Leon Haywood - Rivers Invitation

Leon Haywood

Leon Haywood is a familiar name to soul fans, mainly for his work as a vocalist. His mid-60’s hit on Decca, ‘It’s Got To Be Mellow’ is a sweet soul classic. What’s less familiar (and in many ways better) is his work as an instrumentalist. Haywood (who was born in Texas but did most of his recording on the West coast) started out playing in Sam Cooke’s band and went on to record for a number of labels (including Fat Fish, Convoy and Decca) as both an organist/pianist and vocalist. During the mid 60’s, in addition to work under his own name, Haywood played organ on 45s for the Packers* and Dyke & The Blazers. His own instrumental work often appeared on the b-sides of his 45s (‘Soul Cargo’ on Fat Fish, ‘Soul On’ on Decca) and as album tracks (the funky two part version of ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ on the Decca LP ‘It’s Got To Be Mellow’). The 45 we feature today likely predates his Decca work (I’ve never seen any other 45s on this label) and is one of his finest Hammond sides. The tune ‘Rivers Invitation’ was composed (and originally recorded) by Percy Mayfield and has been a favorite of organists over the years, with versions by the Wildare Express (with Reuben Wilson) and Gene Ludwig among others. Produced and arranged by LA team Ray Shanklin and Cliff Goldsmith (who were largely responsible for the R&B/soul era of Galaxy Records), the disc starts out as a horn-heavy, big-band style arrangement but soon evolves into a feature for Haywood’s blazing Hammond style. The tempo is particularly hard driving and Haywood is given lots of room to shine. Haywood was an excellent organist, but his skill as a vocalist allowed him to continue his career when organ combos fell out of vogue. Even so, considering the high quality of his instrumental recordings, it’s a shame he didn’t have the opportunity to do more in that department. * The great ‘Hole In the Wall’ controversy: The Packers (a “band” about that has it’s own twisted history**) “Hole In The Wall” b/w ‘Go Head On’ was released on LA’s Pure Soul label in 1965. Around that time a 45 was released on the Lu Pine label by Joe S. Maxey ‘May The Best Man Win’ b/w ‘Right On (The Cream)’, Maxey’s 45 was also released in the UK on the Action label as ‘Sign of the Crab’ b/w ‘May The Best Man Win’ (despite the title change, the same tunes as the Lu Pine release). I had heard of the Action 45 and scored a copy on Ebay from a UK seller. Imagine my surprise when I slapped this 45 on the turntable and heard the familiar strains of both ‘Hole In The Wall’ and ‘Go Head On’ flowing from the speakers. At first I assumed this was some kind of pressing mistake. The Action label specialized in contemporary UK issues of US R&B and soul 45s (including a number of unusual New Orleans 45s like Eddie Bo’s ‘Check Your Bucket’). I did some asking around with folks who should know, and was informed that the Lu Pine issue of the 45 included the very same recordings (the plot thickened…). Going back to the Packers Pure Soul 45, it’s revealing that Leon Haywood is credited on the label as co-composer of the tunes, and a cursory listen to the disc reveals his playing style. This of course begs the question, how and why did these recordings get released on Lu Pine under different titles (and someone else’s name)? This question has remained unanswered. It’s also curious that a label like Action, obviously run by soul fans, would go ahead and release such familiar recordings, especially more than seven years after their initial release as by the Packers. Is it possible that they were unfamiliar with the Packers 45 (an R&B Top 5/Pop top 50 hit in the US)? Not likely as it was released in the UK on both the Pye and Soul City labels. ** The Packers – Though founded in Memphis, and ostensibly the band of saxophonist Packy Axton of the Mar-Keys, the Packers records (over a number of labels) feature many studio musicians (and considering Axton’s personal history, some may not feature the bandleader at all)

