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By Larry, February 7, 2010 6:24 pm

Booker T and the MGs

Listen/Download – Booker T & the MGs – Melting Pot

Greetings all.
I hope that those of you located in the path of the big snowstorm are well, shoveled out and warm. Unlike the last time storm, during which my snowblower was locked in the tool shed, its get up and go having got up and went, the most crucial of snow battling machines was up and running this time, making for a much neater, much less labor intensive experience. There’s still a shit-stack of the white stuff surrounding the Funky16Corners compound, but ingress and egress are assured.
This week is another one of those Funky16Corners ‘theme’ extravaganzas, in which I dip into the vault and run a Sesame Street – ‘How are these things like one another’ – game on you, but provide you with the answers (or at least my version thereof).
Last year, one of my major reading experiences was Tim Lawrence’s book “Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979”. Lawrence’s tome, along with Peter Shapiro’s ‘Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco’ (since retitled) and Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton’s ‘Last Night a DJ Saved My Life’ when taken together form a de fact encyclopedia of modern DJ culture. All three are well written and deeply informative, but more than that, they introduce you to a couple of seminal personalities without whom DJ-ing (and dance music) would not exist as it does today.
Because of these three books, I came away with a deep and abiding respect (bordering on idolatry) for the work of David Mancuso. It was Mancuso (pictured above), who in 1970 threw the first dance party in his loft (which became The Loft), calling it Love Saves the Day (get it? Nudge, nudge say no more…). Though there were many other important figures in DJ culture (especially Francis Grasso who paved the way for Mancuso in New York City), for me, Mancuso rises above all others.
From the very first time I entered a DJ booth, I’ve endeavored to create an experience for the people on the dance floor turning solely on the gears of good music. Some of it was rare, some of it extremely common, but the idea was to drop the needle on something that the dancers would dig, and do my best to lift the room. Years later, when I became aware of Mancuso through the books listed above I realized that he was in many ways the ur-DJ.
If you’ve spun records for a crowd, you already know (or should) that nothing feels better than laying down some quality sounds and feeling the energy on the dance floor build, incrementally, layering record on top of record, shifting the tempo up (most of the time anyway) but always attempting to build on that increase with a parallel increase in the quality of the music coming out of the speakers. There’s something to be said for the idea that on a perfect night, a DJ is something akin to the ancient cats drumming around the fire, whipping their fellow tribesmen into a lather, drumming harder as they dance faster until the lot of them were participants in a musical hive mind of sorts, connected by the beat. When you’re spinning records, sometimes it only comes together for a couple of songs, sometimes not at all, but when it does there’s nothing better. Certainly the vast majority of people in a dance club are there first and foremost to have a good time, but there’s no reason in the best of all possible worlds that it can’t also be elevated to the spiritual level.
Before you can get to that specific place, a DJ has to do two fundamental things.
First and foremost, keep your ears (and your mind) open. The more you listen to, and the more time you spend among others that really know and seek out good music the larger your internal repertoire/reference library is going to be.
Second, and if you’ve spent any time following the going on here at Funky16Corners you probably picked up on this one: keep digging. The more time you spend actively seeking out new music in the field, the more likely it is that when the time comes to pull some heat out of your crates and drop it on the ones and twos that you’ll be making a good choice.
Certainly there’s the issue of taste, but even that can be improved with enough study.
That all said, what I came away from all three of those books knowing about David Mancuso, was that his tastes were expansive. A look at his playlists reveals that alongside many accepted classics (many of those placed in the canon by Mancuso and his contemporaries) there were a lot of – for lack of a better term – ‘unusual’ choices. Half a decade before guys like Kool Herc and Flash were cutting rock breaks in the Bronx, Mancuso was playing all manner of rock, jazz, world music and pop sounds at the Loft, alongside a healthy portion of what are now considered ‘consensus’ dance records.
Remember, we’re talking about an era where the large majority of genres that rule the dance club world today hadn’t yet been codified. ‘Disco’ was years away from common usage and 12” singles – with their dance floor specific extended versions – did not yet exist. Though there were some records on his playlists that are now considered part of the vanguard of what would come to be known as disco (especially some Eddie Kendricks jams, one of which will be featured later this week), Mancuso mixed in just about anything else that made sense in the context of his sets.
The Loft parties, though conceived on an intimate scale, were hugely influential, with regular attendees/devotees including Nicky Siano (the Gallery), Larry Levan (Paradise Garage) and Frankie Knuckles (the Warehouse, from which ‘house’ music got its name) all of whom went on to marks on dance music culture in their own ways.
The first track I’m going to bring you this week is a perfect (capsule) example of all that was great about the Loft. Oddly enough, the first time I heard Booker T and the MGs doing ‘Melting Pot’ it was on a 45, with the vast majority of its power stripped away. After reading about its place of honor at the Loft, I sought out the 1971 LP of the same name. I finally scored a copy when I was DJing down in DC last year. Once I got it home and had a chance to drop the needle on the LP version of the title song, it became obvious why Mancuso used it at the Loft.
‘Melting Pot’ is, inside of its eight minute playing time, a microcosm of an entire set. The song opens with rimshots by Al Jackson, but it’s Steve Cropper’s pulsing rhythm guitar that sets the pace. When Booker T’s organ and Jackson’s drums come in the groove is locked down. The band – one of the tightest of the classic soul era – only really works up a full head of steam at the three minute mark, which explains why the 45 lacks the punch of the LP version.
It’s important to note the atmosphere in which the ‘Melting Pot’ album was created. It was the last album by the classic MGs lineup. Booker T Jones was fed up with the new regime at Stax and was on the verge of leaving the group. He refused to record in Memphis, so the album was recorded on the road in NYC. The sound of the album is a serious departure from the band’s earlier work, revealing a more expansive, more progressive Booker T and the MGs. While tracks like ‘Chicken Pox’ – with the MGs channeling the Meters – show that they might not have been leading the pack anymore, a cut like ‘Melting Pot’ shows that had they stayed together, they might very well have moved to the front once again.
As I mentioned before, ‘Melting Pot’ is almost like a small, self-contained DJ set. The song has several distinct sections in which the MGs bring up the tempo gradually, hit a peak and then chill out, only to re-state the groove again and again, bringing the dancers along for the ride. Listen at around 4:15 where Jones and Duck Dunn fall back, leaving Jackson and Cropper to rebuild the song from the opening statement. Dunn drops back in with a repeated, almost circular bass line, and Jones solos over the top of it all. I can only imagine what Al Jackson’s punchy bass drum accents sounded like pouring out of the Loft’s sound system. While ‘Melting Pot’ is clearly not ‘disco’ as it came to be known, the second half of the song is definitely a prototype for extended dance mixes to come. The temptation, as the song fades out just past the eight minute mark, is to cue up a second copy and keep the groove going.
‘Melting Pot’ which was the last 45 by the classic Booker T and the MGs line up, and strangely enough the flip side is another drastically truncated long jam,’Kinda Easy Like’ which also runs over eight minutes on the LP. It grazed the Pop Top 40 and hit the R&B Top 20. Following the ‘Melting Pot’ album, Booker T Jones would leave the group and relocate to California where he would work with artists like Bill Withers. Cropper would also leave the fold, with Dunn and Jackson reconstituting the MGs with a new organist and guitarist.
All in all, ‘Melting Pot’ is – at least for those that haven’t heard it – a revelation, and a great way to start a week of Loft tracks.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Wednesday with something cool.

