Comments (2)

By Larry, December 19, 2013 12:09 pm

Charles Brown

Listen/Download Charles Brown – Merry Christmas Baby (1970)

NOTE:  Don’t forget to tune into this year’s Funky16Corners Radio Show Christmas special. It airs on Friday night 12/2o at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you are out making merry at that hour, you can catch up by subscribing to the show as a podcast in iTunes.

Enjoy!

Greetings all

As mentioned in our previous post, of Ike and Tina Turner KILLING ‘Merry Christmas Baby’, the original version was recorded by Charles Brown with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers in 1947.

The tune became a holiday standard, and was covered by many people (including Ike and Tina, Chuck Berry, Otis Redding, Booker T and the MGs, Kenny Burrell and Bruce Springsteen).

Brown himself returned to the well frequently over the years, recording the song anew many times.

The version I bring you today is something I dug up this past summer on a record safari to the Finger Lakes region of New York.

When I saw it, I was unaware of Brown’s many rerecordings, and assumed it to simply be a later pressing of the tune.

When I finally got home and gave it a spin, it was immediately clear – via the wah-wah guitar – that what I was hearing was a recording of a much later vintage.

A little bit of research revealed that Brown had redone the tune for Jewel records (along with a new version of ‘Please Come Home For Christmas’) in 1970.

Though I haven’t been able to track down any session info (I really wish I knew who the guitarist was) I think it’s a safe assumption that it is Brown himself tickling the ivories.

His voice – in the words of Slim Gaillard, “mellow like a cello” – one of the finest/smoothest that ever was, was still in fine shape (and would remain so for many years) and the vibe is relaxed.

What amazes me about this song in particular is how flexible it is.

You can line up the versions that have appeared in this space – or on the Funky16Corners Radio Show – by Ike and Tina, Otis Redding and the Soulful Strings – next to Brown’s, and marvel at how different the song (a fairly simple blues) manages to sound in each interpretation.

I love to hear Charles Brown’s voice (right up there with Lou Rawls for pure listening pleasure) and he clearly dug this song.
I hope you do too.

See you next week with some more holiday soul!

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, December 17, 2013 1:09 pm

Listen/Download – Bobby Holloway – Funky Little Drummer Boy

NOTE: This year – as in years past – the run up to Christmas will be filled with re-postings of some of my (and your) fave soulful and funky holiday tunes.

This gives you all a chance to catch up on some soulful Christmas jams, and gives me time to rest my blogging muscles and enjoy the holiday.

This year’s Christmas show airs on Friday night 12/2o at 9PM on Viva Radio.

Enjoy!

Originally posted 12/16/12

Greetings all

I should get things started by noting that the next week or so will be filled with soulful and funky Christmas music.

I will be posting new stuff (like you see today) interspersed some old faves.

Here’s hoping that you dig it all, and that those that celebrate have themselves a groovy Christmas.

It was way back in February of this year that I featured the absolutely incendiary flipside of this biscuit – ‘Cornbread, Hog Maw and Chitterlins’ – in this very space.

Funny thing is, the record was first recommended to me (by the mighty Midnight Cowbwoy) for the side you see before you today.

I was in search of some groovy, soulful Christmas ish, and he suggested that Bobby Hollaway’s ‘Funky Little Drummer Boy’ could be had for not much scratch. So, off I went in search of said 45, found it, coughed up my ten smackers and eagerly awaited it’s arrival here at the crib.

Well, when it fell through the mail slot, I played the Christmas side, dug it and thought “Well, that was ten bucks well spent!”

Then I flipped it over.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a body cast (not really).

However, the ‘Cornbread…’ side is as deadly a bit of organ driven instro-soul as has ever rolled down the pike.

The Christmas side is a cover of a song thathas never really done much for me in its original form.

However, it seems to be the kind of song that lends itself to particularly interesting soul and funk interpretations, like the George Conedy and Lenox Ave versions you have seen/heard in this space previously.

Mr Hollaway does yet another stupendous take on ‘The Little Drummer Boy’, picking up the tempo considerably and laying a whole lot of soul on what started out as a decidedly un-soulful tune.

