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By Larry, May 27, 2014 12:08 pm

Jimmy Wisner, tickling the ivories

Listen/Download Mr. Jim and the Rhythm Machine – Mrs. Robinson

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is a very groovy bit of swinging soul jazz, with an interesting pedigree.

If you are a casual music fan, I wouldn’t expect the name Jimmy Wisner to raise any eyebrows.

However, if – like me – you are one of those obsessives that peruse the label of every record that comes into your possession, then Wisner’s name should be a familiar one indeed.

Based out of Philadelpia – thus his presence on so many local records – Wisner was a pianist, composer, arranger and producer for a very wide variety of artists during the 1960s and 1970s.

He was also a successful recording artist, though he rarely used his own name.

His first success came with the reworked version of Edvard Grieg’s ‘Piano Concerto in A Minor’, released as ‘Asia Minor’ under the artist name of ‘Kokomo’, which was a hit in 1961. Wisner released the record under a pseudonym so as not to compromise his career as a jazz pianist.

He also recorded the Northern Soul sleeper ‘Choppin’ Around’ (itself another classical adaptation, this time of a Chopin piece, thus the pun in the title) under his own name in 1966.

When I first happened upon the version of ‘Mrs. Robinson’ you see before you today, recorded as Mr. Jim and the Rhythm Machine, my first impression was that it was a successful attempt at hopping onto the Ramsey Lewis train and taking it for a ride.

Basically a piano trio record, with some very tasteful strings added in the background, the Mr. Jim version of the Simon and Garfunkel tune is a solid swinger, which I wouldn’t hesitate to whip on the dancers.

Interestingly, this predates the version by Booker T and the MGs (a Top 40 R&B hit) by a year and was competing for airtime with covers by Chet Atkins and bandleader Don Costa.

As far as I can tell it didn’t chart anywhere, which is a shame because it’s quite good, but Wisner had so much on his plate (he was just about to take over A&R at Columbia Records) I think he probably just kept on rolling.

I hope you dig the cut, 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, May 22, 2014 11:59 am

The Mighty Esquerita!

Listen/Download Eskew Reeder – Green Door

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon us, so that means that it’s also Funky16Corners Radio Show time! You can pile it all into your ears each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, or you can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 at the Radio Show Archive here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a very solid sender indeed, brought to you by the mighty Eskew Reeder (aka Esquerita, aka SQ Reeder).

I remember first hearing about Esquerita back in the 80s via the mighty Kicks magazine (the greatest zine that ever was and a HUGE influence on yours truly).

Esquerita was one of the legendary madmen of R&B and rock’n’roll, an influence on none other than Little Richard, and a cat who made some very groovy music of his own over the years.

The song ‘Green Door’ was first recorded in 1956 as a novelty tune by DJ Jim Lowe.

The Eskew Reeder version was waxed way down yonder in New Orleans with the assistance of none other than the mighty Allen Toussaint.

Reeder’s version is largely an organ instrumental. He was mainly a pianist but displays a solid facility on the organ, even if he appears to begin soloing with his elbows about halfway through the record.

You also get a couple of vocal interjections by Eskew along the way.

This version is (like the Wynder K Frog cover from a few years later that leans heavily on it for inspiration) a dance floor banger, and if this doesn’t get the folks twisting and shaking, you need to check them for a pulse.

Esquerita’s career and discography were pretty spotty after the mid-60s, and by the time he was rediscovered in NYC in the 80s he was parking cars and playing in dives.

Sadly, he passed away from AIDS complications in 1986.

His spirit is carried on by the folks at Norton (it’s Esquerita’s mug that greets you when you hit their website) in the form of much music and ephemera.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 15, 2014 7:19 pm

Nina Simone – Seeline Woman (Philips) / Dorothy Morrison – Rain (Elektra) / Paul Jones – Not Before Time (Bell) / Titanic – Sultana (Epic) / Candido – Jingo (Salsoul) / Doc Severinson – Footprints of the Giant (edit) (Command) / Dixie Cups – Two Way Poc A Way (ABC) / Area Code 615 – Stone Fox Chase (Polydor) / Quartette Tres Bien – Boss Tres Bien (Decca) / Booker T and the MGs – Melting Pot (Stax) / The Peddlers – Impressions Pt1 (Philips) / Sly Stone – Rock Dirge (Woodcock) / Fatback – Going To See My Baby (Perception) / Brother Jack McDuff – Hunk of Funk (Blue Note) / Manu Dibango – New Bell (Atlantic)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners Presents: The Sound of the Drum

Greetings all

As promised on Monday, I come to you midweek with yet another new mix.

