Lavell Kamma today. Still making music!

Listen/Download -Lavell Kamma and his Afro Soul Revue – Soft Soul

Greetings all.

Hows about we get the new week started with some sublimely delicious funk of the 45RPM variety?

I knew you’d dig that.

I picked up today’s selection while back from a friend’s sale list, mainly because I’d heard of it (but not heard it) and because the price was reasonable.

Naturally, there are those of you who might question the purchase of a record that one has not actually heard yet, but I would respectfully counter with the proposition that any self respecting digger that would pass up any recording by a group calling themselves Lavell Kamma and his Afro Soul Review, should be forced to surrender their turntables and walk away in shame.

This is not to say that every single record with a cool name is going to be good and funky, but rather that the unwritten laws of such things suggest that the law of averages would be on your side in such a transaction.

And in this case, they were (big time).

There’s isn’t a whole lot of info out there on Mr Kamma, other than the fact that he seems to have hailed from the Sunshine State (FLA) and that he recorded 45s for at least three labels, Tupelo Sound (this one), Sure Shot and Jewel, between the mid-60s and the early 70s.

‘Soft Soul’, despite a title that might lead you to think you were about to travel down the boulevard of ballads, is one of the finest example of tasty, mid-tempo funk I have ever heard.

First off, those freaking drums….whoever was massaging the traps had a light and talented hand indeed, and the rest of the band were right, tight and out of sight as well. Lavell’s vocals are high and slightly raspy (in a groovy way), and whoever’s playing the guitar gets a gold star at the top of his report card as well.

The flip is quite nice as well (watch for it in an upcoming mix).

It’s also not a terribly expensive 45. There are at least three label variations/pressings I’ve seen.

Lavell Kamma is still playing today. You can check out his MySpace page for a video of him doing his one man band thing.

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

 

Peace

Larry

 

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8 Responses to “Lavell Kamma and his Afro Soul Revue – Soft Soul”

1. Sama says:

   October 16, 2011 at 12:52 pm

   yo Kamma’s got an incredibly hard as hell to find 45 called “Beggin” – un-freakin-believable how good it is. you’d think it was a james brown original

2. ana_b says:

   October 16, 2011 at 4:34 pm

   I did some digging on Kamma awhile back. Turns out some guy wrote a masters thesis on him. Perhaps you found that too? Not a lot of hard info, but still more than what you’ll find on many others. The first fifty pages are all about establishing methodology, but as I recall the rest of it is pretty interesting. For one thing, it sounds as if Kamma was pretty big in the South. He had a good sized band with back-up singers and a tour bus. Apparently they worked a lot.

   I own the 45 on Jewel [and this one], but have never heard of an issue on Sure Shot. Perhaps that’s the record Sama is referring to??? I’m under the impression that the third single was issued by Huey Meaux but am possibly just confusing my labels.

   A slightly faster alt version of this tune was released on the comp “Florida Funk”. I’ve never read the liner notes for that collection, so I don’t know if that recording came off unreleased tapes or what…..but the fact that there were three pressing of “Soft Soul” makes me wonder if one of those issues doesn’t hold a surprise. Just seems strange to me that the alt version was comped whereas I don’t think this version has been.

3. Pondra Zigler says:

   October 16, 2011 at 4:59 pm

   Hi. Mr.Kamma is my estranged dad (of 35 years), and every now and then I google him to see what he has been up to. I just wanted to say thanks for “digging” his music. I happen to “dig” it too. Lol.

4. Larry Grogan says:

   October 16, 2011 at 5:01 pm

   Ana
   If you click on the Sure Shot link above you’ll get to a Youtube vid where you can hear it. It’s very cool.
   Larry

5. ana_b says:

   October 16, 2011 at 5:19 pm

   Just to say you are totally right about the 45 on Sure Shot….my mistake for not checking around before commenting.

   However, you might be interested to hear that I did find where Kamma says he recorded “Soft Soul” twice, but confusingly says he recorded the faster tougher version in Shreveport…at the same studio where Allen Toussaint recorded [???]. Kamma also seems to be under the impression that it too was released on Jewel [?].

6. Larry says:

   October 16, 2011 at 5:57 pm

   Ana
   According to the discography on Soulful Kinda Music, Jewel only released one 45 by Kamma. Maybe he recorded an unreleased version during those sessions?
   L

7. Sama says:

   October 17, 2011 at 1:53 am

   great piece on Kamma Larry – got me digging even more now to find out new info.

   Ana – thanks for the heads up on that honors thesis! great find.

   also, Begging is the flip side to the Sure Shot track Larry put up (which you may have known already).

8. Reaching Sherlock Holmes Status: Level I « The 45 Brains says:

   October 19, 2011 at 3:47 pm

   […] is a student’s honor’s thesis on Lavell Kamma that I was turned onto by reading up on The FUNKY16CORNERS blog). I ask questions and I spend my weekends at the record shop chatting with Dick about music (the […]