Jimmy Sabater

Listen/Download -Joe Cuba Sextet – El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia)
Listen/Download -Joe Cuba Sextet – Que Son Uno
Listen/Download -Odell Brown and the Organizers – Que Son Uno

Greetings all.

Welcome to the end of another funky week here at the Corners Sixteen.

I hope you’ve all weathered the work week well, or at least well enough to get some enjoyment out of the weekend.

I should take a moment to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show drops Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, followed of course by the MP3 version thereof, posted right here at the blog over the weekend.

I had something else planned for today, but then I heard of the passing of the great Jimmy Sabater.

Sabater, one of the great Nuyorican movers of the boogaloo era (and beyond) was a timbalero, singer and composer who first met Joe Cuba (then Gilberto Calderon) during a stickball game on the streets of Spanish Harlem in the early 50s.

The Joe Cuba Sextet had their first crossover hit in 1966 with ‘El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia)’ and then into the R&B Top 20 and the Pop Hot 100 later that same year with ‘Bang Bang, a million seller and one of the cornerstones of the boogaloo movement’.

Sabater was a key member of the Sextet, writing or co-writing (see Odub’s excellent post at Soul Sides for some info on Cuba taking undeserved writing credit on ‘Bang Bang’) some of their finest records (eight of the eleven tracks on the album above).

The two tracks I bring you today are the aforementioned ‘El Pito’ and ‘Que Son Uno’, both co-written by Sabater.

‘El Pito’ is one of the breat Latin soul party starters of all time. With its fast moving piano riff and percussion, as well as its stop-start pattern in which the band reaches a frenzied pace only to come crashing to a halt (and then rise again from the ashes) ‘El Pito’ is positively explosive. The production is remarkable, with the percussion coming alive (slap on the headphones for this one), the vibes moving at a breakneck pace, and the band’s foot stomping rattling everything in the studio.

The second cut, ‘Que Son Uno’ is probably my favorite cut by the Sextet. Diverging from the boogaloo feel of much of the ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ album, ‘Que Son Uno’ is a beautiful, sublimely powerful piece of Latin jazz.

I’m also including the groovy cover of the tune by none other than Odell Brown and the Organizers, which they recorded in 1967 on the ‘Mellow Yellow’ album. Considering the popularity of the ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ LP, I’m surprised that ‘Que Son Uno’ wasn’t covered more often.

Jimmy Sabater went on to record  a lot of solo material (including this funky gem), but also remained with the Joe Cuba Sextet into the late 70s.

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

 

Peace

Larry

 

 

 

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

 

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