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By Larry, April 16, 2015 11:12 am

Moses Dillard

Listen/Download – Moses Dillard and the Tex Town Display – I’ve Got To Find a Way (To Hide My Hurt) Pt1

Listen/Download – Moses Dillard and the Tex Town Display – I’ve Got To Find a Way (To Hide My Hurt) Pt2

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here and I will remind you once again that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot be there at airtime, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device through the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

As I was digging through the to-be-blogged folder, I decided that the time was finally right to whip today’s selection on you.

I first heard ‘I’ve Got to Find a Way (To Hide My Hurt)’ by Moses Dillard and the Tex Town Display years ago (probably via Soul Strut) was was blown away by its multi-faceted powers.

It took me quite a while to track myself down a copy, and when I did I really dug into it as deeply as possible, but struggled with the idea of posting it here.

So powerful and deep a record is it, that I circled it warily for a long time before deciding to light it up.

Moses Dillard hailing (like Monday’s feature, the Fantastic Johnny C) from Greenville, SC, had a long career, going back to the early 60s, recording under his own name and working extensively as a session guitarist in studios like Muscle Shoals.

He formed the Tex-Town Display in the late 60s (I haven’t been able to nail down the root of the name, but I suspect that it has something to do with the prevalence of the textile industry in South Carolina), with a group that included a young Peabo Bryson.

‘I’ve Got To Find a Way (To Hide My Hurt)’ was released on Curtom in 1970, and was a substantial regional hit.
As you’ll hear when you pull down the ones and zeros, this is a uniquely deep 45.

Dillard manages to combine sweet soul (presaging the sound of the Stylistics ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’ by a few years) with a dark, heavy, almost psychedelic funk that bears the influence of Isaac Hayes‘ epic version of ‘Walk On By’ (released the year before).

The first part of the 45 begins oddly, mid-chord, opening into the heavy, bass/snare drum figure that underlies the verse. There are strings, electric sitar and heavily-vibratoed guitar underneath a pleading vocal.

The lead guitar (Dillard, I assume) is positively sublime. You really need to give it a close listen as it blends vibrato, tremelo bar, and winds in and out of a competing lead from the electric sitar.

Part two of the record restarts the song (though the truncated guitar chord is gone, and the vocals get a later start) with a sparer version of the arrangement.

The more I listen to this 45 the more I’m tempted to compare Dillard and the Tex-Town display to Funkadelic, but the comparison requires some explanation. Both groups seem to be drawing from the same pool of influences (though Dillard leans more toward the sweet side of things) but Dillard seems to have been able to bring a lot more focus to the table. The fusion of soul, funk and psychedelia is delivered with a clarity that was usually absent from Funkadelic.

This is not to suggest that ‘I’ve Got To Find a Way (To Hide My Hurt)’ doesn’t have a freaky side, since I suspect it provided the soundtrack to many a backseat boogie in its time, but rather that the freak factor is a lot sharper here.

That said, I think you’ll find yourself playing this one over and over, not only because you want to understand what’s going on, but because it’s such a great record to listen to.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 14, 2015 11:24 am

The (oft discounted) Picture Sleeve

Listen/Download – Ray Pereira – They Say

Greetings all.

How about some tasty mystery funk to get you safely through the middle of the week?

I first heard of Ray Pereira’s ‘They Say’ a few years back via a Facebook friend who posted it as an example of a ‘Meters sound-alike’.

That it is that was immediately evident as soon as I gave the Youtube clip a spin.

It took me a little while to find myself a copy (as far as I can tell the record was only released in France, where I got mine from), but when I did I was very happy indeed.

Sadly, I have been able to discover very little about the record.

The other singles advertised on the back of the sleeve (Hot Chocolate, CCS) seem to date the record around 1971.

‘They Say’ definitely has the sound of the Meters to it, with some funky drums and bass, winding guitar and a vocal delivered in what sounds to me like unaccented English.

The A-side, ‘Funk Everything’ is very cool as well, with some Hawkshaw-like organ pumping underneath acoustic guitar and drums.

This does seem to be the same Ray Pereira who recorded in the UK for BAF and Decca, but that road doesn’t lead anywhere, either.

That said, ‘They Say’ is a very groovy side, indeed, that I find myself going back to frequently.

