Category Archive

by Cousin Geoff

I picked up the latest issue of Waxpoetics today, came home and read it pretty much cover to cover, so I was in a different sort of frame of mind tonight.  Reading that makes you want to reach a little further.  Suddenly, the common stuff doesn’t sound appealing at all.  Not really even James Brown, which seems to always satisfy something.  You read about a boogie-funk DJ from California and get a glimpse of his collection and the mind behind assembling a collection like that, and you realize how far you can take record collecting.

The problem for me and Justin is we have to make money.  That’s why the majority of stuff that we come across that is super rare tends to end up being sold, landing in collections that I read about and envy.  But, you know, every now and then we take a few good ones home for our own personal collections.  But like Max alluded to in a previous post, there’s just so much music that most records I take home I give a quick one-sided listen to and file away. 

So tonight, after reading WP, I really wanted to dig deep.  I went through my rows and crates and pulled out about a dozen or so fairly obscure records that I hadn’t listened to in a while and lined them up next to the turntable, laptop ready to record.  I had such a strong craving for exactly the sound I wanted that most of them didn’t get very far.  I came close to writing about Tower of Power’s first record on the tiny San Francisco record label, but the one record that beat them all was The Spirit of Atlanta’s LP “The Burning of Atlanta”, released in 1973 on the Buddah label.

Produced by legendary composer/producer/arranger Thomas Stewart and backed by a ton of Atlanta session players, “Burning” is just an all-out assualt of the funk senses.  It’s a grand orchestra of high energy soul.

listen to Freddie’s Alive and Well:

By Max Conroy

The other day I sent a letter to Jandek.  Well, I sent it to Corwood Industries; to the same post office box that’s been used by Corwood Industries/Jandek for the last thirty years.  I felt kind of lame for doing this because I thought of how many geeks like me have done it over the years.  I was also thinking about stories that I’ve heard and read about where Jandek will send radio stations and journalists interested in his music crates of records for years on end, and if at all possible I want crates of Jandek records.  I’m not sure if a shit-ton of Jandek records could possibly be healthy in any way, but I’d certainly listen to them and be obliged to review them.  Naturally, we focus on vinyl here and Corwood only makes CDs now, so I also wanted to find out if Corwood has any records lying around the apartment.  I had also seen in Jandek on Corwood that Corwood Industries would send letters in response to people searching for information about Jandek, presumably from Jandek, that have polite and firmly cryptic refusals to provide any information beyond the records: 

The story must be crafted from what you have and know from the music.  We cannot provide interviews or other exchanges of information outside of the releases at present.  It’s probable that your crafted story would be more interesting than any other.  Intrigue goes a long way sometimes.

The examples that I’ve seen of these response letters are typically written in slightly sloppy block lettering and are signed by ‘Corwood’ or ‘Your friends at Corwood’.  I wrote the letter and asked for recommended records, since there are 53 of them, any promotional material to review, and asked if they had any vinyl left.  In the letter I addressed Corwood as to whom I was writing, referring to Jandek only in the third person.  I didn’t really expect any response beyond an order form for CDs, but would love records or even a letter written in the same format that I’d seen.

This was two weeks ago approximately that I sent the letter.  I went to my mailbox today, opened it, and there was a single letter in the narrow box.  It was a letter from Corwood Industries, the address stamped in the top left corner of the envelope.  It seemed eerily appropriate that the letter seemed lonely in my mailbox, as it’s a rare day that it doesn’t get filled with a bunch of bullshit, wasted paper.  I took care in opening it, not wanting to destroy the envelope or the letter and noticed that it was written in slightly sloppy, mostly block lettering, the paper looked like it had a rough time of it at Corwood or on the way from Houston:

We literally have no vinyl to offer.  We sold all vinyl and moved to CD.  Vinyl is in production at:

Jackpot Records, 203 SW 9th Ave, Portland, OR 97205

We suggest you inquire therein.