Young-Holt Unlimited - Give It Up

Young-Holt Unlimited

Soul jazz, mod jazz, call it what you like, or don’t. Your hardcore jazzers will open the great book to the soul jazz page and see a wide variety of deep, gospel inflected sounds starting in the mid-50’s and running through hard-boppish horn groups as well as barroom organ combos. At some point in the progression, things tightened up considerably (due in large part to a need to fill the jukeboxes with tasty, accessable 45s) and “soul jazz” started hitting the pop charts and dancefloors, turning into something altogether different. Sure the true jazz roots were still visible, and the records were being made by “jazz” musicians, but eventually the SOUL jumped into upper case and the jazz receded into lower case (and often italics). By the mid-60’s some of the tastiest side being laid down were by jazz and latin jazz musicians as interested in the groove as they once were in improvised solos (though as I said before the time constraints of the 45 had as much to do with this evolution as anything). One of the watershed moments in this changeover was ‘The In Crowd’ by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Lewis, along with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac “Red” Holt laid down a grooving instrumental take on the Dobie Gray classic and had themselves a sizable pop hit. Not long after that, Young and Holt broke with Lewis and took their own (albeit very similar) show on the road with pianist Hysear Don Walker, d/b/a Young-Holt Unlimited. The formula was a familiar one, pop and jazz tunes rendered with a helping of soul and a strong enough backbeat to keep the dancers moving. It should be said that Young-Holt added a healthy kick to the Lewis formula, infusing their records with souful energy and playful humor. Over their six year career with Brunswick, Atlantic (and associated labels) and their funkier work on Paula, Young-Holt made a dent in the charts a few more times (most notably with their instrumental version of Barbara Acklin’s “Am I The Same Girl”, retitled as “Soulful Strut”*. Today’s selection is a non-lp cut from the period of their first LP ‘Wack Wack’. ‘Give It Up’ is almost all groove, with their trademark vocal interjections. Opening with the drums which are soon joined by guitar and bass (not sure who the guitarist is), soon the whole group is shouting ‘Give it up!”. By the second go round Eldee Young is simultaneously singing and bowing the same phrase on his bass (in doing so channeling the spirit of the mighty Slam Stewart**), and Walker (who wrote the tune) chimes in on piano. After some minor drum “soloing” the band drops into the groove again, keeping it up until the end of the record. Though this track didn’t appear on any original Young-Holt LPs, it has been reissued a few times on CD. The 45 (like most of their 45s) shouldn’t be that hard to find.

* There is some controversy as to the genesis of “Soulful Strut”. Consensus seems to be that the Barbara Acklin track existed before the Young-Holt record, and that ‘Soulful Strut’ is merely ‘Am I the Same Girl’ with the vocal track stripped off. This brings into question whether Young-Holt (or Walker) appear anywhere on their biggest hit.

** In the late 30's and early 40's Slam Stewart was the bassist for the legendary King of Vout Slim Gaillard. Stewart mastered the technique of singing and bowing the same phrase and featured it on many ‘Slim & Slam’ records. Another Gaillard bassist, “Tiny’ Bam Brown also employed this technique.

Eddie Bo & The Soulfinders - The Rubber Band Pt1

Once again

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr. Eddie Bo

Yo yo yo, how ‘bout some ‘mo Bo? Certainly, when you’re discussing funky records dropped in the Crescent City there are a few reliable “brand names” you can rely on for high quality stuff. You’ve got your Allen Toussaint’s, your Wardell Quezerque’s, you’re Senator Joneses, but most of all, above the rest and certainly the best you have the mighty Eddie Bo. Working his magic as writer, arranger, producer, talent scout and all around good guy Mr. Bocage created and/or helped to create some of the sweetest, funkiest sides ever to accompany a pound of delicious shrimp as a bonus gift. Those with a more than passing knowledge or interest in NOLA funk will certainly be familiar with classics like Bo’s ‘Hook and Sling’ (actually his only national hit), the Explosion’s ‘Hip Drop’ or Roger & The Gypsies ‘Pass The Hatchet’. Those with a deeper knowledge of that same scene are aware that those records are only scratching the surface and that below lies a treasure trove of great music. One of the more obscure, but no less brilliant sides in the Bo canon is ‘The Rubber Band pts 1&2’, Bo’s sole release for the Knight label. Knight was the flagship label for the studio of the same name, owned and operated by NOLA legend Traci Borges (who’s name for some “mysterious” reason appears as the writing credit for this very 45). The record, credited to Eddie Bo & The Soulfinders was for a long time (for me anyway) one of the mystery records in Eddie discography. The first clue that it even existed was the shout out at the beginning of yet another Bo project (one of the first Eddie Bo related discs I ever scored) ‘Curly Moore & The Kool Ones’ ‘Shelley’s Rubber Band’ which starts out:

