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By Larry, December 27, 2015 11:22 am

King Solomon

Listen/Download – King Solomon with the Lad Teens Band – Louisiana Groove MP3

Listen/Download – King Solomon with the Lad Teens Band – My Dream MP3

Greetings all.

I wouldn’t normally whip something this heavy on you at the beginning of the week (being that most of us need a little bit of lead time to get the gears turning) but I figured if I held onto it any longer I might get burned, so…

I have to shout out to my man Kris Holmes how turned me on to this 45 a while back. It was one of those instances where I was blown away from the first listen, and set out immediately to find my self a copy for my play box.

It took a little while, but I finally landed a nice, clean copy of King Solomon’s ‘Louisiana Groove’, and I pass it on to you today.

Billed as ‘King Solomon with the Lad Teens Band’, ‘Louisiana Groove’ is an explosive slab of soul-on-the-way-to-funk, propelled by a churning, relentless rhythm guitar and a cascading horn line that pushes the tune to another level..

There appear to have been (at least) a couple of musicians operating with the ‘King Solomon’ handle during the 60s. The one on this record recorded for a number of labels during the decade, including Checker, Don J, and Cadillac.

The common thread on all of these 45s seems to be a writer/producer named Frank Wedlaw.

King Solomon appears to have been a cat named King Sylvester Lee Melicious Solomon, who got his start in Louisiana, moved to Chicago and ended up out west in LA.

I haven’t been able to nail the date on ‘Louisiana Groove’ but it sounds like 67/68-ish to me.

This Cadillac Records (another instance of multiple labels with the same name) seems to have been a Los Angeles imprint, with its only other release being a 45 by the Lad Teens (no apparent relation to the NY boogaloo group, the Lat-Teens on Cotique).

All of that taken into consideration, ‘Louisiana Groove’ is a uniquely powerful disc, guaranteed to light up the dance floor, and your ears (of course).

I’m also posting the flipside, ‘My Dream’ only because it’s really weird and a severe contrast to ‘Louisiana Groove’.

Tuff City’s Night Train label issued a King Solomon comp back in 2005 (though neither of these songs was included).

I hope you dig the sounds and I’ll see you 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.

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By Larry, December 22, 2015 11:55 am

Rotary Connection

Listen/Download – Rotary Connection – Sidewalk Santa MP3

Listen/Download – Rotary Connection – Silent Night Medley MP3

Greetings all.

Today, I offer you two tracks from of one the groovier holiday albums ever made on the soulful side of things.

Rotary Connection are mostly remembered today as the first place much of the world heard the voice of the mighty Minnie Riperton.

The group was of course, much more than that. Guided in the studio by the genius Charles Stepney, Rotary Connection created a unique mixture of soul and rock, crafting some of the most interesting albums of the day.

It helped that they had in their ranks, both Riperton and Sidney Barnes, the latter having made his mark as a singer and songwriter alongside no less a light than George Clinton.

Their Christmas LP ‘Peace’, released in 1968 is – unlike many holiday albums that only mash together a wad of familiar songs – a worthwhile listen all the way through.

The tracks that I bring you today illustrate both the group’s fine originals, as well as their mastery of interpreting classic material.

The first track, ‘Sidewalk Santa’, written and sung by Barnes is somewhat dark soundscape, featuring a heavy – yet tasteful – arrangement by Stepney.

The second cut is actually three of the album’s tracks mixed together (by me…). The group works their way through three versions of ‘Silent Night’, the first an almost jazz rendition of the traditional song, the second moving in a more rock interpretation, with fuzz guitar and Riperton’s wordless vocals, and the third, ‘Silent Night Chant’ letting its freak flag fly with the full rock treatment (the whole mix coming in at almost 15 minutes, more than half of the album).

It serves as both a great holiday sound, but also a doorway into the sounds of the Rotary Connection.

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Friday with a mix of soulful holiday faves.

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 20, 2015 2:44 pm

Listen/Download – Shurfine Singers – Silent Night & the 11 O’Clock News MP3

Greetings all.

I have some groovy Christmas stuff for you this year – including a mix of favorites, dropping on Friday.
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One of this year’s offerings is particularly intriguing because it is a “cover” of sorts.