(No Signature)

I checked out Jackpot Records online and they only offer Jandek CDs.  Perhaps I will see if they are going to manufacture Jandek vinyl.  The letter seems typical, but there was no salutation or signature.  If you’re out there, Jandek, Cousins would love to review some records or hear from you.

Click below to view the actual letter and to hear a jam off one of Jandek’s most recent platters The Myth of Blue Icicles.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Cousin Justin

I started the day yesterday by putting on one of  my favorite shirts, an original  Wu-Wear T-shirt that I got in High School.  You see I am a huge Wu-Tang mark since 36 chambers dropped.  Good albums have been few and far between over the last few years.  That was until Ghostface dropped Fishscale.  I dug that album more than any Wu joint in a long time.  Normally a rap skit is a good oppurtunity to skip to the next track, but the Bad Mouth Kid Skit on Fish Scale starts by Ghost saying “that’s soul right there, don’t touch that radio” in the background a dope ass song is playing that the foul mouthed kid insists on changing, much to the chagrin of ghost.  As soon as I heard the song in the background I used my little Google fingers to try and find out what the fuck it was.  I was unsuccessful and this has been one of those musical obsessions for the last 2 years.  So when I started the day I had no idea my wardrobe decision would have any affect on the cosmos.  Max was comming over later in the evening to hang out and to take a trip to the Record Collector in Ferndale.  I went through the Soul section and picked out a few Soul, Funk, and Disco albums.  One that stood out was the Brother To Brother album.  I took it to the listening station and dropped it on the second track, something I never do, and there it was, the song I have looked for for 2 years.  Needless to say I was pumped.  To keep the karma going, Max and I ended the night with a screening of the underrated Ghost Dog.

Brother To Brother-Vibrations

 By Max Conroy

My struggle lately has been that I have way too much music to listen to.  In the past year or so, I’ve had some incredible resources and have acquired more music than I could realistically listen to.  It’s obviously the result of some sort of compulsion that I have to collect things.  But records are meant to be listened to, and I feel guilty about having some of the best records ever made lying around where I’m only able to dedicate a cursory listen.  Also, my interests wax and wane like the moon, so I’ll have some records that I’ve just purchased and my interest in that genera of music will fall by the wayside, the record filed to be stumbled upon when my interest in that music reawakens.  I guess the solution is to make it a point to try and not acquire anything new.  Don’t worry, readers, I’ll have plenty of stuff to write about.

For some reason, last night I actually went through my CDs and pulled out a huge pile and pretty much froze because it was late, past midnight, and I wanted to listen to everything, but I didn’t want to be up till sunrise.  I’ve been getting back into rock and roll, from jazz fusion and soul and funk.  I had also just hooked my DVD player up through my stereo, so I wanted to be able to watch a bit of something before I went to bed, so I had to make a tough decision, but I sure as hell made the right choice.

Starship, The MC5 at the Sturgis Armory June 27, 1968 is, in my mind, the best document of the MC5 live.  Don’t get me wrong, Kick Out the Jams is a hell of a record, but it doesn’t necessarily represent the 5 accurately with regards to their live show at the time.  They knew that they were going to make a record and had to trim parts of the set, like Black to Comm and various jazz and soul medleys from their set to make a digestible product for the masses (I’m not saying they sold out to the man or anything, they do say ‘motherfucker’ in the first five minutes, before their most commercial song).  The sound on Starship is obviously from someone in the crowd, so this is how it pretty much sounded if you were standing in the Sturgis Armory.  A lot of people don’t realize that soundboard recordings aren’t necessarily the shit because they just capture the sound that’s pumped through the system and not what comes out of it. 

Where is Sturgis you ask?  It’s in southwest Michigan, not far at all from where I, and Cousin Justin, grew up.  The area now is probably a ghost town, but back in the day when muscle cars were king the place was probably still out of the way.  This show catches the 5 playing their set in all its glory in a small town and displays perfectly their mettle.  They didn’t care where they were playing or who to; when they stepped on the stage it was all over; they were going to destroy any other band that dared share that stage, no matter who it was, Cream or Led Zeppelin.

