imshakin » jazz

James Polk and The Brothers – The Robot (Sonobeat 1969)

alex larotta — Thu, 12 May 2011 23:10:41 +0000

Aaaand we’re back. Excuse the lull, folks, but we’re dusting off the cobwebs and ready for more. Now, let’s talk Austin – home to us here at I’m Shakin’, though rarely covered as far as independently-produced 45s. Relatively speaking, Austin had a small music scene – recording/production wise – up until the early to mid ’70s, considerably late in the game for independent record production in general. Undoubtedly, and as is often the case of smaller communities, there were some few musicians and producers actively making records in the area before designated studios were readily available in Central Texas.

James Polk, prior to forming his legendary Twink label some few months later in ‘69 (named after his friend, ‘Twink’, proprietor of East Austin’s then-popular Hide-a-Way Lounge) recorded this single for father and son team Bill & Rim Josey and their Sonobeat Records, another local imprint of storied legacy. With the plug side Stick-To-It-Tive-Ness featuring the powerful, soulful vocals of Austin diva Yvonne Joseph, it seemed the Joseys were intent on marketing the vocal side of the record, given its distinct pop sensibility and radio friendliness. Though both sides are great in their own right, I personally prefer the flip – the oft-neglected B-side – which in this case is an extraordinary instrumental jazz-funk number. Polk delivers a knockout with his masterful hammond organ, The Brothers following closely at the helm. As generally defines the ’60s ‘Polk Sound’, the staggered drums are mixed upfront and center, with mellow horn play and a bouncy bass line keeping rhythm at a comfortable mid-tempo stroll. As a trained jazz maestro, Polk indiscriminately borrows from r&b, soul, and funk while maintaining jazz at the forefront, weaving in and out of time signature – resulting in this cerebral, Austin-born slice of jazz-funk. Recorded at the Joseys’ homemade recording studio in Northwest Austin, The Robot is the first and only record Polk would issue for Sonobeat before his next recordings on Twink. Following his brief foray as producer in Austin, Polk enjoyed a decade-long stint in the early 70s as bandleader for the Ray Charles Orchestra, earning a few Grammy nominations along the way. Polk is the story and key to Austin jazz music, inspiring legions of local musicians and entrepreneurs in his example, earning his legacy not only as a performer but as a long time music professor at Austin’s Huston-Tillotson University in his latter years. We’re happy to finally give him due credit, it’s been long overdue.

LISTEN: James Polk and The Brothers – The Robot

Alvin Hemphill-The Jug Pt. 1 (Big C, 196?)

alex larotta — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:34:37 +0000

Hailing from Dallas, TX, Alvin Hemphill and his 7″ single, The Jug, might be some of the best in North Texas’ soul-jazz output. With its tall, walking bass, splashy drums, and funky Hammond organ groove, Alvin released this single on the local Big C label (likely his own custom imprint) and vanished into relative obscurity. As far as I know, this is his only known release, but a mighty fine one at that. Though the Gulf Region has a considerable amount of diverse, cross-cultural sounds, independently produced soul-jazz is considerably unique to Texas’ Great Plains (at the very least, of lesser quantity). With little information to go on, I’ll leave you now with Alvin’s delectable organ swinger.

LISTEN: Alvin Hemphill-The Jug

Sol-Maranatha (GCP 1975)

alex larotta — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:27:37 +0000

Greetings all, this week I’m hauling in some Chicano jazz-funk from the seemingly endless musical depths of San Antonio, TX. Released in ‘75, bandleader/keyboardist/trombonist Joe Gallardo and Sol released their full-length self-titled album, from which this single comes, on Manny Guerra’s GCP record label. I’ve mentioned Manny Guerra on here before, his wide breadth and key development of San Antonio’s recording industry, from producer to arranger to session player and label owner, seems to stretch endlessly on credits from a diverse spread of recording artists in the region from the late 50s to present day. Manny is also well known to many for his arrangement credits with Sunny and The Sunglows and their cover of Little Willie John’s “Talk To Me” on Huey Meaux’s Teardrop Records, which was one of the biggest hits of their career.

Joe Gallardo’s Sol LP is lauded by many as a Texas psych funk masterpiece, with diverse sound ranges of acid jazz, whirly space synths, guitar freakouts, and funky latin percussion mixed together in a way that only 70s fusion can pull off. “Maranatha”, a shorter stereo mix version of the LP version, embodies the jazz fusion spirit of Herbie Hancock’s “Headhunters” LP, with full body kick drums, wah-wah guitar effects, and luscious horn crescendoes. Joe continues arranging and writing music to this day, and is a centrifugal developer of the Texas Jazz Festival in Corpus Christi that initially started in 1959 when he was a member of the Jazz Club at Del Mar College. He also tenders Grammy credits for his composition work on Mongo Santamaria’s “Amanecer” LP, and continues to perform and record in Hamburg, Germany with a multitude of noted jazz artists and producers from around the world.

You’ll notice that though I don’t usually feature 70s fusion music, I always make exceptions for the exceptional. Sol’s “Maranatha” is a fine example of the rich, versatile soundscapes of Chicano soul in Texas, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Also, just want to mention that we are packing our figurative bags and moving our site to a new server in the next few days. We’re also changing the domain name, but no worries, we will direct you to our new space so we can continue serving you music freaks with the depths of our music collections. Thanks for being with us thus far, we look forward to sharing our new digs with you and spreading the love of vinyl to all of our readers. All that aside, chew on some San Antonio funky fusion and we’ll be back next week on the new site!

LISTEN: Sol-Maranatha