Peace

Larry

PS: Don’t forget this Wed 2/10 at Master Groove @ Forbidden City – DJ BlueWater, DJ Prime Mundo, DJ Prestige

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By Larry, February 4, 2010 5:09 pm

Marvin Gaye

Listen/Download – Marvin Gaye – One More Heartache

Greetings all.
The end of the week is upon us (like a lion on an impala) and in the spirit of great forces of nature, I bring you one of my favorite 45s by the mighty Marvin Gaye.
The first time I heard the song ‘One More Heartache’ was probably 25 years ago at the height of the mod/garage revival, when it arrived in my ears via a cover version by UK R&Beatsters the Artwoods.
Remembered as much for what their members went on to do (Jon Lord, Keef Hartley) as their fantastic music, the Artwoods (named for their singer Art Wood, brother of Face/Rolling Stone Ron) layed down some serious transitional heat, updating American R&B for a modernist audience. It was on the greatest hits lp ‘100 Oxford Street’ that I first heard a number of amazing songs that I would later discover to be covers of artists like Solomon Burke (‘Keep Looking’), Benny Spellman (‘I Feel Good’) and of course Marvin Gaye.
Though I loved the song ‘One More Heartache’, and was aware that it had been done originally by Gaye, it was another 20 years before I actually got my hands on a copy of the original.
When I did, and the needle hit the wax my mind was good and truly blown.
This, my friends is because Marvin Gaye’s recording of ‘One More Heartache’ is nothing less than a monument to the greatness of soul music. Recorded in 1965, ‘One More Heartache’ – written by Warren ‘Pete’ Moore, Smokey Robinson, Marv Tarplin, Robert Rogers and Ronald White – was a minor hit in the spring of 1966, scraping the outer limits of the Pop Top 40. Why it wasn’t a bigger hit may have as much to do with its dark message as it does with the huge surplus of musical competition at the time. A quick look at a chart (see below) from almost exactly 44 years ago reveals pop and soul classics jamming up the charts so thickly that even a record as mighty as ‘One More Heartache’ was unable to fight its way closer to the top.
It may also have something to do with the record sounding oddly familiar.
The day I got my hands on this particular 45 I digi-ma-tized it, and then proceeded to listen to it at least a dozen times on the old MP3 delivery device, during which time it dawned on me that ‘One More Heartache’ is something of a musical restructuring of Gaye’s hit from the previous year ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’. The framework of the song is similar and at times ‘One More Heartache’ sounds as if the composers of both songs (who by the way are the same, and were also all members of the Miracles) took the bright, upbeat ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’ and rewrote it as a darker, minor key, mirror version of itself.
Musically, the record (produced by Robinson) is incredible, built – like a James Brown side – on interlocking bits of musical clockwork, with a chiming guitar riff (played by Marv Tarplin) over a pulsing organ (the master Earl Van Dyke), snapping snare drum, finger snaps, tambourine and eventually saxophone. Gaye’s vocal is a masterpiece of soulful pleading, with a lyric that at times sounds like a not too distant cousin of Titus Turner’s ‘All Around the World’.
No matter how you slice it, ‘One More Heartache’ is a heavy record. If you know someone who’s concept of soul is lacking, you need only lock them in a room with this record and a turntable, refusing to let them out until they ‘get it’.
I know you’ll dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