‘You’ve done Eddie Bo’s ‘Rubber Band’ haven’t you? You’ve done the Meters ‘Rubber Band’ haven’t you? Now let’s do ‘Shelley’s Rubber Band’!” *

I managed to track down the Meters ‘Rubber Band’ (actually 1971’s ‘Stretch Your Rubber Band’ which was the b-side of one of the band’s few non-LP 45s ‘Groovey Lady’), next. I happened upon a few references to an Eddie Bo 45 on Knight, but thought this was a mistaken listing of the Curly Moore & The Kool Ones disc on House of the Fox. Eventually I found a copy (strangely enough the only copy of this record I’ve ever seen for sale) and picked it up forthwith. I was not disappointed. As soon as I dropped the needle on the record I knew I had a winner on the turntable. ‘’The Rubber Band Pts 1&2’ is a seriously funky record, that exists as a bridge between Bo’s syncopated fun-loving stuff like ‘Hook and Sling’ and heavier sounds like ‘Funky Yeah’. The tune has a crazy beat, with cool guitar, horns and backing vocals, a harmonica (?!?) and Bo grunting and whooping it up all over the place. There’s also some jazzy saxophone running through both parts of the song. The production is wild, drenched in reverb and with a somewhat different sound than his other efforts. The production is credited to Traci Borges and the arrangement to Bob Lawrence. While I’m willing to assume that Bo actually wrote the tune (contradicting the composer credit) the sound is far enough off the mark for me to believe that someone other than Bo might have been working the board on this session (or at least working it with him). Despite the fact that Tuff City’s ‘Eddie Bo & The Soul Finders: Hook and Sling’ features a track called “Eddie’s Rubber Band’ , that track is in fact ‘Shelley’s Rubber Band’, and the real ‘Rubber Band’ has yet to be comped. It appears that between Eddie Bo, The Meters and Eddie Bo again (predating the Spinners “Rubber Band Man” by about 5-6 years…)there was some kind of ‘Rubber Band’ dance craze going in New Orleans, which in turn makes me wonder what the ‘Rubber Band’ dance looked like. * More of Eddie Bo’s Funky Confusion: The record ‘Shelley’s Rubber Band’ b/w ‘Funky Yeah’ on the House of the Fox is credited to Curly Moore and the Kool Ones. Eddie Bo has maintained that Curly Moore (one of the great 1960’s New Orleans soul singers) was nowhere near the studio when the record was recorded. Since the writing credit on the 45 had been “appropriated” and assigned to NOLA DJ Shelley Pope, I assumed that it wasn’t much of a leap to assume that someone involved in that process had slapped Curly Moore’s name on the disc to spread a little more of the love. Over the years, as I’ve actually gotten my hands on and listened to several Curly Moore 45s, the possibility that it is actually Moore doing the shout-outs at the beginning of ‘Shelley’s Rubber Band’ doesn’t seem that far fetched (especially when he says ‘Let’s do Shelley’s Rubber Band!”). certainly in the ensuing 30+ years, memories have been clouded, money’s changed hands (often the wrong hands) and grudges have been held. I can’t say definitively that Mr. Bo is mistaken, but at this point I’d say the issue is still up for discussion. This of course does nothing to change the fact that this is still for all intents and purposes an Eddie Bo record.

