BACKDOOR SANTA

Originally issued as an Atlantic compilation back in 1968, Soul Christmas is just what is says: a collection of songs featuring R&B legends such as Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Clarence Carter, William Bell, King Curtis, and Booker T. & the MG's. But if you're looking for a compilation of mostly traditional Christmas tunes, this is not the record to buy. Apart from nods to time-honored classics like "White Christmas" (gloriously reinterpreted by Redding), Booker T.'s perky "Jingle Bells," and the R&B favorite "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" (featuring sax man King Curtis at his bluesy best, along with a guitar solo by Duane Allman), the songs are all tailor-made originals that fit the style of the respective artists. Thus, Carter's "Back Door Santa" is a hilariously salacious cut--a supremely funky tune that Run DMC sampled for their own Yuletide concoction, "Christmas in Hollis."

TROPICOLA

Crazed music librarian Nino Nardini was considered a mad scientist of modern music. The French genius had one of the most gifted and imaginative minds not only as a composer, but an innovator as well, and he has never failed to astound or impress with the sheer brilliance and variety of his musical concoctions.

A slow funky masterpiece, 1972's "Tropicola" is a bubbling groover with a snakey exotic jungle groove. This music pushed the boundaries in the '60s and '70s when it was first created; it's still doing it now, and probably will continue to do so for years to come.

MUSICAL SILT

The Ethiopian revolution of 1974 had one of two consequences for the country's musicians: play, against their will, in military bands, or flee for their lives. It was right around this time that Girma Beyene joined forces with the Wailas to produce one of the heaviest, most incendiary, guns-a-blazin' tracks of afro-funk ever.

Born in Addis Ababa, Girma Beyene started his career as a musician in high school and and had a long and fruitful career playing with other legendary Ethiopian bands like the Ghion Band, the Girmas Band, and the All Star Band. During the revolutions of '74, Beyene joined the Walias Band. It’s members included Hailu Mergia (organ), Moges Habte (sax), Yohannes Tekola (trumpet), Mahmoud Aman (guitar), Temare Harege (drums) and Girma Chibsa (percussion). It was with the Wailas that he composed "Musical Silt," a tune that has adorned the Ethiopian instrumental music scene for years and even remade by various U.S. bands including The Either Orchestra, The Daktaris, and Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra.

Menacing and monolithic, "Musical Silt" snarls and serpentines itself right out of the speakers, and it's certainly one of my favorites. (Please excuse the 6 or 7 second lead-in time at the beginning of the track.)

WACK WACK

Breezy jazz-funk, a little bit of disco, and porn soundtracks inform Tim "Love" Lee's debut, all produced with a variety of late-'70s and early-'80s B-movie soundtrack staples like cheap synthesizers, sarod, bongos, vocoder and vibes.

"Wack Wack" has a unique and edgy sound, with some jaw-droppingly delicious breaks, Afro-cuban percussion, festive horn samples--it's well-programmed and just enough of a presence to lift "Confessions of a Selector" above many stale trip-hop and breakbeat records.

DAKTARI WALK

Soon after it's release in the early Desco days, the Daktaris' "Soul Explosion" became a sought after funk classic and has since become a staple in every serious funk and afro-funk collection.

According to rumor, The Daktaris are actually several alumni from Fela Kuti's band, and as expected, "Soul Explosion" contains massive chunks of throbbing Afrobeat, the style perfected by the late Nigerian performer. Part Nigerian and part American funk à la James Brown, these 10 mostly instrumental tracks are hardcore, juju-headed time bombs from the dance floor of the motherland, with a baritone sax-fronted horn section riding earthshaking rhythms, thundering bass lines, and occasional wah-wah guitar.

As Peter Franklin of Abidjan Musique says, "The Daktaris is a well-disciplined army of two hundred African Bull Elephants marching relentlessly up your business to the beat from Funky Drummer."

PS-Thanks to the Calisoulbrother for hipping me to this one many moons ago.

