Comments (2)

By Larry, June 20, 2013 11:46 am

Little Ann

Listen/Download Little Ann – Going Down a One Way Street (The Wrong Way)

Greetings all

The end of the week is once again breathing its hot Frankenstein breath down the back of our necks, so that means it’s time for the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We come to you every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original viny. If you can’t check the show out at airtime, do not fret. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab yourself an MP3 of this (or any of well over 100 previous episodes) at the blog.

I should also note that over the next few weeks a deluge of events/commitments will keep me quite busy so you should expect a number of ‘Best of Funky16Corners’ posts from the archives. I dug out some very cool stuff, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that.

The tune I bring you today is a longtime fave of mine.

I am a huge fan of soul, as well as funk, but have an especially warm place in my heart for the records on which the two styles intersect well.

Today’s selection is one of those.

Little Ann, born Anne Bridgeforth in Chicago in 1945, recorded a number of unreleased tracks for Dave Hamilton (issued by the Timmion label in 2009) before having ‘Going Down a One Way Street (the Wrong Way)’ picked up and released by Ed Wingate’s Ric-Tic imprint.

The record is an incredible slice of funky soul, with a soaring vocal by Little Ann, and a booming, horn-heavy arrangement.

Oddly, this was the only 45 released in the US by Little Ann (she didn’t even get the b-side, that spot taken up by an instrumental called ‘I’d Like To Know You Better’, credited to Wingate).

She went to to record some for the Quality label in Canada, and was later rediscovered by the Northern Soul scene in the UK before passing away in 2003.

You can check out her other recordings on various comps (the ‘Dave Hamilton’s Detroit Dancers’ collections) and if you try hard enough you can still find the Timmion LP here and there.

This is a very groovy song indeed, and I hope you dig it.

See you 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 (3)

By Larry, June 18, 2013 11:26 am

Mose Allison, chilling in his far out chair, in the woods…

Listen/Download Mose Allison – The Seventh Son

Listen/Download Mose Allison – Young Man (Blues)

Listen/Download Mose Allison – I’m Not Talking

Greetings all

Have you heard about Mose?

Allison, that is…aka the Sage of Tippo…aka the smoothest badass to ever prop himself up at a piano and lay it down.

If you – like me – has made a study of the roots of rock, especially the British Invasion, or just surveyed the history of coolness, then you have certainly crossed paths with the mighty Mose.

Mose Allison has the kind of voice/manner that immediately brings to mind the black-and-white, beatnik cool of the 1950s. Jack Kerouac’s America, in which one was free to roam the highways and back roads of this great country, partaking in, and becoming part of the great tableaux, digging and being dug in equal measures.

Mose Allison – born and raised in Mississippi – sat himself down at the piano and made his first record in 1957, and hasn’t stopped being one of the coolest of cats since then.

I don’t think I heard Mose until I was all but drowning in the British beat/R&B thing, up to and including the sounds of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, which is important because if Mose Allison had never recorded a note, old Clive Powell would likely disappear from the face of the earth.

The first time I heard Mose, an overloaded socket in theback of my brain threw sparks and I realized how much Georgie idolized and emulated him, as well as all of the Brits who looked to him as a songwriter and interpreter of songs.

It was Mose that wrote ‘Parchman Farm’ (John Mayall and everyone else with a blues fetish), ‘Young Man Blues’ (the Who) and ‘I’m Not Talking’ (the Yardbirds) among many others, and laid down what I would consider to be the definitive interpretation of Willie Dixon’s ‘Seventh Son’.

I’m including the last three tunes here today, so that you might head out and dig for your own stack of Mose Allison records, that you can whip out and impress the ladies at your next soiree.

Both ‘Young Man Blues’ and ‘The Seventh Son’ hail from Allison’s landmark 1963 ‘Mose Allison Sings’ LP for Prestige.

‘Young Man Blues’ – clocking in at less than a minute and a half – is a laid back meditation, barely a whisper compared to the angry box of TNT that the Who detonated on ‘Live at Leeds’.

Mose’s take on ‘The Seventh Son’ is a masterpiece of relaxed, swinging Zen, every note perfectly placed, a wonder. He takes the Mississippi hoodoo boasts of the OG and delivers them in a matter-of-fact way that puts the text in boldface.

‘I’m Not Talking’, from 1964’s ‘The Word From Mose’ on Atlantic, is once again, the placid, almost dehumidified-it’s-so-dry foundation on which the mighty Yardbirds built a souped-up, nitro-fueled funny car with which they blew the doors off of the ‘For Your Love’ album in 1965.

The grooviest thing of all is that for all of the influence he pushed out, Mose himself was always more like a shadow, hanging back, just being, than anyone who took their marching orders from his records. He spent the last 50-plus years making music of high quality, crossing the border back and forth between the blues and jazz, always being more himself than anything else and that was all he ever needed to be.

If you’re not hip to Mose, get there.

That is all.

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, June 16, 2013 10:39 am

The Turtles/Fabulous Dawgs

Listen/Download The Turtles – Buzz Saw

Greetings all

Welcome to another waxy week here at the intersection of sixteen funky corners.

The 45 I bring you today is an old. OLD favorite of mine, banging around in my ears since I was a teenager.