This one was created at the behest of my man Studebaker Hawk, and first appeared on his Acapulco Nights radio show on WMUA-FM, 91.1 in Amherst, Massachusetts.

This is another one of those mixes that was percolating for a long time, coming to life the first time I heard Nina Simone’s ‘Seeline Woman’ and then moving ahead when I found the Paul Jones b-side you hear in the mix.

I should also mention – though some of the deeper heads will pick up on it when they see the set list – that this mix owes a big debt to one of the pioneers of DJ/dance culture, David Mancuso.

It was Mancuso’s deep and far ranging tastes that brought all kinds of unusual and unexpected records onto the dance floor of his legendary Loft parties, some of which are included in this mix.

It’s called ‘The Sound of the Drum’ because that’s the thread connecting all of these records, whether it’s the insistent beat of hand drumming, the snap of a master on the traps (dig that Quartette Tres Bien!), or just a wicked break.

So slap on your headphones and dig in.

See you on Friday.

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.

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By Larry, March 25, 2014 3:19 pm

The Chevelles in their later incarnation as the Mighty Chevelles

Listen/Download The Chevelles – The Gallop

Greetings all

Welcome once again to the Funky16Corners hump day experience.

Back in nineteen and sixty eight, when a cat by the name of Cliff Nobles and his group laid down a little number called ‘The Horse’which was a HUGE (YOOOOOOOOOOGE) hit in the summer of that year.

‘The Horse’ wrecked the R&B and Pop charts, was by far the biggest hit that the storied Phil-LA of Soul label ever had and, as was often the case with successful dance craze records, spawned a veritable cottage industry of Horse-and horse-related rip-offs, tributes and homages.

If you get a sec, drop by the Funky16Corners mix archive to dig Funky16Corners Radio v.22 – Horse Power, which is a survey of the Horse explosion.

Included in that mix (back in 2007) was the track you see before you today, ‘The Gallop’ by the Chevelles.

Originally appearing on the flip side of Gloria Walker’s 1968 hit ‘Talking About My Baby’ (R&B Top 10, Pop Hot 100), ‘The Gallop’ is Horse-like in word and deed, emulating the vibe of the OG as well as attaching themselves by association with the title of the song.

The Chevelles – sometimes billed as the Mighty Chevelles – recorded a number of 45 for Eugene Davis’s Flaming Arrow imprint, as both headliners and backing singers like Walker and Angela Davis.

Based in Detroit, the Flaming Arrow label lasted for almost a decade, with the Mighty Chevelles eventually recording and releasing an LP on the label in 1977.

It is a funky, fast moving (it seems to pick up speed as it goes along) 45 and an excellent entry in the horse sweepstakes.

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, March 20, 2014 12:31 pm

The Nilsmen, smoking them, cuz they got ’em…

Listen/Download The Nilsmen – Le Winston

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon us so I will remind you once again to check out the Funky16Corners Radio Show, this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. You can also keep up with the show by subscribing as a podcast in iTunes, or by grabbing an MP3 here at the blog.

The other day I was rummaging through my crates (edging up to, but not quite crossing over into a frenzy of reorganization) and I happened upon the disc you see before you.

Long (long) time a favorite of mine, ‘Le Winston’  is one of those records that has been banging around my subconscious for so long that I was convinced that I had already written it up.

Turns out that – no, I hadn’t – though it had appeared in a mix or two, and made a few appearances on the Funky16Corners Radio Show over the years.

Recorded some time in the late 60s by a Swedish group called the Nilsmen, ‘Le Winston’ (and it’s funky flip ‘The Sandstep’) was issued by the RJ Reynolds tobacco company (thus the RJR label) a few times (with a few different picture sleeves) over the years to promote different brands of cigarettes.

‘Le Winston’ is a fine, hard-charging Hammond instro, guaranteed to light up the dance floor.

While I may not be digging for organ 45s as diligently as I was a few years back, I still love the sound and pick up new (to me) groovers whenever I find them.

This record is a testament to the value of keeping your ears open.

Despite what the occasional inflated ego will tell you, there isn’t a crate digger in the world who is 100% responsible for their collection.

If you have any interest at all in expanding your musical horizons, you keep your eyes and ears open.

I am always on the lookout for collectors and DJs with tastes complementary or at least tangential to my own. You can never know all the good records, and listening to other people’s mixes can really expose you to records you never would have found on your own.