I had to put the headphones on for this one as it was late and I needed volume, so I recommend that you do the same.  Find your headphones and brace yourself…

Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa:

James Brown’s Cold Sweat:  Dig Dennis Thompson’s drumming on this track.

PS:  In my opinion the only other live performace by the 5 that rivals this is Thunder Express, a live set in a European studio.  Go figure, Cub Coda gave it two stars in AMG, haha.

By Max Conroy

The deacon Solomon Burke played a free show in Detroit last night (refer to the previous post).  It was a fantastic show and one that I’ll remember forever.  He’s still got it to be sure.  A gospel choir performed Lay My Burden Down before he went on.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for the entire show, but I saw a little over an hour of his set and caught a lot of classics: Cry to Me, If You Need Me, Down In The Valley, the Tom Waites penned Keep a Diamond in Your Mind, Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay, and many others.  I recorded some audio of the show and will work on getting that posted.

Soul legend Solomon Burke will play a free show tomorrow at Campus Martius park on Woodward In Detroit. Call 313-962-0101 for more details.

Freep.com had a great mini-interview with Burke, with the 68 year old discussing his love for Detroit, his time spent working with Aretha, and his upcoming album, where he performed songs written for him by various artists including Cousin Geoff favorite Ben Harper:

Q: Your collaboration with Ben Harper, “A Minute to Rest and a Second to Pray,” is easily one of the best moments on the new album. What was it like working with him?

A: The first time I met him was right in the studio, and I was intrigued and excited. Ben said, “I’ve only got the first verse done. I ain’t finished with it yet.” So I told him to finish the song right now and then we immediately recorded it. As we speak right now, some folks don’t even have a home. In the last 48 hours, how many people have (only) a minute to rest and a second to pray?

Read the rest of the intereview here.

Check out some Solomon 45s we have in the store here.  We did come across a copy of his hard to find Rock and Soul LP a few years ago, and we regrettably sold it as Justin and I could not hustle the other into letting one of us have it!

Syl Johson moved to Chicago at an early age and wound up as Magic Sam’s next door neighbor, as Syl’s brother was Sam’s bass player.  Syl learned to pick the guitar hanging around the west-side Chicago legends and also played a mean harmonica, even briefly touring with Howlin Wolf.  Syl cut a few sides for Federal and later Twinight/Twilight, but after recording with The Hodges Brothers from the Hi rhythm section in Memphis in 1970, he signed on with Hi.  

Johnson’s first record on Hi was this one, 1973’s Back For a Taste of Your Love.  You can definitely hear the classic Memphis Hi sound, as this was put out right around the time when Al Green was the Hi superstar.  Johnson had a slightly edgier, harder sound than Al Green, though still very much in the same genre.  The track Feelin’ Frisky is a good example.   

by Cousin Geoff

This record was an early, early find for me in my record hunting hobby that has now grown into our mighty Cousins empire.  I can remember it like it was yesterday.  I was out garage sailing, and it was getting late, almost 11:00 AM.  I had been at it since early in the morning, driving around, newspaper close by, digging and scouting and hunting.  In those days, going garage sailing was our main way of finding records.  This was before Cousin Justin and I were even partners. We would just sell under the same name and then get the money for our records. 

So I was out driving, way south of Ypsi, almost to Milan, about to go home and call it quits, but I decided to stop by one last sale and check it out, a total country bumpkin sale and I found this record somehow.  I almost sold it, because it goes for good money, but I liked it so much I had to keep it.  Turns out, it’s still one of my favorite records, especially because of the song I’ve Never Found a Girl.