I have yet to discover anything about Bobby Hollaway – what little I was able to glean can be picked up in the earlier post – and I wish I knew more.

If anyone has anything to add to the story, please drop me a line.

Until then, I hope you dig the tune, and Merry Christmas.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, December 15, 2013 12:57 pm

Ike and Tina

Listen/Download Ike and Tina Turner – Merry Christmas Baby

Greetings all

The first of our new, soulful Christmas tunes this year is my favorite recording of what is perhaps the greatest R&B-rooted holiday tune ever written.

‘Merry Christmas Baby’, composed by Johnny Moore and Lou Baxter, and first recorded in 1947 by Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers with Charles Brown on vocals, has become a standard, re-recorded many times, in many styles in the decades since it was created.

If you haven’t heard Moore’s group, make sure you do a little digging. Much of their recorded work – with and without Brown – is available in reissue, and is worth your time. They were one of the truly great small groups working in the transitional years between jazz and R&B (in the style of the King Cole Trio, which featured Johnny Moore’s brother, Oscar on guitar).

The version of the song I bring you today is not only my fave ‘Merry Christmas Baby’, but may very well be my favorite holiday soul record.

Ike and Tina Turner released their version of the song in 1964 on the b-side of a cover of Jesse Hill’s New Orleans R&B classic ‘Ooh Poop A Doo’ (using the Turner’s spelling…).

The tune opens with a fanfare, and the Ikette’s wailing ‘Jingle all the way!’, before Tina, Ike and a drummer who sounds like he was playing with sledgehammers drop in like a ton of bricks.

The recording has a remarkable “live’ sound, with the horns and Ikettes dueling for first place all the way through and Miss Tina delivering 110%.

I recently saw a video of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue from the Big TNT Show, and it is a testament to the fact that they were as hot an act as was around in the mid-60s. Every single time the drummer hits that snare drum the whole band explodes, and they carry that vibe onto this 45.

Neither side of this record charted, but don’t let that fool you. This right here…this is the shit.

Ho Ho Ho

Keep the faith

Larry

  ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, December 24, 2012 11:36 am

The LP (above), Miss Dorothy Ashby (below)

Listen/Download – The Soulful Strings – Jingle Bells

Listen/Download – The Soulful Strings feat. Dorothy Ashby – Merry Christmas Baby

NOTE: This year – as in years past – the run up to Christmas will be filled with re-postings of some of my (and your) fave soulful and funky holiday tunes.

This gives you all a chance to catch up on some soulful Christmas jams, and gives me time to rest my blogging muscles and enjoy the holiday.

There are also two previous years of Funky16Corners Radio Christmas Specials (12/24/10 and 12/23/11) as well as this year’s show (12/21) in the Archive.

This will be my final post for the week, so here’s hoping that those of you that celebrate have a very Merry Christmas, and that for the rest of you, things stay mellow as a cello.

This post is dedicated to the memory of the mighty Miss Marva Whitney, who passed away a few days ago. I will most definitely be paying tribute to her in the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

Larry

Originally Posted 12/2007

Greetings all.

As I’ve stated repeatedly in the past, I’ve never been much of a holiday music collector. However, once in a while a personal obsession of mine also happens to have a Christmas record. In the case of Richard Evans and the Soulful Strings, their 1968 LP ‘The Magic of Christmas’ is a real gem.

The first tune I selected was the obvious choice (at least for me) because I can’t think of another version of ‘Jingle Bells’ that opens up with an honest to goodness drum break. I’m not sure who’s laying it down here (though I’m guessing that it is in fact Morris Jennings Jr.).

The second selection is a lush, sublime reading of Charles Brown’s classic ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ which features the brilliant Dorothy Ashby on harp. If you aren’t familiar with Ashby – I included her ‘Soul Vibrations’ on my collab with DJ Prestige ‘Beat Combination Pt2’ (check out the Flea Market Funk Mixes page)– she was one of the few harpists who could actually play jazz on the instrument, and the three albums she recorded for Cadet between 1968 and 1970 (in collaboration with Evans) are brilliant.

