Comments (1)

By Larry, December 13, 2011 4:07 pm

Dizzy Gillespie

Listen/Download – Dizzy Gillespie – Soul Kiss Pt1

Greetings all.

I hope the middle of the week, aka dio del humpo finds you all well.

If you fall by Funky16Corners on the reg, you already know that I often find myself in a jazz bag, but even the most devoted might be surprised on how deep that bag really is.

Thanks to my father, a musician and a fan, I’ve been hearing jazz my entire life, from Dixieland, to Chicago style, West Coast cool, and hard bop (in my parents house) and adding post bop, fusion and free jazz in my adulthood.

There was even a period in my late 20s to my early 30s where I listened to little else.

There are often jazz and jazz-related features here on Funky16Corners (and on the radio show) but those are generally restricted to the groove-based and the funky.

I’m not here to tell you that I’m going to start rhapsodizing about my deep and abiding love for Clifford Brown and Thelonious Monk, or that I’m going to start another blog, because I’m not (insane), but rather to preface the inclusion of another groovy, funky track, that happens to have been made by one of the most prominent innovators in the history of jazz.

It has been discussed here before, but to reprise briefly, there are two kinds of jazzers you will find here at Funky16Corners, those who’s career is rooted almost exclusively in soul jazz/groove, in that those sounds were their figurative bread and butter, and old school players who found themselves on the margin as the 60s arrived and took a detour into a more contemporary sound in an effort to stay current.

John Birks ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie found himself in 1971 teetering on the border between those two groups.

It was Gillespie, who along with Monk, Charlie Parker, Kenny Clarke and many others verily gave birth to Bebop in the 1940s.

Dizzy had the extra added benefit of also being a hepcat supreme, becoming in essence the face of the movement with his beret, goatee and hip lingo. People might have heard of Parker or later (much later) Monk, but they knew what Dizzy looked like, and in the earliest days of the spread of electronic media, that meant that for many, he was THE face of modern jazz.

I was lucky enough to see him twice in the late 70s and early 80s.

The tune I bring you today was recorded in 1971, when keyboardist Mike Longo was working in Dizzy’s band.

While there were old school boppers like James Moody on the session, you also had Longo, Bernard Purdie and Phil Upchurch as well.

The sound of ‘Soul Kiss’ is about soul jazzy as Dizzy ever got, and it’s not hard to see cuts like this as his bid to stay in the rapidly evolving game.

The groove is hard, the organ wails, and the only indication the listener gets that Gillespie was involved are the short, sharp trumpet bursts in the chorus.

The album that it comes from ‘The Real Thing’ is a very funky affair, especially for Gillespie, and as a result it is sweated heavily by the crate digging set.

I have yet to find a vinyl copy of the LP, but the 45 I bring you today will do for now.

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

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 (5)

By Larry, December 1, 2011 2:08 pm

The Village Callers LP

Listen/Download – The Village Callers – Hector

Greetings all.

I hope the end of the week finds things in your corner of the world settled, mellow and wonderful.

Things here are fairly groovy, with my lovely wife nestled in the warmth of home.

She’s doing well, considering the hell she’s been through, but her prognosis is good. She goes back in for round two of chemo next week, and while we’d all rather she be home, as the old saying goes, you gotta do what you gotta do, and right now that involves doctors and medicine and all that goes along and while it’s tough now we’ll have the rest of our lives to sit back and hoist our collective middle finger toward cancer as it disappears in the rear view mirror.

This has been a real awakening into the capricious nature of life, or at least what can happen to “our” life and how quickly it can be rearranged whether we like it or not. You can’t really waste a lot of time carping about why it is thus (though we’ve done that too), and in the long run the only sane thing to do is kind of stare down the beast with all the technology and mental strength you can muster, value the good things you still have (and that is a lot) and soldier on.

I won’t lie and tell you that I haven’t spilled a few tears, whether the product of fear, sadness or frustration, but I will tell you that you find real, solid comfort from all corners (sometimes in places you didn’t expect), and that is always a pleasant surprise.

Our friends – here in our immediate sphere, and out in the wilds of the interwebs – have been singularly uplifting, and in my own case, being able to retreat into the blog has been of immense value.

I should stop here and remind you that Friday night at 9PM sees the return of the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva Radio. This week is a survey of international funk and soul, with stops in Sweden, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Japan and Jamaica. If you can’t be there at the time of broadcast, you can always pick the show up as an MP3 on Saturday, right here at the blog.