WMCA Countdown Survey for Week of February 10, 1966
FABULOUS 57

1. Lightnin’ Strikes – Lou Christie
2. Uptight – Stevie Wonder
3. A Well Respected Man – The Kinks
4. Don’t Mess With Bill – Marvelettes
5. These Boots Are Made For Walking – Nancy Sinatra
6. My Love – Petula Clark
7. No Matter What Shape – T-Bones
8. My World Is Empty Without You – Supremes
9. Barbara Ann – The Beach Boys
10. Working My Way Back To You – Four Seasons
11. We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper – Beatles
12. Going To A Go-Go – Miracles
13. Lies – Knickerbockers
14. Ballad Of The Green Berets – Sgt. Barry Sadler
15. Love Makes The World Go Round – Dean Jackson
16. Listen People – Herman’s Hermits
17. Hurt Yourself – Frankie Valli
18. Cryin’ Time – Ray Charles
19. Stop! – The Moody Blues
20. Homeward Bound – Simon & Garfunkel
21. 634-5789 – Wilson Pickett
22. In My Room – Verdelle Smith
23. Husbands And Wives – Roger Miller
24. Elusive Butterfly – Bob Lind
25. I Fought The Law – Bobby Fuller Four
26. Batman Theme – The Marketts
27. Little Bit Of Soap – The Exciters
28. Call Me – Chris Montez
29. Take Me For What I’m Worth – Searchers
30. The Duck – Jackie Lee
31. Like A Baby – Len Barry
32. Night Time – Strangeloves
33. When Liking Turns To Loving – Ronnie Dove
34. At The Scene – Dave Clark V
35. Just Like Me – Paul Revere & The Raiders
36. Since I Lost The One I Love – The Impressions
37. Somewhere There’s A Someone – Dean Martin
38. This Golden Ring – The Fortunes
39. It’s Too Late – Bobby Goldsboro
40. Up And Down – The McCoys
41. It Won’t Be Wrong – The Byrds
42. This Can’t Be True – Eddie Holman
43. My Baby Loves Me – Martha & The Vandellas
44. Keep On Running – Spencer Davis Group
45. Whenever She Holds You – Patty Duke
46. Promise Her Anything – Tom Jones
47. Why Can’t You Bring Me Home – Jay & The Americans
48. This Old Heart Of Mine – Isley Brothers
49. One More Heartache – Marvin Gaye
50. The Cheater – Bob Kuban
51. California Dreamin’ – Mamas & Papas
52. Baby Scratch My Back – Slim Harpo
53. Custody – Patti Page
54. You’ll Be Needin’ Me – Lettermen
55. Shake Me, Wake Me – Four Tops
56. My Prayer – Johnny Thunder
57. Daydream – The Lovin’ Spoonful

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By Larry, February 2, 2010 8:03 pm

Isaac ‘Redd’ Holt Unlimited

Listen/Download – Isaac ‘Redd’ Holt Unlimited – Listen To the Drums

Greetings all.
Welcome to a previously unplanned midweek post.
My errands are done, the kids are quiet and I just finished paying a $130 traffic citation for talking on my cellphone while driving, like a jackass (which is a term I generally reserve for the people I see doing the very same thing), so I thought that being a little more productive than usual (an act of contrition, of sorts) would make me feel better. The end result is that you all get yourselves another tune, so in the words of Hot Chocolate, every 1’s a winner, baby.
Before I get to today’s selection I should get the news out of the way. Your’s truly will be returning to Master Groove at Forbidden City (Ave A between 13th and 14th Streets, NYC) for another hot set on the evening of Wednesday February 27th. Fall by if you’re in the area and feel like getting down. Even if I’m not there, try to make the scene since DJ Bluewater and M-Fasis know how to bring the heat (and the food is good too). Things get rolling at 10PM.

Master Groove February Schedule
3rd – DJ BlueWater, M.Fasis
10th – DJ BlueWater, DJ Prime Mundo, DJ Prestige
17th – DJ BlueWater, M.Fasis, Funky16Corners
24th – DJ BlueWater, M.Fasis, Mr. Robinson (Dig Deeper, BK)

Also, a reminder about the Funky16Corners Radio Show on Viva internet radio (www.viva-radio.com). I was shifted in the schedule recently and the show now drops every Thursday at 5PM. Make sure to check it out if you’re hanging around the interwebs during that time. As always, the most recent four or five shows are always archived and available for your listening pleasure.
In other interesting news, I got an e-mail from the folks at www.ACIDJAZZHISPANO.com informing me that I had been nominated for ‘DJ of the Year’. This came as quite a surprise, and I must say that I am honored. The text on the site is in Spanish, but if you follow the link here, and are so inclined, you can register and vote for your’s truly. There’s always room in the Funky16Corners trophy room for another massive loving cup.
That all said, the tune I bring you today is a little something I grabbed at the last Allentown show (not the all-45 one). If you’ve spent any time at all reading this blog, you’ll already know that I ride for Young-Holt, whether in their Trio, or Unlimited forms. Bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac ‘Redd’ Holt started out bringing the rhythmic heat in the Ramsey Lewis Trio, before moving off into their own thing and waxing a number of fantastic albums for Brunswick and Paula.
Holt eventually split and put his own group together, calling it Isaac Redd Holt Unlimited (not a huge change, but a change nonetheless). Between 1973 and 1975 the group released three 45s and an LP for the Paula label.
The tune I bring you today appeared as both a 45 and LP track. ‘Listen To the Drums’ sees Redd and company working a slow, funky, Moog-y vibe. Redd asks over and over again ‘Can you dig it?’, and naturally the answer is yes, especially with his drums laying down a throbbing foundation. Though not exactly danceable – sounding more like the soundtrack to one of those blacklight sex position posters – it is undeniably funky. I have yet to get my hands on the album (or the other two 45s) so I can’t vouch for the rest of the material, but I suspect it’s worth hearing.
I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll be back on Friday with some more soul.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, January 31, 2010 5:52 pm

