Wilbur Bascomb and the Zodiact – Just a Groove In G
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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