That said, while I had a couple of articles stockpiled, I found myself straightening the record vault this week and while I was digging for a few records that I had neglected to scan, I pulled out my 45 of the Village Callers ‘Hector’ and realized, much to my surprise, that in the seven years the Funky16Corners blog has been up and running I have never (outside of inclusion in a mix or two) put the spotlight on this incredible record.

I think the first time I ever heard ‘Hector’ was wayyyy back in the day on one of the old UK ‘Sound of Funk’ comps (I think on the same volume that introduced me to ‘Iron Leg’ by Mickey and the Soul Generation) and it was a classic case of love at first listen.

It took me a few years before I got my hands on an original copy of the 45, but it has always held a special place of honor in my record box.

‘Hector’ is one of those records that has a secure place in my personal all-time Top Ten, and I always dig getting the chance to light it up on a big, loud sound system.

It has the kind of groove that builds so organically, with the drums, bass, congas, hand-claps, guitar and above all Hammond organ, that you’re up and out of your seat before you know it.

‘Hector’ has something that a lot of funk 45s don’t, that being it swings and the overall effect is nothing less than life affirming, and not on some corny, message-y way, unless you’re willing to take your message as delivered within the groove, in which case it’s super heavy and profound in the same way that sunlight, or a smile can be.

The Village Callers (borrowing their name from the Johnny Lytle soul jazz classic of the same name) were an East LA club band that mixed the soul hits of the day with Latin soul and jazz for funky stew. You can read more about their history here.

‘Hector’ is an uplifting, happy record that elevates my spirits whenever I play it, and I know that’s something I need now, and something all of you can benefit from as well, on account of the weekend is almost here.

So pull down the ones and zeros and then get up and shake to the sound of the Village Callers.

I’ll see you all on Monday.

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 (11)

By Larry, November 24, 2011 2:20 pm

Mmmmmmmm!

Greetings all!

This is an impromptu post, spurred on by the spirit of Thanksgiving, in which the holiday and the word take on extra special meaning.

I am thankful first and foremost that we are lucky enough to have my wife home with us for the holiday. I brought her home from the hospital this morning.

Hopefully being home and around her family will help make her stronger during her recovery.

Second, I’m thankful that I have this outlet to share my love of music with all of you.

I’m reposting the three food-related mixes I’ve done here over the years so that while you’re stuffing your gobs with gobbler, you can also stuff your ears with soul.

What you get here are the first two Soul Food mixes, as well as F16C Radio v.60 which is mostly chicken-themed, but ends in a flourish with the Niteliters ‘Serenade to a Jive Turkey’.

I hope you dig the sounds, and that you all have an excellent Thanksgiving weekend,

See you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

___________________________________________________________________________

Funky16Corners Radio v.3 – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) Pt1

Track listing

Brother Jack McDuff – Hot Barbecue (Prestige)

 Soul Runners – Chittlin’ Salad Pt1 (MoSoul)

Lionel Hampton – Greasy Greens (GladHamp)

Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century)

Andre Williams – Rib Tips (Avin)

Maurice Simon & The Pie Men – Sweet Potato Gravy (Carnival)

Mel Brown – Chicken Fat (Impulse)

Lonnie Youngblood – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) (Fairmount)

Prime Mates – Hot Tamales (Sansu)

Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes (Music Merchant)

Leon Haywood – Cornbread and Buttermilk (Decca)

Bobby Rush – Chicken Heads (Galaxy)

Booker T & The MGs – Jelly Bread (Stax)

Gentleman June Gardner – Mustard Greens (Blue Rock)

West Siders – Candy Yams (Infinity)

Hank Jacobs – Monkey Hips and Rice (Sue)

George Semper – Collard Greens (Imperial)

Billy Clark & His Orchestra – Hot Gravy (Dynamo)

Listen Download Mixed MP3

__________________________________________________________________

Funky16Corners Radio v.9 – Soul Food Pt2

Playlist

1. Simtec Simmons – Tea Box (Maurci)

2. Johnny Barfield & The Men of S.O.U.L. – Soul Butter (SSS Intl)

3. Ronnie Woods – Sugar Pt2 (Everest)

4. Stan Hunter & Sonny Fortune – Corn Flakes (Prestige)

5. Fabulous Counts – Scrambled Eggs (Moira)

6. Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band – Spreadin Honey (Keymen)