The day I grabbed myself a copy of ‘The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands’ at the old Englishtown Auction Sales (the needlessly fancy name for a dirthole full of dented, previously ownd merch) was a momentous one indeed.

If memory serves, I grabbed the record because it included ‘You Showed Me’ and ‘Elenore’, but when I got it home and gave it a spin, I arched an eyebrow and started dropping and re-dropping the needle all over the record.

The conceit of the record was that the Turtles had taken on the guises of several different groups, performing in several different styles, one of which was the Fabulous Dawgs.

The song they did was the brain bending ‘Buzz Saw’.

Years later, when the old Hammond organ monkey had climbed up and taken residence on my back, ‘Buzz Saw’ found a place of honor in my crates.

To say that ‘Buzz Saw’ is an anomaly in the Turtles oeuvre would be an understatement.

A band best known for jangly folk rock and pure pop, the Turtles made some of the finest sounds along those lines in 1960s LA.

‘Buzz Saw’, a deadly cross between Hammond grease and stripper pole grind is the kind of record you whip out when you want to blow somebody’s mind (like some of the garage stuff on the first Grateful Dead album).

That they released it as the B-side to the exceedingly placid ‘You Showed Me’ illustrates a twisted sense of humor that Flo and Eddie would display going forward.

One can only imagine how many synapses were fried trying to reconcile ‘Buzz Saw’ with ‘Happy Together’, some happily, some maybe not so much.

I have always wondered who played the organ on this track.

The references I’ve been able to locate with session details seem to indicate that the only people listed playing keyboards on the album were members of the Turtles, i.e. Howard Kaylan, Al Nichol and replacement drummer John Seiter (who had come from Spanky and Our Gang). I’d be pleasantly surprised to discover that it was one of those guys playing the organ on ‘Buzz Saw’, since it sounds to me like someone with more than a casual proficiency with the instrument (like someone outside the band).

If any of you know for sure who’s playing, please let me know.

Until then, I suggest that you get good and hammered and put ‘Buzz Saw’ on repeat until you pass out.

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, June 13, 2013 12:36 pm

Willie “Little Beaver” Hale

Listen/Download Little Beaver – Party Down Pt1

Greetings all

The end of the week has arrived, and so has the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which comes to you this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’tbe there to hear it, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is just about three and a quarter minutes of perfection, custom made for a weekend night in the summertime.

Willie ‘Little Beaver’ Hale was an Arkansas-born singer/guitarist who laid down some of the finest grooves of the Miami scene in the 1970s.

In addition to his own records, he also played guitar for other TK/Glades/Cat artists like Betty Wright (that’s him on ‘Clean Up Woman’) and George McCrae.

He had recorded 45s for labels like Saadia and Phil-La of Soul before having his first hit (‘Joey’) with Cat in 1972.

‘Party Down’ was a #2 R&B hit in the summer of 1974. It features Little Beaver working it out on the guitar, laying down a mellow, late night, cognac groove, working in a little scat here and there while his friends make a little noise in the background.

Little Beaver waxed more than a dozen 45s and four albums for Cat in the 70s before going into retirement for years, only to reemerge in 2003 to play on Joss Stone’s ‘Soul Sessions’ album.

It is a very groovy tune indeed, and I hope you dig it.

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 (3)

By Larry, June 11, 2013 12:02 pm

The mighty Dells, Marvin Junior at the top.

Listen/Download The Dells – Stay In My Corner (LP)

Listen/Download The Dells – There Is (45)

Greetings all

The world of soul was saddened last week to hear of the passing (on May 29) of the mighty Marvin Junior of the Dells.

I have to admit that for many years I was largely ignorant of the breadth of the Dells catalog.

The groups remarkable 1968 hit ‘There Is’ knocked me on my ass when I first heard it as a kid, even though I thought I was listening to the Four Tops.

I eventually figured out the truth, grabbed myself a copy of the 45 and always dug inserting its explosive power (especially that conga break)  into DJ sets.

Other than that, and a couple of their obvious bigger hits (like the 1969 version of ‘Oh What a Night’) I knew little of their vast discography (they were together, with the original line up for over 50 years!).

It wasn’t until I grabbed a copy of the ‘There Is’ LP that I had my mind blown by their epic ballad ‘Stay In My Corner’.

I first had to grapple with the fact that I already knew (and loved) the song, as done in a more uptempo version by the Hesitations.

That, and the fact that the track is over six minutes long, practically unheard at the time outside of the rock world.

Written by Wade Flemons, Barrett Strong and Bobby Miller (the latter producing the album with arrangements by the great Charles Stepney),’Stay In My Corner’ was first recorded by the Dells in 1965 for VeeJay. That version – which grazed the R&B Top 20 – was not only much shorter (2:17) but sung with a different rhythmic pulse.

The 1968 recording, which topped the R&B charts and made the Pop Top 10, was, on both the LP and the 45, a six-plus minute epic and a master class in soul singing.

The Dells had their first hit (the original version of ‘Oh What a Nite’) in 1956, and the traces of that earlier era of R&B harmony are evident throughout ‘Stay In My Corner’.