Hollis Floyd - Have You Seen Her

The Chi-Lites

Greetings. This is the first day since Monday where I’ve felt even remotely healthy enough to even think about writing anything. Needless to say the germs of the baby (in a strange twist on the old adage) are delivered upon the father (and mother, and if evil germs win out, the grandmother), and the lowly bacteria (or virus) that brought the once mighty house of Grogan to a standstill - the battlements riddled with the fallen - is at last on the wane. Our latest installment brings us back around to the world of the Hammond groove, Philadelphia area department, cool covers section. Hollis Floyd was a Philly organist, who early in his career was a member of The Medallions - along with guitarist and Harthon co-founder Johnny Styles – who recorded at least one 45, “Ebb Tide Pts 1&2” for King. Floyd is best know to collectors for his semi-novelty ‘Black Poncho Is Coming’ (which has an excellent b-side in ‘Everything is Everything’) , released (like today’s selection) on his own Silloh label. Floyd had a great swinging style (not too far off the mark from Charlie Earland’s sound) with at least as much – if not more- jazz than R&B. My buddy Haim let me know he had a copy of ‘Black Poncho’ for sale, and I noticed that he had another Floyd 45, so I decided to grab them both. This turned out to be a wise and ultimately satisfying move… “Have You Seen Her” was a huge vocal hit for the Chi-Lites in 1971. Co-written by lead vocalist Eugene Record and soul diva Barbara Acklin, the tune is a sweet mid-tempo gem that is often – mistakenly but understandably – wrapped in with the Philly sound of the era. Dropping the needle on Hollis Floyd’s version was initially a shock as he converted the slow, smooth vibe into a swinging, uptempo groove. The fact that this change-up works at all is a testament to the quality of the melody, and the ability to erase the melancholy lyrics the mind of the listener. The track features Floyd’s Hammond, with guitar and drums (it sounds like organ bass) and it has a sound I can imagine coming out of a transistor radio on a hot, early-70’s summer day in Philly. The record was arranged by guitarist Thornel Schwartz (who had started out with no less a giant than Jimmy Smith), so I'm willing to bet that it's him on guitar. Other than the two Silloh 45s mentioned here, and 45s on the Jell and Junior labels that I don’t have, I haven’t been able to track down many recordings under Floyd’s name. I’d love to know if he still plays.

The Marvelettes - I'll Keep On Holding On

The Marvelettes

“ I got the in the hospital with a kidney stone, baby’s got a stomach virus bluuuues……” The last couple of days have been a stone hootenanny (pun intended) as I was felled for the third time in 5 years by a kidney stone (you do not want to know how bad it hurts…). My experience at the hospital was typical of American health care in the 21st century (it sucked) and I would have gotten as much help if I’d gone to a 7-11, thrown a $20 on the counter and started gobbling Advil and spring water. I get home from the hospital and America’s favorite little soul man (my 15 month old son) starts exploding at both ends with a stomach virus of some kind. He was unhappy, we were unhappy, all God’s chillun was unhappy. Nothing like working all week and having your precious weekend explode in a glowing mushroom cloud of crap, vomit and unbearable abdominal pain. All this too-much-information in explanation as to why there hasn’t been a post since Wednesday. So, anyway… Last week I selected a fresh batch of 45s on which to blog-ify in this space. A coupla Eddie Bo-related numbers, some Hammond groovers and a few of my fave Northern Soul classics. Just so happens one of these pre-selected gems carries with it a message of hope and perserverance fitting in these most recent times of personal trouble. Back some months ago I wrote about Maurice & The Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It, a stunning Northern style dancer that had been covered to great effect by UK mod/soulies the Action. It was on a mid-80’s comp of the Action’s greatest hits that I was first introduced to a number of soul classics, including today’s selection, ‘I’ll Keep On Holding On’ by the Marvelettes. Prior to 1986 or so, if you’d brought up the Marvelettes in conversation, ‘Please Mr. Postman’ would have popped into my mind and I would have changed the subject. Of course I had yet to hear ‘Too Many Fish In The Sea’ (or had only heard Mitch Ryder’s 200mph version) or ‘The Hunter Get’s Captured By The Game’, so my limited frame of reference on all things Motown led me to write off the Marvelettes (unfairly) as inferior or at the very best, run of the mill. Then the day came when my mod mentor Bill Luther whipped a tape on me with the original versions of many of the Action’s best tunes, and my mind was suitably blown. While the Action’s take on ‘I’ll Keep On Holding On’ was anthemic, it can’t hold a candle to the Marvelettes original. From the pounding drums of the intro (some of the best-recorded drums on a Motown 45 and that’s saying a lot), which lead into a heavy dance beat, to one of my favorite vocals (not sure if this is Wanda Young or Gladys Horton), once this record has you dancing it just keeps on giving and giving until you’re bobbing your head, eyes closed, dripping sweat on everyone around you (but they’re probably doing the same thing so no big….). Were you to engage in a bit of reverse engineering and dissect this record into it’s individual elements you would discover that unlike so many “whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts” escapades, these building blocks are powerful on their own. The drums stand in both as a rhythmic base (the aggregate impact of the snare, tambourine and handclaps) and propulsive, transitional element (listen to snare/tom tom combos midway through the choruses). They have a deceptive simplicity dependant on the idea that most listeners wouldn’t be sitting there picking the record apart, but rather grooving/dancing. The lead and backing vocals fit together perfectly, and in combination with the percussion provide the bulk of the sound being pushed through your speakers. Though the horn section is present, the majority of the melody is being carried by the singers, and the drums are so high in the mix it’s difficult to focus on anything else (listen to the Supremes’ ‘Love Is Like Am Itching In My Heart’ for a similar Motown arrangement). No matter how you slice it, ‘I’ll Keep On Holding On’ is nothing less than a soul anthem. It’s the kind of record that the ecstatic dervishism of Northern Soul dancefloors from the 60’s on is based in. It’s the sound of soul lovers being carried out of themselves for roughly two and a half minutes (to be repeated until they turn on the lights and send everyone out into the cold morning air).