There’s not much other vocals on the album besides this song, but it’s Marvin and his Uptights blowing feel-good 1969 San Francisco psych-funk until your toes curl.  It’s loud Saturday music, it’s getting ready to have a party at your house music, it’s happy Dragon-Monster Soul music.

Check out the liner notes from the back of the album:

I always said if I ever had the chance to write liner notes for an artist-I would have a ball doing it-I have read a lot of album backs and it seems there is always something interesting to say and use the most in descriptive words from?-funk-and I’d say yeah!  Well now it’s my turn and I do have someone I can testify for-Marv & The Uptights, able to raise a suave, sophisticated, mellow gathering to a high fever pitch-rocking with much Boss Soul-not being sacrilegious, but for those who missed church, this album will take you-giving you that head nodding, toe tappin’, hip shakin’, finger poppin’, soulful feeling-just let yourself go-Marv & The Uptights is mighty funky and how do you really decribe that.  It’s like when you, well you how it is when-uhhhhh-coming up on the-let’s see-I know what it is but I just can’t uhhh, how about funky as barrels of hot asphalt-I think you get the picture-check ‘em out-Marv & The Uptights-and you’ll dig much Infinity.

-Bob White KDIA Oakland, Calif.

Yeah, Bob!  Were you high by any chance when you wrote those notes? 

Check out the song, I’ve Never Found a Girl.  If you like it as much as I do, note that AL Green also does a great version on his Let’s Stay Together album.

by Max Conroy 

If you refer to my post about the jazz flute, you know that I’m just getting into soul/funk-jazz/fusion.  I’m crazy about the stuff.  It’s also allowed my formerly tepid interest in hip-hip to expand slightly.  It’s like punk rock for me; not the music of course but how I view it.  Some of my favorite music, proto-punk, is the music that led directly to the development of punk rock, but I really don’t like straight punk all that much.  I love the Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols, but both bands were badass rock and roll acts before they were punk.  I love all of this music that’s been sampled a ton or could be sampled if it hasn’t but can take or leave the hip-hop that’s made it famous, so far at least.  As my obsession has grown for the (I’ll call it fusion, to incorporate soul/funk-jazz) fusion over the past few weeks, I’ve purchased a shit ton of great records and thank God some of it can be found cheaply. 

I’d heard of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, but that was probably from hearing them mentioned by NPR DJs a split second, before I slammed the radio off in disgust before my appreciation of fusion.  I totally thought that they were venerated by jazzbos and that they were classic bop, but how wrong I was.  Justin hooked me up with a rough copy of the In Crowd, which is apparently an early soul-jazz classic.  After digging the album, I also noticed that reissues of it are advertized in Waxpoetics, and have noticed the record at numerous shops and online.  I thought that the record would be pricey, but since it obviously sold well for a jazz record and was on Chess’ Argo imprint, it’s insanely cheap.  Like you would pay three times what an OG copy would cost to get the reissue.  Dig the ‘In’ Crowd…

I also recently picked up Ramsey Lewis’ Sun Goddess for cheap.  The cover alone is worth the money, but the music could have been sold in a paper bag and it’d still be sweet.  It’s ten years after the In Crowd and the funk had dropped in the meantime, and it’s obvious on this record, that Lewis was hip to it.  Check out Sun Goddess, Livin’ For the City (the S. Wonder jam) and Jungle Strut…

