Anatomy of THE Groove: “Twinkle” by Earl Klugh

Earl Klugh is an artist who really changed my perception of the acoustic guitar. Growing up,I saw it as sounding a somewhat trite sound. Primarily a folk instrument to accompany singers doing verse upon verse type songs. That changed a bit when hearing my dad play records by the classical guitarist Julian Bream. But Klugh blew it out the box for me. He really brought out the gutbucket blues and jazzy licks on his guitar. And got me closer to the understanding that the earliest blues numbers were written and played on acoustic guitar.

A Detroit native,Klugh was inspired to play guitar by first hearing Chet Atkins play on TV. As he grew as a player Wes Montgomery,Ray Parker Jr. and pianist Bob James (with whom he’d later collaborate) became huge influences on him. Not just his sound,but his smooth jazz/funk rhythm section. This ethic bought him multiple Grammy nominations and wins over the years. One of my favorite grooves of his came…from his 1981 album Crazy For You-given to me on a cassette a janitor at my dad’s old job saved from the dumpster. The song on this album that keeps my attention up to this very day is called “Twinkle”.

Greg Phillinganes and Pauliho Da Costa start the song off with a percussion/Fender Rhodes melody before Raymond Pounds’ drums kick in over Phillinganes synth solo and the slap bass of Louis Johnson. The refrain adds Pounds drums to the opening melody as Klugh’s guitar is playing and improvising off the bluesy main melody. On the choruses,the same rhythm section play closer to Klugh’s melody. On the second refrain,Philliganes Rhodes takes a bit more presidents. On the bridge,Johnson’s slap bass solo is accompanied by Da Costa’s percussion Phillinganes’ synth brass and Klugh’s guitar riffs fade out the song.

With 16 years to live with this song across the tape,vinyl and CD formats,this represents as close to sheer musical perfection in the sophistifunk end of the jazz funk/fusion genre. The Westlake studio musicians bring to this song the same level of production sheen,razor sharp instrumental chops that Quincy Jones would’ve brought to his productions at the same time. Klugh’s guitar solos had a somewhat old timey blues/jazz flavor in the melodic department. Yet the modernistic early 80’s instrumental production gave the song a sparkling blend of old and new.

 

Anatomy of THE Groove: “Take It On Up” by Paulinho Da Costa

Paulinho Da Costa has probably played on more albums than any other musician of the late 20th century. Possibly thousands. So chances are if you look in the notes of any pop,soul,R&B,funk or jazz record of the 70’s or 80’s, Da Costa’s name will probably be on it.  The man began learning percussion as a child in Brazil-emerging from the samba genre to became one of the most regarded percussionists the world over. After playing with Sergio Mendes And The Brasil 77 in the early to mid 70’s, Da Costa got signed to Norman Granz’s Pablo label. This allowed him permanent residency in the US.

My first direct encounter with Da Costa’s sound was of course via his epic work with Michael Jackson on “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”. All of a sudden his name appeared as the percussionist on album every bit of used vinyl I got my hands on. After browsing through a Fantasy Records CD catalog in the late 90’s,it listed a handful of solo albums Da Costa had recorded. One was from 1979 and called Happy People. It included some Earth Wind & Fire members along with Greg Phillinganes and Nathan Watts. One song I just heard from it really got my attention-called “Take It On Up”.

The sunny,melodic horn charts play festively over Da Costa’s intense percussion. A rhythmic electric piano,a revving high pitched rhythm guitar and an elaborately scaling bass line keep the rhythm steady throughout the song. Bill Champlin sings the lead vocal-accompanied on the chorus by a group of female backup singers. On the bridge of the song,all of this instrumentation comes to a high key pitched-with the fanfare of the horn charts filled with as much joy as funk can muster. One replay of this bridge comes into play before the chorus of the song fades it right out.