7. Freddie Roach – Brown Sugar (Blue Note)

8. Albert Collins – Sno Cone Pt1 (TCF Hall)

9. Chuck Edwards – Chuck Roast (Rene)

10. Willie Mitchell – Mashed Potatoes (Hi)

11. Booker T & The MGs – Red Beans & Rice (Atlantic)

12. Righteous Brothers Band – Green Onions (Verve)

13. George Semper – Hog Maws & Collard Greens (Imperial)

14. Lee Dorsey – Candy Yam (Amy)

15. Roosevelt Fountain & his Pens of Rhythm – Red Pepper Pt1 (Prince Adams)

16. Bad Boys – Black Olives (Paula)

17. Willie Bobo – Spanish Grease (Verve)

18. American Group – Enchilada Soul (AGP)

DOWNLOAD – 39.3 MB Mixed MP3

__________________________________________________________________________

Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Playlist

____________________________________________________________________________________

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 (14)

By Larry, November 13, 2011 3:36 pm

Reuben Wilson

Grover Washington Jr.

Listen/Download – Reuben Wilson – Inner City Blues

Listen/Download – Grover Washington Jr. – Inner City Blues

Listen/Download – Grover Washington Jr. – Mercy Mercy Me

Greetings all.

Here’s simultaneously hoping that you all are well and telling you that things are progressing as well as can be expected in our corner of the world.

My incredibly brave wife is standing tall despite chemo beating her like a rented mule.

These are hard times (a la Curtis Mayfield, Gene Chandler and Baby Huey) for her to endure treatment and for us to watch her do it.

It is alternately inspiring and disheartening, since the process reveals her ever deeper well of resilience, but also a seemingly endless supply of physical and psychological pain for her to deal with.

But, deal with it she does.

My thanks go out to the doctors and nurses who are helping her (and all of us) through this experience, as well as all the good folks who have sent messages of hope and prayer.

I’ve never had a huge amount of faith in humanity, but this experience – no matter how harrowing on its face – has also exposed our family to an extraordinary show of kindness and generosity from family and friends.

If there is an upside to this, that is it and it is humbling.

My (our) thanks to all of you.

Since I can’t guarantee more than one post a week while all of this is going on, I figure it behooves me to ensure that it brings with it a healthy dose of sounds, on which you can focus your aural ruminations until the next time I can get it together.

While I was combing the wilds of my hard drive, I happened upon a Reuben Wilson album, with an especially Hammond-groovy take on Marvin Gaye’s ‘Inner City Blues’ from his (Reuben’s) 1972 ‘The Sweet Life’ LP.

As I was giving it a listen, it occurred to me that I had other cool covers of  cuts from ‘What’s Going On’ in storage – of a similar vintage – and that I ought to pair them up in the dual causes of thematic consistency and general good music-ness.

I doubt that anyone reading this will dispute the greatness of Marvin’s 1971 epic, considered by many to be his greatest work, and one of the single finest soul LPs ever recorded.

It was a significant hit for Gaye, and it’s influence was far reaching, generating many cover versions across the soul, funk and jazz spectrums.

The first track I bring you today is the aforementioned Reuben Wilson take on ‘Inner City Blues’ (see Funky16Corners Radio v.24.5 for a very nice cover of this tune by Brian Auger).

Wilson is one of my favorite jazz funk organists of the classic era, never flashy but always stylish and on point. While he doesn’t always get the shine that some of his better known contemporaries do, his work with the Wildare Express (on Brunswick) and solo sides for Blue Note and Groove Merchant are essential.

His take on ‘Inner City Blues’ grooves hard, with some very nice soloing on the Hammond and tight, funky backing by his group.

The second and third cuts in this post are from an artist that continually shows up in surprising places.

Grover Washington Jr is a cat that I only knew from his big hits, and always assumed to have sprung up, fully formed as one of the standard bearers of smooth, R&B inflected jazz.

However, it was during my obsessive Hammond digging that I discovered that he had played with the Mark 3 Trio, and had done time in Philly area combos with none other than the mighty Charles Earland also recording as a sideman for other Prestige artists like Boogaloo Joe Jones, and Leon Spencer.

A few years back someone hepped me to his first solo album ‘Inner City Blues’, recorded for the Kudu label in 1971.

Backed by a serious group of sidemen, including Idris Muhammad, Ron Carter, Eric Gale, Bob James and Richard Tee, Washington displayed a tougher side of his sound.

