Mr. Ross Carnegie at work on the Hammond

Listen/Download – Ross Carnegie & Co. – Open Up Your Mind

Greetings all.

I hope the new week finds you all well.
I spent Thursday, Friday and the rest of the godforsaken weekend dealing with yet another in a seemingly endless parade of kidney-related roadblocks. Long story short, one of the newer kidney stones (which weren’t supposed to be happening) became dislodged from its home in the “meat” of the kidney (as my doctor likes to call it) and scored itself an eagle, dropping directly into the ureter, which in accordance with Murphy’s Law, was too narrow to afford it egress. As a result, my doctor (always properly cautious) dragged me back into the surgi-center and reinserted a stent, so that my sole, remaining kidney would not fail.
How’s that for fun?
This all sounds a lot worse than it is. Aside from being a huge inconvenience (with the added risks of anesthesia), if the greatest minds of the urological/nephrological world could figure out why I’m still getting stones, and cause it to cease, there would be no problem at all.
Until then, I’m trapped in this bizarre loop where I go through another surgical procedure, only to discover another speed bump when I emerge on the other side.
That (and the fact that I had to take my sick three-year-old to the doctor) is why there was no Friday post.
But, all is – if not well – at least back to the status quo, so continue on I will.
The tune I bring you today is something of a slightly later vintage by a great producer of Hammond 45s, Mr. Ross Carnegie.
I first heard/heard of Mr. Carnegie via the legendary ‘Vital Organs’ comp which featured his song ‘Cool Dad’, as well as his visage on the cover.
Some years later, deep into my own Hammond obsession I scored a copy of ‘The Kid’ (as featured in Funky16Corners Radio v.48), also very groovy.
Anyhoo, the tune I bring you today falls somewhat later in Mr. Carnegie’s limited discography, bears no date but the sound in the grooves suggests to me a recording sometime in the early-to-mid 70s.
Ross Carnegie emigrated to New York from Canada as a young man to work as a jazz pianist. He ended up working not only on piano but mastering the Hammond organ as well, eventually leading his own band which featured a young Alphonse Mouzon on drums in the late 60s.
Later on, Carnegie became known (at least locally) as the pianist in the White Plains, NY Nordstroms department store.
Today’s selection, ‘Open Up Your Mind’, credited to Ross Carnegie and Co. , is a funky, semi-blaxplo experience with all manner of keyboards – analog and synthesized – horns, police whistles and chants (no doubt courtesy of the ‘& Co.’ of the title) of ‘Open up your mind’.
While there are elements that would later come to signify disco, this is most decidedly a non-disco affair (though Carnegie would later release the tune ‘F-Minor Disco’ on his El-Con label, using the same exact catalog number as ‘Open Up Your Mind’).
I hope you dig the tune, and, assuming I’m not hit by a bus or falling space junk, I’ll be back mid-week.

Peace

Larry

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4 Responses to “Ross Carnegie & Co. – Open Up Your Mind”

1. Joe says:

   June 15, 2010 at 7:52 am

   Larry, finally got around to listening/reading this. Love this track, it has kind of hypnotic effect in the repetition. Hope things work out with the kidneys.

2. Bill says:

   June 15, 2010 at 11:03 am

   Wow, what an odd jam! Disco vibe but it’s in 9/4? Notice that extra beat at the end of each vamp. Do you know if this song was a success on the dance floor? That would be a pretty major victory if it was!

3. Larry says:

   June 15, 2010 at 12:06 pm

   Bill – I’m not aware of any of Carnegie’s 45s having any popularity on the dancefloor or elsewhere, in fact I’ve heard that the 45 after this one was never really distributed. The later you get in his discography, the cheaper and easier to find his records become. I have this one and ‘The Kid’. ‘Cool Dad’ seems to be the rarest. – Larry

4. Sport Casual says:

   June 21, 2010 at 5:02 pm

   I have a few Ross Carnegie 45s. This one is a bit disco for you Larry no? 🙂 I sort of got a soft spot for him after I found out he was resident ivory tinkler at Nordstom in the White Plains Mall!