originals by Lanzaroni and Schatz.

‘Are You Ready For This’ was released as a single in the US and the UK, and was picked up by UK DJs where it became a staple at clubs like the Blackpool Mecca (it also seems to have been a minor hit in New York City discos).

The second track I bring you today is ‘Spring Rain’ by Silvetti. Juan Fernando Silvetti Adorno, aka Bebu Silvetti, or just Silvetti, was an Argentinian composer/arranger/producer who had his biggest hit with ‘Spring Rain’ in 1977.

The record was a big hit in US and European discos, but was also brought into the Northern scene (to the consternation of many) by disco-friendly DJs like Ian Levine. Like ‘Are You Ready For This’, ‘Spring Rain’ has a strong beat, and wave upon wave of strings.

As time wore on, and new sounds became popular, and the idea of ‘soul music’ became more expansive – I hesitate to say ‘inclusive’ since there were/are many who would just as soon strangle you than hear a disco record – new terminology was adopted that allowed collectors and DJs to compartmentalize these records into their own genres, like ‘modern soul’, ‘deep funk’, ‘rare groove’ and ‘crossover’. Often times you’ll see announcements for allnighters and weekends in the UK and Europe where these tangential sounds will have separate rooms/dance floors devoted to them.

If you have an open mind policy (like we do here) it’s not at all hard to see the threads that link all of these categories, and to find your way back through their roots, stopping to savor the vast array of records that resist classification (often my favorite kind).

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, October 23, 2014 12:49 pm

Jeff Afdem

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

Greetings all

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, October 16, 2014 12:37 pm

Merit Hemmingson at the Hammond

Listen/Download Merit Hemmingson – Pata Pata

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, so I will take this opportunity to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show hits the airwaves of the interwebs each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot join me at airtime, there are a variety of ways to keep yourself apprised of the soulful goodness, including subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes (or any other podcast handling program), in the TuneIn app, or as an MP3 here at the blog.

Today’s selection is one from the Hammond Internationale file.

You all know how much I dig the Hammond organ, and that I’m always in search of new (to me) organ 45s and LPs for the crates.

I knew of Merit Hemmingson for years before I was able to put my hands on one of her records.

She was a Swedish pianist who switched to Hammond in the 1960s, and recorded a couple of albums of soul jazzy grooves before switching over to new agey treatments of Swedish folk songs (no, really.).

I dig both of the albums that I have, but the track I bring you today stands out above all others.

‘Pata Pata’ was originally a hit for Miriam Makeba in 1967 (Top 10 Pop and R&B), and was covered by many jazz and pop artists over the next couple of years.

The version you’re hearing today was recorded by Hemmingson in 1968 on the ‘Merit Hemmingson Plays..’ LP.

Including a variety of pop and jazz covers, the LP features an all-Swedish band, with the exception of American conguero Sabu Martinez.

It is Martinez’ percussion and vocals that make Hemmingson’s version of ‘Pata Pata’ so groovy.

Opening with a lazy sounding organ, the peace is interrupted by Martinez and the band chanting, followed by his congas, and then the drums.

Then the guitarist comes in with a riff that sounds like it was lifted from the Spencer Davis Group’s ‘I’m a Man’.

Once Hemmingson’s organ comes in the song regains some of it’s bright, poppy feel, but thanks to the percussion a sharper edge remains through the arrangement.

It’s really unusual, and unlike pretty much everything else on the album.

If you’re a Hammond (or au-go-go) fan, Hemmingson’s first two LPs, ‘Plays…’ and ‘Discotheque Dance a Go Go’ are definitely worth picking up.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.