Tags: instrumental

4 Dec 2009, Comments (11)

Little Joe and The Embers-Soul Finger (1969 Discos Jesna)

Author: alex larotta
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Today’s post features some classic brown-eyed soul born and brewed here in our beloved Lone Star State. Little Joe, born Joe Martinez in Houston, TX, started his first band with The Embers in early 1961. Throughout the 60’s and early 70’s, there were two Little Joe’s of Texas and they were often billed together at events, concerts and shows as the “Two Little Joe’s of Texas”. The Little Joe featured in today’s post is Little Joe Martinez, cousin to the late great Tejano music legend, Rocky Gil of Rocky Gil and The Bishops fame. The other ‘Little Joe’ is Joe Hernandez, notable for his recordings with Little Joe and The Latinaires and Little Joe Y La Familia, some of which may be heard on Jazzman Gerald’s illustrious Texas Funk compilation, which can be found and purchased here. Released by Discos Jesna in Houston, Little Joe’s rendition of The Bar-Kays classic “Soul Finger” skews lightly on the vibrato horn work of the original and misses the children’s screaming of the title name, but still holds strong as a bonafied Texas soul burner.

Recorded and distributed by Discos Jesna of Houston, TX, Soul Finger was one of the first records produced by Natcho and Jesse (hence “Jesna”) Garza, two brothers who opened their small-time record label from their two-car garage in North Houston in the early 60’s. Little Joe and The Ember’s first recording of “Me Piden” topped the Texas Chicano music charts at # 1 for six straight weeks, it was also their first #1 record produced in their studio. Little Joe was also a vital character in the Houston Chicano music scene, he was friend to legendary producer & label owner Huey Mueax, and was involved with the distribution of spanish/country crossover hit, “Before The next Teardrop Falls”, recorded and produced by Huey’s Tear Drop Records, considered to be their biggest selling record by Texas music legend Freddie Fender. Little Joe continued to perform throughout the 80’s and 90’s under various band names and is widely recognized for his enormous contributions to Tejano music, playing with everyone from Selena’s father’s band Los Dinos to Sunny Ozuna to Selena herself, amongst a host of Chicano Texan music icons. Without a doubt, Little Joe Martinez is an integral part of Texas music and heritage. You can check out more of Little Joe’s resplendent music catalog here, and find out more on the formative years of the Tejano music culture on PBS’s wonderful Latin Music USA documentary series here.

Lastly, I would like to personally thank Little Joe Martinez for all his help and guidance on the information and photos for this week’s post, gracias por todo hermano!

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LISTEN: Little Joe and The Embers-Soul Finger

8 Oct 2009, Comments (0)

Pretty Purdie-Soul Drums (Date 1968)

Author: alex larotta
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To pick one track from “The World’s Most Recorded Drummer” is quite the daunting task, considering the massive catalog of session credits and genre crossovers from the early years of rhythm and blues to jazz, rock, funk, pop, and beyond. But Soul Drums from Bernard “Pretty” Purdie’s landmark eponymous album seems to perfectly exhibit Pretty’s phenomenal heavy funk drumming and highlight his signature Purdie Shuffle, so I thought it might be prudent to showcase this fine slab of funked up beat-heavy boogaloo. Not to mention, Soul Drums features some of my personal favorite drum breaks EVER, flared with a truly unique spacey psych reverb thrown on for good measure. Released on Columbia’s soul subsidiary Date Records in early ‘68, Soul Drums received warm reception at the time of its release, but it wasn’t until years later it garnered wider attention amongst break collectors and sample-based producers, perhaps most notably by the Dust Brothers use of the intro break on Beck’s sample-heavy crossover success, Odelay.

Born in Elkton, Maryland in 1939, Bernard began drumming at the tender age of 6 and embarked on his lifelong career as a premier session player and eventual solo recording artist. After moving to New York shortly after high school, Bernard went on to catch the ears of record producers and blazed a movement in popular rhythm, incorporating the funk backbeat with his imitable shuffle that is still studied and copied to this day. Soul Drums has received recent attention due to Sony’s decision to re-release this masterpiece some 40 years after it’s initial release, jam packed with lost goodies from the original session days which includes 8 unreleased tracks that were part of a supposed sophomore release that never saw the light of day until now. Purty was also the backing drummer for the recent rendition of Hair the Musical, which seems only fitting that the one of the architects of groove-pocketed drumming fill in for Galt McDermott’s renown funky composition, truly a most appropriate fit. You can listen to and purchase the newly expanded Soul Drums re-release here.

His drums can be heard on the who’s who in popular music from The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Steely Dan (if you don’t have Aja, get it now!), Lou Donaldson, and even 80’s pop icons Hall and Oates to name just a few of the 3,000 or so albums that tender his credits. If you do the math, Pretty practically lived in recording studios throughout the bulk of his unfuckwithable career. I could only imagine how he schooled legions of recording engineers on how to really mic a drum kit, must’ve been pretty intimidating to work with his learned hands.

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LISTEN: Pretty Purdie-Soul Drums

1 Oct 2009, Comments (3)

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown – Just Before Dawn (Peacock) 1959

Author: michael selman
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Given the handle “Gatemouth” as a high school student because of his voice sounding like an old rusty gate, fit like a glove, in the realm of blues vocals. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown used his rusty voice to his advantage in many genres of music, including: blues, jazz, Cajun and even R&B. As far as most blues musicians go, Gatemouth was my favorite for his talent with each of the many instruments he could play. He first started on the sticks in San Antonio, however he could play harmonica, fiddle, viola and guitar. I know that my posts up to this date were centered on Texas born and raised musicians.

This week is a little different in that Clarence was born in Vinton, Louisiana, however moved to Orange, Texas as a boy and began his musical career in San Antonio in 1945, so I figure he counts. His popularity grew opening for T Bone Walker and many others. In 1949 Don Robey founded Peacock Records out of San Antonio, first recording Brown (later recording the scorcher “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton). If not the first, one of the first few, to use a capo on his guitar also set Brown apart from the rest of the guitar musicians of his day.

The track I have chosen today is one I feel emphasizes Gatemouth’s ability to jump genres. This gutsy piece shows his violin chops and would be what I consider a hybrid of instrumentals, with its traditional blues backbone, and overlaying violin layer. This track creates a folk/blues/country sound, which I feel encompasses an early Texas trademark. “Just Before Dawn” would turn out to be Brown’s last recording under the Peacock umbrella in 1959.


LISTEN: Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown – Just Before Dawn

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