If your nerves are frayed (like mine) and the consumerist madness of the holiday season has you down, give this version of ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ a listen and all will (at least for a few minutes) be well, as it is positively sublime.

I’ll be taking the next week off to enjoy the holiday with my family and do a little visiting. I will most definitely be back with something for New Years Eve, so hang tight, enjoy your Christmas and I’ll see you all soon.<<

Peace

Larry

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, December 23, 2012 12:04 pm

Clarence Carter

Listen/Download – Clarence Carter – Back Door Santa

NOTE: This year – as in years past – the run up to Christmas will be filled with re-postings of some of my (and your) fave soulful and funky holiday tunes.

This gives you all a chance to catch up on some soulful Christmas jams, and gives me time to rest my blogging muscles and enjoy the holiday.

There are also two years of Funky16Corners Radio Christmas Specials (12/24/10 and 12/23/11) in the Archive.

Enjoy!
Originally Posted 12/2006

Greetings all.

As I’ve gone over a few different times, I’ve never been a big collector of (any) holiday themed funk and soul. I may pick up a piece here and there – when it turns up – but I don’t generally seek it out. This is the main reason it may take a decade or so before you see me post a Christmas edition of Funky16Corners Radio. I just don’t have the raw material at my disposal.

That is not to say that I would ever let the time of year go by unnoticed, and this time out I have a couple of excellent funky yule logs for ye, one you may have heard, and another that you almost certainly haven’t.

The former may very well be my all time favorite funk/soul Christmas record, by one of the truly great voices of 60’s and 70’s soul. The singer, Mr. Clarence Carter, the song, ‘Back Door Santa’.

First off, I suspect that someone, somewhere in the funky blog-o-sphere will be dropping this chestnut, and I don’t care, on account of I love this record, and you should too, and much like spinach and yams, more than one serving will only serve to improve your overall well being.

That said, Clarence rips it up here, whipping every last bit of funk they had hidden at Fame studios on you (as well as jingle bells and egg nog), with all the good Santa-related double (hardly) entendres money can buy. Get this on thy-Pod post haste, so that over the weekend, when some wet blanket tries to throw ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer’ (or, God forbid that thing where the dogs bark out ‘Jingle Bells’) on at the Christmas gathering, you can parry (and thrust) with this big, jangling set of Christmas balls and really get the party started.

I mean, seriously…how can your ears suck up this groovy gravy, and your butt fail to respond– in the words of the great Lee Dorsey (without whom everything you do can’t be funky) – with the make-a-shake-a-make-a-hula, or however it is you likes to shake it (but don’t break it).

By the way, if some youngster starts tugging on your scarf when this starts playing, it’s because he heard this songs very essence sampled by none other than Run DMC (It’s Christmas in Hollis Queens! Etc etc).<<

Peace

Larry

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 (3)

By Larry, December 20, 2012 12:07 pm

John Lee Hooker

Listen/Download John Lee Hooker – Blues For Christmas

Greetings all

I hope all is festive in your corner of the world. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas you can still catch a wave of good will (but look out for the tsunami of consumerism) and bask in the sweet, holiday vibe.

Though I have posted tracks by blues artists in the space before, they have almost exclusively been of the soul/funk crossover variety.

This is not one of those.

The mighty John Lee Hooker is one of my favorite artists.

That said track I bring you today is not one of his finest, though it may well be his drunkest.

The Hook himself doesn’t sound all that inebriated (though he does at one point cry out ‘I’m wasted!”, so there’s that…), but the backing “band” is something else entirely.

“Blues for Christmas’ was recorded in 1959, and it sounds like Hooker finished up his 12th set of the night, started out the door and then, struck by inspirado rounded up the drunkest, least competent bunch of has-been be-boppers he could find and dragged them into the studio.

It was there that they cracked open another 50 gallon drum of atomic egg nog and set to work.

To describe the recording as “woozy” doesn’t really do it justice.

You can almost hear the horn section nodding off in the background, their eyes getting more and more bloodshot, the wind coming out of their axes potent enough to knock a buzzard off a shitwagon.

There are points where you almost wonder of the trumpet and sax players accidentally picked up each other’s instruments by mistake.