If the medley of ‘Silent Night’ and a recording of a TV news broadcast sounds familiar (and it should) it’s because Simon & Garfunkel did it in 1966 as ‘Silent Night/7 O’Clock News’ on their LP ‘Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme’.

The juxtaposition of a revered/traditional Christmas song, and a news broadcast marred by reports of war was a stark (if somewhat heavy handed) reminder of what was at stake in the middle of the 1960s.

The following year, Atlanta-based producer Wendell Parker, who had worked with Eddie Billups, Grover Mitchell and the Mighty Hannibal (among others) assembled a gospel group called the Shurfine Singers (Parker had done a lot of work with the Atlanta-based Shurfine label) and released his own version of the medley, in a gospel style, (barely) re-titled ‘Silent Night & the 11 O’Clock News’.

No doubt an attempt to offer up the same message to a black audience, it is refreshing (and also somewhat jarring) to hear the familiar medley redone.

As far as I can tell this version didn’t chart anywhere, nor was it released locally on Shurfine (though Parker had placed a number of his productions with Josie).

The flipside is a version of the spiritual ‘Go Tell It On the Mountain’.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Wednesday with something festive.

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, 2015 11:23 am

Willie Tee

Listen/Download – Willie Tee – Walking Up a One Way Street MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is nigh, so I will ask you once again to grab yourself a weekly dose of soul in the form of the Funky16 Corners Radio Show podcast. We come to you every week (and once a month at SoulGuyRadio.com) with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app or grab a download here in the archive.

This week is Part 2 of the History of Allen Toussaint, with a focus this week on the sounds of the Sansu label. Listen in, and if you didn’t catch Part 1, hit the archive and grab that one, too.

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Today’s selection is an all-time New Orleans soul classic, laid down by one of that city’s greatest singers, Wilson Turbinton, better-known far and wide as Willie Tee.

Tee got his start recording for AFO in 1962, and spent the 60s working as a solo artist, and with his brothers in one of the great NOLA funk bands, the Gaturs.

‘Walking Up a One Way Street’ from 1965 is one of those records in the mid-tempo sweet spot that is popular with both the Northern Soul crowd in the UK as well as the Beach Music folks in the USA (I have it somewhere on an old Atlantic Records comp aimed at the Beach crowd).

‘Walking Up a One Way Street’ is like a New Orleans all-star session, having been written by Earl King, produced and arranged by Wardell Quezerque and performed by Willie Tee himself.

The song bounces along on top of a jaunty horn section (I dig in the verse where the trumpets drop out and the saxes carry the load), with a wonderful vocal performance by Tee.

There’s a reason this 45 is sweated by many and hard to find, but I’m here to tell you I waited and found my copy on the cheap side, so keep your eyes peeled and your wallet close by and you’ll eventually score one, too.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Monday with some new stuff for 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.

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By Larry, December 15, 2015 1:34 pm

Billy Harner

Listen/Download – Billy Harner – Sally Sayin’ Somethin’ MP3

Greetings all.

The song I bring you today is a long-time fave from one of the truly great blue-eyed soul singers of the classic era, Billy Harner.

New Jersey born and bred, Harner recorded a string of killer 45s for a variety of Philly-based and national labels between 1964 and the mid-70s, as well as an excellent (and very rare LP).

Oddly enough, it wasn’t either of Harner’s big Northern Soul faves (today’s selection and ‘What About the Music’) that started me hunting for his records, but rather his 1967 45 ‘Homicide Dresser’ which I grabbed almost 20 years ago because it looked interesting. Now I have at least a dozen of his 45s (including an autographed disc which holds a place of honor in my crates).

Today’s selection, ‘Sally Sayin’ Somethin’ was a big local hit in Philadelphia (as well as charting in New York and New Orleans) in 1967.

Opening with a throbbing bass, doubled by piano, Harner and a chorus of female backing vocalists come in and the tune build up into one of the great choruses.

The big selling point of the record (aside from the pop hooks, attributed pseudonymously to ‘Sunshine/Poltergeist’ ?!?) is Harner’s vocal, which is flexible enough to move between a smooth tenor and a soulful growl. He really is a seriously underrated singer, and his records are all worth picking up.

I hope you dig the tune (and dig a little deeper into Billy Harner).