KEEP IT FUNKY

Cleveland Eaton is considered by many to be one of the best jazz bassists ever. Eaton was born in Alabama where he started his musical career. Later he moved to Chicago where he became part of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, recording on almost all of Lewis’ big hits. He also did some studio work for Chess records and appeared on such projects as the Soulful Strings’ recordings.

"Keep It Funky" is an appropriate beginning to "Half and Half," which is by far one of the funkiest jazz-funk albums from the early seventies. Greasy guitars, harmonicas, and a steamy, halftime groove swirl together and the end result is--what else?--a dusty nugget.

BREAKTHROUGH

After he sang the praises of a certain black private dick named Shaft (but before he started slinging hash in the little town of South Park), mega-baritone crooner Isaac Hayes got a chance to personally bust some heads in the little known but ultra-cool blaxploitation classic "Truck Turner."

The soundtrack features stellar work from Isaac Hayes, who scored a batch of badass tunes that still stand with some of the best funky soundtrack work of the 70s. The rhythm's especially hard on the best cuts -- really crackling with a lot of intensity, and a stark, hard funky sound that's made the record a favorite of beatheads for years. Ike kicks it hard on cuts like "Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile", "House Full Of Girls", "Drinking", "Give It To Me", and "Now We're One". But the real dusty nugget on this record is the massive "Breakthrough," which alone is worth the price of the high cost of the LP.

HARVEST IN THE EAST

Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s.

"Harvest in the East" was recorded and released by Clive Chin, one of Jamaican music's greatest unsung heroes. While working at the family business, Randy's Record Store and the crucial studio upstairs, Randy's Studio 17, Chin oversaw seminal recordings by the '70s top reggae performers and producers: the Wailers, Alton Ellis, Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Lee Perry and Black Uhuru. From 1969, when it opened, Randy's Studio 17 became a focal point of Jamaican music, with the studio booked non-stop. Working with innovative engineer Errol Thompson, a teenaged Clive Chin laid down thick bass and drum rhythms which became both the signature sound and the roots of reggae and dub.

Often hailed as one of the 20 greatest Reggae seven inches, Tommy McCook's "Harvest in the East" is a true masterpiece.

ROCK STEADY

Like its predecessor, "Spirit in the Dark," 1972's "Young, Gifted and Black" found Aretha moving with soul music's elite into a progressive phase that opened up the emotional content of her work even further. It mixed both sides of Aretha -- the earlier hard-hitting soulsister, and the developing vocalist with a rich talent for more sophisticated material. The album features the anthemic title cut in Aretha's famous version -- plus the sample favorite "Rock Steady."

The track was recorded in Miami’s Criteria Studios in the fall of 1970. Franklin, who wrote the song and provided a scratch vocal and piano part, was present at the morning session along with Bernard Purdie on drums, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Richard Tee on organ, and Chuck Rainey on bass. (Franklin’s final vocal, the backup vocals, and the horn parts would all be added later.) Producer Arif Mardin eventually wrote out charts, but none were really needed for the simple two-chord, two-section ditty about, ahem, jumping into your car and “taking a ride.”

After a few quick run-throughs, engineer Gene Paul (who was responsible for Rainey’s massive bass presence in the mix), said, “Let’s put one down so we can hear what it sounds like.” Rainey, Purdie, Dupree, and Tee had cut many a side together, and in a testament to their creative powers, the foursome issued a slamming first take. The diligent production team of Mardin, Jerry Wexler, and Tom Dowd had the musicians rework and re-record the song for the next three or four hours before it was finally realized that the first pass was perfection.

DIFFERENT STROKES

Born Sylvester Thompson in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Syl Johnson sang and played with blues artists Magic Sam, Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf in the 1950s, before recording with Jimmy Reed for Vee-Jay in 1959. He made his solo debut that same year with Federal, a subsidiary of King Records of Cincinnati, backed by Freddie King on guitar.