The first time I listened to the song, the opening struck me as almost schmaltzy, but any hesitations I had disappeared as soon as Marvin Junior started singing.

Though the basic drive train of the song is an almost standard ‘late night soul ballad’ thing, what the Dells do with it over those six minutes is truly remarkable.

The song takes a couple of unusual melodic turns, which the group takes full advantage of, shifting the tone subtly but powerfully.

There’s a section around the 2:40 mark where they harmonize on the word ‘stay’ that just about shoots through your ears like a bolt of lightning.

As I mentioned before, the Dells brought bits and pieces of old school, streetcorner singing into the later soul era, and there are a number of times where Johnny Carter’s falsetto breaks out in (for 1968) unusual, and very cool ways.

The most amazing part of the record, comes at just after the five-minute mark, where Marvin Junior stretches out the word ‘baby’, holding the note for well over 15 seconds, in a move that in the hands of lesser singer would seem pretentious or operatic. Yet Junior’s voice was a remarkable, soulful instrument and you never get the impression that there’s a second of it that he doesn’t feel in the deepest part of his soul. I get choked up every time I hear that section of the song. It boggles the mind and reminds me why music is as close as I get to a religion these days.

‘Stay In My Corner’ is the kind of record you need to sit down with, slap on the headphones and really get inside of with repeated listens.

It’s that good.

The Dells were an amazing group, and Marvin Junior a mighty singer.

He will be missed.

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 (0)

By Larry, June 9, 2013 11:37 am

Listen/Download The Phinxs – Street Jam Pts 1&2

MP3 link has been fixed

Greetings all

Welcome to yet another week in the ongoing saga of wax (and wane).

The record I bring you today is something that has been simmering in my New Orleans crates for years, waiting for just the right opportunity to reveal its charms.

Back in the day, when my collection wasn’t quite as healthy as it is now I often cast my dragnet wide, seeing what I might dredge up by focusing on entire labels, cities etc.

As my record room can attest today, this method was especially fruitful in regard to both Philadelphia and the great city of New Orleans.

I had already gotten my hands on Eddie Bo’s ‘Hook and Sling’ and kept my eyes peeled for anything else that might turn up on the Scram label, named for its owner, seafood entrepreneur Al Scramuzza.

Over the years, I managed to find the good (Sonny Jones ‘Sissy Walk’) and the not so good (Ray Brackens ‘Do the Crawfish’), but the Phinxs ‘Street Jam’ was one of the most perplexing.

Basically a keyboard driven (piano and organ) R&B instro, with some horns, ‘Street Jam’ seems less like a stab at the charts than a representation of a tried and true stage jam committed to vinyl.

I have never been able to discover anything about the Phinxs (I’m assuming that the name was pronounced like ‘Finks’), other than the fact that ‘Street Jam’ was released in 1965 (only the second 45 on Scram) and the the band went on later that year to back singer Richie Matta on his 45 for the label.

If anyone has the skinny on the Phinxs, please drop me a line.

I hope you dig the tune,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 (3)

By Larry, June 6, 2013 11:07 am

Ben Tucker (Left) & Bob Dorough (Right) & Mel Torme (Bottom)

Listen/Download Mel Torme – Comin’ Home Baby

Greetings all

It’s almost that time, by which I mean the time when the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs on Viva Radio. This and every Friday night at 9PM you get to hear my dulcet tones rapping about/alongside the finest in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. If you can’t be there at the time of broadcast, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

I had something else planned for today’s post, but had to push the rest button when one of my jazz inclined Facebook friends (hey, Nick) noted in a post that bassist Ben Tucker had passed away.

I realize that most of you will have no idea who Ben Tucker was, so bear with me.

Tucker was a well-traveled sideman on a wide variety of jazz sessions through the 50s and 60s, working the arco and the pizzicato beside heavies like Grant Green, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, Art Pepper and a busload of others.

That, despite the obvious quality of his work, is all largely beside the point, because it was as a composer – of one particular song – that has Ben Tucker’s name chiseled into the wall at the Hall of Fame.

That song – which you see before you was written by Tucker and first recorded by the Donald Bailey Quartet in 1961, but really took off the following year after the mighty Bob Dorough (yes, the coolest cat to ever turn the times tables into groovy music) added some lyrics to the tune, and it was recorded by the old Velvet Fog, Mr Mel Torme.

That version of the song (oddly enough, recorded almost exactly a week after my birth) was a hit for Mel, and went on to become a cornerstone of the swinging vibe (as well as a Mod jazz fave).

The song itself became a soul jazz/jazz standard, bipped, bopped, and rearranged countless times by many, many people, in many different guises.  ‘Comin’ Home Baby’ is – along with songs like ‘Listen Here’, ‘Sack’O’Woe’ and ‘Work Song’ – one of the building blocks of the classic era of soul jazz.

No matter how many times you hear it done, though, nobody, but NOBODY dropped it like old Mel.

With a foundation of piano, bass, drums and the insistent chank of a rhythm guitar, you soon get Mr Torme (and some ladies in the background) showing you all how you can be super smooth and cutting in the same breath.

‘Comin’ Home Baby’ is especially groovy, and enduring because along with your jazz (Torme is one of the most respected jazz voices of his time) you get an undercurrent of R&B, in a Ray Charles stylee that gives the record an extra, propulsive kick that never lets up.