I was surprised when I discovered how much work he did as a sideman for organists like Johnny Hammond Smith and Dr Lonnie Smith (were they giving everyone named Smith a Hammond organ??), as I was to discover how much I dug this album.

I was initially going to post only his lyrical, mellow cover of ‘Mercy Mercy Me’, but as I was writing this post I was listening to the album and decided that I had to include the title cut from the album as well.

Washington’s version of ‘Inner City Blues’ features some wild guitar as well as some very cool sax work by the man himself that I rougher than just about anything I’ve ever heard him play.

And really, could anyone possibly not dig the opportunity to hear two very cool versions of a song like this?

I thought not.

So, dig the Marvin worship and if I’m not back before Friday, remember that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, and then posted as an MP3 on Saturday.

Keep the faith and I’ll see you when I see you.

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 (19)

By Larry, November 4, 2011 5:12 am

Head over to Amen Brother to check out the mix and the set list!

Greetings all.

I know that after my post on Monday, it seems incongruous that I should be returning to this very space on Friday.
However, there are explanations aplenty.

I should start by giving a brief recap of the situation, that being, that after a week of feeling fatigued, my beloved wife has landed in the hospital with a case of leukemia.

In a short two weeks our world has been turned upside down, with everything we considered secure and normal shaken to its roots.

She’s weathering this disturbing (understatement alert) experience with a good deal of grace and courage, and I can only hope that I can try to match that from my side of things.

This is proving to be a painful lesson in the value of rolling with the punches, or at least attempting to do so, since no one likes to go through life catching punches, literal or figurative.

That said, we’re just trying to hang on, adjusting to the new (abnormal) ‘normal’, and doing what we can to stitch the whole mess back together as best we can.

Earlier this week, we were discussing life in general and Jen said that she’d had an opportunity to read Monday’s post (wireless internet and hand-held devices facilitating such things in the hospital setting) and she expressed her wish that I continue writing during this time.

I won’t argue with her, but I will state that anything I get posted here or over at Iron Leg will have to be wedged into the schedule as time (and sanity) allows.

I certainly have tons of stuff recorded and ready to go, so it’s only a matter of the writing and the interwebbing.

There is definitely something to be said for the restorative nature of creative pursuits, but if the old engine isn’t firing on all cylinders (said engine being what’s left of my brain) I can’t even take advantage of that, so bear with me.

I have to say that I am especially thankful for all the messages of support.

This Friday marks the seventh anniversary of the Funky16Corners blog.

It was on November 4th of 2004 that I transitioned from the old web zine format into something different, which in the beginning didn’t bear much resemblance to what you see today, unless of course you were to take Funky16Corners and Iron leg and stitch them together.

It wasn’t very long until things were purely soulful, and here we all are, seven years later, still riding the rails of the interwebs, engaged in a shared love of music.

I have always found the most satisfying part of this thing to be when one of you good people steps forward to add some info to the conversation, or merely to say thanks.

I guess that the blog is my way of expressing my thanks to all of you, at least as a reflection of how much I have always loved when someone turned me on to new sounds.

The really groovy thing is, that where I used to have those same conversations with my crate digging buddies in person, through the Funky16Corners blog I get to have the same kinds of exchanges with people from all over the world.

In this day and age where McLuhan’s Global Village seems like a dark place, it’s heartening to discover that some of us can find our own rays of light in the murk.

What you see before you is a brand new mix, conceived of and completed long before our current problems.

My man Pete Cadden of the Amen Brother crew over in Ireland saw that the anniversary of the blog was approaching and asked if I might be interested in putting together a guest mix for their site to mark the occasion.

Naturally, I said yes, and got to work on the mix you see before you (details over at MNtothat), just about an hour of tasty mid-tempo funk seasoned liberally with breaks.

There are a couple of familiar tunes, some very groovy b-sides and perhaps a few things you’ve never heard of before.

Also, make sure you check in with the Funky16Corners Radio Show, Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio (archived here on Saturday as an MP3).

I hope you dig it, 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 (2)

By Larry, October 25, 2011 11:58 am

Ellen McIlwaine

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Toe Hold

Listen/Download – Ellen McIlwaine – Up From the Skies

Greetings all.

I was wandering (not aimlessly) through the vast expanse of digimatized music looking for something to tickle my fancy and after picking out a few particularly tasty things and setting them aside for the full blogging treatment, I tripped over something very cool indeed.