On the Blue side of things; some Blue Note records from the periphery of their dark days can be got fairly cheaply too.  Some of these records sold very well, which makes them easy to find and cheap, but not bad at all.  For instance, Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd (the best selling record in the entire Blue Note catalogue) and Byrd’s Best are about $10 records; the cover of Black Byrd, depicting a black wedding or hoedown of some sort, ca. 1890 is worth it, and the music’s funky as can be, slightly dated, but that’s a large part of the appeal for me.  I recently acquired Grant Green’s Alive! album, which is a live gig recorded in a small club with Idris Muhammad tearing the place up on drums, for $10.  I’m not as much of a purist as the Cousins and will pick up a reissue or a comp here and there, and found a Grant Green record that was part of the Blue Note Breakbeats series for under $10.  Sometimes on these records, as with every record, there are bum tracks, but it seems more common for jazz records to me, so a comp with six of the most notable tracks by someone can be a good thing.  But I don’t necessarily think that’s true for Grant Green; I’m willing to bet that anything he did in ‘70 and ‘71 with Idris Muhammad on drums is good throughout.  Ronnie Laws‘ Pressure Sensitive must have also sold a shitload because it’s everywhere and it’s cheap.  One of my dad’s buddies gave me his record collection when I was about fifteen.  There were about fifty or so records, all early 70s stoner rock…and Pressure Sensitive.  It’s like the fusion Frampton Comes Alive, but way cooler.  Here are Grant Green’s Sookie Sookie (the Don Covay song) and Ronnie Laws’ Nothing to Lose…

by Cousin Geoff

Reissues are generally not my thing, I’d rather search for the original.  It kind of feels like cheating, and it’s nowhere near the thrill of playing the real deal.  That being said, there is no original album for Fugi’s Mary, Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip.  Tough City reissued this unreleased acid-funk record in 1996 from Detroiter Ellington Jordan, AKA Fugi, originally meant to be put out by Chess’s Cadet label in 1968, but deemed too trippy for them.  When I came across this, not only was I put off by the fact that it was a reissue, but the cover was terrible.  It looked like a late 1990s Cash Money rap album.  But the writing on the cover was more than enough to convice me:

“From The Vaults of CHESS RECORDS…The legendary unreleased album by the blackballed acid-funkateer.”  OK - sold.

When I put it on, I was absolutely floored.  This is exactly the type of music I seek out.  And this was, dare I say, better than the Detroit funk I had been listening to - early 70s Funkadelic and Temptations, even Dennis Coffee.  The genre of funk that is uniquely Detroit - psychadelic, rootsy, Hendrix-like, but funk at it’s core.  The first Funkadelic record can’t be touched, but this, if it had come out as planned, might be better.  The thing is, I don’t understand why Cadet didn’t release this in 1968.  Fugi was not some ordinary stoned funk musician trying to peddle an album to a top label.  He was an extremely talented song writer who was good friends with Temptation Eddie Kendrix.  In 1968, in addition to messing around with his own stuff while being backed by the band Black Merda, he wrote songs for Chess.  Fugi rubbed shoulders on a daily with Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Donny Hathaway, Jimmy Hendrix and Etta James.  In fact, Fugi wrote the song “I’d Rather Go Blind” (his own version is on this album) for Etta James who turned it into a worldwide hit number one hit, selling 8 million copies.

Fugi did release a few 45s, but it is still puzzling why this album was never put out.  I’m fully convinced that he could have become a star, with more albums following this one, plus tours and the whole shot.  As for the excuse that I’ve heard that it was too trippy, Detroit psych-soul-funk was what was hot a few years later, around 1969-1970, with the pair of Westbound Funkadelic albums, and The Temptations Psychedelic Shack album, among others.  And even if that was the case (which it’s not - it’s perfectly put together and more soul-based funk than psych-rock funk), what about the Cadet Concept label?  This was created and put together by Marshall Chess, son of Chess records co-founder Leonard Chess, for the sole purpose of “concept” albums.  Rotary Connection is maybe the closest and best known example, and they were way more out-there and, in my opinion, not nearly as good as Fugi.  This would have been the perfect album to put on this label, and they flat out blew it.

It’s a crying shame that I had never even heard of Fugi until I stumbled upon this album, although I’m sure the crowd of more seasoned deep funk and soul seekers have known about him even before this was released in ’96.  You can pick this up for like 8 bucks at Tuff City, in fact here is their ebay link for this album.  Tuff City has lots more reissues, they’re based out of New York and are definitely worth checking out.