It’s one of those 45s that literally pulls people up out of their seats, on account of the groove is so deep and wide that even the moldiest fig can’t help but shake a leg.

When he died, Ben Tucker had long since relocated to Savannah, GA where he became a fixture of the local scene as both a musician and businessman.

He will be missed, but the mighty song he penned will live on.

Have a great weekend.

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, June 4, 2013 3:14 pm

Listen/Download Brother to Brother – Leavin’ Me

Greetings all

The tune I bring you today is the result of one of those loose limbed digging expeditions in which nothing of obvous consequence presents itself, so you start following leads where you find them, take a chance or two and go home with a bag full of interesting possibilities.

I grabbed Brother to Brother’s ‘Let Your Mind Be Free’ on such a day on the strength of their name, which I associated with their cover of Gil Scott Heron’s ‘The Bottle’ (retitled as ‘In the Bottle’), a Top 10 R&B hit in 1974.

The group, then including Michael Burton, Yogi Horton, Billy Jones and Frankie Prescott had relocated from St Louis, MO to NJ, where they hooked up with Sylvia Robinson’s Turbo records.

By the time Brother to Brother released ‘Let Your Mind Be Free’ in 1976, Billy Jones was the only remaining member of the group that had recorded ‘In the Bottle’.

The album is a solid example of mid-70s funk, well into the ‘YOWWWW’ zone, but not so much so that you wouldn’t dig it.

Though my heart still remains with the rougher edged, late 60s/early 70s funk, I find myself digging later stuff like this (and even later stuff like Zapp and Roger) the more I hear it.

There came a point where funk bands started to level out and extend the groove a bit, some so far that they were essentially making disco (though that could be an especially blurry line, see BT Express).

Brother to Brother still fall on the funky side of the wall, with an ear turned to late-period Sly and Parliament/Funkadelic (though not nearly as far out), making sounds that were melodic, yet still had something of a thump to them.

It would still be a few years before things mellowed out too far, and most of these type of bands would be overtaken (and pushed into obsolescence) by the rap revolution.

As it is, this kind of stuff isn’t too hard to find, especially if you find yourself at flea markets or garage sales now and then.

I hope you dig it 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, June 2, 2013 1:32 pm

Gladys Knight and the Pips

Listen/Download Gladys Knight and the Pips – The Nitty Gritty

Greetings all

Before we get things rolling I wanted to extend a hearty ‘thank you’ to all of you who  made the 2013 Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive a big success this year.

The contributions – whether they be mixes to fuel the Allnighter or donations to keep this machine rolling for another year – were all greatly appreciated.

As I mentioned in last week’s post, Funky16Corners will enter its tenth year of existence in 2013, a fact which boggles my mind as much as it does any of yours.

I was having a Facebook exchange with some friends the other day, in which I stated that even at the ripe old age of 50, I am still engaged in a constant search for new (to me) music. There is still so much out there that I haven’t heard, and thanks to amazing friends that are always turning me on to new sounds, and my own relentless digging, I keep ingesting it as quickly as I can manage, and relating the search, and the appreciation to all of you, here in this space.

It is a labor of love, writ large.

So once again, I say thanks, and Keep the Faith.

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

PS If you just found out about all this, you can still click here to donate to Funky16Corners!

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I don’t know about you guys, but I need a little musical kick in the pants to get me going today.

Who better to provide it than the mighty Gladys Knight?

I have always been of the opinion that despite popular opinion to the contrary, it is Gladys Knight who was the greatest female voice in the Motown stable.

Knight was possessed of a singularly powerful, flexible voice that allowed her to kick ass no matter what kind of stuff she was laying down, from sensitive ballads, powerful dance floor soul or straightahead funk.

The tune I bring you today was a big hit for Gladys and the Pips in the summer of 1969, hitting #2 on the R&B charts and making it into the Pop Top 20.

‘The Nitty Gritty’, written by Lincoln Chase and originally a hit for his wife Shirley Ellis in 1963, and was covered many times (Ricardo Ray’s boogaloo take is especially tasty) over the years.

I first heard the Gladys Knight and the Pips version years ago on an old UK Tamla greatest hits, which exposed me to a number of fantastic tracks that I had never heard before.

The group was huge on the radio when I was a kid but their earlier output, with killers like ‘JustWalk In My Shoes’ and ‘You Need Love Like I Do’ was largely new to me.

‘Nitty Gritty’ is a tour de force Norman Whitfield production, driven by some supremely funky guitar (the highest instrument in the mix), mixed percussion (the congas and tambourine in the front) and of course an explosive vocal by Gladys.

There was already a rhythmic component in the lyrics, which Gladys takes to an entirely new level, and abetted by the mighty Pips, with the “BOOM BOOM BOOM”s and what not make this a 45 to be reckoned with.

I hope you dig it as much as I do, 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 (10)

By Larry, May 26, 2013 1:01 pm

Greetings all.

Welcome to the 2013 Funky16Corners Allnighter and Pledge Drive.