The only thing that could make it better would be a superannuated ecdysiast lazily swinging her well-padded hips to the beat (the tenor player even breaks into ‘Night Train’ for a few bars).

It may not be the merriest Christmas song around, but you definitely get the sense that a whole lot of merriment was had earlier in the evening.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday with more holiday cheer.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, December 18, 2012 3:35 pm

Ho Ho Hyeaahhh!

Listen/Download – James Brown – Santa Claus Go Straight To the Ghetto

NOTE: This year – as in years past – the run up to Christmas will be filled with re-postings of some of my (and your) fave soulful and funky holiday tunes.

This gives you all a chance to catch up on some soulful Christmas jams, and gives me time to rest my blogging muscles and enjoy the holiday.

There are also two years of Funky16Corners Radio Christmas Specials (12/24/10 and 12/23/11) in the Archive.

This year’s Christmas show airs on Friday night 12/21 at 9PM on Viva Radio.

Enjoy!

Originally Posted 12/18/11

Greetings all.

The time has come, as it does once a year for yours truly to let loose with the Ho Ho Hos and the jingle bells and what not on account of the fact that Christmas is approaching rapidly.

As has been mentioned here before, this is a multi-religious household, with myself representing the (extremely) lapsed-Catholic and my wife repping the Jewish and the Little Corners an interfaith bouillabaisse, their eyes and hearts filled to bursting with the childhood wonder of the season.

Which is really what it’s all about, at least from my vantage point, where what I want is no more or less than their happiness, and my wife’s good health.

You know that I’ve mentioned here (every single Christmas since this blog has been extant) that I have never been a prodigious collector of holiday music. Whether this has to do with my acceptance (almost at the DNA level) of the cheesy/classic seasonal sounds of my childhood, to the point where I can sit back and take some comfort in the sound of the voices of Andy Williams or Jim Nabors (and surprisingly enough, I can), or that seeing limited appeal/value in holiday music, I’d rather spend my money on reg’lar old soul and funk is in the end meaningless, since there always seems to be something cool dropping in from the margins to satisfy the Funky Kringle in us all.

I bring you today’s selection in particular because it is a favorite of bot myself and my wife, and naturally because it is a very groovy, upbeat and cheerful Christmas offering from Mr Please Please Please (HO HO HO?) himself, James Brown.

When I listen to ‘Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto’, I realize that what we get with this record is both funky and danceable, but also poignant, especially in these days where there’s a tent city of homeless families not 10 miles from my warm, toasty house, and Mr Brown was thinking of how this, the most precious of holidays for children especially, could be rough for the poorest among us, and we should remember that while we listen to this song.

We should also remember that James Brown, who gave us such a great Christmas song, left us on that very day five years ago.

So dig the tune (there’ll be many old faves dropping as the week progresses) and remember that not everyone has the wherewithal to have a groovy holiday.

So try to remember that even if you are (like me) not a religious person, that the Christmas season can just be about brotherhood in the general ‘Family of Man’ sense, which is cool too, especially when times are tough (which they are for so many).

See you on tomorrow.

Peace

Larry

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, December 16, 2012 2:20 pm

Listen/Download Bobby Hollaway – Funky Little Drummer Boy

Greetings all

I should get things started by noting that the next week or so will be filled with soulful and funky Christmas music.

I will be posting new stuff (like you see today) interspersed some old faves.

Here’s hoping that you dig it all, and that those that celebrate have themselves a groovy Christmas.

It was way back in February of this year that I featured the absolutely incendiary flipside of this biscuit – ‘Cornbread, Hog Maw and Chitterlins’ – in this very space.

Funny thing is, the record was first recommended to me (by the mighty Midnight Cowbwoy) for the side you see before you today.

I was in search of some groovy, soulful Christmas ish, and he suggested that Bobby Hollaway’s ‘Funky Little Drummer Boy’ could be had for not much scratch. So, off I went in search of said 45, found it, coughed up my ten smackers and eagerly awaited it’s arrival here at the crib.

Well, when it fell through the mail slot, I played the Christmas side, dug it and thought “Well, that was ten bucks well spent!”