Funky16Corners Radio v.80 – Forbidden City Organs

Recorded Live in NYC 1-27-10

Playlist

Before we get started, I want to say that after serious consideration with the Funky16Corners board of directors, and close consultation with some serious heads (not the least of whom being my man DJ Prestige) I have decided not to deep six the old versions of the blog (Wordpress and Blogger). While I did deactivate all active content links on both sites (replacing them with redirects where necessary), since I was unable to do a full export of the Wordpress blog, and could not bring over the comments on the old blog posts, AND since I consider reader commentary to be an important part of the process (mainly because so many of you contribute information via those posts) I figured it would benefit all parties to keep the old sites up and running (with any luck as long as this sentence).
Anything you might travel back there to hear, can now be heard here in the new Funky16Corners Radio Podcast and Guest Mix Archives.
The mix you see before you today was supposed to be up in this space on Friday, but I just had too damn much to do, and so I had to put it off for a couple of days. I think, however that you will be pleased when you pull down the ones and zeros and stuff it in your ears.
For you see (hear), Funky16Corners Radio v.80* is just about an hour of high octane, Hammond fueled groove grease guaranteed to get you off your ass, slipping and sliding across the floor, with the hip-shaking, and the wild gesticulation, and the shaking of the hair, gospel wailing and general good times.
Big words those, but I think once the sounds have been ingested, you will concur.
It all started thusly…
Back before Christmas, my lovely wife asked me what I wanted as a holiday gift. I generally reply to these queries with a shrug and a ‘Don’t worry ‘bout me on account of I pretty much have everything I need’. However, this year there was something I had my eye on, so I sent my wife the link, and ‘Bob’s yer uncle’ a brand new digital recorded dropped into my stocking.
My main motivation in requesting this new bit of hardware was so that my casting of the pods would be facilitated, but as is the norm when I get a new toy, I find some other, more interesting way to put it to work, and so I did.
It was at the last Asbury Park 45 Sessions that I brought my recorder along and attempted to record my set right off the board. I thought everything had gone swimmingly, until I got up the next morning, transferred the file onto my laptop and discovered that Einstein (that’s me, heh heh…) hadn’t read the instructions properly, and what I had recorded was not the mix off the board, but all the ambient noise surrounding it. I tossed that one into the old electronic wastebasket and set my sights on my next set at Master Groove.
Well my friends, it was a success.
I had spoken to my host the esteemed DJ Bluewater about what I would play this time, and I suggested a ‘theme set’ of sorts. He thought this was a good idea, so I sat down in the midst of my record vault and started digging. I had originally thought I might do a Northern Soul thing (next time out maybe) but I happened upon a clump of solid Hammond 45s, so I took that as a sign and continued in that direction.
What you have here is an actual live mix, recorded directly from the booth monitor line on the mixer, no fiddling/editing involved.
If you’ve visited with me here over the years, you’ll already be aware that I am a first class Hammond organ nut, and my crates run deep. When I started pulling stuff to compose my set, I extracted enough records for three or four sets, and then sat down with the turntable and selected a little over an hour’s worth of faves.
The records you’ll hear in this mix are the very cream of the dancefloor Hammond crop, with lots of your big keyboard wranglers (Messrs Earland, Doggett, McCall, Lewis, Van Dyke, Frog and Carnegie) a couple of unusual sources (Albert Collins and the Turtles, yes, the Turtles) and a few things you may not have heard before.
As stated previously, my intention here was to whip something up to get the dancers moving, so if you’re playing this inside your corporate veal pen, try not to spill your coffee/disturb your neighbor. If you’re on the bus, piping it in via earbuds, don’t be surprised if your neighbor attempts to administer first aid, since you may appear to be involved in convulsions of some sort.
That said, I will refrain from further comment, letting the sounds speak for themselves.
I hope you dig the mix, and rest assured that I will endeavor to bring you more of the same (both live, and organ mixes) in the coming months.

Peace

Larry

*I was rapping with my man DJ Bluewater last week about how I can’t beleive how many mixes are in the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg Archives (combined mounting up to well over 100 mixes in less than four years)

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By Larry, January 28, 2010 4:49 pm

MFSB, almost definitely including everyone on this record.

Listen/Download – Daley Diggers – I Can Dig It

Greetings all.
I hope the end of the week finds you all well.
I’m tired, bit what else is new? A long week of the normal family commitments, combined with a shitstack of interwebs labor (the blog switch-over and such) and a night in the city spinning records for the folks, I am just about ready to hibernate (if only I could…).
Speaking of the night at Forbidden City, it was a gas, with visits from some very groovy people (big ups to Per, Simon and Colin) and to my own increasing (however incremental) tech savvy, which allowed me to record the live set, which I’ll be posting on Monday. I was going to drop the solid hour of Hammond organ burners today, but errands (and, shamefully, slumber) did not allow enough time to do the write up, so Monday it is.
In bloggy news, I shut down the Podcast and Guest Mic archives over at the old blog, redirecting folks to this site. You can still get all the old content, you just have to come here to get it.
I’ve been a record collector for a long, long time. Over the years, I drift in and out of periodic fascinations with certain artists, genres and labels, and while I’m not really a completist, every once in a blue moon I find myself wandering down a blind alley. Instead of turning around and backing away into the mainstream – which would be the logical thing to do – I find myself compelled to explore further.
One such case is with the Philadelphia label Marmaduke Records.
One of the very first funk 45s I ever dug up was a copy of ‘Bo Did It’ by the Hidden Cost, which – I must admit – I mistook for a garage/psyche record (this was the mid-80s). The song title, in combination with the crazy record label – a cartoon Indian chief holding an artist’s palette, with an electrical cord reaching an outlet with the slogan ‘We Turn You On’ – suggested to me that I might have my hands on something interesting, which I did (just not what I thought).
I always thought it was a cool record, and years later, when I started concentrating on funk 45s, with a concentration in the sounds of Philadelphia, I discovered that Marmaduke Records was in fact the brainchild of Bernie Binnick, and Philly hitmaker Len Barry. Not only did they put out obscure funk 45s by the Hidden Cost, Norma and the Heartaches, the Impacts, Power Play* and others, but also created/produced the Electric Indian. Though the Electric Indian LP was released on United Artists, the initial 45 release of their breakbeat classic ‘Broad Street’ was released on Marmaduke.
What all of these records had in common – including today’s selection ‘I Can Dig It’ by ‘The Daley Diggers’ – was that the musicians involved were almost always pulled from the same pool that recorded on scores of Philadelphia records, and eventually became the core of the Philadelphia International Records house band, aka MFSB. Featuring Bobby Eli, Norman Harris, Ronnie Baker, Earl Young and Vince Montana (among others), this revolving musical cast of characters provided the backing for some of the finest soul and funk records of the 60s and 70s.
They also recorded – pseudonymously – a bunch of cool 45s, one of which was today’s selection. While the A-side was a vocalist named Larry Daley performing ‘For the Good Times’, the flip was the funky instrumental ‘I Can Dig It’, which lined up against any number of tracks in Funky16Corners Radio v.58 – Right On! Philly Funk 45 Instrumentals, is clearly the work of the same band.
‘I Can Dig It’ has a solid, mid-tempo groove, featuring Vince Montana’s vibes prominently and some in the pocket drums by Earl Young. I actually had a copy of this record for many years, that was the very definition of a record collectors “place holder”, i.e. it was all but unplayable, but kept the rest of my Marmaduke 45s company in my Philly crate. It was only recently that I managed to score a clean copy at a bargain price, and here it is today.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Monday with that new mix.