As for the record, it’s just amazingly good.  I would say it’s worth it to invest the $8 to see for yourself.  I’m just sort of pissed that I won’t be able to search for the original, but as long as I have the music, that’s the most important thing!

listen to “Mary, Don’t Take Me On No Bad Trip”:

listen to “I’d Rather Be a Blind Man”

by Cousin Justin:

The Dream Girls first released this 45 on the Twirl record label that was owned by Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik. Harry Balk was a Detroit movie theater owner that ran talent shows during down times. Harry used the pseudonym Tom King for his writing credits. Harry and Irving started the label to release Johnny & The Hurricanes hit “Crossfire”. Twirl was a conduit for Detroit talent to sign with the New York Big Top label as Embee Productions. The biggest act to come out of this partnership was Del Shannon. While the other credited songwriter on both sides is Edwin Harrell, BMI has the other credited Songwriter of “Don’t Break My Heart” as Johnny “Paris” Pocisk of the Hurricanes. Cameo-Parkway has had a long history of breaking Detroit acts nationally Including Bob Seger, The Rationals, and ? & The Mysterians. When Johnny & The Hurricanes “Crossfire” And “Red River Rock” hit the national charts they appeared on Dick Clark’s T.V. show out of Philadelphia. Bernie Lowe was the owner of Cameo-Parkway and used the local Dick Clark show to break his own talent and get new talent. The Hurricanes already had a distrubution deal with Warwick.  Cameo undoubtadly wanted a chance to get another teen driven act in the roster. The catalogue # on the Twirl press is 1002, which indicates it was the follow up 45 to “Crossfire”. Was the 45 merely a vehicle for the Hurricanes to get another deal?  It could explain the Edwin Harrell songwritng credit. This relationship must not have lasted long as Don’t Break My Heart was released in 1960 with “I Could Write A Book” as the flip. This may have been the first Embee produced song to land on Big Top.  The Detroit-Cameo Garage Rock connection could be traced more to Terry Knight & The Pack and the Lucky Eleven label, also started in 1959……..

If Johnny Paris was the other Songwriter on these songs, the sax solo makes sense. Whether the Hurricanes are the backing group I have no idea. On the Johnny and the Hurricanes site it does state they played behind them a lot.

This down tempo track did not make it to the Big Top release

BID ON THE 45 HERE!

by Cousin Justin: 

Up this week we end our run of early rock and roll and Rockabilly 45’s and LP’s with a solid group of Doo-Wop 45’s.  Most of these are well cared for and in good condition for their age.  I wanted to highlight one of the most interesting 45s for our loyal readers.  As the long ass title clearly shows, this 45 is on Jake “Vernon” Porter’s Combo Label.  Allmusic has a great Bio of Jake, and they start it by saying “Hipsters seeking a good example of “a swinging cat who made the scene” don’t need to look any further than this artist”, pretty glowing praise.  His major songwriting credit is ”Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)”, recorded by a lot of people.  Jake is also credited with releasing Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s first 45.  Both sides of this 45 were written by Porter and Gene Ford, lead singer of The Chanters.  Gene was no longer a member of the group during the Deluxe Records period of their recording carrer.  No No No on Deluxe hit #9 on the R&B Charts in 1961, three years after it was originally released.  The lead during the Deluxe years was Bud Johnon Jr., father of Albert Johnson aka Prodigy, and half of the Rap Duo Mobb Deep.  This 45 is a follow-up to one of Combo’s biggest hits “Why/Watts” from ‘54. 

I Love You is the A side and a down tempo ballad.  With such repetative lyrics I am sure a few of you will have it caught in your head for a few days.  If you do go around singing it, you will probably get lucky.

The double AA side of the 45 features Ethel Brown on lead and Brother Woodman’s combo shows why they get the largest billing with this track.  So if you got yourself a Hot Mamma play the flip and maybe she will cool down a bit.