Then I flipped it over.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a body cast (not really).

However, the ‘Cornbread…’ side is as deadly a bit of organ driven instro-soul as has ever rolled down the pike.

The Christmas side is a cover of a song thathas never really done much for me in its original form.

However, it seems to be the kind of song that lends itself to particularly interesting soul and funk interpretations, like the George Conedy and Lenox Ave versions you have seen/heard in this space previously.

Mr Hollaway does yet another stupendous take on ‘The Little Drummer Boy’, picking up the tempo considerably and laying a whole lot of soul on what started out as a decidedly un-soulful tune.

I have yet to discover anything about Bobby Hollaway – what little I was able to glean can be picked up in the earlier post – and I wish I knew more.

If anyone has anything to add to the story, please drop me a line.

Until then, I hope you dig the tune, and Merry Christmas.

Keep the faith

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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, December 22, 2011 3:25 pm

Harvey Averne

Listen / Download – Harvey Averne Band – Let’s Get It Together This Christmas

Greetings all.

I’ve been dropping Christmas funk and soul all week, and when I got home today from running my various and sundry holiday and hospital-related errands it occurred to me that I had yet to repost this most excellent tune, and since I didn’t have a fifth cut ready to go, why not grab the old HTML, add a little contemporary verbiage and let fly.

So, here it is.

I should remind you once again that we have a very special Funky16Corners Radio Show Christmas Special dropping tomorrow (Friday) at 9PM on Viva Radio, and popping up in this very space as an MP3 on Christmas Eve, just in time  to fire it up while you’re torching the Yule log at home.

I will not be posting again until next week, so if you’re in the midst of Hannukah, or anticipating Christmas, or just chilling awash in the wonder of the season(s), our best to you and yours.

Peace

Larry

Originally posted 12/21/10

>>Christmas week has finally arrived, and so, as is the custom, have some funky and soulful holiday 45s.

I managed to get in a nice dig/hang this weekend down at the world famous Asbury Lanes where I managed to grab some excellent records (both the 45 and LP varieties) and meet up with some of my old mod scene compadres (Mr Luther and Mick) as well as AP45 Sessions’ very own DJ Prime Mundo. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I’ve made mention of the fact that I have never been a big collector of holiday music, Don’t get me wrong – I dig the jingle bells and the ho ho ho and what not – but with rare exception (generally the records that I feature here around Christmas time) I don’t go out of my way to add this kind of stuff to my record box.

Occasionally – as is the case with the Soulful Strings Christmas LP – such a record dovetails nicely with an existing obsession. Sometimes, as was the case with Clarence Carter’s ‘Backdoor Santa’, we might be talking about a record that kicks ass solidly despite the fact that it’s aimed at a Yuletide audience.

This week I’ll be bringing you two great holiday selections (Monday and Wednesday) and then taking the rest of the week off to enjoy the holiday with the fam.

I wouldn’t leave you hanging though, so make sure you tune into the Funky16Corners Radio Show this Friday at 9PM, Christmas Eve for the first annual Funky16Corners Radio Christmas Special, for an hour of the coolest funk and soul sounds for the holiday. You’ll hear the Soulful Strings, Clarence Carter, James Brown and many, many more.

The tune I bring you today is nice but of funky Latin soul by the mighty Harvey Averne.

Averne was – like his bandmate and fellow Latin music legend Larry Harlow – a non-Hispanic (both men were Jewish) who played a big role in the history of the storied Fania label.

Averne, a vibraphonist, got his start under the name Arvito and his Latin Orchestra, playing during the 50s mambo craze, eventually taking over a band that included Harlow on piano.

He had a great deal of success as a musician (and in the construction business) but had probably his most important role as the mad behind the day to day operations of Fania.

Hired by label owner Jerry Masucci, Averne worked at Fania as musician, producer (of Ray Barretto’s ‘Acid’ LP among many other classics) and A&R man.

Oddly enough, his first record, among them the boogaloo classics ‘The Micro Mini’ and ‘You’re No Good’ were released on the Atlantic label, with Averne eventually having a bunch if stuff released on Fania and its Uptite subsidiary.

