Les James Trio – Joe’s Thing
The Les James Trio
Listen/Download The Les James Trio – Joe’s Thing
Greetings all
I hope the day finds you all well.
Ioften find myself running out of steam around the middle of the week.
You know how it is.
Truth be told, I have discovered that the remedy to such a lull is not – as might be expected – a solid and powerful boot in the ass, like you might require on a Friday to get you in gear for the weekend, but rather something subtly powerful.
Enough of a push to restore momentum, but nothing too sudden.
It is in furtherance of this idea that I have dipped into the crates and whipped out something that just might do the trick.
A while back, I was perusing the interwebs in search of some tasty vinyl to add to my record box, when I happened upon an auction for an unfamiliar, but very interesting looking record.
The disc in question was a mid-70s joint by a crew called the Les James Trio out of the Rocky Mountain metropolis of Denver, CO.
Now, I know that “Denver jazz’ doesn’t light any fire in your ears – unless you are a Paul Quinichette aficionado – but this auction came with a tantalizing soundclip.
So tantalizing in fact that I chased this record down like a lion after a juicy springbok, landed it and devoured it forthwith, if by “devour” it is meant to be understood as recording and digimatizing said record for the delectation of you good people.
There’s not much out there about Les James, other than a few links that suggest that he was something of a local institution in Denver, and the liner notes to the album which intimate that he might have hailed from Eastern Europe and made his way west, piano in tow.
The tune I bring you today – he one that made me covet the album so fiercely – is entitled ‘Joe’s Thing’, written by and named for James’ bassist Joe Lopez.
Much like the record that I brought you all on Monday, the things that happen on this record in regard to the alchemy of bass and drums is truly something to behold.
‘Joe’s Thing’ is in no way a “funk” record, but it is immediately obvious once the ones and zeros start to flow that is is monumentally funky, in a way guaranteed to make you sit up, notice, and groove, all at the same time.
Unlike so many self-released combos (Century was a famous “press your own”outfit out of California) the Les James Trio was actually a pretty tight unit. James was an excellent pianist, Lopez a shit-hot bassist and the drummer (listed only as Jo Jo) does his part admirably.
‘Joe’s Thing’ is a groover’s treasure because it starts out with a mighty riff, and then returns to the well a number of times, including a couple of phased drum breaks.
This is a banger – a subtle one – but a banger nonetheless.
You can send your thank you notes via the comments below.
NOTE: Speaking of which, the comment capcha system I was using died unexpectedly, so I replaced it with another one in which you – the commenter – gets to solve a simple math problem instead of squinting at an impossible to read “phrase”. Easy, educational, and best of all, spam-obliterating!
You’re most welcome.
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).
Themocracy
Cool. Dig the new capcha.