See you all on Friday.

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 13, 2015 11:41 am

The Webs

Listen/Download – The Webs – This Thing Called Love MP3

Listen/Download – The Webs – Tomorrow MP3

Greetings all.

I thought we’d start the week with a very solid two-sider by one of the more interesting soul groups of the 60s.

I don’t know much about the Webs (sometimes billed as Willie Cooper and the Webs), but you can piece together some of the puzzle by following their discography.

The group recorded for a number of labels between 1964 and 1968, getting their start in Texas (I’ve seem reports that they were from Galveston) and waxing their first 45 for the San Antonio-based Dynamic label.

They eventually moved on to Whiz and Atlantic, before hooking up with Bob Bateman and Lou Courtney, who would work with the group for a couple of 45s on the short-lived Popside imprint, as well as on Verve.

Today’s selections appeared on the group’s first Popside 45, from 1967.

‘This Thing Called Love’, co-written by Willie Cooper is a hard-edged, organ-driven number with a wailing lead vocal and a great horn section.

The flip-side ‘Tomorrow’, co-written by Bateman, sounds like it was born and raised inside the head of Curtis Mayfield. The lead and backing vocals, and the polished, uptown arrangement sound like they were lifted off of an Impressions or Major Lance session. The group’s harmonies are spot-on and the tempo is relaxed, yet still punchy enough for the dance floor.

Both sides are co-produced by Bateman and Courtney.

The group’s second Popside 45 ‘Give In’ b/w ‘It’s So Hard to Break a Habit’ is a much more expensive/in-demand Northern side (which I’m still looking for).

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

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 10, 2015 11:57 am

Milt Matthews

Listen/Download – Milt Matthews Inc – It Ain’t Your Fault MP3

Listen/Download – Milt Matthews Inc – Little Green Apples MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is nigh, and so then in this week’s episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast. We come to you every week here at Funky16Corners.com and once a month at SoulGuyRadio.com with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl.

I have a very special episode for you this week (and for the next two weeks as well) first of a three-part look at the History of Allen Toussaint, covering everything from his earliest solo recordings, through the early days on New Orleans R&B, the Sansu years and on into the funky sounds of the late 60s and early 70s. All told it comes to over four hours of the finest sounds that Allen Toussaint was associated with as artist, composer, producer and/or arranger. I think you’ll dig it!

You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 right here in the archive.

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The tunes I bring you today are a couple of my favorite songs from an overall excellent album by Milt Matthews Inc.

Milt Matthews was born in North Carolina, but relocated to Washington, DC in the mid-60s, where he worked as a session guitarist and songwriter.

His 1970 debut LP – from which this tune hails – is an outstanding example of the intersection of soul, folk and funk, which was bubbling up into the zeitgeist at the time.

Matthews spends the album working out all manner of mellow grooves, sounding like a soulful singer-songwriter in the Bill Withers/Lou Bond tradition, but with a solid, funky underpinning.

‘It Ain’t Your Fault’ is one of the more upbeat tunes on the album, mixing jazzy lead guitar with organ and nice, solid rhythm section locked into the groove.

Matthews talent as a vocalist is well-displayed in his version of the O.C. Smith ‘Little Green Apples’. Here we have a song that I thought I never needed to hear again, yet Matthews takes it and really digs in, playing with the tempo and delivering an epic reading of the song that clocks in at over eight minutes. It’s rare to hear someone get their hands on a ‘standard’ and really do something interesting and new with it, and Matthews really makes the song his own.

If you dig these tracks, try and get your hands on a copy of the album, which is excellent from start to finish.

Oddly enough, Matthews second LP ‘For the People’ moves in a more psych-rock direction and is sought out by collectors of the genre.

Matthews went on to later record disco and gospel.

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

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 8, 2015 1:50 pm

Listen/Download – Jim Pipkins and the Boss Five – Mr CC MP3

Greetings all.

We’re going to get over the hump this week with a groover, but first, a lesson in why you should always read labels, but then again, not too closely.

‘Mr CC’ by Jim Pipkins and the Boss Five had been on my radar for a long time before I finally scored myself a copy.

It is a fast-moving, mod/jazz dance floor heater, mostly instrumental, save for some shouts outs through the record.