The tune I bring you today ‘Let’s Get It Together This Christmas’ is a funky mover, with the punchy bass, the jingling jingle bells, and an upbeat message for the season.

I haven’t been able to nail down a release date, but the catalog number would suggest something in the area of 1969 or 1970.

The flip side is a an otherwise groovy version of ‘The Christmas Song’, marred by the ‘contributions’ of a barking dog (who gets credit on the label!).

‘Let’s Get It Together This Christmas’ was also included on the excellent ‘In The Christmas Groove’ comp.

I hope you dig the tune.<<

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg

Comments (3)

By Larry, December 21, 2011 8:21 pm

The LP (above), Miss Dorothy Ashby (below)

Listen/Download – The Soulful Strings – Jingle Bells

Listen/Download – The Soulful Strings feat. Dorothy Ashby – Merry Christmas Baby

Greetings all.

Today’s Christmas presents were originally posted back in 2007.

You know I’m a HUGE Richard Evans/Soulful Strings fan, and their version of ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ is in a dead heat for the title of my all-time fave Christmas record.

Don’t forget to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show Christmas Special, this Friday at 9PM where you’ll hear many of the old favorites and some newly discovered goodies as well.

If you celebrate, have a great Christmas, if not, have a great weekend all the same.

See you next week. – Larry

>>As I’ve stated repeatedly in the past, I’ve never been much of a holiday music collector. However, once in a while a personal obsession of mine also happens to have a Christmas record. In the case of Richard Evans and the Soulful Strings, their 1968 LP ‘The Magic of Christmas’ is a real gem.

The first tune I selected was the obvious choice (at least for me) because I can’t think of another version of ‘Jingle Bells’ that opens up with an honest to goodness drum break. I’m not sure who’s laying it down here (though I’m guessing that it is in fact Morris Jennings Jr.).

The second selection is a lush, sublime reading of Charles Brown’s classic ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ which features the brilliant Dorothy Ashby on harp. If you aren’t familiar with Ashby – I included her ‘Soul Vibrations’ on my collab with DJ Prestige ‘Beat Combination Pt2’ (check out the Flea Market Funk Mixes page)– she was one of the few harpists who could actually play jazz on the instrument, and the three albums she recorded for Cadet between 1968 and 1970 (in collaboration with Evans) are brilliant.

If your nerves are frayed (like mine) and the consumerist madness of the holiday season has you down, give this version of ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ a listen and all will (at least for a few minutes) be well, as it is positively sublime.

I’ll be taking the next week off to enjoy the holiday with my family and do a little visiting. I will most definitely be back with something for New Years Eve, so hang tight, enjoy your Christmas and I’ll see you all soon.<<

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, December 20, 2011 8:10 pm

West Coast/East Coast

Listen/Download – George Conedy – El Nino Del Tambor

Listen/Download – Lenox Avenue – Little Drummer Boy

Greetings all.

Today’s Christmas goodies appeared here at Funky16Corners at different times over the last five years (or so). They are both extremely cool versions of a song that I’m not particularly fond of in it’s natural incarnation, so you know they must be good for me to post them.

Dig – if you will – and stay tuned for more on the morrow.

First – George Conedy and ‘El Nino Del Tambor’

>>On the flippity flop, I bring you the result of a happy accident (referring not to the recording of the record, but rather the circumstances by which it landed in my Crate du Hammonde).

The record in question popped up a while back on the sale list of a pal of mine, who’s taste in music I hold in very high regard (howdy Agent 45…).

So, on this list I see a record with the brief (but wholly sufficient description of “funky Hammond version”), directly adjacent to a very reasonable price, which was at the end of a line that began with a Spanish song title (which I didn’t bother to translate). So, I pay my money, some time elapses and the record in question pops through the mail slot at Funky16Corners headquarters. I whipped it on the turntable, and in a few short seconds (about as long as I suspect it will take you) it became apparent that the title was in fact ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ en Espanol.

