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By Larry, April 2, 2015 10:19 am

The Les James Trio

Listen/Download The Les James Trio – Joe’s Thing

Greetings all

The end of the week is here, and I should remind you all the the Funky16Corners Radio Show comes to you each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 out of the archive right here at the blog.

The fam and I are doing some Spring-breaking, so here’s something from the archives to keep you ears warm until Monday – Larry

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Originally posted November, 2012

I often find myself running out of steam by the end of the week.

You know how it is.

Truth be told, I have discovered that the remedy to such a lull is not – as might be expected – a solid and powerful boot in the ass,  but rather something subtly powerful.

Enough of a push to restore momentum, but nothing too sudden.

It is in furtherance of this idea that I have dipped into the crates and whipped out something that just might do the trick.

A while back, I was perusing the interwebs in search of some tasty vinyl to add to my record box, when I happened upon an auction for an unfamiliar, but very interesting looking record.

The disc in question was a mid-70s joint by a crew called the Les James Trio out of the Rocky Mountain metropolis of Denver, CO.

Now, I know that “Denver jazz’ doesn’t light any fire in your ears – unless you are a Paul Quinichette aficionado – but this auction came with a tantalizing soundclip.

So tantalizing in fact that I chased this record down like a lion after a juicy springbok, landed it and devoured it forthwith, if by “devour” it is meant to be understood as recording and digimatizing said record for the delectation of you good people.

There’s not much out there about Les James, other than a few links that suggest that he was something of a local institution in Denver, and the liner notes to the album which intimate that he might have hailed from Eastern Europe and made his way west, piano in tow.

The tune I bring you today – he one that made me covet the album so fiercely – is entitled ‘Joe’s Thing’, written by and named for James’ bassist Joe Lopez.

Much like the record that I brought you all on Monday, the things that happen on this record in regard to the alchemy of bass and drums is truly something to behold.

‘Joe’s Thing’ is in no way a “funk” record, but it is immediately obvious once the ones and zeros start to flow that is is monumentally funky, in a way guaranteed to make you sit up, notice, and groove, all at the same time.

Unlike so many self-released combos (Century was a famous “press your own”outfit out of California) the Les James Trio was actually a pretty tight unit. James was an excellent pianist, Lopez a shit-hot bassist and the drummer (listed only as Jo Jo) does his part admirably.

‘Joe’s Thing’ is a groover’s treasure because it starts out with a mighty riff, and then returns to the well a number of times, including a couple of phased drum breaks.

This is a banger – a subtle one – but a banger nonetheless.

You can send your thank you notes via the comments below.

You’re most welcome.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, March 31, 2015 11:08 am

Tarik Thornton – Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced

Ahmad Jamal – M*A*S*H Theme
Art Jerry Miller- Finger Lickin’ Good
Odell Brown & The Organizers – The Look Of Love
James Brown- Spinning Wheel
Lena Horne – Rocky Raccoon
Lonnie Smith- Move Your Hand- Part 1
Joe Williams & The Jazz Orchestra – Get Out My Life Woman
Brother Jack McDuff- Theme From The Electric Surfboard
Bobbi Humphrey- Harlem River Drive
Gene Ammons- Jungle Strut
Charlie Earland- Sing a Simple Song
Billy Cobham- Crosswind
Walter Wolfman Washington & Solar System – Good & Juicy
(Bonus Cut) Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band of New Orleans – Tuba Fats & Drums

Listen/Download – Tarik Thornton – Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced 46MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

This is a very fortuitous week indeed, since thanks to a communique from my man Tarik Thornton (veteran of many Funky16Corners pledge drives and guest spots) we have the second brand new mix of the week!

If you have sunk your ears into any of his previous mixes, you know that Tarik has deep crates and excellent taste, and both are on display in ‘Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced’. Here you get just about 40 minutes of very tasty soul jazz and jazz funk, well mixed and served up hot.