Sonny Jones - Sissy Walk Pt1

Mr. Eddie Bo

I’ve been feeling the need to drop some more Nawlins funk, so I dragged (drug) out the ole NOLA crate and selected a coupla groovers to discuss over the next few weeks. The first one is the sought after and tasty-as-a-beignet-on-a-cold-night ‘Sissy Walk Pt1’ by Sonny Jones on the Scram label. Most of you will know Scram as the home of Eddie Bo (at least in the late 60’s/early 70’s) and rightly so, since he was largely responsible in one way or another for most of the label’s product (despite label owner Al Scramuzza’s name popping up everywhere). ‘Sissy Walk Pts 1&2’ by Sonny Jones is a mid-tempo mover with a supremely funky groove and a cool vocal. It’s with the vocal that things get complicated. I’ve gone over (as much as is possible) the ever more confusing attributions on many new Orleans 45s, Eddie Bo and otherwise. Whether it’s strange, pseudonymous writing credits, musicians who get their name on the label but don’t perform on the record, or altogether non-existent performers cooked up to circumvent contractual obligations of some sort, the supply of informational dead ends and blind alleys is endless. To start with, there actually is/was a real “Sonny Jones” who recorded in New Orleans, better known as Little Sonny Jones (no relation it seems to the harmonica player Little Sonny who recorded for Revilot and Enterprise). What little information I’ve been able to find seems to indicate that Little Sonny Jones had retired (temporarily) from the music business before this 45 would have been recorded. The second clue that the vocalist on the 45 may be someone other than Little Sonny Jones, is the fact that the vocalist on ‘Sissy Walk’ sounds a whole lot like Eddie Bo himself (this in addition to the fact that it is almost certainly Bo on organ and his cohort James Black on drums). I suspect that even if some uber-lawyer – with an uncanny grasp of the statutes- were to swoop down on New Orleans like an avenging angel, set on unraveling this mess and setting things right, he too would end up banging his head on a mossy wall somewhere on Bourbon Street. In the end, we’re left with an outstanding example of late 60’s Nawlins funk, and though the story is clouded by the passage of time and who knows what else, my instinct tells me that were I to give credit where said credit is due, that trail would lead to none other than Eddie Bo. If I’m wrong, my sincerest apologies to Little Sonny Jones, Al Scramuzza, Tuff City Records and anyone else with a stake in the “Sissy Walk”. This track has recently been reissued on 45 by Vampisoul.