Peace

Larry

*If anyone has a copy of the Race Street Chinatown Band 45, let me know…

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By Larry, January 26, 2010 4:42 pm

Ray Sharpe

Listen/Download – Ray Sharpe – Help Me (Get the Feeling Pt1)

Listen/Download – Ray Sharpe – Help Me (Get the Feeling Pt2)

Greetings all.
Welcome back to the new, improved, up tight, all right and solidly grooved Funky16Corners blog.
I should begin by dropping a few programming notes.
First and foremost, the move of all the old ‘Wordpress-era’ posts into the Archived Posts page (a mind numbing and eye-straining process) has been completed, so if there’s anything you’re looking for, hit up the link in the header. It’s funny, in that I discovered that the first post I dropped when I transferred from Blogger to Wordpress – back in June of 2006 – was, like the first post here at the independent Funky16Corners blog, a tune by Pat Lewis. Odd bit of synchronicity, that.
I haven’t set a date for the implosion of the two old versions of the blog, but I supposed sometime in the next few weeks might work out, giving everyone some time to adjust their linkage. If there’s something specific you’re looking for (that Googles hasn’t picked up) you can always use the search function at the top of the page.

In other news, tonight (Wed 1/27) I will be returning to Master Groove at Forbidden City (NY, NY , Ave A between 13th and 14th Sts) for another guest set alongside your host DJ Bluewater and our Asbury Park 45 Sessions colleague M-Fasis. If you are in – or near – the city, fall by and soak up some funk and soul, all spinning at 45 revolutions per minute.
The tune I bring you today is one that I was unaware of, until I posted Aretha Franklin’s ‘Save Me’ last summer. One of the commenters (Pete W) informed me that the original version of the song was not Aretha’s 1967 version, but a record from the previous year, Ray Sharpe’s ‘Help Me (Get the Feeling)’.
I set right out to find myself a copy of that 45, and managed to procure it about a month later.
It took a little bit of time, because in addition to your run of the mill soul fans, it turns out that Jimi Hendrix fans/collectors were also on the lookout for this particular 45 (since Hendrix played guitar on the session as part of King Curtis’ group).
So, I get my copy of the record, slap it on the turntable for digi-ma-tization, and discover that it was indeed a cooker.
Sharpe is a minor, but significant figure in musical history. The native Texan had truly unusual start for a black artist, in that his first big impact was with a rockabilly 45, 1958’s ‘Linda Lu’. He continued to record through the 60s and 70s, laying down rock, soul and R&B sides for a variety of labels. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe that Sharpe recorded at lest one 45 with the Soul Set for the Philadelphia Sock & Soul label in 1968.
When he recorded ‘Help Me (Get the Feeling)’ in 1966, he shared composing credit with both King Curtis, and the King’s primary guitarist Cornell Dupree (it’s Dupree who lays down the lead guitar on the track, not Hendrix). Interestingly, where the guitar line on Franklin’s ‘Save Me’ is reminiscent of Them’s ‘Gloria’, ‘Help Me (Get The Feeling)’ falls much closer to the 1965 Van Morrison classic, with lyrical references to the original.
The basic backing track really got around, appearing first on the Sharpe 45, then on Franklin’s record, then again in 1967 when ‘Help Me’ was covered (using the backing track) by Jamaican singer Owen Gray, and then AGAIN in 1968 when King Curtis re-used it for his own ‘Instant Groove’. According to a Hendrix history web site, the Owen Gray version can be heard in the background of a taped Hendrix interview, where he hears the record playing and says “…just in case anybody can hear a guitar in the background that’s me playing in New York when I was starving..”
Anyhoo, I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether this record is heavier on it’s own merits, or on account of its history (I vote for the former).
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Friday.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, January 24, 2010 9:08 pm

The Soulful Miss Pat Lewis

Listen/Download – Pat Lewis – Look At What I Almost Missed

Greetings all. And welcome to the new digs
Surprised?
Me too…
Here’s the deal, in the shortest form possible at the moment.
The Funky16Corners Blog has been in business for just over five years (business being a term used in the loosest way…).
Things got started over at Blogger, and after two years, thanks to Blogger’s dismal tech issues, I moved over to Wordpress, where I remained until just about now.
Last week, a couple of blogging friends were shut down by the powers that be at Wordpress with no warning, and – adding insult to injury – no explanation.
Neither of the blogs in question were ‘outlaw’, at least in the sense that they were not de fact file sharing repositories, where people rip commercially available CDs and upload the entire thing for download.
These blogs were along the lines of what you see here. Interesting, obscure tracks, offered with commentary and historical background, engineered so that the readers (that’s you) develop a taste for the sounds in question, and then head out into the real world to purchase it on your own, i.e. educational. Certainly, not everyone follows these guidelines as much as the next guy. Some folks pop by, listen to the track in their browser and then mosey along. Others, those not inclined to fill their house with mountains of vinyl, collect and listen to the files on the MP3 delivery device of their choice, and since the vast majority of what gets posted in this space is unavailable any other way, that’s cool too.
The bottom line is, that I have, and will continue to put my heart and soul (no pun intended, but it works, so…) into this enterprise, and I don’t want some cowardly technocrat to destroy it all with the push of a button, without any kind of due process (that being the main issue).
It’s not like Wordpress (or any other free blogging service) is getting complaints and then approaching the blogger in question, investigating the situation and then making a determination. They are summarily pulling the plug because “terms of service” have been violated. I do know one blogger that was able to come back from such an outage, but their experience is an exception.
I understand that they have the right to do this, I just think it’s an unfair, shitty way to do business.
As a result, I made the decision to install the Wordpress software (related to, but separate from the blogging service) on my own web space (which I have maintained for years in order to store the files and pics I post on my blogs, the content for the webzine and the podcast archives) and relocate the Funky16Corners blog to a new URL. You’ll still be able to reach it by using www.funky16corners.com, but if you’ve been using the http://funky16corners.wordpress.com , I’d ask that you update your links (especially if you have us on the blogroll at your own blog or website) and henceforth proceed to:

http://funky16corners.lunarpages.net

That is the new home of the Funky16Corners blog (though you can change the link to www.funky16corners.com and that’ll work just as well).
You might notice that the look of the blog has changed. When I switched to my own set up, I was unable to keep the blogging template I was using at Wordpress, so I had to do a little investigation and find a template that I was happy with design-wise, and that would allow me to use my own banner. The new template (Panorama) includes rotating banner images (which is why the banner may change each time you return to the blog).
The links for the Podcast Archive, Guest Mix Archive, Pre-Wordpress Archive and regular archived posts (more on that in a moment) appear in tabs at the top of the blog, along the bottom of the banner, as well as the familiar sidebar links.
The blogroll still appears on the right side of the blog.
When I moved from Blogger to Wordpress, I created an archive of all the old posts. I wanted to import the entire Wordpress version of the blog (posts, links, archives and all) in order to create as close to a seamless transition as possible. Without getting too technical, the export/import file from the old blog was (thanks to more than three years of content) far too large to move in one piece, so I had to rebuild. I did move all posts for the last two months into the main page of the blog. All previous posts will be moved (in one-month increments) into the ‘Archived Posts’ link in the header. It’s not as convenient as I would have liked, but It does preserve the old material.
Hopefully, the new look won’t prove too daunting, and your eyes and brains will adjust accordingly over the coming weeks.
As far as commenting, the link to comment is on the top, right hand side of each post.
The overall layout of the new template is a little bit wider, but I think it’s readable. Same basic white background, same typestyle.
That said, I hope you’ll take the time to follow Funky16Corners to its new home.

If you blog, or run a website, please update your links.
It would be greatly appreciated.
And now, how about some soul?
The 45 I bring you today is one that I chased for years and years, generally being outbid at every turn. It’s not a super-expensive record, but it doesn’t usually go for cheap, so when I saw a, how do you say “distressed” looking copy, graded at VG+ (and starting at ten bucks) I figured I’d take a chance. I ended up getting it at the starting bid, and basically kept my fingers crossed that it would be playable when it fell through the mail slot. Smart bunch that you are, you’ve already figured out that it was.
I have to say, that in all my years of digging, this 45 may have the highest level of sonic satisfaction, when balanced against the visual condition of the record itself. There’s some crackle there, but not enough to ruin a great record.
The record in question is Pat Lewis’s storming 1966 version of ‘Look At What I Almost Missed’.
If the song sounds familiar, it’s because the tune’s author George Clinton re-did it with the mighty Parliaments a few years later on the Revilot label.
Lewis’s version (the OG as far as I can tell) was the first 45 released on Detroit’s storied Solid Hit label. Lewis had four 45s (a full third of the label’s discography) released on Solid Hit in the label’s short, two year history, one of which is the ultra-rare, ultra-amazing ‘No One To Love’.
‘Look at What I Almost Missed’ is a dynamite bit of Northern Soul, with a snappy guitar opening, magical Motor City sound and best of all, a great vocal by Lewis herself.
Lewis, who recorded numerous backing vocals for Motown as part of the Andantes, and can be heard as one of the female voices on Isaac Haye’s ‘Hot Buttered Soul’, also recorded one 45 for Golden World.
That said, I hope you dig the sounds, and that you’ll stick with the Funky16Corners blog.

PS – Funky16Corners at Master Groove, @ Forbidden City, NYC Wed 1/27
Be there, or be somewhere less entertaining…

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for a new psychedelic mix.

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Comments (1)

By Larry, January 24, 2010 2:25 am

Roy Meriwether rocking a Nehru…

Listen/Download -Roy Meriwether Trio – Think

Listen/Download -Roy Meriwether Trio – Mean Greens

Greetings all.
I hope the end of another week finds you well.
I for one will stroll into the weekend with some pep in my step.
Last week, when I was on my way to spin at the Asbury Park 45 Sessions, I noticed the harsh glare of flashing lights in my rearview mirror, as the local popo requested my presence at the side of the road. Naturally, law abiding citizen that I am, I was shocked and stunned to hailed in such a manner, but I kept my cool, pulled to the curb and presented my papers to the officer, all the while wondering what the deal was.
Not too long after that the officer informed me that I had been pulled over because I had a headlight out (which I did not know, really…) and because my inspection was- gulp – almost five months past due (which I should have known but did not).
I was let go with a warning and sent on my merry way, a tale which I relate only because I dragged my butt over to the inspection station first thing this morning and was reminded once again that sometimes the fair winds of good fortune blow in my direction.
Not only was I spared the customary wait (there was no line at all, which in NJ is almost unheard of) but when they did the inspection they failed to check my headlights, and so, a short ten minutes later, I rolled out of the inspection station, onto the highway with a fresh, purple inspection sticker affixed to my windshield.
Of course this week I’ll have to go to the dealer to get the headlight fixed (yet another part of the modern car that the owner is no longer capable of maintaining themselves), but this is – as the kids say – ‘small potatoes’, considering how much of a given week I have to spend motoring my offspring around hither and yon, and how difficult that would be if my car were taken out of commission by the automotive commissars at the DMV.
So I raise my glass of iced coffee to you, inspection station ladies and gents, and say ‘Huzzah!’.
That said, I also have another appearance coming up, Wednesday next at Master Groove, at Forbidden City (NYC, Ave A between 13th and 14th) alongside your compere DJ Bluewater and our fellow Asbury Park 45 Sessioner M-Fasis for a set of high quality funk and soul a la 45RPM. I have been considering putting together a theme set of sorts (not sure which kind yet), but if you’re in the city, and you feel the need to absorb some groovy sounds, and have nothing else to do, may I invite you to fall by and join us? I assure you that no matter how cold the night is, the heat will be brought.
I yet more news…this week saw the death of my trusty Numark portable, which served me well these last few years. The motor gave up the ghost, so It had to be replaced. I’ll let you know how the new one works out.
Now, as far as music goes this Friday, how about some more soul jazz??
Last week, as I eulogized the mighty Freddie McCoy, I made mention of the fact that he was – as a vibist – one of the purest examples of a musician working a soul jazz vibe (pun intended, sort of…).
As pianists go, were you to seek someone similarly inclined, you might be persuaded to turn your ears in the direction of Mr. Roy Meriwether.
Meriwether – who got his start out Indiana way – and his trio recorded a grip of solid soul jazz LPs for Capitol in the 60s, before splitting off into the world of private press rarity, where they would wax their sought after version of the music from ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ (some of which was previously featured in Funky16Corners Radio v.64 and my guest mix for Fleamarket Funk, ‘Six Million Dollar Groove’ ) and the super rare, crate digger white whale LP ‘Nubian Lady’.
The tunes I bring you today are from his late 60s Capitol LP ‘Soul Knight’, which I bagged during my trip into the Berkshires late last year.
The LP features a number of very nice cuts, but the two I bring you today illustrate Meriwether’s powerful keyboard style.
The first is a cover of the Aretha Franklin classic ‘Think’, which is taken at a brisk pace, with some tight, funky drums on the bottom.
The second is a version of a tune by another master of soul jazz, saxophonist Eddie Harris. I included Harris’s original version of his tune ‘Mean Greens’ in a mix I did for Fufu Stew called ‘Outta Sight aka Mancini King of Monsters’. The OG is taken as a fairly relaxed pace, but the cover by the Meriwether Trio is a killer, with Roy sounding as if he was about to pop the keys off of the piano. The group gets deep inside the quasi-latin rhythm of the tune and really work it on out. If you get the chance, listen to the OG and the cover side by side to see how two great musicians create their own takes on a standard.
I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll be back next week.