Those of you that fall by F16C on the reg will already be familiar with our yearly do, in which I ask some of the finest selectors I know to dip into their crates and put together mixes (from a wide variety of styles, but always soulful) for your listening pleasure.

This being the interwebs, with the selectors coming to you from points all over the map (NJ, New Zealand, NY, UK, Ohio, Minnesota), and all of you good people spread even further afield, we get together for this virtual “Allnighter” (in the tradition of the great soul clubs the world over) once a year.

There are two basic reasons for this, both equally important.

First and foremost, we try to raise some dough (via Paypal donation, see links below) to fund the server costs associated with keeping Funky16Corners (and Iron Leg) up and running. This includes the regular, thrice-weekly blog posts, as well as the Podcast, Soul Club, Guest Mix and Radio Show Archives (collectively holding well over 200 mixes of all kinds).

Second, is of course the fact that music – to paraphrase Willie the Shake – is the food of life, and so we assemble here to play on.

Blogging is for many – creators and readers alike – a transitory thing, but for the selectors here, and for many of the people that stop by here on a regular basis, music, especially soul, funk and jazz is life. These are no mere “collectors’. The mix-makers that you see here (and in all the previous years) have devoted a tremendous amount of time (not to mention,resources) to studying the sounds you will soon hear pouring out of your speakers.

Just the other day I saw someone bemoaning the overuse of the word “curating”, but I assure you that it applies to the work of every one of the people involved in this enterprise.

We all collect these sounds because we love them, but we have also all spent time sharing them, on blogs, and more importantly in live venues because we want to spread the word.

When I approach my fellow DJs to put together mixes for the Allnighter, I do so with complete confidence that they will select to impress, and impress they have.

What you here is roughly eight-and-a-half hours (in nine mixes) of the finest in funk, soul, latin, rocksteady, blues, disco, and Northern, put together by some of the best in the biz.

Funky16Corners is – and always has been – a not-for-profit enterprise. I have never taken ads here at the site and hopefully never will.

What I ask, is that if you dig what we do here, and you have the resources to do so, please throw a couple of bucks our way to keep the machine running for another year.

Everyone that donates five dollars or more will receive a Funky16Corners 2013 Allnighter Badge, F16C sticker, and one of our Keep Calm and Stay Funky stickers as well.

The Funky16Corners Blog will enter its 10th year of existence this year and though I’d probably still be at it if no one was paying attention, it’s much cooler doing it for folks like you!

So, I’ll offer you my thanks once again, and hopefully we’ll all be together again this time next year for more of the same.

Keep the Faith
Larry

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Click here to donate to Funky16Corners!

NOTE: It has been brought to my attention that the donation button has been experiencing technical difficulties. If you can’t get it to work, you can always log into Paypal and send the money to this address:

funky16corners@lycos.com

Thanks

Larry

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The Soul City – Everybody Dance Now (Goodtime)
Ross D Wyllie – Do the Uptight (A&M)
Popular Five – Little Bitty Pretty One (Minit)
Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown – Can’t Let You Out of My Sight (Wand)
The Naked Truth – The Shingaling Thing (RCA)
Brenda Lee – Time and Time Again (Decca)
Derek Martin – Sly Girl (Tuba)
Shirelles – No Doubt About It (Scepter)
Robert Walker and the Soul Strings – The Blizzard (RCA)
The Trends – The Soul Clap (ABC)
The Tempests – Would You Believe (Smash)
Robert John – Raindrops, Love and Sunshine (A&M)
Kim Weston – Helpless (Gordy)
Earl Cosby – Ooh Honey Baby (Mirwood)
Four Pennies – You’re a Gas With Your Trash (Brunswick)
Ray Charles – I Don’t Need No Doctor (ABC)
Jo Armstead – I Feel an Urge (Giant)
Soul Sisters – Good Time Tonight (Sue)
OV Wright – Baby Mine (Goldwax)
The Velvelettes – He Was Really Saying Something (VIP)
Ronnie Love – Chills and Fever (Dot)
Little Caesar and the Empires – Everybody Dance Now (Inst) (Cameo/Parkway)

‘Everybody Dance Now’ is just under an hour of top shelf, hard charging Northern Soul, including some old faves as well as a grip of recently excavated heat that I think you’ll dig (and a couple of surprises too!).

Listen/Download Funky16Corners – Everybody Dance Now!
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Tony C: Feeling Good F16C Pledge drive 2013
Jean Dushon-Feeling good-Cadet
Merced Blue Notes-Whole lotta nothing-Tri Phi
Junior Wells-I’m gonna cramp your style-Bright Star
The Marvels-Forget about that mess-Sensation
Buddy Ace-Baby please don’t go-Duke
Buddy Greco-Twistin’ to the blues-Coronet
JJ Barnes-Won’t you let me in-Rich
The Charmaines-I idolise you-Kent
Joe Simon-Troubles-Hush
The Young Holt Trio-Ain’t there something that money can’t buy-Brunswick
Sonny Raye-Whip it on me-Jetstream
Pearl Woods-Sippin’ sorrow-Charge
BB King-16 tons-Crown
Ricardo Ray-Nitty Gritty-Alegre
Jack Constanzo-Evil ways-Discomoda
Willie Bobo-Be’s that way-Tico
Charlie Palmieri-Uptight-Atlantic
Tito Ramos-Big T-Cotique
The Beginning Of The End-Come down baby-Alston
The Soul Creations-Funky jive-GES
Tommy Wills-KC drive-Juke
Spanky Wilson-You-Mothers
Big Ella-It takes a lot of loving-Lo Lo
Eddie Parker-I need a true love-Triple ‘B’ Records

Tony Crampton is a UK based DJ/Collector whose mixes should be immediately familiar to readers of Funky16Corners. He has excellent taste, and gets frequent shout-outs here at F16C for records that he first put me onto.

