Jay Jackson & The Heads of Our Time – Listen Here
The Majestics (left) and their singers, Shawne and Jay Jackson (right)
Listen/Download – Jay Jackson and the Heads of Our Time – Listen Here MP3
Greetings all.
The end of the week is finally here and so I will remind you once again to dig the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which drops each and every Friday with the best of soul, funk, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the Stitcher and TuneIn apps, dig it on Mixcloud, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at Funky16Corners.com
The record I bring you today was something of a mystery, until Google intervened.
The 45 by Jay Jackson and the Heads of Our Time was released on Mr G records in 1969. One side was a horn-rock cop of the Joe Cocker arrangement of the Beatles ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’.
The side I bring you today is a much cooler instrumental, a cover of Eddie Harris’ soul jazz standard ‘Listen Here’.
Harris recorded the original version of the song in 1966 on his ‘Mean Greens’ LP (a very groovy take with Harris putting down his sax and playing organ and electric piano), and it was redone a bunch of times by folks like Brian Auger, Young-Holt, Valorie Keys (in a vocal), Ramsey Lewis, Freddie McCoy, and the mighty Soulful Strings.
The group hailed from Canada, and released a rare LP on Audio Fidelity, from which both of the cuts on this 45 were lifted.
Apparently most of the group, Jay Jackson (vocals), Russ Strathdee (sax), Ric Robertson (keyboards), Arnie Chycoski (horns), Bill Cudmore (sax), Orly Guerrieri (trombone), Brian Lucrow (trumpet), Jack Posluns (drums) and Chuck Vickery (bass) had played in the Toronto band the Majestics ( where Jay’s sister Shawne, who went on to have Canadian hits on her own was the co-lead singer), and Jay Jackson and the Heads of Our Time was an attempt to regroup and restage the band as a more timely jazz rock/psych outfit.
Their producer Tony Di Maria worked with a lot of Canadian and Upstate NY acts, including crossing paths with the Shannon/Cisco axis including the Rockin’ Rebels and Kathy Lynn and the Playboys (aka the LaSalles).
The group’s version of ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ is a pretty solid 1969 reapproximation of the Joe Cocker hit, but their version of ‘Listen Here’ is different and very groovy indeed.
Taken at a slightly slower pace, with a tasty Latin edge, and some groovy, jazzy lead guitar, they really dig deep into the heart of Harris’ classic. The tastefully applied horn section adds a nice punch to things as well.
The arrangement is really nice, and the piano work by Ric Robertson is excellent.
I haven’t heard the LP (which is apparently pretty far out, as well as fairly rare) but I’ll keep an eye out for it.
I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Monday.
Keep the faith
Larry
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