Ellen McIlwaine is another one of those artists that I read about long before I heard any of her music.

I used to see her early records (including the album she recorded with her first band, Fear Itself) were perennials on crate diggers ‘finds’ lists, and then back in the 90s I picked up a compilation of her Polydor recordings.

What that collection revealed was a very talented and multi-faceted performer.

McIlwaine, who spent her early years in Japan (her family were missionaries) found her way to New York in the mid-60s where she shared stages with a wide variety of blues and folk performers.

Like many of her contemporaries, she was less interested in being shoehorned into a single genre, instead choosing to weave her own mixture of blues, rock, jazz, soul and folk/world sounds.

The two tracks I bring you today come from her first solo album, 1972’s ‘Honky Tonk Angel’, one side of which was recorded live at the Bitter End in NYC.

The first – her cover of the Isaac Hayes/David Porter* classic ‘Toe Hold’ is a great example of how a largely acoustic band can still manage to be funky (thanks in large part to McIlwaine’s guitar playing).

McIlwaine is also a particularly talented and interesting singer who manages to kind of sail all over the map without ever losing her way. While I was digging for information about the record I happened upon one of Robert Christgau’s old Consumer Guide reviews of this album where he makes the point that while at first impression her vocals might seem ‘overambitious’ she manages to succeed by virtue of the power of her instrument.

I’ve never been a big fan of ‘oversingers’ but I have to agree with the old sage that unlike so many others (especially in these times where vocal acrobatics seem to be the go to substitute for soul), McIlwaine has the wherewithal, balancing talent with taste, to stay just inside the lines.

The second track is a particularly groovy cover of the Jimi Hendrix Experience track ‘Up From the Skies’. It always bugs me that so many people seem to forget that Jimi had a soulful side. McIlwaine’s treatment of ‘Up From the Skies’ taps into – and expands on – that sound.

If you can find either of her first two solo albums (or the CD comp that collects them) grab them. Her later stuff moves further into an electric/rock sound but is still pretty cool.

She still records and performs today, and her recent stuff is particularly interesting, mixing her guitar with tabla and harmonium (dig her cover of ‘Take me To the River’).

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back on Friday with something cool.

Peace

Larry

* Recorded by Johnnie Taylor, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave among others

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 (4)

By Larry, October 18, 2011 12:22 pm

Hi Rhythm

Listen/Download -Hi Rhythm – Black Rock

Greetings all.

How’s things?

Hereabout, things is groovy, aside from the fact that I am in dire need of heading out into the wild and getting my dig on. You can prowl around on Ebay all day long and no matter how many cool things you see, there’s no substitute for real world, dusty fingers digging

Unfortunately, the last couple of record shows that rolled through the area coincided with family responsibilities and the actual ‘digging’ spots within reach aren’t always worth hitting up, so I pretty much have to bide my time and be happy with the gigantic, heaving pile of vinyl I already have.

Part of that pile is the 45 I bring you today.

The way things work on the old Funky16Corners blog is that I tend to digimatize vinyl as it comes in, and if it’s something I plan on blogging, I photograph the label, tag the MP3 and stockpile it.

Many (most) of those tracks end up here on the front page in individual posts, while some end up in mixes.

However, if the gods of wax are smiling on me, I usually end up outpacing the outflux and end up with a good-sized pool from which to select what you end up seeing here.

However, as that process unfurls, I sometimes end up with things that have either been put on the back burner (for a variety of reasons, including need for further research or proximity to something similar that just got posted), or, in the case of today’s selection, plain old forgotten.

Because of that, I try to go back through the lists of things waiting to be blogged and try to move some unjustly bypassed tracks to the front of the line, harkening back to my days in the grocery profession, rotating stock for freshness.

The tune I bring you today is one of those ‘haven’t heard it but know it’s good’ deals which I picked up almost three years ago mainly on the strength of the group name and other important info on the label.

Back in the day, when I picked up my first Willie Mitchell album, the thing that hit me first was the prevalence of the surname Hodges in the credits.

This had everything to do with the fact that Mitchell’s back up band was composed in large part of a set of brothers bearing that name, Charles, Leroy and Teenie (Mabon) Hodges (organ, bass and guitar), who along with Howard Grimes (drums) and Archie Turner (keyboards) laid down that other wonderful Memphis sound.