If any of you good people can supply any additional information I would be grateful.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, April 12, 2015 11:22 am

Fantastic Johnny C

Listen/Download – Fantastic Johnny C – (She’s) some Kind of Wonderful

Greetings all.

I was recently doing a little of that ‘internal digging’ thing, heading back into the crates to turn the earth as it were and see what I might dig up for the radio show and the blog.

One of the first things I pulled out was the Fantastic Johnny C’s 1968 LP.

Johnny Corley was one of several acts in the Philadelphia area associated with (and largely controlled by) Jesse James.

Though he was born in Greenville, SC, Corley came of age in Philadelphia and hit the charts three times in 1967 and 1968, his biggest success coming with ‘Boogaloo Down Broadway’ which was Top Ten on both the Pop and R&B charts.

Phil LA of Soul decided to do an entire album on him in 1968, which included a nice balance of originals and covers of tunes by Robert Parker, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Ben E King.

One of the other covers is today’s selection, a very nice version of the Soul Brothers Six’s ‘(She’s) Some Kind of Wonderful’.

The original version by the SB6 had hit with the song (on Alantic) the previous year, and would eventually relocate from their Upstate NY base to Philadelphia.

Fantastic Johnny C’s version of the song is excellent (as is the rest of the LP) with a very nice, horn-laden backing track. It’s interesting to hear the song with a slick arrangement and (more importantly) a solo voice, as opposed to the harmonies of the SB6.

If you get the chance to pick up the ‘Boogaloo Down Broadway’ LP, grab it, since it is uniformly excellent and also includes the Northern-style killer ‘New Love’.

Fantastic Johnny C went on to record the Philly funk classic ‘Let’s Do It Together’ for the local Branding Iron label (it was picked up for national distribution by Kama Sutra) and continued to record for Phil LA of Soul into the 70s.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, April 9, 2015 4:56 pm

Madeline Bell

Listen/Download – Madeline Bell – Picture Me Gone

Greetings all.

The end of the week is upon us, and so then is the Funky16Corners Radio Show. Coming to you each and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, you can also dig the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

Madeline Bell is a name that I knew long before I ever owned one of her records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, but long a resident of (and a star in) the UK, Bell has a long history recording under her own name, as the lead singer of Blue Mink, and as a backing singer for a wide variety of performers.

Like Monday’s feature, Marie Knight, Bell got her start as a gospel singer, travelling to the UK as part of a gospel musical called ‘Black Nativity’ in 1962. She remained in the country and by the mid-60s had established herself as a solo vocalist.

Oddly, though I knew of her 1968 recording ‘Picture Me Gone’ as a big mod/Northern fave for a long time, I had no idea that its flipside, a version of ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’ was a fairly substantial hit here in the US, making it into the Top 40.

‘Picture Me Gone’, written by Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni, and also recorded by Evie Sands (the original, I think) and Dave Berry, is a fantastic pop soul number with enough push for the dance floor, a wonderful vocal by Bell and some amazing lead guitar.

It has one of those big, booming, anthemic choruses that the Northern crowd digs so much, and bears up quite well to repeat listens.

I hop you dig the tune, 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, April 7, 2015 4:08 pm

Area Code 615

Listen/Download – Area Code 615 – Stone Fox Chase

Greetings all.

As I was strolling through the back woods of the mirrors of my memory of the alleys of my mind (otherwise known as the to-be-blogged folder on the hard drive) I decided to drop something a little different today.

Area Code 615 was an aggregation of Nashville session heavies that got together and recorded two albums in 1969 and 1970.

Though their albums are both worth picking up for their groovy mixture country, rock and a little bit of soul, they were met with commercial indifference at the time of release.

Fortunately for the group, their legacy was cemented when today’s selection, ‘Stone Fox Chase’ became the theme for the UK music show ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’, and was later sampled by Mantronix and Royal House.

The sample-age has everything to do with the wild drums and percussion on the track, which is – for a large part of its playing time – basically a duel between various drums and Charlie McCoy’s harmonica. There’s a wicked breakdown, with congas, drum set and cowbell at around 46 seconds that is positively hypnotic, and then another, featuring kalimba and what sound like a table at 1:42 that is equally groovy.

