Comments (7)

By Larry, February 16, 2012 2:06 pm

Slim Harpo

Listen/Download -Slim Harpo – Baby Scratch My Back

Greetings all.

It has been another busy week here at the Funky16Corners compound, with hospital visits and sundry other responsibilities that simply must be taken care of lest the world wind off of its axis.

First, a bit of important business to get out of the way.

As most of you probably know, these are dark times for music blogs.

The copyright wars are getting hotter all the time, with domains seized, blogs shut down and threats being issued on the reg.

Funky16Corners, one of the longer lived blogs of its kind, has been extraordinarily lucky over the years in that we have not once (knock wood) been on the receiving end of threats, take-down notices or other negative feedback related to the posting of music.

For the longest time, I kept things going as usual, with all of the Funky16Corners Radio Podcast mixes posted in the archive containing the individual files and a fairly relaxed attitude to breaking the links on the single tracks in the regular posts.

A while back I tightened the reins a bit on the regular posts, pulling down the tracks after a 10 day period so that Funky16Corners remained true to its spirit as an educational resource.

Then, a few months ago it became apparent that less, shall we say, “dedicated” bloggers were indemnifying themselves against difficulty by deep linking (posting links on their blogs directly to the URLs on my server) to my tracks, not to mention the same thing being done (in a much more mechanical fashion) by rogue MP3 services that scour the internet for content to offer their visitors.

Despite the fact that I was breaking the links in my posts, they were still available to anyone who had deep-linked or in some other way recorded the full URL of the tracks.

My initial reaction to this was to relocate my on-line archive (which I use frequently to access tracks for mixes and tribute posts to artists that had passed on) and to move tracks to “off-line” locations after the aforementioned 10-day period.

The more I thought about the situation the more I decided that I needed to take whatever steps I could to protect Funky16Corners without compromising the “mission” (for lack of a better word) of the blog.

As a result, I did some restructuring at the server level, as well as removing the ZIP file links from the Podcast Archive.

All of the mixed MP3 files remain, but access to individual tracks has, at least for the time being, been removed.

I know that some of you will be disappointed – the archive is one of the most heavily traveled parts of the site – but this is something I felt needed to be done.

I have always felt that what I do here at Funky16Corners – as well as most of the blogs I link to – is much different than the popular idea of music blogging.

I have never posted full albums here, and the music I do post is always posted along with commentary and historical context.

I’m happy to say that in the many cases where I have been contacted by an artist that was featured here or a member of their family, the feedback has always been positive.

Unfortunately, the reality of blogging in 2012 is that the worst possible scenario could descend at at minute, and I owe it to myself to make this environment as “safe” as possible.

Hopefully the status quo will be maintained.

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That said, I should also remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you cannot make the scene at airtime, you can always come by the blog on Saturday and pick up an MP3 of the show.

Also (yes, there’s more…) the post I recently did about the passing of the great Johnny Otis has been republished on the Greek culture website The Goddess of the Hunt!

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What better way to face such chaos than a bit of mellow (bot not too mellow), soulful (just the right amount of soul) Louisiana blues.

Does the name Slim Harpo set your ears vibrating and your feet moving just so?

Though I can’t remember the exact day, I do know the year that the sounds of Mr James Moore (aka Slim Harpo) first breached the redoubts of my ears.

It was sometime back in Nineteen and Eighty Seven that my brother from another mother, the Bluesman handed me a brick of cassettes, all of which contained the sounds from whence he got his sobriquet.

There, alongside the Kings (Albert and BB) was a tape featuring the sounds of the mighty Slim Harpo.

While the name was at the time familiar (no doubt due to British Invasion coverage of his catalog by cats like the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and Them) I had never heard the originals.

I was in for a treat.

While I listened to all of those tapes, the one that took up permanent residence in my automobile was the Slim Harpo collection.

There was something very groovy about Slim’s voice and harmonica that shot right into the pleasure centers of my brain.