They not only backed up Willie Mitchell, but did the same, extremely well, for pretty much everyone else who recorded for the Hi label, including (and most importantly) Al Green.

It was Mabon Hodges (composer of this very track) who co-wrote some of Green’s best songs, including ‘Love and Happiness’ and ‘Take Me To the River’.

The strange thing (for me anyway) is that for as long as the Hi Rhythm section (billed here as Hi Rhythm) was playing for so many other folks, they didn’t get the chance to step out on their own until 1975 with the release of their album ‘On the Loose’.

The single from that album, and today’s selection was the very groovy ‘Black Rock’.

While the title sounds like a giveaway, the rock side of things doesn’t come in too heavy, and when it does it’s still pretty swampy.

The overall vibe of ‘Black Rock’ is funky and it’s very interesting how a band with such a ‘trademark’ sound manages to escape that sound here.

Things chug along, with solid guitar from Mabon, group vocals and a cool, understated horn section. There’s even a crazy sound effect (heavily treated guitar?) that sounds like someone scratching vinyl!

I’m still on the lookout for a copy of the album, since the one I found a while back was crazy warped in the chip-and-dip style.

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

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 (8)

By Larry, October 16, 2011 12:42 pm

Lavell Kamma today. Still making music!

Listen/Download -Lavell Kamma and his Afro Soul Revue – Soft Soul

Greetings all.

Hows about we get the new week started with some sublimely delicious funk of the 45RPM variety?

I knew you’d dig that.

I picked up today’s selection while back from a friend’s sale list, mainly because I’d heard of it (but not heard it) and because the price was reasonable.

Naturally, there are those of you who might question the purchase of a record that one has not actually heard yet, but I would respectfully counter with the proposition that any self respecting digger that would pass up any recording by a group calling themselves Lavell Kamma and his Afro Soul Review, should be forced to surrender their turntables and walk away in shame.

This is not to say that every single record with a cool name is going to be good and funky, but rather that the unwritten laws of such things suggest that the law of averages would be on your side in such a transaction.

And in this case, they were (big time).

There’s isn’t a whole lot of info out there on Mr Kamma, other than the fact that he seems to have hailed from the Sunshine State (FLA) and that he recorded 45s for at least three labels, Tupelo Sound (this one), Sure Shot and Jewel, between the mid-60s and the early 70s.

‘Soft Soul’, despite a title that might lead you to think you were about to travel down the boulevard of ballads, is one of the finest example of tasty, mid-tempo funk I have ever heard.

First off, those freaking drums….whoever was massaging the traps had a light and talented hand indeed, and the rest of the band were right, tight and out of sight as well. Lavell’s vocals are high and slightly raspy (in a groovy way), and whoever’s playing the guitar gets a gold star at the top of his report card as well.

The flip is quite nice as well (watch for it in an upcoming mix).

It’s also not a terribly expensive 45. There are at least three label variations/pressings I’ve seen.

Lavell Kamma is still playing today. You can check out his MySpace page for a video of him doing his one man band thing.

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

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 (0)

By Larry, October 13, 2011 1:28 pm

Joe Thomas ‘The Ebony Godfather’

Listen/Download – Ebony Godfather – Castlin’

Listen/Download – Ebony Godfather -Electric Godfather

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally upon us and I – for one – couldn’t be happier.

Sleep (and vinyl) deprived, I could use a serious rest, yet for some odd reason I soldier on.

That said, I still managed to get this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show assembled and ready to go, which it will (go, that is) this Friday night at 9PM at Viva Radio. If funk, soul, jazz and/or rare groove are sounds that make your ears happy, make sure to tune in, or if you can’t bet there, you can always fall by the blog on Saturday to pick up the show as an MP3.

The tunes I bring you today are a couple of very tasty bits of funky flute action.

I picked up the ‘Moog Fluting’ album by the Ebony Godfather sight unheard, mainly because its reputation preceded it, having shown up on several ‘finds’ lists over the years as a kind of crate diggers perennial.

It was a cheap score, so I tossed it onto the keeper stack (on account of I dig some jazz flute) and took it home, where I discovered in short order that the Ebony Godfather was in fact none other than Joe Thomas, who had used that title on an album a year or two before this one.

Though he is credited on the back of the record, I have no idea why he would go out of his way to obscure his involvement unless of course it was some sort of Superfly-era rebranding attempt.