BUY THE 45 HERE!

by Cousin Geoff: 

Detroit’s Roostertail Club, overlooking Lake St. Clair and Belle Isle on the upper turn of the Detroit river racetrack, was established in 1958 by Joe Schoenith.  The club was super hot in the 60s where garage bands and soul groups would play to crazed, dancing young hipsters, and quickly became one of the most well-known and exciting places to be.  The Roostertail hosted such performers as Tony Bennett, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, local soul and garage acts who were making a splash on the national scene, and all the big Motown groups.

The Four Tops recorded a legendary live album there in 1966 in the new glassed-out upper deck, but they weren’t the first band to grace the new digs.  That honor would go to the garage/house band The Four Sharps, who put out their lone single on Gale Recording Enterprises in 1965.  Soul singer DeAnne James recalls the Four Sharps, (via this Soulful Detroit thread):

“The first band in the upper deck was the Four Sharps’ Russ on guitar, Frank Bias on drums, Ronnie Godo on organ and I can’t remember the bass player. I was the feature vocalist (DeAnne James). that was the summer of 1965. We traveled to Chicago to find a replacement band and found a trio playing at a record hop in the suburbs. Tom and Jerry Schoenoff paid for the trip to find the trio. The Roostertail was only a couple miles from where I lived and the brothers treated me great. The place was beautiful. I have great memories of the Roostertail…”

Following this someone mentions that they have the 45, U-44/Doin’ The Roostertail, on Gale Recording Enterprises, and the songwriting credit is given to R. Sweets.  She replies:

“That’s Russ Sweets. My goodness I sang backgound on u-44….”u-40 forty four.” I think that was the number of the race boat that Jerry Schoenoff (owner) raced in the Hydroplane races during the 60’s. Gale was the name of the corporation that started the Roostertail. The father of the twins owned Gale Electric…that was the money source I believe. You guys are incredible.”

I was also excited to read in the thread someone else thanking the owner of the 45 for providing info on a virtually unknown label and record.  Luckily I was able to find a copy to be able to share with you.

listen to Doin’ The Roostertail:

 by Max Conroy:

Until very recently I’ve not really paid much attention to jazz.  As a matter of fact, jazz has almost bothered me for about the past decade.  I used to listen to it back in the day, from about sixteen to nineteen.  Man, reading the Beats and playing the Bird and Diz, that was it.  Also, throwing on 102.1 FM to hear Bob Parlocha, after dropping off my last friend that needed a ride home, for the hazy drive back to the nest was also pretty great.  But I got into rock and roll heavy.  And my girl can’t stand jazz and I am ashamed to say that I kind of didn’t want to hear it if I were to get into it.  NPR also ruined jazz for me for a little while there too.  I know every NPR station is different and some have very well rounded programming, but not the ones that I’ve listened to in the past, 90.5 FM WKAR in East Lansing and 91.5 WBEZ in Chicago.  Both of these stations when not playing classical or the typical syndicated shows like Car Talk, Fresh Air, and All Things Considered, play jazz exclusively.  WBEZ would play like six hours of jazz on a Sunday afternoon, starting at 11 AM, right when I’d want to hear some talk radio or a comedy show.  And they wouldn’t play any of the shit that I’ve been getting into lately at all.

Justin turned me onto Waxpoetics around Christmas time and I’ve devoured the last few issues.  I’ve, as a result, come to the realization that there is more jazz out there than bebop and free jazz.  Soul-jazz and funk-jazz are legitimate categories that I’ve been blind to as a result of my prejudice.  That’s where all the badass samples came from in the heyday of hip-hop.  I had no idea what Blue Note turned into in the late 60s: a jazz label that put out soul and funk records.  I also had no idea that there were people like Eddie Harris out there: check out the article about him in the latest Waxpoetics and also check out Swiss Movement and Silver Cycles, two of his albums.  I read about Blue Note’s Droppin’ Science record somewhere in Waxpoetics, a double record best of Blue Note’s records sampled by hip-hop artists, and ordered a copy.  I’m obsessive when it comes to learning about music, so I’ve been taking some stabs in the dark based on the list of guys on Droppin’ Science in the time that it’s taken to get here.  I found Grant Green’s Alive! at Encore and got a reissue of Lou Donaldson’s Alligator Boogaloo, which the Sugarman Three’s Sugar’s Boogaloo (one of the records that launched Daptone, the first one featuring Gabriel Roth) pays homage to.  Both kick ass to be sure. 

