Cook E. Jarr – Who Wears Hot Pants (Short Shorts) Plus a bonus track!
The resplendent Cook E. Jarr
Listen/Download – Cook E Jarr – Who Wears Hot Pants (Short Shorts) MP3
Greetings all.
Greetings all and welcome to the room with sixteen funky corners.
The tune I bring you this week is from one of my favorite Philly soul figures, largely lost to time, but nonetheless very groovy.
Cook E Jarr (often billed with the Crumbs/Krumms) was a South Philly blue eyed soul dynamo that had a brief (but often excellent) discography (a few singles and an album for RCA in 1969) before he moved to Las Vegas where he would become a decades-long fixture as a lounge entertainer.
Back in the day, when soul was his bag, Cook E Jarr was laying it down hard and heavy. There used to be a spectacular clip on Youtube of Cook E Jarr and his Krumms playing James Brown’s ‘There Was a Time’ on the Mike Douglas Show (circa 1969) where they are absolutely tearing it up. I can’t locate the video anymore but I’ll post the audio I ripped of it. If you ever get a chance to see it, it is a thing of wonder, with Cook E, dressed in a pink embroidered suit, dancing up a storm and blowing on his whistle-ring as he does (you can hear it in the clip). The band is hot.
Today’s selection, ‘Who Wears Hot Pants (Short Shorts)’ is a funked up reworking of the Royal Teens ‘Short Shorts’ from 1971.
Opening up with a woman calling ‘Hey Cook E, dig my hot pants?’ and Cook E going “OH YEAAAHHHHH!” the tune kicks in hard, pretty much leaving all traces of the original behind.
Apparently Jarr at al were faves of Philly DJ Jerry Blavat, and were fixtures all around Philly and South Jersey, playing with a full horn section.
The 1969 album is a nice mixture of soul covers and pop, including a nice version of ‘Ask the Lonely’.
I hope you dig the track and I’ll see you all next week.
Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Themocracy
Thanks for the intro!
Last of the Jarr (2014)
https://lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2014/aug/27/singing-joking-and-grooving-end-cook-e-jarr-closes/
But wait! There’s more!
https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/question/cook-e-jarr/