Though the title suggests Moog involvement, what’s really going on is that Thomas is working it out on the flute in a pretty standard jazz-funk fashion, with the occasional addition of processing/effects on the instrument, none of which sounds like Moog (to me anyway).

The two tracks I bring you today (‘Castlin’ and ‘Electric Godfather’) are prime slices of early/mid-70s jazz funk, with Thomas’s exciting soloing laid over a tight electric rhythm section and horns.

It’s a little hotter than your average CTI session of the same era, while maintaining some of the same flavor and production values.

Thomas always managed to walk that fine line between jazz and commerce, working R&B inflected soul jazz in the 60s (as a sideman and leader), funkier stuff like these Ebony Godfather sessions, and the smoother disco sounds of his later sessions like ‘Plato’s Retreat’ and his cover of Boz Scaggs’ ‘Lowdown’.

His attachment to the material always seemed much more natural than that of some of his peers attempting to work the same side of the street.

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

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 (2)

By Larry, October 11, 2011 1:10 pm

The Chambers Brothers

Listen/Download – The Chambers Brothers – Funky

Greetings all.

You know, as we here at the Funky16Corners blog approach our seventh anniversary (oh yeah), which in blog years is like an eon or some such, every once in a while I have to lean on my Google crutch to make sure I haven’t already expounded on a particular track, so lengthy is the list thereof.

Such was the case when I started contemplating today’s selection, in which the thought process went something like this:

Did I already write up ‘Funky’?

I must have.

No, wait, I didn’t.

Are you (me) sure?

Let me check again.

Nope.

Well how about them apples?

You see, when you talk about the first time the funk hit me (deep) one must consider the day the teenaged me brought the Chambers Brothers ‘New Generation’ album home from the dusty, local flea market and dropped the needle, and got whomped upside the melon by ‘Funky’, which is as solid a ‘truth in advertising’ thing as has ever been committed to wax.

I mean, those opening bars, with the congas, the traps, the cuica and then the oddly Mexicali guitar riff and of course that earth shaking bass (really the linchpin on which the whole enterprise hangs) are as earth shattering and elemental as any funky music, ever recorded, anywhere (at least here on earth).

The mighty Chambers Brothers have always taken a back seat to brother Sly  – which in terms of general funk is an accurate assessment –  since they always trod a little bit more on the rock side of the tracks, but aside from the deadly and unfuckwithable guitar/bass/drums combo of ‘Sing a Simple Song’, even the Family Stone had to step back and take notice when the Chambers Brothers lit up ‘Funky’ and took a deep drag.

Not only is ‘Funky’ great funk is the general, bad ass, ‘classic’ sense, but it also carries with it some of the Chambers unique hippie festival stomp, in that it sounds less like a ‘band’ than it does like a field full of party where everyone got themselves something to bang on, and in a once in a millennium roll of the dice, managed to all come down on the one.

‘Funky’, in addition to the basic, obvious funk power, also manages to be a veritable seven layer dip of complexity, with the cowbell, and especially that weird, bottleneck-y guitar twang that keeps bubbling up into the mix.

Had the Chambers Brothers managed to whip together a half dozen such monsters (excepting of course the sui generis ‘Time Has Come Today’ which is verily the warp and weft of the psychedelic zeitgeist) – or, if ‘Funky’ was a hens teeth rare 45 – they might be more fondly remembered by the crate diggers. As it is, you could probably get your own copy (at least of the album) for less than a dollar at any respectable flea market which in some circles is grounds for disqualification.

There is also the fact that A Tribe Called Quest thought enough of the song to repurpose a serious chunk of it for ‘I Left My Wallet In El Segundo’, which of course rules.

I hope you dig it and I’ll see you all later.

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 (7)

By Larry, October 9, 2011 11:05 am

Earth Wind Dashikis Afros and Fire

Listen/Download – Earth Wind and Fire – Moment of Truth

Listen/Download – Earth Wind and Fire – Bad Tune

Greetings all.

It is now time for all good men (and women, natch) to get themselves together and ease on into a brand new week.

Fall is in full swing, with the cool air, and the leaves and all that mess and I’m feeling productive.

I haven’t been doing much fieldwork (of the vinyl variety), but what I have managed to pick up has been excellent, not to mention the products of in-house excavation, in which yours truly gets down into the crates and spends some time with unjustly neglected records.

Today’s selections are the fruit of just such a search, and their neglect was decidedly unjust (undue/unfair?).