I’m not sure if any of you have seen the Anchorman with Will Farrell, but it illustrates what my thoughts are regarding the flute perfectly.  I tense up whenever I hear a flute on a jazz, soul or funk record no matter how appropriate to the song it seems.  One of the guys on Droppin’ Science that I looked for around town in the past week was Jeremy Steig.  I found a couple of his records at Encore, pulled one up out of the bin and quickly dropped it and piled the records on it hoping no one had seen me even looking at it.  First off, he’s a flautist (I feel strange typing that word); second he looks like a weasely, mustachioed, Yoga instructor.  I’d have to wait to get the comp in the mail to hear this guy.  When I got the record today, I was shocked to hear the hook from the Beastie Boys’ Get It Together and how raw and primal the actual song was, how rock and roll.  Based on the intensity of his playing, he sounds like he could go ten rounds with Hemmingway.

Jeremy Steig’s Howling for Judy from Droppin’ Science, originally off of Wayfaring Stranger/Legwork

Eddie Harris’ I’m Gonna Leave You By Yourself off of Silver Cycle

by Max Conroy: 

The other day I woke up with Major Lance’s Hey Little Girl in my head.  It was the best morning I’d had in a while as a result.  The comforting, safe yet punchy rhythm of the song is perfect for laying there without your wits, looking for motivation to get up.  It’s almost as good as a cup of coffee or at the very least an excellent background for the coffee.

I picked up Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (that’s right five Um’s) the Best of Major Lance in a great record shop in Long Beach, California called Bagatelle Records recently.  I’d heard the name Major Lance before but had no idea what he sounded like.  The cover looked cool, heavy boards and wax, and it was on Okeh records, which I found to be odd.  Okeh always seemed like a label synonymous with the 40s and 50s to me, so a mid 60s soul guy on Okeh was worth a shot.  The back of the record also proclaims under the title ‘The Great Songs of Curtis Mayfield’, and I’m on a huge Curtis kick right now.  This kind of made me suspicious because I didn’t want some hack covering a bunch of Impressions songs and it was $12.  I went to the listening station, which had a Grado cartridge, and threw it on.  It was one of those records where you just had to hear about a second to know that it was worth the money.

It turns out that Major Lance grew up with Mayfield and Jerry Butler; and Mayfield got him a shot with Okeh in 1962.  Pretty much all of his hits were written by Curtis and feature him on guitar and the Impressions on backing vocals.  Lance’s songs seem to typify the Chicago soul sound of the early to mid 60s: smooth Latin flavor, horns and great harmonies.  The Monkey Time and Um, Um, Um, Um, Um were his biggest hits.  His popularity waned towards the end of the decade and he signed with Curtom in 1969, leaving in ‘71 to cash in on the Northern Soul craze in England.  He moved back to the states in the mid 70s, was convicted of selling cocaine, and did four years.  He died at 55 of heart failure in 1994. 

One of my girlfriend’s friends and her four year-old daughter came to visit us the other weekend.  I pulled a record out of its jacket in front of the four year-old and she asked me, What’s that?  A record.  See it’s got these grooves on it that play music…don’t touch it!  I put on Major Lance and she was getting down, I tell you what.  I even danced.  Every morning I hope to wake up with any Major Lance song in my head, but he hasn’t been back.  I’m glad I bought that record.

Hey Little Girl

Um Um