{"id":2777,"date":"2012-05-13T14:44:36","date_gmt":"2012-05-13T19:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=2777"},"modified":"2012-06-03T19:05:22","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T00:05:22","slug":"rip-duck-dunn-1941-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=2777","title":{"rendered":"RIP Duck Dunn 1941 – 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Mighty Duck<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

The Law Firm of Jones, Dunn, Cropper and Jackson Esqs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Booker T and the MGs – Sing a Simple Song <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Booker T and the MGs – Chicken Pox <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Booker T and the MGs – Melting Pot <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

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

I had other plans to start the week (how many times have I typed those words in the last year?<\/em>) but when I woke up this morning and turned on my phone, the very first thing I saw, while I was still rubbing the sleep from my eyes was news of the passing of the mighty Duck Dunn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Donald \u2018Duck\u2019 Dunn, the longtime bassist for the legendary Booker T and the MGs<\/strong> died in his sleep while on tour in Japan.<\/p>\n

He was 70 years old.<\/p>\n

It is at this point that I make a somewhat embarrassing confession (at least as far as soul is considered<\/em>) that being that the first time Duck Dunn really came onto my radar was as a member of the Blues Brothers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was 16 years old when \u2018Briefcase Full of Blues\u2019 came out, and like zillions of others my age (and otherwise<\/em>) I bought the album.<\/p>\n

Though I knew who Booker T and the MGs were \u2013 \u2018Green Onions\u2019 was then, and still is an elemental part of my musical foundation \u2013 I had never heard the names of Dunn and guitarist Steve Cropper<\/strong> before the Blues Brothers came onto the scene.<\/p>\n

That album was the first place my fragile young mind touched base with the sounds (once removed) of Junior Wells, King Floyd, the Chips<\/strong> and a few others. As odd as it may seem, that first Blues Brothers album (I never bought another) was a serious jumping off point for me (as many other unlikely records would also be in the following decades).<\/p>\n

What I didn\u2019t know at the time, was that I was already deeply in love with the sound of Booker T and the MGs, via their role as Otis Redding\u2019s<\/strong> band on the Monterey Pop recording.<\/a><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t start buying soul 45s until I was in my mid-20s, but when I did I grabbed each and every Stax 45 that popped up in front of me, whether at record shows or at dusty flea markets (there twarn\u2019t no interwebs back then, kids\u2026<\/em>), and many of them were either by Booker T and the MGs, or featured some or all of them as the backing band.<\/p>\n

The decades that followed saw me \u2013 like any other self respecting soul fan \u2013 picking up Booker T albums wherever I found them.<\/p>\n

While their oeuvre was, like every other instrumental band of the era, seasoned liberally with filler, they had more high points (and quite a few Everests) in their catalog than just about any other similar outfit.<\/p>\n

The MGs were as tight as they came, with Dunn and uber-drummer Al Jackson<\/strong> creating as deep a pocket as has ever been heard.<\/p>\n

The selection of songs I bring you today is by no means comprehensive, but I think you’ll find it quite groovy nonetheless.<\/p>\n

There will be no Green Onions served, since Dunn wasn\u2019t yet a member of the group* when it was recorded.<\/p>\n

I have included a very tight Sly and the Family Stone<\/strong> cover, and two brilliant tracks from the last album the band did together.<\/p>\n

Their cover of Sly\u2019s \u2018Sing a Simple Song\u2019 comes from their 1969 LP \u2018The Booker T Set\u2019 and opens with a bit of a drum break from Jackson, soaked thoroughly in reverb, before the band kicks in. It sees the heavy kick of Jackson\u2019s bass drum move into a more explicitly funky place, and while it never really moves into Sly-esque overdrive, it is tasty indeed.<\/p>\n

\u2018Chicken Pox\u2019 the first track from the group\u2019s 1971 LP \u201cMelting Pot\u2019 (the last by the classic line-up) is the sound of the Meters<\/strong> breathing down the MG\u2019s collective neck. The band is moving into a funkier place, and doing so with style, but the spectre of their Crescent City competition always seems to be there. Oh, how I wish this one was on a 45…<\/em><\/p>\n

The last cut I bring you today is the title cut from \u2018Melting Pot\u2019, and by far one of the most interesting things they ever did.<\/p>\n

Lasting in excess of eight minutes, \u2018Melting Pot\u2019 is important not only because it shows signs of the MGs stretching out into more progressive directions, but also because it became one of David Mancuso\u2019s<\/strong> deeply influential Loft<\/strong> parties in New York City.<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll spare you an excess of words here, but if you have any interest in digging a little deeper, you can refer back to the piece I wrote on the record in early 2010.<\/a><\/p>\n

Suffice to say, if all you ever knew was \u2018Green Onions\u2019, \u2018Melting Pot\u2019 will be a revelation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duck Dunn was \u2013 in addition to his better known gigs \u2013 a prolific session musician, both during and after the Stax era.<\/p>\n

He was a legend, and he will be missed.<\/p>\n

See you later in the week.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

*Though Dunn was a longtime part of the Stax\/Memphis crew, being a boyhood friend of cats like Cropper and Packy Axton (Dunn was in the Mar-Keys) he didn\u2019t join the MGs until he replaced Lewis Steinberg in 1965<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>
\nAlso, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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

 <\/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":"

The Mighty Duck The Law Firm of Jones, Dunn, Cropper and Jackson Esqs Listen\/Download Booker T and the MGs – Sing a Simple Song Listen\/Download Booker T and the MGs – Chicken Pox   Listen\/Download Booker T and the MGs – Melting Pot Greetings all. I had other plans to start the week (how many […]<\/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":[58,46,32,11,14,68,66,30,100,67,69,88,64,12],"tags":[105,106,163,166,27,164],"class_list":["post-2777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-digging","category-disconot-disco","category-funk","category-funky16corners","category-hammond-grooves","category-instrumental","category-lp-tracks","category-memphis","category-obituary","category-original-versions","category-otis-redding","category-rb","category-soul","tag-booker-t-and-the-mgs","tag-donald-duck-dunn","tag-funk","tag-funky16corners","tag-hammond-organ","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-IN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777","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=2777"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2849,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2777\/revisions\/2849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}