Peace

Larry

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By Larry, January 24, 2010 2:23 am

Originally Posted 1/17/10

Funky16Corners Radio v.79 – Positive Vibrations!

Playlist

How’s by you?
Speaking for myself, a fabulous (yet tiring) weekend was had, beginning with a stellar edition of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions. Nearing our third anniversary as the only all-45 funk/soul night in New Jersey, the 45 Sessions are running at full steam. Heavy sets were dropped by all concerned, especially DJ Prestige and M-Fasis tag teaming on the tables with a set that got the people up and moving.
I was hoping to bring you a live recording of my set, but technical ineptitude on my part (concerning setting the recording source) left me with a live recording of the DJ area, complete with conversations and other random noise running over the music. With any luck I’ll get the whole thing straightened out by the time I spin with DJ Bluewater at Forbidden City in a couple of weeks.
A few weeks back, when we memorialized the late, lamented Freddie McCoy, I mentioned that I was working on a vibes mix, and the sounds you hear today are the results thereof.
The Funky16Corners Radio experience* features mixes arising from varying levels of inspiration, many of them high-concept, long-gestating projects, others whipped together on a moments notice. Today’s edition of the podcast is one of the former.
I’ve been a huge fan of the vibraphone since I first listened to jazz as a kid. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to see a couple of the masters of the vibes in a live setting, including Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson. The vibes have their haters, mainly people who find the sound too ‘cool’, but I find that the vibraphone produces one of the loveliest, deepest sounds in all of music.
Funky16Corners Radio v.79 includes cuts by some of my favorite players, with some classics, a couple of interesting obscurities. I should also mention, in the spirit of full disclosure, that in addition to the vibraphone, you will also be hearing a couple of other mallet-driven instruments, including the xylophone and the marimba (in a few cases, during the same number).
I can remember the day many years ago when my man Haim first hipped me to Lionel Hampton’s mighty ‘Greasy Greens’. Hampton was one of the true past masters of the vibes, with a career that goes back to the classic Benny Goodman trios, and extended well into the funky 1970s. ‘Greasy Greens’ made a couple of appearances on vinyl, but the ultimate version is the one included here, which was released as a 45 on Hampton’s own Glad-Hamp label. If the groove sounds familiar, it was borrowed by Georgie Woods for the song ‘Potato Salad’.
Roy Ayers is a fave of the rare groove crowd for his 70s stuff, but the selection in today’s mix comes from the early part of his career when he was working as a sideman with pianist Jack Wilson. Their version of Lee Morgan’s ‘Sidewinder’ is a brilliant bit of soul jazz.
I focused on Freddie McCoy in this space a few weeks ago, and promised that I’d include some more of his music in this mix. ‘Peas and Rice’, from 1967 has a goodtime party vibe.
Australian-born vibist Jack Brokensha emigrated to Canada, and eventually crossed the border into Detroit where he found a spot in the Motown organization as one of the storied Funk Brothers. He came to be known as ‘White Jack’ (as opposed to Jack Ashford, who was not…). He recorded an LP with his group the Baroque-adelics (also billed as the Concert Jazz Quartet). ‘Boogaloo’ appeared on that LP, as well as the 45 from which this version was recorded.
The aforementioned Bobby Hutcherson was perhaps the greatest post-bop vibes stylist of the 1960s, the predominant master of the instrument on the Blue Note label, leading many sessions and working as a sideman on countless others. ‘Goin’ Down South’ appeared on his 1970 ‘San Francisco’ album, one of many he recorded in partnership with the great tenor saxophonist Harold Land (who had played alongside trumpeter Clifford Brown in his classic groups). The tune features Hutcherson working on both vibes and marimba. He cooks up a very tasty groove indeed.
Cal Tjader was known primarily as a master of Latin jazz styles, but found time to work in a soulful style as well. He was one of the co-founders of the Skye Label (alongside Gabor Szabo and Gary McFarland) in the late 60s. His cover of Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ appeared on his 1968 LP ‘Solar Heat’.
Bay area vibist Ulysses Crockett doesn’t have an expansive discography, but what he did lay down on vinyl is certainly worth hearing. His version of Donovan’s ‘Sunshine Superman’ appeared on the flipside of ‘Major Funky’.
Gary Burton was another one of the great vibists of the 1960s, recording with George Shearing and Stan Getz, but also stretching out into the realm of the avant garde with the likes of Carla Bley. ‘Leroy the Magician’ – complete with breakbeat by Bernard Purdie – appeared on Burton’s 1969 Atlantic LP ‘Good Vibes’.
Milt Jackson was, along with Lionel Hampton the preeminent practitioner of the vibes in the bop era. He was a cofounder of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and appeared on Thelonious Monk’s seminal Blue Note sessions. Like so many of his contemporaries, he took a soulful turn in the 60s and 70s. His version of the Stylistics ‘People Make the World Go Round’ appeared on his 1972 ‘Sunflower’ LP.
Bobby Christian was a versatile instrumentalist who’s career stretches back into the 1930s. He recorded a number of albums as a leader (sought after by exotica/now sound fans) and also worked extensively as a sideman, appearing on a number of Cadet sessions, including albums with the Soulful Strings. He was nearing 60 when he recorded ‘Mooganga’ for his 1970 Ovation LP ‘Vibe-rations’.
Johnny Lytle is known to soul jazz fans for his classic ‘The Village Caller’ and his excellent work for Detroit’s Tuba label in the 1960s. ‘Above the Clouds’, from his 1969 Solid State LP ‘Be Proud’ features Lytle working it out on vibes and xylophone.
Lionel Hampton returns with his funky take on the Buddy Miles classic ‘Them Changes’.
Freddie McCoy’s 1968 ‘Beans’n’Green’ is cut from the same pattern as ‘Peas and Rice’ (aside from the obvious soul food connotations) with an in-studio ‘live’ vibe, handclaps, soul partiers and the lot. The two tracks sound as if they were recorded in the same session, but there was actually five months between the two sessions.
Billy Wooten is known to the crate digger set for his rare and highly sought after LPs with the Wooden Glass and the Nineteenth Whole. He was also a busy sideman, working on a couple of the funkier Grant Green sessions, and with the Soulful Strings. The cut included here, ‘One Night Affair’ appeared on the ‘Soulful Strings Play Gamble Huff’ and includes Wooten with an extended marimba solo.
The closing track in the edition of Funky16Corners Radio is one of the all-time soul jazz/dancefloor vibes classics, Cal Tjader with the legendary ‘Soul Sauce’. Tjader was a masterful player, and manages to really work it out n the vibes while pushing the band to its limits.
As always, I hope you dig the mix, and I’ll be back later in the week with something cool.