I’m digging this one for the second time as I write this, and I think you’ll be giving it repeated plays as well.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, March 29, 2015 11:15 am

Give Everybody Some
Mixed Live by Funky16Corners for This is Funkaholic
Intro
The Bar-kays – Give Everybody Some (Volt)
Artie Christopher – Stoned Soul (Atlantic)
Blue Mitchell – H.N.I.C. Pt1 (Blue Note)
Jomo – Uhuru (Checker)
Ernest Van Treose and the McDaniel Mary Street Band – Medicine Man (RCA)
Cliff Nobles & Co. – The Camel (Phil LA of Soul)
James Brown- Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (LP/Instrumental Mix) (King)
Detroit City Limits – 98 Cents Plus Tax (Okeh)
Ray Pereira – They Say (Columbia Fr.)
Soul Brothers – Horsing Around (Newmiss)
Inez & Charlie Foxx’s Swinging Mocking Band – Speed Ticket (Dynamo)

Listen/Download – F16C for This Is Funkaholic! – Give Everybody Some 67MB/Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

Welcome to another swinging week here at the Corners.

I was recently asked by DJ Funkaholic to put together a mix for his This Is Funkaholic! radio show, which airs Saturdays on Radio LeineHertz 106.5 in Hannover, Germany.

‘Give Everybody Some’ is a half hour of tasty, mostly instrumental funk, which aired live this past Saturday (you can listen to the entire show here) . There are a couple of old faves, some things that have appeared here recently, and some groovy new stuff that’ll make it here in the future.

I thought it’d be cool to post it here for those of you that weren’t able to catch it when it aired.

So dig it, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 26, 2015 10:22 am

Listen/Download – Reggie Milner – Soul Machine

Listen/Download – Quickest Way Out – Tick Tock Baby (It’s a Quarter to Love)

Greetings all.

The end of the week is approaching, and so I simply must remind you that come this and every Friday night at 9PM you should twist the knobs on your radiola and tune in the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you cannot be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 right here at the blog.
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Before we get started, I would like to hep you to the groovy new 45 by the mighty M-Tet out of San Francisco, California.
The M-Tet lay down a tasty stew of classic, Booker T/Meters-style organ grooves, with an underpinning of funk, soul and jazz. Well played and produced, ‘Mike’s New Adidas’ b/w ‘All Growns Up’ is a must have. You can grab yourself a hard copy of the 45 at their site, or grab the new album ‘Finger Poppin’ Time’, which includes some very cool covers, too (or their first LP ‘Hot Buttered Rum’) in iTunes.
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Today’s selection is a prime example of why it pays to keep your ears open, and maintain avenues of communication with like-minded collector types.

Some years ago, I put my hands on a 45 by a group called the Quickest Way Out, doing a groovy little tune called ‘Tick Tock Baby (It’s a Quarter to Love)’. While discussing this record with some on-line friends, someone brought it to my attention that the record in question shared a backing track with another 45, which not coincidentally is the record you see before you today, Reggie Milner’s ‘Soul Machine’.

‘Tick Tock Baby (It’s a Quarter to Love)’ is a tasty side and all, but once I heard the Reggie Milner side, all bets – as they say – were off.

Released in 1970, and released on Memphis-based Volt (though recorded in Detroit by Ollie McLaughlin) ‘Soul Machine’ is a funky killer, driven by a thick, twangy guitar, aided by clavinet, thumping bass and pounding drums.

The energy is taken up a few notches during the chorus, and there’s a great drum breakdown midway through the song.

The Quickest Way Out 45 is a slightly less banging affair, with a high, female lead vocal, though the drum break is a little more open. Both 45s (released in 1970) include a cover version of Barbara Mason’s ‘Hello Stranger’ on the flip.

Milner had two 45s on Volt (and one earlier single for the Ron’s label), with his first ‘Habit Forming Love’ b/w ‘And I Love Her’ from 1969 getting some airplay in Detroit.

According to Keith Rylatt’s excellent ‘Groovesville USA’ book, Milner was hit by a train and killed in 1980.

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, March 19, 2015 11:51 am

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, and that means that it’s time to warm up the old radiola and tune in the dulcet tones of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come to you each and every Friday night at 9pm on Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you can’t fall by at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

I’m closing out the week with a record that is a very heavy bit of funky business, as well as an old favorite of mine.

Though most seasoned diggers’ hearts would be set aflutter by the sight of the Rojac label, it would likely only boil over into a full-scale infarction if it turned out to be the Third Guitar’s “Baby Don’t Cry’, the most sought-after 45 on the label.

That certainly is a banger, but even a brief look at the Rojac discography will reveal that there is much treasure to be dug therein, including sides by Big Maybelle, Kim Tolliver and the man on today’s selection, Mr Lavell Hardy.

Hardy’s 1967 killer ‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’ was one of the first really heavy 45s that I was lucky enough to dig up and has remained a steady favorite all these years.