Thanks in large part to ‘Stone Fox Chase’, the ‘Trip In the Country’ LP is a tough pull, not crazy expensive, but hard to find. Their first (self-titled) LP is also pretty cool.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, April 2, 2015 10:19 am

The Les James Trio

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

Greetings all

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

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

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Originally posted November, 2012

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

You know how it is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You’re most welcome.

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 31, 2015 11:08 am

Tarik Thornton – Scattered, Covered, Smothered and Diced

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

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

Greetings all.

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

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

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

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, March 29, 2015 11:15 am

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

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

Greetings all.

Welcome to another swinging week here at the Corners.

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

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

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

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 26, 2015 10:22 am

Listen/Download – Reggie Milner – Soul Machine

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

Greetings all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 24, 2015 10:57 am

The Sharpees

Greetings all.

One of the great truisms of soul music, is that even though not all roads lead to Chicago, many of the best ones do.

Though over the years I set out to collect regional sounds, especially New Orleans and Philadelphia, later in the game I discovered that when I wasn’t looking, my Chitown crate had swollen considerably.

The groovy thing is, that even taking into consideration the volume of high-quality Chicago soul sides I already know/own, there are tons more, and new stuff I’m discovering all the time.

One of the Chicago groups I came to fairly late in the game is the Sharpees.

Formed in the early 60s as part of Benny Sharp’s revue, the Sharpees, which included (at various times) Stacy Johnson, Herbert Reeves, Benny Sharp, Horise O’Toole and Guy Vernon, laid down a great string of 45s for One-Derful in 1965 and 1966.

Cuts like ‘Do the 45’ , ‘Tired of Being Lonely’ and today’s selection, ‘I’ve Got a Secret’.

The Sharpees had the good fortune to benefit from the songwriting talents of the great Eddie Silvers (of Eddie and the Dehavelons) who wrote or co-wrote several of their best sides.

The group had the benefit of alternating leads, with a raspy baritone competing with a high, stylish tenor, and lots of that classy Chicago soul feel.

‘I’ve Got a Secret’ is a great dancer, which opens with a heavy drum hit, followed by a propulsive bass which is countered by xylophone accents. The lead and the group harmonies are top notch.

The Sharpees 45s are consistently excellent, and since none of them are that expensive (with the Northern fave ‘Tired of Being Lonely’, their biggest hit topping out at around 40 bucks) you have no excuse not to file your own copies.

I hope you dig the tune, 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.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 22, 2015 10:46 am

Lou Johnson

Greetings all.

I hope you all have your Hammond groove pants on.

I first heard Ross Carnegie’s ‘Cool Dad’ (like so many other organ classics) on the legendary ‘Vital Organs’ comp, though it took me something like 15 years before I got around to filing a copy of the OG 45.

Carnegie was a pianist/organist working out of the New York area who is best known (to record collectors, anyway) for a series of self-released 45s he put out between the mid-60s and the late 70s.

‘Cool Dad’ , which I haven’t been able to date exactly, but I’d be willing to bet came out sometime in the mid-to-late 60s, is a hard-charging soul groover, with some especially heavy (and well recorded) drums, pulsing bass, tastefully applied horns, and – of course – Mr Carnegie’s wailing Hammond organ.

The flipside ‘Win. Lose or Draw’ is slightly ‘cooler’, featuring a reapeated figure delivered by the flute and trumpet in unison, before the flute steps out front to solo, followed of course by the Hammond.

Though I’ve seen this 45 billed as funk (I suspect the drums have something to do with that), it really hews closer to classic-era Hammond soul jazz, like Wild Bill Davis’s ‘Breaking Out’ and Hank Marr’s ‘White House Party’, which is a groovy thing since those are two of the finest platters to emit the sound of the organ.

As I mentioned when I wrote up his later ‘Open Up Your Mind’ 45 back in 2010, Carnegie worked as a bandleader,music educator and later became well-known in the area as the pianist in residence at the White Plains location of the Nordstroms department store.

‘Cool Dad’ b/w ‘Win Lose or Draw’ is probably the most expensive of Carnegie’s 45s, running between 40 and 100 bucks, but if you pull down the ones and zeroes and give it a listen, I think you’ll agree that it’s worth every penny.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll 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.

Comments (1)

By Larry, March 19, 2015 11:51 am

Greetings all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.