“Take It On Up” is one of those high energy Brazilian funk numbers that maintains a super high level of joyous musicality all the way. Surrounded by a group of A-1 session players from the jazz and funk scenes of the day,this is also some of the most well recorded (and generally presented) uptempo jams of it’s time. Da Costa’s percussion is mixed right up as the star of the show-right up with the blaring horns and Champlin’s tough, aggressive lead vocal. Happy People isn’t an easy album to locate these days. But with online video streaming,songs like this incredible melodic funk groove can be enjoyed by more people.

 

Anatomy Of The Groove: “Off Broadway” by George Benson (1980)-Instrumental

George Benson is one of my favorite overall musicians. Both my friend Henrique and I both agree on this. For the last couple of years,one major topic between us is how much of a virtuoso player Benson is. Over years of playing and singing,the man developed a technique of scatting over his guitar playing that became part of his signature sound. When thinking about paying tribute to this man’s rich and full musical legacy,it seemed right to showcase his talents on two levels: as a singer and as an instrumentalist. And considering Benson’s vast body of recorded music,that is no easy task. There was one song that bounced right into my head however.

Growing up,I always spoke of Benson’s hit “Give Me The Night” and Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” in the same sentence. It wasn’t for years that I learned that both were in fact recorded with the same group of musicians. And both were produced by Quincy Jones. Give Me The Night is also Benson’s album from 1980. And a huge commercial success too on the strength of the title song and “Love X Love”. Taken as a whole it was a wonderful and diverse album. And there is one song on it that really catches my ear on a strictly musical level. It’s title is something an extension off another of Benson’s big hits from four years earlier and is called “Off Broadway”.

Rufus’s John Robinson’s drum kick gets the song rolling with Jerry Hey’s melodic horns, the late Louis Johnson’s bass thump and a duet between Benson’s bluesy guitar horn with Lee Ritenour’s more ticklish accessory line . Greg Phillinganes adds in blipping,chiming synthesizers along with a bass one. This goes into before Paulinho da Costa’s high every percussion comes in for the Brazilian style chorus where Benson plays the melodic solo. Hey’s horns and strings scale out of this-on two occasions within the song. The final refrains find Benson taking one of his chordally thick solos-vocalizing with it in his classic style on the final bars of the song.

Composed by Rod Temperton,one of my favorite jazzy funk/dance songwriters. The musicianship on this song is pretty close to amazing. Everyone involved is at their melodic and rhythmic best on this song. Although these are most of LA’s finest and most prolific session musicians of the day,Benson sounds as if he’s playing with a self contained jazz/funk band who’ve been playing for years like The Crusaders. Benson plays both a very basic melodic line on this song-one that’s very open and vocal in tone. That virtuoso style of soloing really lets go on those final refrains. And this song therefore gives you a groove that jams along by virtue of two different approaches of George Benson’s boss  of a guitar.

Anatomy Of THE Groove for 12/19/2015: “Lazy Nina” by Greg Phillinganes

Of course? I have to credit reading the credits on Michael Jackson albums in mid adolescence for my awareness of Greg Phillinganes’ music in my life. In addition to that? A book about the man called Michael Jackson: An Illustrated Record by one Adrian Grant tipped me off to this album’s existence. That’s because it started out with “Behind The Mask”,a song written by Mike.  It was quite a few years later that I managed to locate the album itself-first on vinyl,than an import CD. Yet it led me down another unexpected path as well.

By the time the mid aughts rolled around? I’d become deeply immersed  in the funkiest end of the west coast pop sound. Namely the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan. Of course the lead singer/keyboard player and general architect of the latter groups sound was Donald Fagen. Since Phillinganes was an enormous part of Fagen’s solo debut The Nightfly as an instrumentalist? Fagen returned the favor a couple years later with a song he wrote but had never recorded or performed. The collaboration between the two fellow keyboard players  was called “Lazy Nina”

It gets started with a slogging  post disco style drum solo,which is also similar to the one on Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”-before the jazzy shuffle of the bass synth kicks into the song itself. It’s that bluesy,electric piano based groove that Steely Dan admirers will know very well.  On the choruses,he melodies and orchestral synth become brighter. On the final refrain? It becomes a straight instrumental right out of the Minneapolis school of the day. With the quavering DX7 digital synthesizer playing the horn charts as the song fades out.