Hardy only ever recorded two 45s (both for Rojac), and seems to have had a level of popularity over in the UK where ‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’ was picked up and released on the CBS subsidiary, Direction label.

‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’ is a stellar bit of early days funk, with some heavy guitar and horns, and a searing Pickett-esque vocal by Hardy. I really dig the bass guitar, and the drums are nice and heavy, up to and including the break at 1:47.

Interestingly, while trying to dig up some info on Hardy, I discovered that the year after ‘Don’t Lose Your Groove’, Lavell Hardy was involved in a scheme to take a young singer named Vickie Jones and bring her to Florida

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The article about the hoax/tour (above) and the fake-Aretha, Vickie Jones (below)

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where she was to masquerade as Aretha Franklin on a series of concert dates! Hardy got busted, and according to articles in Jet and a number of newspapers, including one called the Afro-American, Aretha and her lawyers were interested in pressing charges against Hardy (who is decribed more than once as an ‘itinerant hairdresser’, but is also described as “wearing his hair in a beautifully sculptured six-inch bush”).

I haven’t been able to find any information about the ultimate disposition of the case, but it certainly makes for an interesting footnote to the Lavell Hardy story!

I hope you dig the song as much as I do, and I’ll see you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 12, 2015 12:43 pm

Blue Mitchell

Listen/Download – Blue Mitchell – H.N.I.C. Pt2

Greetings all.

The end of the week is nigh, so I will remind you once again that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the shimmering airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. If you cannot lend your ears at airtime, you can subscribe to the show as podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

Closing out the week with something funky seemed like a good idea, so I bring you Blue Mitchell and ‘H.N.I.C. Pt1’.
Mitchell was, like the subject of Wednesday’s post, Yusef Lateef, a jazz veteran, coming up in hard bop with Cannonball Adderley and Horace Silver, and moving on to his own dates by the 1960s.

Like many of his ilk, Mitchell found himself at the end of the 1960s finding his way into a soulful bag. Many jazzers did this to varying levels of success, depending in large part on their affinity with and dedication to the material in question.

What is particularly interesting about today’s selection, is that it comes from a two-LP run that Mitchell had in 1968 and 1969 where he was working with Monk Higgins and Dee Ervin.

I haven’t been able to find out how this particular team came together, but the intersection of straight jazz with two figures closely identified with 60s soul is an interesting one.

The two albums, 1968s ‘Collision In Black’ and 1969s ‘Bantu Village’ (where this track originated) were composed almost entirely by Higgins and Ervin.. The dates appear to have been recorded in California, and are an interesting is somewhat mysterious chapter in Higgins’ and Ervin’s stories.

‘H.N.I.C. Pt1’ is also interesting because it is yet another iteration/variation of the Isley Brothers’ ‘It’s Your Thing’, a huge (and very influential) hit in 1969.

Featuring Mitchell and Bobby Bryant on trumpet, Paul Humphrey on drums, Wilton Felder on bass and Freddy Robinson on guitar, ‘H.N.I.C. Pt1’ manages to balance the jazz and funk nicely, with a fine solo by Mitchell.

I dig it (I need to score a copy of the LP), and I hope you do too.

See you on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 10, 2015 11:58 am

Yusef Lateef

Greetings all.

How about we ease ourselves over the hump with some sweet, sublimely funky jazz?

Yusef Lateef is one of the giants of bop/post-bop eras of jazz, starting with Dizzy Gillespie in 1949 and playing well into his 80s, only passing away in 2013 at the age of 93.

He was a master of many wind instruments, mainly the tenor sax and the flute, but also on oboe and bassoon, as well as working a number of African and Eastern instruments into his music.

‘Nubian Lady’ was recorded in 1971 for his album ‘The Gentle Giant’, with Lateef on flute, Kenny Barron (who composed the song) on piano (with Ray Bryant on electric piano), and Albert Heath on drums among others.

It has a slow, mellow groove, but the drums manage to assert themselves nicely, giving the track a nice, funky feel.

Lateef’s flute states the main theme, and then returns to solo.

Y’all know I’m a huge fan of the flute in jazz and soul, and this is one of those records that you just want to kind of lay back and let it wash over you.

Listening to ‘Nubian Lady’ it sounds like the kind of record that must have been chopped and looped by someone, but as far as I can tell it has yet to be sampled.

It is a tasty groove indeed, and I hope you dig it.
See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 3, 2015 2:16 pm

Vicki Anderson

Greetings all.