He then began recording for Twinight Records of Chicago in the mid 1960s. Beginning with his first hit, Come On Sock It to Me in 1967, Johnson dominated the label as both a hitmaker and producer. With a hard-hitting, funk and blues drenched, west side style, Johnson became a leading figure in the Chicago soul scene at the end of the 60s.

The track below, "Different Strokes," might be Syl's best known jam--it starts with a massive break and continues to scorch everything in its path. A true funk classic, "Different Strokes" has been sampled by hundreds of hip-hop artists (Boogie Down Productions, Wu-Tang Clan, N.W.A., and Public Enemy, just to name a few) and continues to light up dancefloors the world over.



Boogie Down Productions' "Criminal Minded":

CHITLIN STRUT

The Backyard Heavies may well have been the house band at Reflection Sound studio in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they cut a series of singles in the early ‘70s. Certainly they included Roger Branch, the leader of the Reflection Sound band and formerly sound engineer at Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn’s Sea-Saint studio. A classy, pocket-hugging instrumental, Chitlin’ Strut appeared initially on the New Orleans Hotline label and was later picked up by Scepter Records, but it didn’t sell well and remains hellish tricky to locate.

BOOT-LEG

"Boot-Leg" finds Booker T. & The MG's core group (Booker, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson, and Steve Cropper) joining forces with the Mar-Keys horn section. The Mar-Keys were a session band for the Stax label from Memphis, Tennessee in the 1960s. As the first house band for the label, their backing music formed the foundation for the early 1960s Stax sound. Featuring Charles "Packy" Axton on tenor sax and Don Nix on saxophone, this track is often overlooked in the Booker T. anthology, and it's a shame--because it's a ton of fun. What else can you say?

CROSSWIND

William E. Cobham Jr. is simply one of the best jazz drummers there has ever been. Period. Armed with formidable technical skill, he came to prominence in the early days of fusion as the rhythmic force behind Miles Davis' fusion experiments. (Oddly enough, he also played drums on my ex-stepfather's solo album.) His other notable early 70s posting was in the engine room of fusion supergroup the Mahavishnu Orchestra. "Crosswinds" comes from the next stage of his career, as the powerful and superfast jazz-rock of Mahavishnu gave way to a more human jazz-funk sound. The transformation was taking place through 1973's 'Spectrum' (being particularly evident in sampler's favourite, "Stratus") but the change of guitarist to John Abercrombie ushered in a less frenetic sound.

The Brecker brothers are on particularly good form, especially Michael with his keening soprano. And don't forget George Duke, anchoring the whole thing with a funky riff on a heavily funked-up rhodes. Where the album really stands out, though, is on the slower cuts like "Crosswind." Sampled ad infinitum by hip-hop acts (check Gang Starr's "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow") and paid homage by modern funk acts like the Breakestra, "Crosswind" is a jazz-funk classic.



Gang Starr's "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow":

FUNKY LINE (PART II)

A funky 45 that never fails to please, courtesy of the Fabulous Shalimars. With a nasty drum break about :20 in, and a fun, lowdown sound, this track has become a dancefloor classic. Unfortunately, a google search about the Shalimars proved rather fruitless--no one seems to know where these guys came from, or what year this dusty nugget was released. But one thing's for sure...it's a jam! (A copy of the 45 recently sold for $70 on Ebay.)

SORCERY

A truly rare gem of big-band funk from Poland's Big Band Katowice. Released in 1977, the "Music for My Friends" LP is one of the best Eastern European Jazz funk records (courtesy of the MUZA label) you'll ever find.

"Sorcery" is a wonderful introduction to the kinds of rare grooves DJ's and crate-diggers have been digging from Poland for years -- that mad mix of jazz, funk, fusion, and electric elements that somehow managed to flourish wonderfully during the 70s years of Soviet control -- a real musical marvel, considering the setting -- and because of tight border control, very few of these LP's made it out to the Western world. "Music for My Friends" has stood the test of time and then some, with wicked breaks, dense brass sections, and an unrelenting groove.