Each time I’ve listened to this song? Something new leaped out at my ear hole from behind the groove. First impressions revealed a composition directly from the Steely Dan/Donald Fagen school . Especially with the nostalgic fantasizing of the lyrics. Phillinganes adds a much more electronic flavor to the overall song.. This comes to bare on my most recent observation: how the concluding instrumental break brings in the Prince/ Jam & Lewis synth horn element. Overall? It’s reflectively cheery transitional funk filled with flair and vitality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andre’s Amazon Archive for 3/21/2015-‘Give Me The Night’ by George Benson

Quincy Jones was not only a busy man during the late 70’s and early 80’s but was also something of a musical Rumpelstiltskin-almost mysteriously able to spin straw into gold,only doing so with music. And I’m not talking about in the commercial sense either. With all the ingredients present,from engineering master Bruce Swedien to of course equally masterful composer Rod Temperton-not to mention the mega session approach Q was so famous for by bringing in Herbie Hancock,Louis Johnson,Richard Tee,Greg Phillinganes,Lee Ritenour (yes it’s even better than it sounds) this album was already set for greatness. Not to mention the star of the show George Benson. Already at the top of his game before this making excellent albums in varied styles from White Rabbit all the way up to Breezin,this album by it’s nature,pairing George and Quincy Jones came off looking like a musical miracle just waiting to happen. Interesting part is,as good as that sounds already it actually gets BETTER than even that!

I look at this album the way I once heard EWF’s music is described. On this album George plays funk sweet as funk can be. Not the sugary or saccharine type of sweet. But the sweetness of clean,bluesy jazz playing and some of the most inventive jazz-funk compositions imaginable. “Love x Love” is a perfect example-sleek and crispy at the same time with a groove that’s spare but glossy all at once. Of course many of us know the title song,of course right there in the same wonderful place. Than again,so it’s “What’s On Your Mind”,the instrumental “Dinorah Dinorah” and “Midnight Love Affair”. These bring to mind something of a cross between MJ’s Off the Wall meeting up with the a Crusaders albums such as Street Life-definitely high strutting uptown urban sophistifunk of the highest quality. And we’re not done yet! “Off Broadway” is deeper,heavier funk with this defining bass moog-one of the best productions jobs I’ve ever heard and my personal favorite number on this album (actually up there with the title song). And of course he’s at his same slinky best on slower numbers such as his famed jazzy take on “Moody’s Mood” and the extremely sensual “Love Dance” and “Turn Out The Lamplight”. Not to mention the level he takes Heatwave’s “Star Of A Story”. These are cosmically arranged pieces with decidedly adult takes on romance. And it all makes up for one killer album!

As great as this album is creatively,the amazing thing about it is that it hit as much commercial paydirt as anything Michael Jackson or any of the other Qwest releases of this era did. It’s the middle of that Quincy Jones 1979-1981 sandwich that starts with Off the Wall and ends roughly with Patti Austin’s Every Home Should Have One. And the most wonderful thing about it all is that this is one of the more thoroughly musical of the three albums-the other two of which concentrate heavily on songcraft and vocal performance. This one does just the same way. But the focus is very much on George’s playing and singing. And those are two talents he always had to his advantage. There’s aren’t many artists in any genre who can play an instrument and sing quite with the amazing quality as George Benson does. He’s definitely one of those “everything” men who can do them both and both very well. And even though the coming decade would be filled with some equally huge musical highs and lows due in part to the enormous success this album earned him,he’d be able to learn a lot from albums such as this later and realize the creative ingredients that…well really make the best music commercially as well.

Originally Posted On October 9th,2011

Link to original review here*