Years of reflection have led me to the conclusion that this was probably due to the fact that the music of Slim Harpo, while bluesy, was not entirely “the blues”, swimming in a swamp of R&B, soul and even country sounds, and it was all wrapped up in his unique voice.

He recorded his first record for Excello in 1957, and had his first hits in the early 60s and his first (and only) R&B Number One hit with the record you see before you today ‘Baby Scratch My Back’ in 1966.

The groovy thing is, that while there is something undeniably laconic about Slim Harpo’s music, the more you listen to this record in particular the more you realize how danceable it is.

It’s not a hard-charger, but it possesses a groove as thick as molasses.

Sadly, Slim Harpo died in 1970 at the age of 46, felled by a heart attack.

If you dig this cut, head out and grab yourself a copy of ‘The Best of Slim Harpo’ and get hip to a master.

See you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, February 13, 2012 10:32 pm

Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
Charlie Rich – Dance Of Love
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket
Jackie Wilson – I Get the Sweetest Feeling
Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham – Lover and a Friend
Charlie Earlands Erector Set – Cherie Amour
JJ Barnes – Hold On To It
Spinners – Sweet Thing
Sand Pebbles – Love Power
Platters – Sweet Sweet Loving
Lee Dorsey and Betty Harris – Love Lots of Lovin’
Len Barry – I Struck It Rich
Producers – Love Is Amazing
Lee Williams and the Cymbals – It’s Everything About You That I Love
Broadways – You Just Don’t Know Good You Make Me Feel
Velvelettes – Since You’ve Been Loving Me
Soul Brothers Six – Your Love Is Such a Wonderful Love
Wilson Pickett – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Listen/Download -Funky16Corners Valentine’s Mix: Dance of Love – 86MB Mixed Mp3/256K

Greetings all.

What you see before you is an impromptu musical love letter/box of chocolates that I put together to evoke the soulful spirit of love.

I do so in the general, Valentine’s Day sense, but also in the specific sense of the love that I have for my wife.

As regular readers of the blog know she’s been going through some tough stuff the last few months, which she has weathered with exceptionally good spirits and courage.

She had a particularly hard day today, and I was mulling over the idea of a lover’s mix that she might download and play to lift her spirits in the hospital, and that others, in the embrace of their own love might listen to as well.

There’s a wide variety of great tunes here – and no, I do not own an original copy of the Frank Wilson 45, but I can dream, can’t I? – all on the upbeat, positive tip.

It’s just over 45 minutes of great stuff.

I hope you dig the sounds and play them for someone you love.

Oh…one more thing…I just added a Flash player in the sidebar so you can play the most recent episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show while you’re browsing the site!

I’ll see you all later in the week.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (4)

By Larry, February 12, 2012 2:53 pm

Listen/Download -Bobby Hollaway – Cornbread, Hog Maws and Chitterlins

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the madhouse with sixteen funky corners.

I have to begin by telling you all, that if you intend to click on the MP3 link in today’s post that you should really strap yourselves in.

One of the most important part of being a good DJ is taste, not only ones own, but the ability to recognize it in others.

Over the years I’ve come to trust the opinions of several DJs/collectors, one of whom is the mighty Midnight Cowbwoy down in Crackalack.

He’s one of those guys who has excellent taste in music, and who is always putting excellent stuff in his playlists that I haven’t heard before.

Late last year, when I posted a couple of versions of ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ in this very space, he mentioned to me that I ought to pick up a 45 by a cat named Bobby Hollaway called ‘Funky Little Drummer Boy’.

It wasn’t long before I found a copy and grabbed it sight unheard.

So, a few days go by and the record in question falls through the mail slot and I promptly carry it to the turntable where I placed it under the needle with care.

As soon as it started spinning I knew it would be featured prominently during the Funky16Corners Christmas 2012 festivities.

