Andre Williams

Listen/Download – Andre Williams – Cadillac Jack

 

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and I am happy to say that the Funky16Corners obit page is closed (for now).
Losing both Diamond Joe and King Coleman in the same week was a colossal drag, so I figured I close things out with something a little, how do they say, bad-ass.

But first, some news.

Should you be in New York City this Sunday evening and have developed a taste for the funk 45s, might I suggest you fall by Fat Buddha (formerly known as Forbidden City) 212 Ave A as I and my records will be making our return to Master Groove alongside residents DJ Bluewater and M-Fasis. I’ll be spending the next few days rifling through my crates to select only the finest funk that can be delivered via seven-inch platter, and I hope you can make it out to hear some of them, and perhaps, should the spirit take you, get off your ass and shake a tailfeather.

In even more exciting news, my records and I will be piling into the Funky16Corners-mobile and heading down to Washington, DC for a weekend of fun. Saturday evening 9/25 I will be spinning at Marvin with my man DJ Birdman, bringing the finest in funk, soul and disco to perk up your ears and move your feet. The following day I will be spinning a set at the DC Record Fair, as well as spending money on records (who among you didn’t see that coming?), after which I will be dragging my exhausted ass back to New Jersey.

You should also be hip (if you aren’t already) to the Funky16Corners Radio Show which drops every Friday night at 9PM on Viva internet radio, and is then archived for download (as an MP3) at this very blog the following day. I have lots of groovy stuff in store, so you should be real nice and feed your iPod something healthy.

As I said a few graphs ago, I was in the mood for some funky bad-assery, so I dipped into the crates and whipped out a little number by Mr. Andre Williams.

I won’t go too deep into his history, which is long and convoluted, aside from letting you know that Mr. Williams, working in Detroit and Chicago had a hand in creating many, many great records during his day, including writing or co-writing tunes like ‘Shake a Tail Feather’ and ‘Twine Time’, and burning up the studios with his own brand of groove grease with tunes like ‘Bacon Fat’, ‘Jail Bait’, ‘Loose Juice’, ‘Rib Tips’ etc, and working behind the scenes on records like ‘Uhuru (African Twist)’ by Jomo and ‘Pig Snoots’ by the Natural Bridge Bunch. During the 50s and 6os he recorded for labels like Fortune, Avin, Sport, Ric-Tic, Checker, Chess Wingate and many more.

The tune I bring you today (from 1968) is a tale of a very heavy cat named ‘Cadillac Jack’ which is sung (narrated?) by Andre who gambles, fights and (of course) drives a big white Caddy, until he meets his end at the barrel of a gun, eventually trading his own Caddy for the long, black one from the funeral home.

As Mr Williams says, ‘He sure was a mack!’.

So was Andre, and despite hitting some very hard times a while back, he made a comeback and is still performing.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some pop-psyche goodness.

 

2 Responses to “Andre Williams – Cadillac Jack”

1. Jake says:

   September 18, 2010 at 12:06 pm

   Hey Larry,

   Great website! You’ve inspired me to start putting all the old 45s I’ve been sitting on up on a blog.

   Here’s another Andre Williams produced record that I just posted last week:
   https://mydadsrecords.tumblr.com/post/1121405942/laura-lee-so-will-i-to-win-your-heart

   Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

   – Jake

2. Larry says:

   September 18, 2010 at 1:51 pm

   Nice Jake!