I remember rapping with my man DJ Bluewater at one of the old Asbury Park 45 Sessions gigs, and marveling at how many amazing records I’d seen on another DJs playlist that were completely new/unknown to me.

He dropped a very solid bit of wisdom on me, that being ‘there’s probably a grip of things on your playlists that THEY haven’t seen or heard before either’.

I’ve been very lucky to spin beside folks with both excellent taste and very deep crates, and I hardly ever leave a gig without something new tacked on to my want list.

Now, take that concept and apply it to the internet, where you can connect and interact with DJs/diggers at a significant geographic remove, and the potential for new discoveries grows exponentially.

I can trace my knowledge of ‘Le Winston’ directly to a playlist (many, many years ago) by the great DJ Soulmarcosa, late of the Carolinas, presently burning up the decks in California.

His knowledge of US soul and funk is next level, but when it comes to international sounds, there’s no one better.

There are more than a few burners in my crates that I can trace directly back to one of his mixes/set lists.

So, props offered up, and if you’re out in LA, check him out in person.

As far as I can tell the Nilsmen never recorded anything else (at least under this name).

If you dig the sounds, it shouldn’t be hard to score your own copy, as Nilsmen 45s and plentiful and not terribly expensive.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 13, 2014 11:34 am

The Jon-Lee Group (aka Jon – Lee and the Checkmates

Listen/Download TheJon-Lee Group – Pork Chops

Greetings all

The end of the week is approaching so it’s time to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show sends its sounds out into the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can keep up with the show by subscribing to it as a podcast in iTunes or by grabbing an MP3 download here at the blog.

The jam I bring you today is one of my favorite discoveries of the last year, and the way I found it is, as the kids say, cray-cray.

Some of you may know that I also write about 60s pop/garage etc over at my other blog, Iron Leg. It was in my capacity as an Iron Legger that I was involved in doing some research related to 60s sunshine poppers the Cowsills.

I was chasing down a lead about a band called Bodine (that recorded an LP in 1969, produced by Billy Cowsill) when I discovered a fantastic site devoted to the band Rhinoceros, which shared some members with Bodine as well as the Daily Flash (great, mid-60s folk rock group) and a group I’d never heard of called Jon-Lee and the Checkmates.

As it turns out, some of the Rhinoceros guys got their start in Jon-Lee and the Checkmates (later the Jon-Lee Group), a mid-60s white R&B/soul band from Toronto.

Though they performed widely and recorded a number of tracks, only one single was ever released, ‘Bring It Down Front’ b/w ‘Pork Chops’ (on ABC in the US and Sparton in Canada.

The a-side is a mid-tempo, Stax-ish soul harmony number, but it is the flipside that really blew my mind.

‘Pork Chops’ (written by Duke Edwards, later of Duke Edwards and the Young Ones on Prestige) is a mind-blowing, wig-flipping ass-kicker of a Hammond instrumental.

It’s not hard to hear the roots of Rhinoceros’ hit ‘Apricot Brandy’ (which featured Jon-Lee organist Michael Fonfara as well as Duke Edwards) in ‘Pork Chops’, but the earlier record is about ten times as manic.

Taken at breakneck speed, ‘Pork Chops’ features wailing organ, pounding bass and drums and just enough fuzz guitar to let you know that it was 1967.

The Jon-Lee Group wouldn’t last much longer, with Fonfara and singer John Finley (the Jon in Jon-Lee) leaving to join Rhinoceros at the end of 1967.

This is a blazing track, and I hope you like it as much as I do.

See you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 PS There’s some great video of Jon-Lee and the Checkmates performing live!

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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, February 20, 2014 1:09 pm

Wilbur Bascomb, with bass and pitchfork…

Listen/Download Wilbur Bascomb and the Zodiact – Just a Groove In G

Greetings all

The end of the week is upon us, so I must remind 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 be there at airtime, you can always keep up by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

Today’s selection is an old breakbeat favorite that I picked up a few years ago down in Washington, DC.

Wilbur Bascomb and the Zodiact’s ‘Just a Groove In G’ which was released on the Carnival label in 1970, opens with a big, fat drumbreak and moves on into a funky dancefloor jam. It’s the kind of 45 that was being created and cranked out frequently at the time, when the charts were thick with the sounds of James Brown, the Meters and Kool and the Gang.

Bascomb was a bass player who would go on to add his talents to recordings by folks like Jeff Beck, Jack McDuff, Rusty Bryant, Grace Jones and Idris Muhammad.

The tune itself is groovy indeed, with stellar playing from Bascomb, the drummer, organist and the horn section.