That said, I then flipped the disc over and saw that the B-side was entitled ‘Cornbread, Hog Maws and Chitterlins’, and since I can’t very well see a title like that and not play the record, I gave it a spin.

Holy shit…

It was like finding a ten dollar bill, flipping it over and realizing that the number in the corner was really ‘100’!

The song in question is just a hair under two minutes of fast-moving, spellbinding, hair-raising, ass-kicking (there was a special on hyphens down at the blog store!) instrumental soul.

Wham bam thank you ma’am – as the saying goes – what you get here is some greasy organ, hard-hitting drums, saxo-mo-phone and fatback guitar – all piled up on a paper plate and slathered in gravy.

The whole thing is like a stick of dynamite, but it’d be worth it if all you got to hear was the drums at the beginning of every chorus.

I haven’t been able to nail down any info on Bobby Hollaway, but once again, reading the fine print on the label provides some important clues.

I noticed that the record had been produced by Bobbie Howard (which sounded familiar) so I set out into the interwebs and discovered that this was in all likelihood the very same Bobbie Howard who had been in Washington, DC-area band the British Walkers.

The British Walkers were an R&B/garage/beat band who’s ranks included the likes of Roy Buchanan and John Hall.

Howard was also responsible for the Mod fave ‘Sh’Mon’ – released under the name Mr. Dynamite – and was in a band called The Sweet (not the UK band).

Interestingly enough, The Sweet’s 45 on Smash, produced by and featuring Bobbie Howard is exactly one catalog number down the list from the Bobby Hollaway 45.

Whether ‘Bobby Hollaway’ was a DC-area musician (sax or organ?) or a pseudonym for somebody else, I do not know, and if one of you does know, I would appreciate you dropping me a line clearing this whole thing up on account of I LOVE this record.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 9, 2012 1:17 pm

Jimmy Sabater

Listen/Download -Joe Cuba Sextet – El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia)
Listen/Download -Joe Cuba Sextet – Que Son Uno
Listen/Download -Odell Brown and the Organizers – Que Son Uno

Greetings all.

Welcome to the end of another funky week here at the Corners Sixteen.

I hope you’ve all weathered the work week well, or at least well enough to get some enjoyment out of the weekend.

I should take a moment to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show drops Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, followed of course by the MP3 version thereof, posted right here at the blog over the weekend.

I had something else planned for today, but then I heard of the passing of the great Jimmy Sabater.

Sabater, one of the great Nuyorican movers of the boogaloo era (and beyond) was a timbalero, singer and composer who first met Joe Cuba (then Gilberto Calderon) during a stickball game on the streets of Spanish Harlem in the early 50s.

The Joe Cuba Sextet had their first crossover hit in 1966 with ‘El Pito (I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia)’ and then into the R&B Top 20 and the Pop Hot 100 later that same year with ‘Bang Bang, a million seller and one of the cornerstones of the boogaloo movement’.

Sabater was a key member of the Sextet, writing or co-writing (see Odub’s excellent post at Soul Sides for some info on Cuba taking undeserved writing credit on ‘Bang Bang’) some of their finest records (eight of the eleven tracks on the album above).

The two tracks I bring you today are the aforementioned ‘El Pito’ and ‘Que Son Uno’, both co-written by Sabater.

‘El Pito’ is one of the breat Latin soul party starters of all time. With its fast moving piano riff and percussion, as well as its stop-start pattern in which the band reaches a frenzied pace only to come crashing to a halt (and then rise again from the ashes) ‘El Pito’ is positively explosive. The production is remarkable, with the percussion coming alive (slap on the headphones for this one), the vibes moving at a breakneck pace, and the band’s foot stomping rattling everything in the studio.

The second cut, ‘Que Son Uno’ is probably my favorite cut by the Sextet. Diverging from the boogaloo feel of much of the ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ album, ‘Que Son Uno’ is a beautiful, sublimely powerful piece of Latin jazz.