Lou Courtney - Hot Butter'n'All Pt1

Lou Courtney (Circa 1967)

To paraphrase the mighty Tenacious D – WARNING! The following music may very well blow the FUCK out of your speakers! Lou Courtney is a name that has passed the lips of funk collectors with increasing frequency in the last few years. He had a fairly respectable (in not million selling) career, releasing 18 45s and 3 LPs between 1963 and 1976. His mid-60’s recordings on Riverside/Popside are fantastic (and fairly easy to come by, with the exception of the funky and highly collectible ‘Hey Joyce’), and his lesser known 45s for Verve are also quite good. His recordings illustrate that Courtney, like most R&B/soul singers of the 1960’s followed a fairly reliable track, following the funk as it became more prominent in the late 60’s, and then stepping back into a more relaxed soulfulness as the 70’s wore on. As I said before, Courtney has become more popular with funk collectors since DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist sampled the tune ‘Hey Joyce’ for their Brainfreeze mix (the “Brainfreeze phenomenon”, i.e. records having been sampled for that mix soaring in value due to sharply increased demand has repeated itself over and over, from common records like Rufus Thomas’s ‘Breakdown’ to less common sides like Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham’s ‘Lover and a Friend’). 1967’s ‘Hey Joyce’ (which did not appear on the excellent ‘Skate Now (Shingaling)’ LP of the same year) was a churning slice of proto-funk, and it’s popularity (no matter how late) is not surprising. The record we’re her to discuss today is about 50 times funkier than ‘Hey Joyce’, and just as hard to locate. ‘Hot Butter’n’All’ was released on the Hurdy Gurdy label, sometime after Courtney’s 1969 45 on Buddah. It is as savage a funk 45 as has ever been laid down on wax, possessed of an energy so explosive as to bring into question how anyone involved in the record left the studio with their lives. It approaches (and perhaps passes) James Brown at his James Brown-iest (though honesty would not exist without the Godfather), and is as edgy as any basement produced-six-copies-known-to-modern-man funk rarity. Courtney lets loose with a series of screams that would have Wilson Pickett wetting his pants and begging for mercy. The drums are super hard, funky and heavy, the horn section is blaring and the guitar and bass are right on point. The record sounds like Lou and his band (the Funck Junction of ‘Hot Butter’n’All Pt2’ fame on the b-side of this very same 45) were all jammed into a VW microbus with a primitive microphone and sent hurtling down the side of Mt. Everest with nothing but a barrel of hot peppers and a handful of LSD. The dance-craze lyrics are hilarious (and suspiciously double-entendre-ish): I put the popcorn on her Listen to me y’all I put the popcorn on her Hot butter’n’all Sho was a mess My my my my my Butter on her dress…. Indeed… Here’s a record that might have been a huge hit, were it not released on the never-heard-of-it, pressed-in-Uncle Fruity’s-basement Hurdy Gurdy label. On the other hand, maybe the record would have been too intense for a larger audience. One can only image scores of Soul Train dancers spontaneously combusting on TV as Don Cornelius stood idly by with tears in his eyes and his afro catching fire at the edges (no doubt the result of a “stone gas” leak somewhere…). America was already in the grips of a ‘Popcorn’ mania (with all your Mother Popcorns, Honky Tonk Popcorns, Popcorn With a Feelings, Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorns, Poppin’ Popcorns, Pop Popcorn Childrens etc.), but this may have been the record to blow the whole thing wide open, causing the Black Panthers to replace their berets with Jiffy Pop. But it didn’t play out like that. As mighty as it was, ‘Hot Butter’n’All’ didn’t have that kind of impact. Perhaps after a record like that, Lou didn’t have any funk left in him. It does however remain- in 2005 – as a testament to the ultimate badness of Mr. Lou Courtney.

UPDATE:Agent45 of the Georgia R&B and Soul Records site sends along a label scan (and audio link in the comments section) for another disc on Hurdy Gurdy, 'Life Is Free' by Donald Height that uses the same backing track as 'Hot Butter'n'All'.