A brief glance at the label reveals that the record company, Emerge (also home to the Northern Soul rarity ‘Every Time’ by Anthony and the Delsonics) had themselves a St Louis, MO address.

Now, St Louis has a long and rich R&B and soul tradition, so if you were to assume that Jim Pipkins and the Boss Five hailed from that great city, you would be forgiven.

Unless that is, you have access to the interwebs and the Googles and such, use of which revealed in short order that the group was a Pacific Northwest conglomeration.

Jim Pipkins had been in a Seattle group called the Gallahads, which evolved into the Boss Five.

The Boss Five were managed by local DJ Chuck Cunningham, aka ‘Mr CC’, and released a couple of 45s, including ‘Mr CC’ in 1965 and ‘Mister Clean ‘67’ on the Norman label.

Apparently Pipkins himself went on to work as a DJ on a number of West Coast stations.

‘Mr CC’ kicks off with a riff that sounds like a fast-moving version of ‘Watermelon Man’ with organ, horns and some groovy, jazzy guitar.

The whole thing’s over in less than two and a half minutes which is a shame because it is very groovy indeed.

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

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 6, 2015 10:41 am

Bobby Keys

Listen/Download – Bobby Keys – Gimmie The Key MP3

Greetings all.

The track I bring you today is a record that I was after for a long time, and as is often the case, it kept slipping from my grasp until recently.

The rockers among you will likely be familiar with Bobby Keys as the sax player with the Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen (among many others).

The Texas-born Keys was a prolific sideman and studio head (check out his Wiki for an idea of the depth of his discography), and a frequent presence until his death last year at the age of 71.

In 1975 keys went into the studio and recorded a one-off 45 for Ringo Starr’s short-lived custom label, Ring’O records.

‘Gimme the Key’ is a testament to the popularity and influence of the Average White Band’s 1974 ‘Pick Up the Pieces’, to which this song is a not too distant cousin (keeping in mind that no less than James Brown felt the need to crank out an answer record with the JBs in disguise as the Above Average Black Band).

The tune opens with funky guitar and clavinet, chants of ‘Gimme the Key!’ followed of course by Keys’ instantly recognizable tenor saxophone.

It’s slick – but not too slick – funky, and danceable enough that one might suspect that it had its share of spins in the discotheques of the time.

I dig it a lot, and I hope you do, too.

See you all on Wednesday.

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 3, 2015 12:55 pm

Duke and the Drivers

Listen/Download – Duke and the Drivers – Check Your Bucket MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here, so I will suggest again that you point your interwebs connection toward your favored podcast source (iTunes, etc), or your mobile device at the TuneIn app, to SoulGuyRadio.com or even (dare I say it??) right here at Funky16Corners to get your weekly does of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. I whip a new episode on you each and every Friday, filled with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl.

We close out the week with something unusual.

Back in the day, when I was scouring the record bins of the universe in search of anything and everything Eddie Bo-related, someone (I forget who, but thanks…) pointed me in the direction of a 1976 LP by a Boston group called Duke and the Drivers.

Duke and the Drivers were an R&B-based bar and club band out of Boston (not unlike their compadres the J. Geils Band) who recorded two albums and a couple of singles for ABC records in the mid 70s.

How they got their hands on Eddie Bo’s ‘Check Your Bucket’ (released in 1970 and an obscurity pretty much everywhere outside of the New Orleans city limits) I do not know. That said, they do a nice, mellow version of the song, and it’s easy to imagine this being a highlight of their live set. The song is apparently a signature number of theirs, and they re-recorded it on a 2003 live album.

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

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 1, 2015 12:17 pm

The Shirelles

Listen/Download – The Shirelles – No Doubt About It MP3

Greetings all.

I should start things off today by letting you know that my inaugural episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show for SoulGuyRadio.com is up and ready to stream or download at their site (I won’t be posting it to iTunes until the end of the week).

Make sure you check it out, and the other great shows in the Soul Guy Radio line-up as well.

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The middle of the week is here, and in furtherance of getting us all over the hump and sliding downhill into the weekend, I thought I’d whip something sweet and upbeat on you.

The Shirelles are one of the more soulful giants of the girl group era, having recorded a grip of certified classics (‘Baby It’s You’ and ‘Boys’ both having been covered by the Beatles).