Listen/Download Tony C: Feeling Good
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Kris Holmes – Greenville and Beyond

Slim Willis – I Say That
Little Eddie – There’ll Be A Day
Virgil Griffin – If You Can’t Go
The Trademarques – I Can Set You Free
Chick Willis – My Bowlegged Woman
Heavenly Kings Singers – If You Wake Up In The Morning
Vikki Styles – Mark My Words
The Premiers – Funky Monkey
The Perails – Boss Walk
The Cherries – You Know You Gonna Need Me
Vicki Williams – Your Love Makes Me Stay
L. Johnson Jr. – You Gotta Have Soul
W. Williams & Sonny Wash – Don’t Lie To Me Lover
Spencer Jackson Family – Bring Back Peace To The World
Johnny Littlejohn – Can’t Be Still
Johnny Nix – Matchbox
Pops Porter – Baby Put Your Legs Upside The Wall
Willie Buck – Get Down & Disco To The Blues
Bobby Williams – Soul Party
Ervin Little – Teach Me How To Boogaloo

Kris Holmes ‘Greenville and Beyond’ mix is an extension of the website he created to track the wide variety of records associated with several Greenville, Mississippi labels and their Chicago connections. Kris is one of the premier DJ/Collectors in New Zealand, rocking it in live venues and on his show the Sunday Shuffle on Radio Ponsonby (which can be heard Saturday nights here in the US). He has exquisite taste, and has been a big influence on new additions to the crates here at Funky16Corners.

Listen/Download Kris Holmes – Greenville and Beyond
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Reaching Onward – A FleamarketFunk.com All 45 Excursion
Studio G’s Beat Group – Hi Bird/ Licorice Soul
Quantic and His Combo Barbaro – Enyere Kumbara/ Tru Thoughts
Lonnie liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Goddess of Love/ Flying Dutchman
Big Pimp Jones – The Smokeout/ Recordbreakin’
Hard Proof – Dragon/ Kept Records
The Jive Turkeys – No Answer/ Colemine
Yambu – Sunny/ Motuno
The T.M.G.’s – Agravation/ Funk 45
The DT6 – Don’t Doubt Me/ Starla
East L.A. Carpool – Linda Chicana/ GRC
Victor Green – The Ghetto/ Rejoint
Sir Ali Bengal – ABX (Instrumental)/ Our Label Records
Banda União Black – Yeah Yeah Yeah/ Vampi Soul

A Word from DJ Prestige

“Once again I’m honored to put together a guest mix for Larry at Funky 16 Corners. Today I’ve dug into my collection of 45s and pulled out a bunch of sides that I built around the intro from Sun-Ra. For the most part, these 45s represent a lot of the future of Funk, Soul, and who will be carrying on the torch of funky music in general in the years to come playing right along side a few older tracks that lend themselves nicely to this mix. Record labels like Colemine, who offer up The Jive Turkeys, Kept, who give us the Afro Beat of Hard Proof out of Austin, TX, The DT6 on Starla coming out of Scotland, Big Pimp Jones from Philly on Recordbreakin’, Our Records Label and Sir Ali Bengal out of Germany, and Quantic out of the UK represent a small amount of artists doing it like they did in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Some of these limited edition 7″s will be the sought after 45s in years to come. They’re recorded in the same manner as the originators, and each band lends it unique sound to the time line of music. I’ve also included some older sides such as Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes, a Disco Soul cover of “Sunny” by Yambu, a Latin influenced Donnie Hathaway cover from Victor Green, some Psychedelic Library Hammond Funk from Studio G’s Beat Group, as well as some West Coast Lowrider Soul with East L.A. Carpool. Each one of these bands, no matter if it the present day or the past has been reaching outward to put out good music, and that’s what I want to do with this mix. Please enjoy. DJ Prestige, Flea Market Funk 2013″

Listen/Download DJ Prestige: Reaching Onward
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Tarik Thornton: TCB
James Black and the Southern University Stage Band- Ole Wine ( Intro)- Whit
Oliver Morgan- Roll Call- Seven B
Gene Chandler- Soul Hootenany Part 1- Constellation
Temptations- Girl, Why You Wanna Make Me Blue- Gordy
Little Eva- Get Ready/Uptight- Spring
Seven Souls – I Still Love You- Okeh
Natural Four-I Thought you Were Mine – ABC
Claude Huey- Drifting – M.I.O.B
Richard Brown- Sweet & Kind- SteeleTown
Gino Washington- What Can A Man Do- Washpan
Charles Brimmer- This Feeling in My Heart- Broadmoor
The Pearls – Shooting High- Lamp
The Symphonic Four- Who Do You Think Your Fooling Part II- Sudan
Bob & Gene- It’s Not What You Know It’s Who You Know
Aaron Neville- Hercules- Mercury
Willie Joe – Funny Thing- Pure Black Soul
Detroit Emeralds- You’re Getting Too Smart- Westbound
Eddie Floyd- Stealing Love- Stax
The 13th Amendment – The Stretch – Slave
James Brown – I’ll Go Crazy – King

Tarik Thornton is a New Orleans native who has relocated to the Midwest. He has worked as part of a number of top DJ crews, and guested at some of the hottest nights around the country. He is always digging, and never fails to bring the heat.