The only weak link is the lead guitarist, who sounds like they were either intoxicated, incompetent or just the tiniest bit tone deaf.

It’s not the tightest groove ever laid down, but sometimes a little joie de vivre (which this record has in surplus) makes up for a multitude of sins (including bad guitar playing).

Someone at Carnival must have dug the sounds, since ‘Just a Groove In G’ was issued twice, once on a Bascomb 45 (in 1970), and then again as the b-side of the Three Reasons sweet soul outing ‘Take Me Back’ (the 45 you see above, in 1971).

The song went on to be sampled by both DJ Shadow and the Roots.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, February 16, 2014 1:47 pm

Jay Berliner

Listen/Download Jay Berliner – Stickball

Greetings all

I hope everyone is ready to start the week feeling fine and funky.

The track I bring you today is something that has been marinating in my crates for a few years now.

I grabbed a copy of Jay Berliner’s ‘Bananas Are Not Created Equal’ a while back after a friend turned me on to the track you see before you today, ‘Stickball’.

I knew Berliner’s name – he is a prolific studio guitarist with a very long and prestigious resume, including stints with Charles Mingus and Van Morrison (Astral Weeks) – but had no idea he had ever done anything this funky.

Recorded in 1972, under the aegis of arranger Wade Marcus (who also wrote this tune) ‘Bananas…’ featured Berliner and a group of studio heavies working it out on a number of contemporary covers (Temptations, Al Green, Bill Withers) and a couple of excellent, funky originals.

‘Stickball’ opens with Ray Barretto’s congas and Berliner’s guitar, then joined by Cornell Dupree on electric sitar and Paul Griffin on clavinet.

The tune has a thick, jazz-funk groove, with some hot soloing (naturally) by Berliner.

The rest of the album is definitely worth checking out if you happen to find a copy out in the field.

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 (1)

By Larry, February 9, 2014 12:17 pm

Billy Lee Riley

Listen/Download Megatons – Shimmy Shimmy Walk Pt1

Greetings all

I thought we’d get the week rolling with something from the pride of Pocahontas, Arkansas, the great Billy Lee Riley.

If you have even a passing knowledge of classic rockabilly, the name Billy Lee Riley ought to be familiar.

Riley laid down legendary sides like ‘Flyin’ Saucers Rock and Roll’ and ‘Red Hot’ for Sun Records, both in 1957.

‘Red Hot’ would be revived in the late 70s by Robert Gordon and Link Wray (which is where I first heard it).

Riley and his band the Little Green Men also did a lot of work backing other artists.

In 1962, Riley and his new band (featuring several of the Little Green Men) went into the studio in Memphis, and as the Megatons recorded the record you see before you, ‘Shimmy Shimmy Walk’.

Initially released on the Dodge label, it was eventually picked up and reissued by Checker, where it made it into the Hot 100 later that year.

If the tune sounds familiar, it is because it is a reworking of the R&B standard ‘You Don’t Love Me’.

Originally recorded under that title in 1960 by Willie Cobbs for Mojo records (his version was basically a reworking of Bo Diddley’s 1955 ‘She’s Fine She’s Mine’), it was a local hit n Memphis and was picked up for national distribution by VeeJay.

The song went on to become a rock/blues standard in the 1960s, being recorded by a wide variety of artists, including the Kaleidoscope, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, The Al Kooper/Stephen Stills Super Session, Junior Wells and the Allman Brothers Band as well as the legendary 1967 Jamaican version by Dawn Penn.

The Megatons version features rolling guitar, a very nice reverbed harmonica solo and some groovy combo organ.

It was also released in the UK on Sue, where it became popular with the Mod/soul crowd.

I hope you dig it, 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, February 4, 2014 1:01 pm

Promo badge for Duke Williams and the Extremes

Listen/Download Duke Williams and the Extremes – Chinese Chicken

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is one of those 45s that – in a manner of speaking – unfolds like the petals of the storied lotus.

I was familiar with Duke Williams and the Extremes’ ‘Chinese Chicken’ as a breakbeat/sample favorite from its inclusion on the ‘Ultimate Breaks and Beats’ series.

When I finally got my hands on the 45, I assumed (remember what Felix Unger said about assuming?) that they were part of the Southern Rock scene, due to their presence on Phil Walden’s Capricorn label, home to the Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Captain Beyond and others.

It was only when I started digging for information that I discovered that Duke Williams and the Extremes were not Macon, GA homeboys of Gregg and Duane, but rather originated in that funky burgh, Trenton, NJ!

