Jazz On The Beach 112 & Blues Beach 39
Jazz On The Beach 112 & Blues Beach 39
The Godfathers of Groove, The Mantecas, Emanuel K. Rahim & The Kahliqs, Greenwich Village Blues
The Godfathers of Groove
Before I started at Sony Music UK as Head of Jazz in 1995, I spent three years at Tower Records’ Piccadilly Circus store as Jazz Department Manager. It was a fantastic time to be working at the company’s flagship in Europe, and our prime location and late night opening (to midnight six days a week) enabled us to stock every jazz CD release that our buyers (especially Clif Smith, the extremely knowledgeable and irascible Texan) could track down. These were boom years for music sales, and through strong and wildly over the top marketing (‘unbreakable’ and ‘perfect sound forever’) with cheaper CD players coming onto the market, the public were seduced into replacing their record collections with CDs, although as we now know, often with poor quality mastering (things did eventually improve) and at inflated prices. Still, there was a great deal of music being reissued for the first time, and it was great to see customers come across long lost memories in the racks that were so important to them.
We always kept a good selection of Japanese import CDs, including those by the phenomenal drummer Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie, (now 84 years old and still cookin’), the man who put a pound of fatback drums into King Curtis’ Memphis Soul Stew, the originator of the Purdie Shuffle (think Steely Dan’s Babylon Sisters) and one of the finest groove drummers ever. We’d quickly sell out of his albums such as Bernard Purdie’s Jazz Groove Sessions in Tokyo and The Jazz Funk Masters - Fatback that mostly featured 60’s and 70’s hit repertoire and had been recorded on tour in Japan where he was an iconic figure. When played over the department’s excellent sound system, the jazz brotherhood may have been sniffy but all the musicians dug it.
I recently ran across a copy of The Godfathers of Groove Vol. 3 which was released in 2009 in the US on 18th & Vine, and features Purdie alongside Hammond organist Reuben Wilson and guitarist Grant Green Jr. The songs range from Stella By Starlight and Autumn Leaves to Light My Fire and What’s Going On, not exactly the most imaginative choices although the playing is great if a little by the numbers at times. But for this week’s show I chose The Funkster which was written by Green Jr with some of the essence of his illustrious father’s jazz-to-funk guitar spirit. Purdie just keeps the groove, I think he only plays one fill during the whole track just to introduce the head for the last time. But that’s all it needed.
The Mantecas
Something new this week from The Mantecas, a nine piece London-based band led by Argentinian bassist Javier Fioramonti who play Afro-Cuban jazz, Latin funk and bugalu. As was the case with The Jazz Sapiens I played last week, this is a stellar line up of UK musicians including saxophonist Paul Booth, trombonist Trevor Mires, trumpeter Ryan Quigley, pianist Dave Oliver, percussionist Satin Singh, guitarist Rob Luft, and percussionists Flavio Correa (also vocals) and Will Fry. The track chosen for the show is their version of Wayne Shorter’s Black Nile, the title track of their album about to released by Grosso Recordings on 3rd December.
Emanuel K. Rahim & The Kahliqs
More Latin jazz, but from a terrific and relatively obscure record from 51 years ago that deserves to be far better known. Total Submission by Emanuel K. Rahim & The Kahliqs was first released in 1972 by Cobblestone (distributed by Buddha Records) then reissued by Muse in 1980. Led by Emmanuel Khaliq Abdul Rahim’s propulsive congas (the extra ‘m’ is not a typo), this is an exciting band of hot players who are positively jamming through these fierce Latin meets Astral jazz grooves over six long tracks. I’ve picked Spirit of Truth for this week’s show which features some great solos from trumpeter Virgil Jones, trombonist Kiane Zawadi. soprano saxophonist Hugh Brodie and guitarist James Patterson. Trust me, you’ll love this!
Incidentally…the sleeve notes for the original release were written by someone (anyone know who?) under the obvious pseudonym of R.E. Bop and are frankly hysterical, but were more sensibly rewritten for the Muse reissue by Arnold J. Smith, the former editor of Downbeat Magazine.
There are encores for some artists recently featured on the show with Mike Longo’s stop and start Bitchin’ from The Awakening (Mainstream 1972), Bishop Norman Williams and The One Mind Experience’s deeply groovy Hip-Funk from Bishop’s Bag (Theresa 1978) and Ancient Infinity Orchestra’s yogic Niyama from River of Light (Gondwana, 17 November).
Among other new releases there’s pianist Les McCann’s electrifying I Am In Love from Never a Dull Moment: Live From Coast to Coast 1966-67 (Resonance), keyboardist Greg Foat’s floaty single Spider Plant Blues (Fat Sam) and classical violinist turned bassist/composer Radhika de Saram’s Adalar from her album From The Crows Nest (Rainy Days) featuring some fine work from saxophonist Zenya Strigalev.
Greenwich Village Blues
This week’s Blues Beach show is devoted to the folk and blues singers, groups and jug bands that were part of the Greenwich Village club scene in New York City during the early to mid ‘60s.
It was an exciting time where artists like Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, The Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Howlin’ Wolf and Fred Neil played, hung out and learned from each other at venues like Café Au Go Go, Café Wha?, Gerde's Folk City, The Bitter End, The San Remo Cafe, Café Figaro, The Five Spot Café and The Gaslight Café.
Radio Times
Listen live to Jazz On The Beach every Wednesday from 10.00pm - midnight UK time and Blues Beach every other Thursday from 6.00pm - 7.00pm UK time via the internet on DealRadio.co.uk or on the TuneIn Radio app.
Both shows are broadcast live from the Deal Radio Studio at 69a High Street, Deal, Kent CT14 6EH. Just drop by if you’re passing and browse the records for sale at the front.
Alternatively, just ask your smart device to ‘Play Deal Radio’.