Summer has left our once-warm grasp. In memorium, Darkjive presents Chess Records’ Billy Stewart with a 1966 version of the classic song ”Summertime” (from Porgy and Bess). I love how Billy Stewart’s scats interplay with insistent horns and halting guitar licks. The drummer on the cut is a very young Maurice White (of Earth, Wind, and Fire).
Originally from Washington, D.C., Stewart scored a string of hits in the mid sixties with Chicago record label Chess, including “I Do Love You”, “Fat Boy”, and “Sitting in the Park”. He died just shy of his 33rd birthday when his car plunged into a North Carolina river, alongside three of his bandmates. Billy Stewart’s “Summertime”: Fruitful, fleeting talent singing the praises of a fruitful, fleeting season.
I caught the video for “Satisfied” by Esser on cable access recently, and consequently can’t get the tango-inflected song out of my head. British artist Esser is a young chap with a notable ear and notable hair. The level of camp in this clip is high. Sort of makes me crave some Kid Creole & the Coconuts (above). Thoughts?
Notably, the video seems to take some inspiration from a 1903 film called “Le Mélomane”.
From Jerry Butler’s little brother, Billy, it’s “I’ll Bet You”. Jerry Butler, of course, was a member of the Impressions (as well as one of the most successful solo acts in Chicago Soul history). Billy never quite made it out from the shadow of his superstar brother, but he made a few valiant efforts: among them, “Right Track”, and this George Clinton and Sidney Barnes-penned mover, later recorded by Funkadelic.
Billy started his career at Chicago’s Okeh Records with a group called the Enchanters (later the Chanters). He was a talented songwriter and guitarist who credited both his brother, Jerry, and Curtis Mayfield for sparking his interest in music. The artists used to rehearse in the Butler living room.
Later in his career, he recorded with a group called Infinity, but ultimately ended his career solo on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records with the rare 70s groover “Sugar Candy Lady”.
Recorded at the House of Blues here in Chicago a few days back. It’s Mos Def, and his homage to the gloved one: a fresh interpretation of “Billie Jean”. Somehow, it works. Invention isn’t dead, after all. Jive on!
I know a lot of the Darkjive faithful are also among the analog faithful (some, if only in spirit). The clicks and pops old records afford make our hearts skip a beat (even recreated on digitized copies). Well, get ready for a digital wolf in warm, somewhat fuzzy sheep’s clothing: 45iPodcases.com. Their tagline even heralds ”Digital meets analog” (very, very literally).
Very clever, I say. Using old vinyl, labels and all (and old cassette tapes for iPod nanos) their collision of chips and skips is definitely a statement maker. As a 45 collector, I hope they use records that are unplayable (no reason for the babies to suffer).
And speaking of a new birth of wax, both iTunes and Amazon are selling digital 45s!
Apple’s iTunes Music Store is taking digital music back into the groove, offering two-song packages known as ”Digital 45s“: which feature an A-side and a B-side. For $1.50-$2.00, you can purchase a single along with a lesser-known track you might not already have (that can be difficult to find elsewhere on iTunes). Great ideas never really die. They just get remixed.
By way of the Bay Area, it’s Chicago’s own Natural Four. They signed to Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records in 1972, after five years without a hit, and within a year they gave us this blue light basement classic: “Can This Be Real.”
Inexplicably, the Natural Four never reached the success they deserved, dissolving in 1976. Robert Pruter, author of the book Chicago Soul, pointed out that they most likely suffered from the trend of doo-wop style vocal groups succumbing to the age of Disco, which mainly favored solo artists. But the Natural Four shone brightly, if only for a moment. Jive On.
The Swedish electro-soul combo Little Dragon is here in Chicago (for the first time), performing at the famed Kinetic Playground. Yukimi Nagano, by way of Swell Session and Koop, provides bouyant, yet keen lead vocals in this group that worships glitch as fervently as groove. Above, the video for one of my favorite songs from their self-titled debut, released in 2007. Good Business. Jive on.
Kinetic Playground–Tonight!
1113 W. Lawrence, Chicago (across the Street from the Aragon Ballroom)
Japan Pop Show (Quannum, 2008) was an album I first really heard in winter. A smart blend of samba and turntablism, with a smattering of funk and soulful hooks, I realized then that Curumin’s sound was built for summer. According to the New York Daily News: “It’s to Curumin’s credit that he kneaded this thick sonic dough into something not just digestible but delicious.” I think it’s more akin to a refreshing cocktail than a hunk of dough, but point taken.
A Brazilian of Spanish and Japanese lineage, Curumin performs his signature blend of Samba Soul in Chicago this Thursday. Check it out. Jive on.
The world-renowned French-Cameroonian sisters will be in Chicago this Thursday, ready to share their fusion of traditional African rhythms, jazz, and future-sonic soul. Not to be missed.
Start Time:
Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:00pm
Location:
Green Dolphin Street
Street:
2200 N Ashland Ave
City/Town:
Chicago, IL
www.lesnubians.com
$25 Adv. $30 DOS
(Brown Paper Tickets)
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/69712
Hosted by WHPK’s Mario
In collaboration with:
HotHouse | hothouse.net
Swank Society | swanksociety.com
Arte y Vida Chicago | arteyvidachicago.com
Ratio Nation | rationation.com
“Evil”. A fundamental Howlin Wolf record, created here in Chicago, back in the 1950s. A platter of standard electrified Delta Blues. Now, add Marshall Chess (son of Chess Records’ Leonard Chess), the turbulent and psychedelic 1960s, and some of the best jazz, funk, and soul studio players in the city. Remake and enjoy.
Well that’s not exactly true. Howlin Wolf (above) didn’t like the remake. Actually, the first album of such remakes, released on Chess Records’ Cadet Concept label was called:
‘This is Howlin’ Wolf’s
new album.
He doesn’t like it.
He didn’t like his electric
guitar at first either.’
The album, the brainchild of Marshall Chess, was a product of the times. In the sixties, white rock groups from America and the UK were gangstering Chicago Blues records. They remade them nearly word for word and listed themselves as artists, thus robbing originators like Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters out of royalties. Chess decided to re-record the artists performing their own compositions in a then-contemporary psychedelic blues style. The albums were panned by purist critics, the same critics that called white psychedelic blues artists like Cream “visionary”.
But, I like it. And I hope you do, too. For info on Muddy Waters’ psychedelic blues remakes, click here.
Summer has left our once-warm grasp. In memorium, Darkjive presents Chess Records’ Billy Stewart with a 1966 version of the classic song ”Summertime” (from Porgy and Bess). I love how Billy Stewart’s scats interplay with insistent horns and halting guitar licks. The drummer on the cut is a very young Maurice White (of Earth, Wind, and Fire). 
