I think this is when I have to put an NC-17 out, but here’s my new favorite Betty Davis album:
I don’t think this will be showing up on the iPod at Big Jones due to the timbre of the groove, but I thought hard core R&B fans would dig it.
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Saturday, August 9th, 2008Soul Gems
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008We always enjoy sharing some of the gems from our playlist. The easiest way to do this, rather than starting up our own internet radio, is to find what we can on YouTube and post it up here.
I’ve mentioned before that at least some of the inspiration for Big Jones came from our interest in classic soul music, particularly that of the Muscle Shoals, Shreveport, and Memphis scenes, not to mention our hometown Chicago soul and classic Motown. The idea of building a home for this music, with great food and drinks, was very appealing. It makes work a lot more fun to be around great music all day.
I took my first day off today in over two months, and found myself (again) on YouTube, searching out some lost and forgotten gems. We continue to draw a bridge from Chicago to the South here, we’re gonna start off with a Bobby Patterson track, accompanied by a dorky dancer. Bobby Patterson did a lot of work on our beloved Paula Label out of Shreveport (sister label to Ike & Tina’s Jewel,) writing and producing for artists including Fontella Bass and Tommie Young. He also did some totally hot solo singles on Paula. I have every reason to believe the stellar backing band is that of Louis Villery, which also put out a single record in their own right as African Music Machine.
Sorry about the dancer, but I guess there is some charm to it. There wasn’t exactly a trove of Bobby Patterson material from which to choose. Sadly, he remains a relatively obscure figure:
The Chambers Brothers worked out of the LA scene for the most part, but grew up in Mississippi, and their heritage shows in the gritty blues influences on their sound that ranges from down-home gospel to psych rock and soul. Their big hit song “Time has Come Today” from 1968 is still remembered, but long-forgotten and still worthwhile is their soulful cover of the Impressions’ “People Get Ready”
but I can’t put that up without including the Impressions. I can’t think of anything that goes with brunch as well as early Impressions. Not even a Bloody Mary:
and then there’s the song that’ll lift the heart of even the most jaded sourpuss:
So that brings us back up to Chicago. Let’s finish up with a trip over to Detroit for some Edwin Starr, who hailed from Tennessee but made his name under Barry Gordy’s label, and is still most remembered for his hit album “War” with the blistering title track of the same name. The hit song “25 miles” was a darling of Britain’s Northern Soul circuit for years, and a quick listen will prove why:
New on the Playlist: Mable John and Jean Knight
Friday, May 9th, 2008We’ve added two artists to our Big Jones playlists recently:
Mable John: We were reminded of Mable John’s songs on the massive Stax/Volt compilation by this recent article in The Nation magazine. The article talks about her career in relation to a new John Sayles called Honeydripper. Our playlist features dozens of tracks from the 9-disc Stax/Volt compilation.
Jean Knight: We just added one of Jean Knight’s biggest hits “Mr. Big Stuff” to the playlists. Jean Knight was born in New Orleans, and performed/recorded with both Dr. John and Art Neville. We recently picked up an album of songs released by Stax but recorded in Jackson, Mississippi.
We play lots of tracks put out by Stax. Although it’s based in Memphis, we find it appropriate for our coastal Southern restaurant both because they distributed so many coastal Southern artists, but also because Memphis is link between the Gulf coast and Chicago — and we aim to make our restaurant a link between them, too.
You’ll also now find some of our favorite LP album covers in the back room at Big Jones — these are from our collection at home.
- Mark
Sounds
Monday, April 7th, 2008Part of the conceptualization of Big Jones had a lot to do with our interest in old southern soul – I’m a big fan of the Muscle Shoals sound (think Wilson Pickett & Staples Singers,) Memphis Sound (think STAX,) and a family of labels out of Shreveport that included Jewel Records (of Ike & Tina Turner fame,) Soul Power, Paula, and RONN. Paula’s one of my favorite obscure old soul labels, having cut a great but little-known LP for Fontella Bass (of “Rescue Me” fame) called “Free” and about a dozen or so singles for Roscoe Robinson, one of my favorite Southern soul characters.
Every so often I like to get on YouTube and see which nearly-forgotten artists/recordings have been saved (at least for now) by the power of the internet. Some while back, I came across a great Roscoe Robinson Single I don’t have in my singles collection. I apologize for the hokey dance performance that accompanies the tune, but “That’s Enough” is a great example of the kinds of sounds we’re putting together to liven up your visit. Look for that recording in the post directly below this one.
Given our extensive use of local farm produce & beverages, it also made sense to us to draw a bridge musically between Chicago and the South, and we’re equally passionate about Chicago soul & R&B, and we’ll be pleased to offer a full range of sounds from the Impressions & Curtis Mayfield to Otis Clay and Lou Rawls, and more. I can never decide which Impressions I liked better, the mid-sixties Impressions, when Curtis was still a member, and they cut such achingly beautiful songs as “People Get Ready,” or the early-70′s group, still produced by Curtis while he pursued his brilliant solo career, that cut some of the most wickedly groovy R&B ever. In the end, it doesn’t matter, because we’ll have it all on our iPod! Much of the music on the iPod has been ripped from our vinyl record collection, and will encompass much of the STAX discography, Jewel/Paula/Soul Power, obscure finds on Tuff, Soundstage, Minit, Cotillon, and many other labels that are gems that for whatever reason didn’t last. We’ll also have the Checker and Chess soul artists, and dabble in Motown, just because it’s too good to leave out.