How about something tasty from the James Brown galaxy of stars to get you over the hump?

I am continually surprised by the amount of James Brown and related records that I don’t know, and I grab pretty much whetever I find in the field on King, I-Dentify, BrownStone, People or Polydor with any of the JB-signifiers (often enough, his smiling face right there on the label).

Such was the case when I found myself a copy of the 45 you see before you, Vicki Anderson’s 1971 ‘I’m Too Tough For Mister Big Stuff (Hot Pants)’.

Here we have a 45 of value to record collector types as an ‘answer’ record (as part of the Jean Knight-originated ‘Big Stuff’ continuum, not to mention the parenthetical “hot pants” tacked on at the end), and to funk 45 heads for the Vicki Anderson content, since she hardly lent her pipes to anything that wasn’t a stone gas.

The tempo is relaxed – as these things go – yet still packs a punch. Written by one of James Brown’s guitar slingers, Hearlon ‘Cheese’ Martin, the song has a kind of odd rhythmic push, especially in regard to the way Anderson delivers the lyric.

You get to hear how ‘James Brown is down and Wilson Pickett is wicked’, as well as how ‘the cats in Watts are cool if you aren’t a fool’, and Vicki, one of the most powerful voices in Brown’s orbit, is on point.

The flipside, ‘Sounds Funky’ (written by Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke) is a rocked up instrumental with some heavy guitar and piano.

I hope you dig the song, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 12, 2015 1:07 pm

Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
Charlie Rich – Dance Of Love
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket
Jackie Wilson – I Get the Sweetest Feeling
Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham – Lover and a Friend
Charlie Earlands Erector Set – Cherie Amour
JJ Barnes – Hold On To It
Spinners – Sweet Thing
Sand Pebbles – Love Power
Platters – Sweet Sweet Loving
Lee Dorsey and Betty Harris – Love Lots of Lovin’
Len Barry – I Struck It Rich
Producers – Love Is Amazing
Lee Williams and the Cymbals – It’s Everything About You That I Love
Broadways – You Just Don’t Know Good You Make Me Feel
Velvelettes – Since You’ve Been Loving Me
Soul Brothers Six – Your Love Is Such a Wonderful Love
Wilson Pickett – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Valentine’s Mix: Dance of Love – 86MB Mixed Mp3/256K

Greetings all.

Hey everybody!

The weekend is nigh, and that means that it’s almost Funky16Corners Radio Show time. We come to you each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove all on original vinyl. If you can’t be there at airtime, you can always keep up by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listening on your mobile device through the TuneIn ap, or grabbing yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

Valentines Day is almost here, and what better way to celebrate than re-upping one of my favorite Funky16Corners mixes, Dance of Love.

First posted in 2012, and dedicated (then and always) to my lovely wife, it’s a collection of some of my favorite soulful love songs, mostly on the danceable tip, so that you might grab the one you love and cut yourselves a slice of rug.

And even if you’re not presently attached, slap this one on, turn it up, open up the windows and before you know it you’ll be swamped in potential romantic partners!

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 1, 2015 12:00 pm

Mr A. DeWalt Mixon Esq.

Greetings all.

I come before you today to attest personally to the value of big (literal and figurative) ears.

The wife and I were early adaptors in the satellite radio thing, and though we have decreased that tech footprint over the years, we still rock the Sirius/XM in the main family car. As a result, it is through that portal that we do much of our listening on long car trips (usually driver’s choice).

It was on such a lengthy journey while attempting to keep myself from drifting off the New York Thruway, I pointed the dial at Soultown, and encountered (for the very first time) the tasty little disc you see before you today.

Like most folks for whom soul music is more than a passing fancy, I have often taken the Motown giants for granted(usually unfairly) due to their omnipresence on oldies radio when I was a kid, and the limited scope thereof, i.e. there’e nothing like hearing the same 25 Supremes, Four Tops, Temptations etc songs over and over again until your eyes and ears glaze over and you’re tempted to move on to something more exciting.

As has been recounted here in the past, I eventually managed to force myself through that swamp and discovered how much greatness was really out there.

Junior Walker and the All Stars were definitely part of that pantheon, racking up dozens of hits between 1965 and 1979, some of which are as shit hot today as the day they rolled off the presses in Detroit 50 years ago.

I have a bunch of the essential Junior 45s in my crates, and I grab the LPs whenever I find them, but as I found out, there were still some cool things I hadn’t yet heard.