Listen/Download Tarik Thornton – TCB
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Prime Mundo: Positive/Negative – A Live Mixtape
alzo & udine – c’mon and join us (mercury)
jim ford – i wanta make her love me (sundown)
truth – i can’t go on (roulette)
southside movement – i’ve been watching you (20th century)
stevie wonder – i was made to love her (tamla)
trapeze – what is a woman’s role (threshold)
bo diddley – go for broke (chess)
yardbirds – baby what’s wrong (sire)
fiesta dance party – summertime (fiesta)
jesse morrison – tell me, can you feel it (a-bet)
edwin starr – easin’ in (motown)
charles spurling – popcorn charlie (king)
the watts 103rd street rhythm band – 65 bars and a taste of soul (warner bros)
gilberto sextet – yes i will part 1 (tico)
albert collins – thaw out (blue thumb)
jerry maccain – juicy lucy (jewel)
charlie earland – sing a simple song (prestige)
aluar horns (nonesuch)
mongo santamaria – fingers (vaya)

DJ Prime Mundo is one of the OG Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew. He’s got a spectacular ear for the finest in funk, soul and jazz his turntable skills are next level. No matter how much you think you know, you will always find  something new to dig in his mixes.

Listen/Download DJ Prime Mundo – Positive/Negative
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DJ Bluewater Presents: Turn To This Sound
The Vibrators – I’m Depending On You
Alton Ellis – The Preacher
Roland Alphonso – How Soon
The Fugitives – Cantelope Rock
The Maytals – Bim Today Bam Tomorrow
Roy Shirley – The Prophet
Prince Buster’s All Stars – All In My Mind
The Gaylads – Joy In The Morning
The Uniques – My Woman’s Love
The Modifies – Death In The Arena
Slim Smith – Burning Desire
Glen Adams – Mighty Organ
The Dee Set – I Know A Place
Max Romeo – She’s But A Little Girl
Roy Shirley – Don’t Be Afraid
The Gladiators – Fling It Gimme
Sound Dimension – More Scorcher
Tony Brevett – Don’t Get Weary
The Ethiopians – Selah
The Rulers – Let My People Go
Lee Perry – Whup Whop Man
Teddy King & Prince Buster – Mexican Divorce
Derrick Morgan – Too Bad
The Soul Brothers – Windell
Ken Boothe & Norma Frazer – Give Me The Right

DJ Bluewater is another member of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew. He is as deep into the rocksteady 45 game as he is with funk and soul. He has been contributing mixes to the Funky16Corners Pledge Drives since the beginning.

Listen/Download DJ Bluewater – Turn To This Sound

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Funkdefy: Take Time To Know Her
Roy “C” – I Found-A-Man In My Bed – Pan Records
The Esquires – Listen To Me – Bunky Records
Tony Fox – Do It To It – Calla Records
The Soul Sisters – Think About The Good Times – Sue Records
Bobby Lewis – Tossin’ and Turnin’ – Beltone
Charles Spurling – Popcorn Charlie – King
William Alexander, Jr. and the Dukes – Give Me One More Chance – Aphrodisiac
Mary Jane Hooper – That’s How Strong Love Is – World Pacific Audition Records
Harvey Scales – What’s Good For You (Don’t Have to be Good to You) – Stax Records
Jay Dee Bryant – Get It (Come On and Get It) – Enjoy Records
Johnnie Taylor – Take Care Of Your Homework – Stax
J. J. Jackson – But It’s Alright – Calla Records
Otis Redding – Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag (Live) – ATCO Records
Tony Clarke – Ghetto Man – Chicory Records
Don Gardner – My Baby Likes To Boogaloo – Tru-Glo-Town
Dyke And The Blazers – Funky Bull Pt. 1 – Original Sound
George Torrence & The Naturals – Lickin’ Stick – Shout
Billy Stewart – Summertime – Chess
Percy Sledge – Take Time To Know Her – Atlantic

A Word from DJ RP

FUNKDEFY, located in Columbus Ohio, is the longest running Funk-N-Soul dance party of Central Ohio. Founded in 2004, the Crew is an ensemble group of crate diggers and beat battlers. Not only have they been throwing monthly all vinyl dance parties, but in years past introduced live Soul to Columbus, heating up the city with their combination of dance parties on wax mixed with some incredible live bands, including The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker, The Budos Band and Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves. The following contribution was put together by founder DJ RP for your audio pleasure. You can hear other mixes of theirs on Soundcloud and see updates about them on Facebook. The crew hopes you will become part of, and a friend of, the funky collective.