I’m also including the groovy cover of the tune by none other than Odell Brown and the Organizers, which they recorded in 1967 on the ‘Mellow Yellow’ album. Considering the popularity of the ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ LP, I’m surprised that ‘Que Son Uno’ wasn’t covered more often.

Jimmy Sabater went on to record  a lot of solo material (including this funky gem), but also remained with the Joe Cuba Sextet into the late 70s.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, February 7, 2012 4:18 pm

The Evergreen Blues

Listen/Download -Evergreen Blues – Bring It On Back

Greetings all.

The tune I bring you today is a little something from my ongoing horn rock obsession, crossed with the sounds of East LA.

I picked up the Evergreen Blues album while I was out digging, knowing nothing of their music, but sure (thanks to various and sundry context clues) that they were of a 1960s vintage.

When I got the record home and gave it a listen I was surprised to hear a lot of soul where I was expecting something a little psyche and decided that I ought to see what I could discover.

As it turns out, the Evergreen Blues got their start in East LA as the Two Thirds Majority, changing their name to the Evergreen Blues around the time they signed their first major label record contract (with Mercury) in 1967.

They recorded their first album that year, which included the original version of song that would become much better known in a recording by the Grass Roots, ‘Midnight Confession’.

That song was written by Lou T Josie, who would contribute a few songs to their second album (recorded for ABC) , including today’s selection ‘Bring It On Back’ (not the same song that was recorded by Dyke and the Blazers).

The Evergreen Blues sound, led by vocalist Manny Esparza, was organ and horn driven soul/rock. Unlike a lot of their contemporaries, the horn section wasn’t employed as a jazz proxy, but rather in the classic Stax/Volt style.

The Evergreen Blues were a great example of the kind of fusions going on in East LA where Chicano musicians were mixing R&B and rock in lots of interesting ways.

Following their second album, Evergreen Blues changed their name to Elijah and recorded two albums (at least one with the help of Al Kooper) during the early 70s.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, February 5, 2012 1:23 pm

Listen/Download -Jesse Gresham Plus Three – Bust Out

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the Corners.

The tune I bring you today is something I’ve had warming up my crates for many years, that I knew almost nothing about.

I picked up my first Jesse Gresham Plus Three 45, ‘Shootin’ the Grease’ way back in the way back, and dug it for its organ groove grease, but also because it was on a strange label (Head) with a Robert Parker hit (‘Barefootin’) inexplicably placed on its flip side.

A few years after that score, I happened upon today’s selection, ‘Bust Out’ and then later heard (but have yet to score a copy of) ‘The Penguin’.

‘Bust Out’ has always tickled my fancy because, in the late period Merl Saunders/Toussaint McCall stylee,  it features the keyboard player doing double duty on the organ and the electric piano.

I had been unable to find any information about Gresham, until I recently set to Googling and happened upon a page on the Mississippi Blues Trail site, where in an article about the Staple Singers, they happened to mention several other musicians who worked out of the Drew, Mississippi area, one of whom was Jesse Gresham.

The site mentioned that Gresham was a keyboard player, who also worked as a school teacher and who had become a minister.

I adjusted my search criteria, and found a comment on the mighty Home of the Groove blog from the researcher who had written the Blues Trail page, who fleshed out the Jesse Gresham Plus Three story somewhat.

Apparently Gresham and his band worked out of the Clarksdale, MS area and recorded their one session in Memphis, TN. The group featured Gresham on keys, Johnny Agnew on guitar, Larry Haggans on bass and Nathaniel Jefferson on drums (Agnew and Haggans get writing credit on this cut).

That the group’s entire output was limited to a single session isn’t surprising, since all that appears to exist is the two sides of today’s 45, plus two different edits of the song that appeared first as ‘Shootin’ the Grease’ and later as ‘The Penguin Pts 1&2’.