When ‘Gimme That Beat Pt1’ came on the radio my ears perked right up, and since the satellite has a display, I didn’t have to wait but a second or two to find out that what I was digging was a new (to me) Junior Walker and the All Stars track.

‘Gimme That Beat’ is one of those records that still carries with it the heat of ‘classic’ funk, yet is also starting to reveal some of the fancier, streamlined options of the newer models, with just the faintest suggestion of the gathering heat of the disco dance floor.

You get some very groovy bass, nice vocals and sax by Junior and percolating guitar that attests to the fact James Brown’s juggernaut was still kicking up dust in the zeitgeist.

This was one of Junior’s last hits (Top 50, 1973) but demonstrated that he could still work it out.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 27, 2015 1:32 pm

The Loading Zone

Greetings all.

What better way to slide through the middle of the week than with some of that funky, head-nodding goodness?

I have made mention of the Loading Zone previously, in relation to the singing of its one-time vocalist Linda Tillery, aka Sweet Linda Divine.

The group formed in the mid-60s, then recruited Tillery, recording an album for RCA before the singer left to go solo.

The Loading Zone’s sound, if they can truly be said to have had one, was an odd mixture of soul, jazz and rock, which doesn’t sound all that complicated, but instead of blending the three strains into a single admixture, they kind of rode it like a sliding scale, moving from one sound to another.

That they did this in 1960s San Francisco (or just in the 60s) explains how they got signed to a major label.

Everybody was experimenting with stylistic blends, and where a band these days might be accused of aimlessness, in the earliest days of progressive (in the truest sense of the word) rock, this was the mark of versatility.

I’m of the school that leans toward the latter characterization, and sees it as a net positive. You have to remember that in 1967, rock was barely a decade old, yet in incubators like San Francisco, Los Angeles and London, (ostensibly) rock musicians were dipping into all kinds of sounds and redefining what that style meant.

There’s hardly a better example of this than the closing track from the Loading Zone LP, ‘Can I Dedicate’.

Sounding at times like Horace Silver and the Holding Company, ‘Can I Dedicate’ (later sampled by the Souls of Mischief for ‘Live and Let Live’) is a nine-plus minute exercise in jazzy, stoned funk. Listening to it today it sounds like something stitched together using soul jazz samples and looped drums, waiting for someone to drop a verse or two on top of it.

There are traces of hard bop, woven around a hypnotic, rolling bass line, tight drums, and the out of the blue, a Fillmore West-style guitar solo (followed, naturally, by a jazz trombone solo…).

It is heavy, wonderful stuff, and one of those tracks I find myself going back to a digging all the time.

I hope you dig it too, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, January 22, 2015 1:17 pm

NOTE: As a result of my hospital stay and lots of lost blogging time, I’m going to dip back into the archives for some groovy things to hold you over until I get back.

Also, don’t forget to tune in to an all new episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show, Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio.

So dig it, and Keep the Faith
Larry

Listen/Download Cal’s Tricks – Who’s Gonna Take the Weight

Greetings all

The track I bring you today is something I picked up whilst grazing at the last Allentown All 45 show.

It’s hard not to be overwhelmed in a room packed to the gills with 45s, but since a lot of the dealers (and the kind of stock they bring with them) have become familiar to me over the years, I try to maintain a s small amount of focus.

These days my “want list” (as it is) isn’t very long.

There are a couple of very crucial things that I’m always on the lookout for, but outside of those, I tend to cast a pretty wide net. The old frame of reference is sharp enough that I come away with more gold that gravel, and the record you see before you today is evidence thereof.

I’d never heard of Cal’s Tricks, or the Secant label, but as soon as I noted the presence of a groovy Kool and the Gang cover, I placed the disc on the keeper pile and kept digging.

Once I got the record home I was very happy with my selection, and moved on to digging for information.

There’s not a lot out there, but what I have found is interesting.

It would seem that the Secant label was active in the Washington, DC/Maryland area during the 70s, releasing a wide variety of styles.

The DC Soul Recordings site noting that only three of their releases seemed to fall into the realm of soul and funk, two of them being records by Cal’s Tricks.

‘Who’s Gonna Take the Weight’ – taken here at a slightly faster, dare I say discofied, tempo than the OG – was the second 45 by Cal’s Tricks, released in 1976.

The band’s name seems to be a variation of the name of producer Caltrick Simone.

I don’t think this track or any of Cal’s Tricks tunes have been comped.

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.