Chess/Cadet
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Charles Stepney in Full Flower
Ayana Contreras Recorded January 26, 1972 at RCA Studios in Chicago, The Dells sing Dionne Warwicke’s Greatest Hits is an album that features nearly a dozen of Charles Stepney’s magical reimaginings of Burt Bacharach/Hal David compositions. On the as-released version of the album, idiosyncratic Dells baritone Marvin Junior growls pleasingly (in concert with the rest…
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Eddie Sings The Blues
Chicago saxophonist Eddie Harris is perhaps best remembered as an unabashed experimentalist, famously playing the Varitone electronic saxophone on albums like Plug Me In (1968). He also utilized an early tape looping mechanism (now so en vogue) on 1969’s Silver Cycles. So, Eddie Harris Sings The Blues (1972) stands less as an outlier than as…
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Blind Man: Little Milton’s hooked and he can’t let her go.
This is Little Milton. He’s hooked and he can’t let her go. Of this, I am wholly convinced.
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Clea Bradford and Frank D’Rone: my love’s a monster, so think i will. jive on.
From Frank D’Rone’s Cadet/Chess album “Brand New Morning” released in 1968 (arguably Cadet’s creative peak), “Think I Will” was arranged by Richard Evans and is the Brother record to Clea Bradford’s bananas Sister cut “My Love’s a Monster” (also from Cadet in 1968). Yes. The horns are so mighty, and that guitar work is extra-tasty……
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Minor Moods: ahmad jamal have i loved.
“Minor Moods” by Ahmad Jamal (1967) makes me happy, and yes I will play this at next week’s “groove conspiracy”. Ahmad Jamal is from Pennsylvania, but a lot of his Golden Age material (including this hipper-than-thou number) is straight outta Chicago. The Ahmad Jamal Trio was the house band of the Pershing Hotel (on the South Side) in the…
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Woman of the Ghetto: marlena shaw dealing the cold truth
I just found a copy of “Woman of the Ghetto” by Marlena Shaw for 4 bucks! Killer Chicago single from 1969. The song has been sampled multiple times, among them: St. Germain sampled from “Woman of the Ghetto” from Live at Montreux used in “Rose Rouge” on Tourist (2000) 9th Wonder and Buckshot also sampled…
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Stay in My Corner…for a long, long time
The Mighty Mighty Dells are by far the most enduring music group to ever come out of Chicago (Harvey, to be precise), performing with their original line-up since 1952. “Stay in My Corner”, their 1968 pop and R&B smash, was one the longest singles ever released at the time, breaking the 3 1/2 minute barrier established by…
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There is….Soul in Chicago
I love the Dells… Great group originally from Harvey, Illinois. They’ve recorded on various Chicago-based labels, including the Chess Records subsidiary Cadet Records. In 1967, the Dells issued the album, There Is, and the title track, a cut of baroque soul (produced by Charles Stepney) which showcased the gritty baritone of Marvin Junior and the…
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