All told, for a three-song run, they were pretty much batting .1000.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, February 2, 2012 4:11 pm

Booker T and the MGs

Listen/Download -Booker T and the MGs – Plum Nellie

Greetings all.

The end of another week is finally upon us.

Things are so busy/topsy turvy these days that the end of the week has lost almost all meaning (other than the fact that the boys get the weekend off).

It seems sometimes as if we’re lost in a blur marked by the analog “hospital/no hospital”.

This is not to say that that my wife’s health situation has gotten worse, because it hasn’t, but rather that the grind of treatment and the ensuing disruption of what little routine we could depend on tends to leave us in a fog of sorts, composed of equal parts confusion, boredom and angst.

That said, one of the things you can depend on is that if Friday is here, so is the latest episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show. We have a very special episode this week, composed entirely of a tribute to Etta James and Johnny Otis. It will hit the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t make it at airtime, you can always fall by this very spot over the weekend when and where I post a downloadable MP3 of every week’s show (see the Radio Show tab in the header).

The tune I have chosen to close out the week this time is a veritable audio grease fire from the Memphis law firm of Jones, Cropper, Jackson and Dunn.

I am not ashamed to admit that the first time I heard the song ‘Plum Nellie’ is was on a Small Faces record, since Messrs Marriott, Jones, McGlagan and Lane were a big part of my ear-filling during the Mod/garage days of the 80s.

Though the Small Faces version (released in 67, but a part of their repertoire prior) of the tune is a killer, there is simply no getting past the fact that when Booker T and the MGs set foot in the Stax studio in 1963 they were gunning for bear.

Though – like every other largely instrumental unit of the day – the MGs recorded their share of filler (though even that was soulful) when they were at their best they were very, very heavy, and ‘Plum Nellie’ is a great example of that very heaviosity.

Opening with some whipcrack guitar from Steve Cropper, the tune settles into a ‘Green Onion’-y pace, but with a much grittier overall vibe. The horn arrangement is inspired, boiling up menacingly when needed. There’s a particularly inspired moment (at around 1:20) when the horns rise up and seemingly morph into Cropper’s guitar which then opens up into a raging solo.

The whole affair comes to a close at around the two-minute mark, and my thought is, had they taken it any further, they may have burned the studio down.

It’s that hot.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, February 1, 2012 2:09 pm

Mr Don Cornelius

Listen/Download -The Ramrods – Soul Train Pts 1&2

Listen/Download -The Rimshots – Soultrain Pts 1&2

Greetings all.

I come to you on what would normally be a ‘between-posts’ day because the news came down today that the great Don Cornelius had died.

Cornelius was the host of the long-running ‘Soul Train’, the premiere showcase for black music on national TV in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

I spent many a Saturday morning watching the best dancers in America groove on the Soul Train line and listening to his deep, rich voice end every show with the phrase “You can bet your last money it’ll be a stone gas honey!”

Cornelius got his start as an insurance salesman, but moved into entertainment as a DJ on Chicago’s legendary WVON in 1966.

Soul Train started as a local Chicago show on 1970, moving into national syndication in 1971 (Cornelius was the host until 1993).

Though the theme that most people associate with the show is ‘TSOP’ by MFSB and the Three Degrees, which was the show’s theme from 1973 to 1975, the original theme was an unusual, very groovy, and totally recycled record.

The original ‘Soul Train’, as credited by the Ramrods was used as the theme to the show from 1971 to 1973. It may very well have sounded familiar to some of the older heads in the audience, because it had originally been released almost ten years before as recorded by the Rinky Dinks (actually a group led by King Curtis on guitar) under the title ‘Hot Potato’.

I had never heard this ‘version’ of the Soul Train theme until a few years after I picked up a copy of the Ramrods 45, when I saw a clip from the early years of the show and heard it playing in the background.

When it was released on Rampage records in 1972 under the Ramrods name, it grazed the R&B Top 40, remaining on the charts for several weeks.