I featured the A-side of this particular 45, the epic, Northern Soul classic ‘Last Minute Miracle’ back in 2012.

Where as that tune is fairly hard-charging, with a spectacular, lifting chorus, today’s selection is a little bit more relaxed, with a slightly sweeter feel.

Written by Luther Dixon and Kenny Hollon and arranged by Richard Tee, ‘No Doubt About It’ is fast moving, with some great accents (especially where the piano and glockenspiel double each other), a pulsing bass line, well-applied horns and wonderful harmony vocals by the Shirelles.

Despite the fact that both sides of the 45 were excellent and filled with hooks, only ‘Last Minute Miracle’ got any airplay at all, and even then only in a few regional markets.

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

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 (2)

By Larry, November 29, 2015 11:17 am

Skip Easterling

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling= I’m Your Hoochie Koochie Man MP3

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling – Ooh Poo Pah Do MP3

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling – Too Weak To Break the Chains MP3

Listen/Download – Skip Easterling – I’m Your Man MP3

Greetings all.

Late last week, while I was checking an old e-mail account and found a notification of a comment on the oldest version of the blog.

The comment itself was semi-cryptic, but when I followed it to the original post I realized that the commenter was telling me that James ‘Skip’ Easterling, one of the great blue-eyed soul singers out of New Orleans had passed away.

Oddly enough, initial searches turned up a death notice, but no mention in any of the local New Orleans papers (since remedied).

Easterling, long a favorite of mine had a recording career that lasted from 1961 into the mid 70s, making a string of 45s for New Orleans labels like Ron, Alon and Instant (he also had at least one self-released 45 that I’ve never heard).

Easterling got his start wavering between R&B and pop sounds, but by the time he went into the studio with Eddie Bo in 1967, he was firmly in the soul camp.

The record he made with Bo, ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ b/w ‘The Grass Is Greener’ is one of the finest mid-decade 45s to come out of the Crescent City, with a smoking dancer on one side and a heartfelt ballad on the flip.

Easterling’s sojourn with Bo was brief, and by 1970, he was in the studio with Huey Piano Smith, recording for Instant.

Smith’s late-period work for Instant is consistently good, and largely unheralded since so many of the post-3300 (catalog numbers, when Smith was doing most of his work for the label) 45s are very scarce (there are a bunch I’m still looking for).

Easterling’s first two 45s for Instant are his best, and oddly enough still fairly easy to track down.

His version of the old Willie Dixon standard ‘I’m Your Hoochie Koochie Man’ is a wild, smoothly funky reworking of the song that owes a debt to King Floyd’s ‘Groove Me’. The arrangement, with electric piano and tastefully applied horns (and flute!) is a subtle masterpiece.

The record was a hit in New Orleans and some other southern markets, but was sadly the high water mark of Easterling’s chart success.

The flip is a very nice version of Jesse Hill’s ‘Ooh Poo Pah Do’, which features a great vocal by Easterling and great playing by the band (listen to the electric piano ooze up through the mix).

His next 45 is one of those records that is painfully obscure, but ought to be regarded as one of the finest records to come out of New Orleans in the early 70s.

‘To Weak to Break the Chains’ (written by Huey Smith) combines, R&B, soul, funk and even a touch of timely psychedelia (dig that backwards guitar!), all wrapped in a stellar vocal performance by Easterling. The tune has an off-kilter, purely New Orleans rhythm to it, with some remarkable interplay between the drums, horns and rhythm guitar.

That record’s flipside, ‘I’m Your Man’ rolls in a slower groove, with some nice flute and vibes accents.

All told, Easterling laid down 15 (maybe 16) 45s in his career, and like so many great singers in New Orleans never really broke through outside the city limits despite the quality of his catalog.

He did continue to perform, appearing at at least one of the Ponderosa Stomp shows.

There was a UK compilation of his recordings that came out in the late 80s on the Charly label, but as far as I can tell, aside from some shady looking comps in iTunes, his work is almost completely out of print.

So dig these tunes, watch for a tribute on the Funky16Corners Radio Show in the new year, and raise a glass to a really groovy singer.

See you on Wednesday.

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.