Peace

Larry

*Special thanks go out to Mike Karlos of Radio 95X production for putting together that snappy drop you hear midway into the mix.

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By Larry, January 24, 2010 2:23 am

Originally Posted 1/14/10

The Mighty Mayfield

Listen/Download -Jesse Anderson – Mighty Mighty

Greetings all.
The end of another week is at hand, and despite the usual lack of energy I find myself faced with at these junctures, I’m raring and ready to go. I’ll be joining the rest of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew – we’re nearing our third anniversary! – for another evening of the hottest funk and soul jams, all spun at 45rpm.
I should also mention that I’ll be heading up to New York City for another guest spot with DJ Bluewater at Forbidden City, Wednesday night January 27th.
The tune I bring you may sound familiar, since it has been covered a couple of times. It appeared here in the past as done by Baby Huey as ‘Mighty Mighty Children’ and by the legendary Curtis Mayfield (who had a hand in all three records) as ‘Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)’.
The credited artist on today’s version of ‘Mighty Mighty’ is Jesse Anderson. I make that distinction, because as far as I can tell, Anderson was strictly a vocalist, which brings into question who is in fact playing on this (instrumental) side of the 45 (the flip ‘I Got Problems’ is a vocal).
Anderson got his start early in the 60s recording for Federal, moving on to Cadet, then the revived Thomas label, and finally the Outta Cyte imprint. Anderson also co-wrote Syl Johnson’s ‘Come On Sock It To Me’ along with Johnson and Jo Armstead.
The Anderson version of ‘Mighty Mighty’ is a very heavy, very groovy slice of Chitown funk, with a powerful rhythm section (dig that throbbing bass), wrapped up in a river of wah-wah guitar. There’s a meaty drum break midway into the record, and the chorus features some sweet, funky flute action.
Despite the fact that I verily idolize Curtis, I’d have to say that as a single in my DJ box, the Jesse Anderson ‘Mighty Mighty’ is my fave (with Baby Huey a close second).
I find it interesting that the flipside of the 45 (the hit, actually) ‘I Got a Problem’ was co-written by Gene Barge, another Chicago fixture who worked with Jesse Anderson on a number of his records. The fact that only the ‘Mighty Mighty’ side is credited as having been produced by Curtis Mayfield, suggests to me that Anderson may not have had anything to do with the instrumental at all, and that it was slapped on the B-side as filler by Eddie Thomas, Chitown soul mover and owner of the label that bore his name. This is only a guess, and if anyone has any firm information as to the recording’s provenance, I’d love to hear about it.
’Mighty Mighty’ was also sampled (the guitar line and the break) by Main Source for the track ‘Snake Eyes’.
That said, I hope you dig the tune, and if you’re in the area, fall by the Asbury Park 45 Sessions and maybe I’ll be giving this one a spin.

GIG NOTES

In other news, this Friday, January 15th marks the return of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions to the World Famous Asbury Lanes with DJ Prestige, yours truly, DJ Bluewater, M-Fasis, DJ Prime Mundo, Jack the Ripper and guest selector DJ Devil Dick. If you’re in the area, fall by for some heat of the 45RPM variety.

Also…I’ll be returning for another guest spot with DJ Bluewater at Master Groove @ Forbidden City in NYC on Wednesday night January 27th. It’s a very chill night so you should fall by if you’re in the City and down for some funk. The Master Groove line-up for the coming weeks is as follows:

This week – Jan 13th: M.fasis, Nick Cope
Jan 20th: DJ Prestige, DJ Prime Mundo
Jan 27th: M.fasis, Funky16Corners

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

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for something by Herman’s Hermits.

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