That same year, the Rimshots covered the song and released their version on the All Platinum subsidiary A-1 records.

I present both two-part versions in full today in remembrance of the mighty Don Cornelius, and because they both represent a good, greasy, soulful groove.

He will be missed and we wish him love, peace and soul.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, January 31, 2012 3:14 pm

Mr Freddie Hughes

Listen/Download -The Casanova II – Maybe They’re Right

Greetings all.

I come to you in mid week with a powerful slice of West Coast soul.

The Casanova Two were a mystery to me when I picked up this 45 some years back. I added it to my keeper stack at a record show on the strength of the fact that I already had a Merl Saunders 45 on the same label, and because I was constitutionally incapable of passing up a record by a group with a name like that.

I’ve always been of the opinion that most of the male duet groups that recorded in the 60s were doing so in the wake of Sam and Dave and The Casanova Two are no exception, trading lines in the style of the masters.

Early Bird was a bay area subsidiary of the Fantasy label that appears to have been under the guidance of pianist Lonnie Hewitt (who just happens to have written and produced this very single). The label released a dozen singles between 1966 and 1968.

The Casanova Two were Freddie (not Fred*) Hughes and Wylie Trass, two Bay Area singers who would go on to record under their own names, Hughes for Wand and Trass for ABC and Pashlo.

The duo recorded a pair of 45s for Early Bird, the other of which (I seem to be the king of picking up the less valuable of anyone’s 45s) “We Got To Keep On” is a Northern fave that has been known to change hands for well over 100 bucks.

‘Maybe They’re Right” – from 1967 – is a fantastic, upbeat side with some very interesting (dare I say, jazzy?) melodic things going on in the background (courtesy of Mr Hewitt, who had spent time as a sideman for Cal Tjader among others).

It’s just this side of funky, with some very nice horn bursts and organ bubbling up underneath.

Both Hughes and Trass appear to still be active, performing around the Bay Area.

I hope you dig the 45, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

*This is not the same person as Fred Hughes (also from the West Coast) who recorded brilliant stuff like ‘Oo Wee Baby, I Love You’ for VeeJay

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, January 29, 2012 4:01 pm

Woody, the Herd and one blazing white suit.

Listen/Download -Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd – Crosswind

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the funk ranch.

I hope all is well with you and yours.

I wanted to get the week started with something funky, but also a little jazzy, and then I thought “cover-y, too” so I went digging in the Funky16Corners Digital Funk Silo, plugged the coordinates into the GPS and arrived at the track you see before you today, Woody Herman’s version of ‘Crosswind’.

Originally recorded (and composed) by drummer Billy Cobham in 1974 on his ‘Crosswinds’ LP, the tune is one of the finer examples of jazz funk from the era.

I’ve gone on the record in this space (and other places as well) about my love for late-period Woody Herman.

Though he was an acknowledged jazz master for his work with the original Thundering Herd(s), Herman kept big bands going long past the time when most folks thought it financially and artistically feasible, and he did it well.

His late 60s/early 70s sessions for Cadet, done with the assistance of folks like Richard Evans show that Herman was able to stay relevant, keeping his head and ears in the game.

His version of ‘Crosswind’ was recorded at Montreux in 1974 and appeared on the (self-explanatory) ‘Herd at Montreux’ LP, which also features a very groovy, funky reworking of Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’.

The arrangement is very funky, with lots of electric piano, bass and drums, as well as soaring brass.

I was surprised when I picked up this album and realized that I knew almost none of the players, though it was cool to see that Herman still had Richard Evans arrangement of ‘Can’t Get Next To You’ in his book.

It’s a fine example of early-70s jazz funk and I hope you dig it.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (9)

By Larry, January 26, 2012 2:56 pm

Magic Sam

Listen/Download -Magic Sam – I’ll Pay You Back

Greetings all.

Welcome to the end of yet another week at the Les Corners Seize Funkee.