Duke Williams (born Chris Holmes) had been a member of NJ garage faves the Galaxies IV (‘Let Me Hear You Say Yeah’, ‘Don’t Lose Your Mind’) back in the 60s, and had been working in and around Trenton and Philadelphia for years when he put together the Extremes.

The group recorded two albums for Capricorn, ‘A Monkey In a Silk Suit Is Still a Monkey’ (1973) and ‘Fantastic Fedora’ (1974).

‘Chinese Chicken’ appeared on the first LP as well as being issued as a (now sought after) 45.

The Extremes played a funk/rock hybrid, mixing their originals with a fair amount of soul cover material (‘Funky Broadway’, ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now’) with the group being joined in the studio by a who’s who of Philly sessions heads.

‘Chinese Chicken’ opens with a funky guitar before the band (with a wailing organ) drops in. The tune is funky enough, but turns a corner at 1:39 when that drum beat drops.

Do yourself a favor and slap on the headphones for this one and listen to the way that kick drums hits.

Very groovy, indeed.

Though the Extremes didn’t record after 1974, they continued to play into the early 80s, at one time including a young, pre-Bon Jovi Richie Sambora in their ranks.

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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 2, 2014 11:02 am

Gus Jenkins

Listen/Download Gus Jenkins – Chittlins

Greetings all

A while back I was reading the always excellent Echoes In the Wind blog and I saw that my man Whiteray had posted a very interesting looking song.

As an inveterate soul 45 hound, I am constitutionally unable to pass by a song entitled ‘Chittlins’ for any reason, so I had to stop, unsheathe my ears and have a listen.

Good thing I did, too, on account of the fact that Gus Jenkins’ ‘Chittlins’ is a little slice of late night, smoky, uptown bar perfection.

Jenkins was a pianist/singer who had an earlier hit (as ‘Gus Jinkins’) in 1956 with the tune ‘Tricky’ on the Flash label.

A lo-fi affair, with Gus’s piano dueling with an organ and some groovy guitar, ‘Tricky’ sounds like it could have been recorded at any time between 1945 and when it actually hit the charts.

Jinkins/Jenkins appears to have recorded a handful of 45s for Flash in the late 50s, one for Pioneer International in 1960, and then a few years of radio silence before a couple of discs for Tower in 1964.

‘Chittlins’, which made it into the R&B Top 30 in November of 1964 is the kind of thing you’d expect to hear on the radio during a late night road trip.

The production is much better than his earlier hit, and the piano and the guitar (especially the guitar) sound as if they’d been woven in and out of a skyline full of electric lights and clouds of cigarette smoke.

The flip side – ‘You’ll Be The One’ – is a pretty straight ahead blues vocal with some nice horn backing and a great vocal by Jenkins. Once again, the guitarist is outstanding (I’d love to know who it was).

Jenkins went on to record one more 45 for Tower, and then a couple of sides, including the funky ‘Funk With a Feeling’ for the General Artist imprint (it seems ‘Chittlins’ was either reissued, or rerecorded for General Artists at some point).

So turn down the lights, pour yourself a drink, and give this one a spin or three.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you 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, January 28, 2014 1:44 pm

Booker T and the MGs

Listen/Download Booker T and the MGs – Boot-Leg

Greetings all

Welcome to the middle of the week, in which we endeavor to assist you in your journey over the hump.

The tune I bring you today is an old favorite of mine that I recently pulled from the crates, dropped into my playbox and reappraised, as it were.

I have always dug Booker T and the MGs ‘Boot-Leg’, but it was one of those sides that I never really listened to closely, or at least closely enough that I really ‘got’ it.

The tune, which made it into the R&B Top 10 in 1965, and was one of the 45s in John Lennon’s famed portable jukebox, is classic, down and dirty Stax groove.

Written by Packy Axton (of the Mar-Keys, Packers etc), Duck Dunn, Isaac Hayes and Al Jackson Jr., ‘Boot-Leg’ opens with some remarkably distorted guitar from Steve Cropper which then drops down into a positively booming guitar/bass tandem line. The bass sound is crazy deep.

Al Jackson is – as was the norm – screwed right down into the pocket, and there’s even a groovy sax solo (not sure if it’s Packy or Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns).

It is a particularly tasty Booker T and the MGs side, and worthy of your attention.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

NOTE: Reading Robert Gordon’s Stax history ‘Respect Yourself’ and discovered that this recording has Isaac Hayes replacing Booker T (who was away at college) on organ, and features the very first appearance by Duck Dunn (replacing Lewie Steinberg) on bass!

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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.