Chuck Rainey – Flabbergasted Vibes

Lightnin’ Rod – Hustlers Convention (1973)
Original release on United Artists (UA-LA156-F)
Reissued on Celluloid (1984) and Charly (1996)

1. Sport – Kool & the Gang, Lightnin’ Rod
2. Spoon
3. Café Black Rose
4. Brother Hominy Grit
5. Coppin’ Some Fronts for the Sets
6. Hamhock’s Hall Was Big (And There Was a Whole Lot to Dig!)
7. Bones Fly from Spoon’s Hand
8. Break Was So Loud, It Hushed the Crowd
9. Four Bitches Is What I Got
10. Grit’s Den
11. Shit Hits the Fan Again
12. Sentenced to the Chair
———————–

I’ve got some news // you dude’s could use // that might help y’all get by // So I thought I’d nonchalantly mention // the hustler’s convention // taking place at the end of July

This is the masterful and influential record from Alafia Pudim (aka Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin) of the Last Poets, supported by a group of musicians who can best be described as ecumenically funky. In fact the sheer number of well-known heavy hitters who appear on what was by and large a pretty underground and radically uncommercial album is astounding: Pretty Purdie, King Curtis, Julius Hemphill, Cornell Dupree, Eric Gale, Chuck Rainey, and a percussion army featuring Candido, Bobby Matos, Johnny Pacheco, and Norman Pride. The record allegedly features an uncredited Tiny Turner and the Ikettes, presumably on the last track. And of course there is the young Kool & The Gang, who in 1973 had been around for a while but were only just about to break into the mainstream.

While the Last Poets are infamous for the radical politics and black nationalism, this record is the aural equivalent of a blaxploitation film focused on two friends on an all-night gambling spree punctuated by drug use and violence set in 1955. There’s even a car chase and a shoot-out with the cops. And like some of its blaxploitation film peers, the record could be construed as political metaphor by the time it ends, the real draw here is the word play and the outrageous groove. A press kit from the original LP (scans of which are included here, scavenged from the interwebs) elaborates the narrative a bit and provides background on the two main characters of Sport and Spoon. This promo material also maintains that Lightnin’ Rod had a book in the works for Viking Press – anybody know about this? Production was done by Alan Douglas who has long pedigree or interesting work (in addition to infamously tampering with some posthumous Hendrix material). Sandwiched between the funk jams are instrumental extracts of a few actual songs borrowed from Buddy Miles, Sly Stone (uncredited) and Traffic. The pressing linked here is the Celluloid one.

————–
A1 Sport

Backing Band – Kool & The Gang

A2 Spoon

Bass – Fred Backmeier
Keyboards – Neil Larsen
Saxophone [Tenor] – Brother Gene Dinwiddie
Guitar – Howard ‘Buzz’ Feiten*
Drums – Phillip Wilson
Congas – Rocky Dejon*
Saxophone [Alto] – Julius A Hemphill

A3 The Cafe Black Rose

A4 Brother Hominy Grit

A5 Coppin’ Some Fronts For The Set

A6 Hamhock’s Hall Was Big

Bass – Jerry Jemmott
Organ – Billy Preston
Saxophone [Baritone] – James Mitchell
Saxophone [Tenor] – Andrew Love, King Curtis, Lou Collins*
Guitar – Cornell Dupree
Drums – Bernard Purdie
Trombone – Jack Hale
Piano – Truman Thomas
Trumpet – Roger Hopps, Wayne Jackson
Congas – Pancho Morales

B1 The Bones Fly From Spoon’s Hand

Backing Band – Kool & The Gang

B2 The Breack Was So Loud, It Hushed The Crowd

B3 Four Bitches Is What I Got

Backing Band – Kool & The Gang

B4 Grit’s Den

Bass – Chuck Rainey
Timbales – Bobby Matos
Drums, Congas – George McCleery
Saxophone [Tenor] – Maurice Smith, Trevor Lawrence
Guitar – Eric Gale
Percussion – Gordon Powell
Drums – Jimmy Johnson (2)
Piano – Richard Tee
Trumpet – Charles Sullivan, Gerry Thomas, Wilbur ‘Dud’ Bascombe*
Congas – Candido, Johnny Pacheco, Norman Pride

B5 The Shit Hits The Fan Again

Effects – Tom Clack

B6 Sentenced To The Chair

password/senha: vibes

Pretty Purde & The Playboys
“Stand By Me (Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get) “
Released 1971 Mega Records (M51-5001) / Flying Dutchmen
This reissue — Year unknown

Stand By Me 4:55
Modern Jive 3:18
Spanish Harlem 3:29
Artificialness 3:05
Never Can Say Goodbye 3:00
Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get 5:13
It’s Too Late 4:30
Funky Mozart 3:00
You’ve Got A Friend 3:51

Vinyl repressing -> Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable (with Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge, Speedbox power supply) > Creek Audio OBH-15 -> M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Soundcard -> Adobe Audition 3.0 at 32-bit float s 96khz -> Click Repair light settings, additional clicks and pops removed in Audition -> ID Tags done in foobar2000 v.1.0.1 and Tag & Rename.

* Bongos, Congas – Norman Pride
* Drums – Pretty Purdie
* Electric Bass – Chuck Rainey
* Guitar – Billy Nichols, Cornell Dupree
* Harpsichord, Tambourine – Neal Rosengarden*
* Horns [Reeds] – Billy Mitchell, Don Ashworth, Lou Delgatto, Seldon Powell, Warren Daniels
* Piano, Electric Piano, Arranged By, Conductor – Harold Wheeler
* Trumpet – Snooky Young*, Gerry Thomas
* Vocals – Carl Hall, Hilda Harris, Norma Jenkins, Tasha Thomas

Recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios, NYC, August 12 & 13, 1971
Producedy by Bob Thiele
Photography by Clarence (CB) Bullard, Ray Ross, Bob Thiele, Giuseppe Pino, Popsie
Design by Haig Adishian
Liner notes by Nat Henthoff

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This record inhabits a weird space of deep soul originals and funky covers of pop and Brill Building material. The actual 45 RPM hit single off this record was one of the former — the infectiously silly “Funky Mozart”, which begs for a promotional video with an afro-cut Amadeus at a Hammond B-3. But the rest of the repertoire sees Purdie interpreting Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector, Clifton Davis / Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye”, Carole King (twice!) and Ben E. King. In fact that opening title cut starts out sappy enough to make a person wonder whether or not they made a good choice putting this album on the platter, but those doubts are quickly dispelled. Thankfully, the album isn’t titled “Pretty Purdie Sings!” and this is the only vocal number than he handles himself, there than some scat, um scatting, Like all of Purdie’s albums under his own name – this is a ride based on fun, and if you can’t relax and enjoy yourself then you should probably get a job at AMG or Pitchfork or something.

One particular surprise on this one is an early cut from the recently-late, always-great Gil Scott-Heron, “Artificialness” in which he reads a poem relating domestic strife (and implied violence, incidentally) to the policies of the Vietnam War. Again, it’s humorous, but darkly so, and read over a blues groove that takes the song out swinging. Purdie had just finished playing on Gil’s “Piece of a Man” and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthis tune probably has its origins in that initial pairing up.

Tag: Chuck Rainey

Lightnin’ Rod – Hustler’s Convention (1973)

Pretty Purdie and The Playboys – Stand By Me (Watcha See Is Watcha Get) (1971) 24-96khz vinyl