It behooves me to remind you that were you to tune into Viva Radio Friday night at 9PM you would encounter (once again) the Funky16Corners Radio Show, where yours truly whips the funk, soul, jazz and rare groove on the masses via the airwaves of the interwebs. If this is an appointment you are unable to make at the time of broadcast, you can always come by here over the weekend and pick yourselves up an MP3 of same.

This week’s show is especially interesting if you dig the “now” sounds of soul and funk with new stuff from Japan, the good ole US of A, and Australia.

That all said, the tune I bring you today is something out of the blues guys go funky bag.

What’s particularly interesting is that the blues guy in question is the mighty Magic Sam and the funky tune in question is yet another iteration of the thousand-petaled lotus known as ‘It’s Your Thing’.

Magic Sam Maghett was a generation younger than many of the bluesmen that made the trek from Mississippi to Chicago, and his approach to the blues guitar was a new(er) one.

One need only listen to his recordings for labels like Cobra and Delmark to realize that he was on to something new.

Unfortunately, he was felled by a heart attack in 1969 (not long after he recorded this 45) and never really got to build the kind of discography that might have elevated him into a position of prominence.

The tune in question, ‘I’ll Pay You Back’ is something I knew only as an instrumental (‘Sams Funck’) for years until I scored a copy of the 45 and had the opportunity to flip it over.

When I did I was pleasantly surprised not only because of its basic coolness, but also because I finally realized that ‘I’ll Pay You Back’ was in fact a vehicle rebuilt on the Isley Brothers’ ‘It’s Your Thing’ frame.

Along with Archie Bell and the Drells ‘Tighten Up’, ‘It’s Your Thing’ was one of the most imitated and borrowed from songs of the late 60s. It was on the R&B charts for 14 weeks in the Spring of 1969 (4 weeks at Number One).

Magic Sam reprises the song’s title and rhythmic structure, but lays his own guitar style on top of things, and the lo-fi production by Bobby Rush (a master of the soulful blues himself, who is also credited with the writing the song) gives the whole affair a rougher edge, less funky than muddy.

We can only wonder how far Magic Sam might have gone had he not met such a premature end.

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

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, January 24, 2012 2:04 pm

Fania All Stars

Listen/Download -Fania All Stars – Viva Tirado

Greetings all.

I hope all is well in your part of the universe, and that you all had a chance to dig the Etta James goodness from the first part of the week.

The term gets overused, but Miss Etta was a giant, and unfortunately one that never really got her due.

How much of this had to do with a comparable lack of crossover success, and how much to her drug troubles (though the halls of fame are littered with junkies, ex and otherwise) I can’t say for sure, but she certainly deserved to be up there with the best.

The tune I bring you today is something groovy I picked up a while ago, always dug, but had no idea of its, how do they say, hidden charms until recently.

You already know that I dig me some Latin soul and boogaloo, and as a result I am am incapable of passing up an interesting looking Fania or Allegre 45 when I see it in the field.

It was that very formula – with the addition of an interesting cover version – that made me grab ‘Viva Tirado’ by the Fania All Stars.

The song ‘Viva Tirado’, written in the 1960s by West Coast orchestra leader/arranger Gerald Wilson in tribute to bullfighter Jose Ramon Tirado and then taken into the Top 40 by El Chicano in 1970 (and covered many times) is an acknowledged classic of Latin jazz.

When I saw that it had been covered by the Fania All Stars I knew I had to grab it.

They recorded it for the 1974 album ‘Latin – Soul – Rock’ and their version doesn’t stray too far from the source material.

Now, I always knew that the Fania All Stars included heavies like Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow and Willie Colon.

What I didn’t know is that when they went into the studio to record this album, they brought some equally heavy friends with them, two of whom, Manu Dibango on sax and Jan Hammer on Hammond organ, take solos on this version of ‘Viva Tirado’.

Very groovy indeed!

So dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.