Listen/Download Funkdefy – Take Time To Know Her
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F16C Presents: Are You Ready For This
Jackson Sisters – I Believe In Miracles (Prophecy)
Brothers – Are You Ready For This (RCA)
Papa John Creach – Joyce (Tom Moulton Mix) (Buddah)
Johnny Hammond Smith – Los Conquistadores Chocolates (Milestone)
Eddie Kendricks – Going Up In Smoke (Tamla)
Muscle Shoals Horns – Breakdown (Bang)
Charles Mann – Do It Again (ABC)
Touch – Love Hangover (Breaking Down) (Brunswick)
Lyn Collins – Rock Me Again & Again & Again & Again & Again & Again (People)
JBs – All Aboard the Funky Soul Train (Polydor)
Silvetti – Spring Rain (Salsoul)
Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes – Bad Luck (Tom Moulton Remix) (Philadelphia International)
Ray Charles – Compared to What (Atlantic)

‘Are You Ready For This’ includes all manner of funky disco, disco-y funk, and even a couple of similarly inclined tunes from the Northern Soul canon. Mostly 45s, a couple of 12’s and an LP track here and there.

Listen/Download Funky16Corners – Are You Ready For This?
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Click Here To Donate to Funky16Corners

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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).

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, May 23, 2013 10:53 am

Listen/Download Jesse Boone and the Astros – You Can’t Be a Monkey Woman

Greetings all

I should start by telling you the big news, which is that the Funky16Corners 2013 Allnighter/Pledge Drive is a go for this coming Monday. We have a stellar lineup of guest DJs this year, including Kris Holmes (NZ), DJ Prestige (BK/NY), Tony C (UK), DJ RP of Funkdefy (Ohio), DJ Prime Mundo (NJ), Tarik Thornton (NOLA/MN), and DJ Bluewater (NJ), bringing funk, soul, Latin and rocksteady, as well as two new mixes (Northern Soul and Disco) from yours truly.

And, in addition to all that great music, there are new badges and stickers for donors!

I hope to see you there.

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It’s also time for me to remind you to tune into the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which airs this (and every) Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot attend the festivities at airtime, you can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or you can grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

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The tune I bring you today is a solid slice of Atlanta soul by one of that city’s most important musical figures.

I won’t go too deep into the Jesse Boone story (I will however send you over to the Georgia Soul blog for more info), but it bears noting that he recorded a bunch of 45s for local labels, ran a label or two himself and wrote and produced for a grip of other artists as well.

Today’s selection –‘You Can’t Be a Monkey Woman’ – was initially released on the local Bruboon label in Atlanta and then picked up for national distribution by Atlantic in 1968.

The tune is a very solid bit of southern soul, with pounding drums and guitars, and a horn section that sounds like it was on loan from Stax. The record picks up steam as it goes along, thanks in large part to those horns and the backing vocals.

Boone would go on to found the Soul Po-Tion label which released a bunch of 45, including sides by Boone and the Astros (together and Boone solo), Nathan Bartell and Hugh Boynton among many others.

This is the kind of 45/sound that drew me into soul music in the first place so many years ago, and I can listen to stuff like this all day long.

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

Keep the faith

Larry

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

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

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

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

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, May 21, 2013 2:17 pm

Junior Wells

Listen/Download Junior Wells – Girl You Lit My Fire

Greetings all

I have been hard at work preparing for the 2013 Funky16Corners Allnighter/Pledge Drive.

Almost all of the participating DJs are present an accounted for, this year’s groovy premiums are ready to go (more on that on Friday) and we ought to be up an running for next week.

This years mixes are blazing hot, with a most of the familiar heads working it out, as well as a couple of new contributors that really bring their best stuff.

Funk, Northern Soul, Reggae, Disco, R&B, you name it, you’ll hear it. So get ready to download (and hopefully donate).

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I will assume that most of you with a passing interest in the blues will have heard the name Junior Wells before.

Over a three decade period, alone and alongside the mighty Buddy Guy (among others) Wells laid down some of the finest vocals and harp wailing to come out of the Chicago scene.

What Junior Wells also did, was cross over – frequently – into the worlds of funk and soul during the mid to late 60s.

While pretty much every blues artist made an attempt to cast a wider sonic net during these years (some more convincingly than others) few had as natural an aptitude for it as Wells did.

The records he made for the Chicago-based Bright Star and Blue Rock (a Mercury subsidiary) labels are great examples of his ability to both rev up the blues and perform convincing soul music.

The tune I bring you today, ‘Girl You Lit My Fire’ was Wells’s second single for Blue Rock in 1968.

Arranged by none other than the great Charles Stepney, ‘Girl You Lit My Fire’ – despite it’s obvious tip of the hat to a certain Doors hit (RIP Ray…) , is a hard charging, horn driven bit of funky soul (the drums are especially tight) with a powerful vocal by Wells.

The flipside (like several of his 45s from the period) leans more in the blues direction, with a cover of GL Crockett’s ‘There’s a Man Down There’ (better known in the Allman Brothers version as ‘One Way Out’).

All of Wells’s 45s from this period are worth picking up, and thankfully not terribly hard to come by.

I hope you dig the sounds, 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.