{"id":2607,"date":"2012-03-15T14:48:37","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T19:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2012-04-07T14:17:33","modified_gmt":"2012-04-07T19:17:33","slug":"rip-leon-spencer-1945-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=2607","title":{"rendered":"RIP Leon Spencer 1945-2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong>
\nLeon Spencer 1945-2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Leon Spencer – Message From the Meters<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Leon Spencer – The Slide<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Melvin Sparks (feat Leon Spencer) – Thank You Pt1<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Melvin Sparks (feat Leon Spencer) – Thank You Pt2<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Greetings all.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is \u2013 as always \u2013 time to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show<\/strong> returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio<\/a><\/strong>. If you can\u2019t join us at airtime, make sure to fall by the blog and pick yourself up an MP3 of the show (or dip into the extensive Radio Show archives with almost 100 past episodes).<\/p>\n

I had something else planned for today, but last night word started to filer through the haze of the interwebs that one of my favorite past masters of the Hammond organ, the mighty Leon Spencer<\/strong>, had passed away.<\/p>\n

I have yet to locate any real details, but when I do I will pass them on.<\/p>\n

Spencer may not have been a household name (except for my house, maybe<\/em>) but he was a very important figure of the crucial, funky, soul jazz years of the late 60s and early 70s.<\/p>\n

He only recorded a few albums as a leader (between 1971 and 1974) but was a very prominent sideman on Prestige and Blue Note dates, backing cats like Lou Donaldson, Melvin Sparks, Rusty Bryant, Gene Ammons<\/strong> and others.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m posting four cuts for your listening pleasure today.<\/p>\n

The first two (recorded 12\/7\/70) , Spencer\u2019s cover of \u201cMessage From the Meters\u201d and his original \u201cThe Slide\u201d appeared on his Prestige LP, \u2018Sneak Preview\u2019. The all-star group, featuring Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad<\/strong> and Grover Washington Jr<\/strong> really bring the funk on the Meters tune<\/strong>, and get to settle into a more relaxed groove on \u2018The Slide\u2019.<\/p>\n

The third features an example of Spencer\u2019s work as a sideman (recorded 9\/14\/70*), backing Sparks (again with Muhammad) on his \u2018Sparks\u2019 LP, covering Sly and the Family Stone\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)\u2019. I\u2019m posting both halves of the 45 since you get to hear Spencer stretch out a little bot more on part two.<\/p>\n

Leon Spencer had a fluid, economical style that always demonstrated an ability to weave in and out of the groove. His playing was clearly deep inside the soul jazz \u201cthing\u201d while also being consistently inventive, something that cannot be said of all organists active in the period.<\/p>\n

He will be missed.<\/p>\n

See you on Monday with some more soul.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

*Trumpeter Virgil Jones appears on both dates as well<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leon Spencer 1945-2012 Listen\/Download Leon Spencer – Message From the Meters Listen\/Download Leon Spencer – The Slide Listen\/Download Melvin Sparks (feat Leon Spencer) – Thank You Pt1 Listen\/Download Melvin Sparks (feat Leon Spencer) – Thank You Pt2 Greetings all. It is \u2013 as always \u2013 time to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[58,11,17,14,68,66,19,49,30,12,13],"tags":[166,27,165],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-funk","category-funk-45","category-funky16corners","category-hammond-grooves","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-jazz-funk","category-lp-tracks","category-soul","category-soul-jazz","tag-funky16corners","tag-hammond-organ","tag-soul-jazz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-G3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2668,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/2668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}