A while back when I was fortunate to be down spinning the records in Washington I was lucky enough to slip in some quality digging time alongside my man DJ Birdman. I brought home a grip of tasty stuff that trip (DC always treats my crates well) and among the haul were the first two albums by Earth Wind and Fire.

“Earth Wind and Fire!” you say. “I can get those at my local Goodwill for the cost of a shiny quarter!”

Not these you can’t my friends, because you’re probably thinking of their CBS stuff when they were having all of those big hits we all know so well (or maybe you can but you’ll need to give me the address of your local Goodwill).

However, did you know that they did two albums for Warner Brothers in the early 70s?

Neither did I (initially) but when I found out some years ago those records went on the old want list, because if you dig some EWF, you know that an earlier, grittier version thereof would very well kick some ass.

And it (they) did.

Maurice White and Wade Flemons (who had some collectible, pre-EWF 45s under his own name) had been working together in Chicago during the 60s, before relocating to Los Angeles near the end of the decade, where they were joined by Verdine White and a large crew of others to form the first version of Earth Wind and Fire.

Their first, self-titled album was recorded in 1970 and released in 1971, and while it does display tastes of the later EWF, there’s a heavier funk at work here, crossed with progressive elements.

The two tunes I bring you today illustrate both sides of that coin.

‘Moment of Truth’ is a serious mover, with some incredibly solid bass playing by Verdine (he’s so much more than just a fine and fancy head of hair) and a horn section that won’t quit.

‘Bad Tune’ has something of a flavor of the times, with a little bit of that Afrocentric hippy thing weaving in and out of the funk (electric kalimba anyone?), opening quietly, getting heavy and then dissolving into a trippy, jazzy sound with some nice guitar by Michael Beal, before picking up heat yet again with some fuzz bass.

And – this is the cool part – they manage to pack all that into less than five minutes, displaying a shocking economy for the time.

If you dig what you hear, while the individual albums are hard to come by, after their mid-70s success with CBS, WB reissued both of their EWF albums as a budget two-fer which is a little bit easier to find.

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

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 (4)

By Larry, October 2, 2011 1:58 pm

An early incarnation of the mighty JBs

Listen/Download – The JBs – Damn Right I Am Somebody Pt1
Listen/Download – The JBs – Damn Right I Am Somebody Pt2

Greetings all.

Having just returned from a little end-of-summer/beginning-of-fall sojourn to our nation’s capital, I am exhaust-o-mified.

I remember back in the day where I wouldn’t think twice about packing 10 hours travel time into a long weekend. What better time to jam on some mix tapes and chill behind the wheel?

In two decades I’ve gone from that to becoming a mirror image of my (and anyone else’s) father, fielding inquiries from the back seat, struggling to keep my eyes on the road, my hands on the wheel and my brain in one piece. It’s a whole different proposition when you assume leadership of the family caravan.

That said, a good time was had by all, with the sightseeing, and the museums and the wealth of groovy ethnic cuisine available in and around DC.

The tune I bring you today is a prime bit of mid-period (1974) J.B.s.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a tendency to pick up J.B.s 45s wherever I find them, which explains why I have doubles of several of them.

I mean, why on earth, when given the opportunity to take home a solid serving of funky grooves by one of the tightest bands that ever was, would you refrain from doing so?

This is not to say that I prefer the work of the J.B.s minus the vocalizations of the mighty man for whom they were named, but rather that sometimes an instrumental will hit the spot where a vocal might just get in the way (aside from the fact that Mr Brown is all over these records anyhoo).

Today’s selection, ‘Damn Right I Am Somebody Pts 1&2’ was the title track on the album of the same name, billed as Fred Wesley and the J.B.s, since every once in a while you have to give props to the man burning up the trombone.

Not only is ‘Damn Right…’ one of the tightest grooves ever laid down by this storied ensemble, but it carries in it just a taste of jazz, as well as one of the finest horn charts to grace a JBs record, as well as a tasty percussion breakdown in part 2.

We’ve discussed the clockwork wonders of the James Brown style in this space before, but it bears mentioning yet again. Take yourself a minute and slap on the headphones and listen to the way the warp and weft of the JBs intersect without ever colliding. The lead guitar shoots around the bass, which itself winds around the horns and the rhythm guitar and the drums, providing a deceptively simple base for the soloists (mainly Fred and Maceo) to do their thing.

It is indeed a wonder to behold.

God bless the JBs and all who sailed with them.

See you on Wednesday.

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.