Cody B
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Hammond B3 hero, Brother Jack McDuff cut this 1/2 live, 1/2 studio session for Chess subsidiary Cadet in 1969 and as my Yorkshire buddy Phil says.."It's a cracker."
Gin and Orange (title cut posted and more in comments) was recently reissued by the funk finding folks at Dusty Groove, who have been expanding beyond their boundaries of on-line and physical retail to become a label of their own.
A genius idea really. Who would know better which rare,groovy records to reissue on CD than a place that specializes in rare,groovy records. This no brainer idea is not new of course. The granddaddy of all reissuers, Rhino, made the transition from store to label a long time ago.
Slowly but surely, contractors like Dusty Groove, Water, and Collectables are emptying major label vaults and bringing masterful masters into the digital realm. I dunno why the majors are holding out, but for now this scenario works fine for me. We want these records, we don't care who puts 'em out.
So please take a sip of Gin and Orange here and groove to the burner, Channel One in comments.
Amen! Brother Jack
You'll recognize, The Champ from a raft (over 50) of Hip Hop artists that have sampled it, including, Eric B & Rakim, DJ Shadow, and KRS-One. That it was released in '68 by a group of studio musicians led by British library music legend Alan Hawkshaw, makes it all the weirder that it has become such a fixture in hip hop. Were talking pantheon here..one of the earliest break dancing tracks. A seminal Hip Hop record.
The Champ was released on Pama records, a British label ('68-'73) that was known for licensing American Soul records for release in the UK, creating homegrown knock off soul, and most famously as an early supporter of ska, blue beat, and rock steady records. They were doing it for the children..or at least for their money.
I guess it's possible that The Champ became known to break dancers in the Bronx because so much of early US DJ culture was driven by folks from the Caribbean. It's likely these ex-pats with relatives in England had a connection to get these British records, and so they probably got a hold of all the Pama releases. DJ's probably found The Champ as a hardly played single in their mom and pop's 45 collection..well that's my theory anyway.
If you'd like to develop your own theories without going broke searching for singles on ebay, a CD collection of Pama singles, Black Is Soul, came out in 2007 on Spain's Wah Wah label.
At any rate, the amount of cross cultural exchange going on in these records is a wonder to behold. Better still, as befitting a label that was aiming straight at British youth and their new musical obsessions:Soul/Ska, the singles collected here are the basis of a storming dance party.
Check out, The Champ, here. In comments see a soul burner from Betty LaVette, and a salacious Max Romeo tune.
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Max Romeo's "Wet Dream" was itself a remake of an older tune on the same riddim - Derrick Morgan's "Hold You Jack". Derrick remade it himself as " I Love You"
Yeah, I know, a bunch of Go Go posts the last little while..so sue me, I have Chocolate City on my mind, and Go Go is DC's music, so there it is.
Legend has it that DC was the favorite landing place for P-Funk/George Clinton and their Mothership. Though they were from Detroit, Parliament's second album, 1974's Chocolate City, envisioned a change in DC that seemed far fetched then, but looks like a prophecy now.
P-Funk always went a little further out in DC..The New Book Of Rock Lists compiled the 5 most meorable P-Funk moments in DC.
- Capital Centre,1977:George Clinton asks the people for a joint. A blizzard of reefers falls upon the stage.
- Capital Centre,1981: George emerges naked from the mothership.
- RFK Stadium,1971: funkadelic members reveal bare asses during "Loose Booty"; the band gets tear gassed.
- Capital Centre,1981: Sly Stone sings a simple song with the Funk Mob.
- Capital centre,1979:Phillipe Wynne, former ead singer of the Spinners, appears in white tie and tails to sing "Sadie" and "A Change Is Gonna Come."
George about to disrobe?
The love DC showed for P-Funk definitely translated to the homegrown music. As a huge P-Funk fan myself, I recognized the rhythmic assault and full band approach of Go Go as something right up my alley.
Go Go Crankin' was the first album of DC's new funk that I ever heard (outside of isolated contact with some Chuck Brown and Trouble Funk) and I was pleased. By the mid 80's Funk was in trouble (pre-rediscovery through hip hop) and big bands playing dance music were quickly going the way of the dodo. At the time (1984) this record was a ray of hope (I guess that's why I'm thinking of DC)..new funk with a hip hop flavor that was an unstoppable force on the dancefloor.
See if you don't catch a little of the P-Funk vibe from these classic Go Go sides. There's call and response, dog talk, wordy rappinghood,and most importantly, funk to burn.
Happy Friday.
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Love these posts. Didn't you do this to me with your Northern Soul posts as well?
Maybe..I try my best to be an Old School EMCD..plus (in props to MOG) my music sounds a lot better on MOG players than off my itunes.
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Brother Jack McDuff - Channel One
Awesome, awsome album. Probably my favorite from McDuff. Great heads up. I will pull this out now, and get into the groove.
It was my first time hearing it Arkstar..and I dug.