I have to say that even as a tike, when they still showed the animated special of the same title, this was far from my favorite Christmas tune, certainly not the kind of thing I thought capable of funk-a-fi-zation. Little did I know that sometime in the late 60’s or early 70’s an organist named George Conedylaid down an LP of Christmas tunes for the gospel subsidiary of the Kent label, which I am assuming was the source of the music on this very 45**.

All I have to say is that George took an overly solemn carol and turned it into a slow, funky jam that sounds like it dropped out of the long lost (so long lost as to never have existed..) Santa-sploitation classic “Superfly Santa the Hard Way” aka “Hell Up in the North Pole”, in which our hero, Saint Nicky, wearing a red (of course) velvet suit, and driving a red and white Caddy brings Christmas joy to all the poor kids (and a few of the better looking women) on his route.

I’ve gone a-Googling, and as far as I can tell Mr. Conedy has vanished into the ether.

Well, wherever you be I say Huzzah! And Merry Christmas to you George!<<

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Second – Lenox Avenue and ‘ Little Drummer Boy’ (originally posted 12/09)

>>The tune I bring you today is something I picked up this year (and oddly enough I can’t remember the circumstances of its arrival in my crates). It’s a funky take on that old holiday chestnut ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ by a group called Lenox Avenue. This, their sole 45 was released on Chess in 1970.

Though I haven’t been able to find any info on the group, the names on the label suggest to me that this may in fact be an early incarnation of the group that recorded an album a few years later under the name the Chuck Rainey Coalition (on the Skye label).

Bassist Rainey and his cohorts – including keyboardist Richard Tee – were major hired hands in the New York (and elsewhere, natch) studio scene, showing up on all kinds of records from the late 60s onward.

Lenox Avenue’s take on ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ is taken a slow, but funky pace with some groovy female backing voices. As I mentioned a while back when I posted the equally cool George Conedy version of the tune, this has never been one of my fave Christmas carols, yet when someone injects it with a dose of funk, I really dig it. <<

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, December 19, 2011 7:29 pm

Clarence Carter

Listen/Download – Clarence Carter – Back Door Santa

Greetings all.

As promised, I’ve returned early this week (and will continue to do so) to bring you some of my favorite tunes from Funky16Corners Christmases past.

First up is probably my fave soulful holiday tune, Clarence Carter’s ‘Back Door Santa’, first posted here back in December of 2006.

>>As I’ve gone over a few different times, I’ve never been a big collector of (any) holiday themed funk and soul. I may pick up a piece here and there – when it turns up – but I don’t generally seek it out. This is the main reason it may take a decade or so before you see me post a Christmas edition of Funky16Corners Radio. I just don’t have the raw material at my disposal.

That is not to say that I would ever let the time of year go by unnoticed, and this time out I have a couple of excellent funky yule logs for ye, one you may have heard, and another that you almost certainly haven’t.

The former may very well be my all time favorite funk/soul Christmas record, by one of the truly great voices of 60’s and 70’s soul. The singer, Mr. Clarence Carter, the song, ‘Back Door Santa’.

First off, I suspect that someone, somewhere in the funky blog-o-sphere will be dropping this chestnut, and I don’t care, on account of I love this record, and you should too, and much like spinach and yams, more than one serving will only serve to improve your overall well being.

That said, Clarence rips it up here, whipping every last bit of funk they had hidden at Fame studios on you (as well as jingle bells and egg nog), with all the good Santa-related double (hardly) entendres money can buy. Get this on thy-Pod post haste, so that over the weekend, when some wet blanket tries to throw ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer’ (or, God forbid that thing where the dogs bark out ‘Jingle Bells’) on at the Christmas gathering, you can parry (and thrust) with this big, jangling set of Christmas balls and really get the party started.

I mean, seriously…how can your ears suck up this groovy gravy, and your butt fail to respond– in the words of the great Lee Dorsey (without whom everything you do can’t be funky) – with the make-a-shake-a-make-a-hula, or however it is you likes to shake it (but don’t break it).

By the way, if some youngster starts tugging on your scarf when this starts playing, it’s because he heard this songs very essence sampled by none other than Run DMC (It’s Christmas in Hollis Queens! Etc etc).<<

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.