Crib Notes

When James Brown wanted to give Bobby Kennedy his endorsement for president, Bob Patton was the guy Brown chose to deliver the message. Patton’s skills as a music promoter attracted the biggest names in music, including such clients as Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Solomon Burke and Otis Redding. Known as the go-to guy for getting artists exposure in Georgia and beyond for nearly four decades, Patton died Oct. 7 at the age of 70 from an aortic aneurism.

Originally from Ohio, he first worked as a DJ at radio station WDOH in Dayton, playing race music — the tag laid on blues-based music performed by black artists before the term R&B came into vogue. He met Brown while handling promotion for the station and so impressed the Godfather that Brown hired Patton to be his promoter and booking agent from 1968-’77. Brown was in the midst of inventing funk during that era with such hits as “Cold Sweat.”

Brown considered Patton family, often saying that Patton’s daughter was “the Godfather’s goddaughter.” Brown even agreed to buy the promoter a Cadillac after Patton dropped a few hints about not being able to afford one. “So Bob went down and got himself a ’68 Eldorado, baby blue, and drove it home,” Patton biographer Phil Jones reveals. But Patton discovered that as good as his promotional skills were, the Godfather was still in charge. “The next month his paycheck was short and he went to Brown and said, ‘What happened?’ And Brown said, ‘Well, I bought the car and now you pay for it.’”

Continue Reading “Promoter Bob Patton kept James Brown on the good foot”

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GOT THE HOOKUP?: I dO Music converts the masses.

In a city where everybody seems to be chasing a career in music, I dO Music offers a common-sense solution. The brainchild of PatchWerk Recording Studio’s marketing manager Kervins Chauvet, I dO Music is all about self-empowerment.

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of calls we get to the studio every day,” Chauvet says of the hungry musical wannabees who want career advice. Rather than advise them to go the traditional route (send a demo, etc.), Chauvet gives them practical advice. “We believe in empowering the musician and making them understand that it’s just not up to us. At the end of the day, you’re the source of power to make it happen.”

Continue reading “Kervins C’s industry rules”

(Photo courtesy I dO Music)

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It’s an unlikely recipe for a bluesman. The son of a Hungarian freedom fighter, singer/harpist John Nemeth was raised in Boise, Id. on a daily diet of Hungarian folk, opera and classical music. “Through osmosis you learn a lot about melody from listening to Brahms and Lizst and Mozart and Chopin and Beethoven and all those cats, and all these Hungarians who are just playing minor blues at breakneck speed,” Nemeth says.

He found his calling at 14 when friends at school turned him on to Junior Wells and Freddie King. Later, he gigged around Idaho for nearly a decade before moving to San Francisco in ‘04 and signing with blues label Blind Pig in ‘06.

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High priestess of soul Nina Simone was a true diva. Her imperious manner, both on and off stage, could intimidate audiences and critics alike. But daughter Simone, né Lisa Simone Kelly, hasn’t cowered under her mother’s shadow, even though Nina Simone initially opposed her decision to become a singer. “I’ve created my own path,” says the daughter, who still saw fit to pay tribute to her mother’s legacy with the release of her ’08 solo album, Simone on Simone. “It just so happens that I’m Nina Simone’s daughter as well. It gives me a huge foundation from which to leap.”

Simone, as she prefers to be called, started singing professionally in the early ’90s with touring productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and Rent before joining the Grammy-winning acid jazz group Liquid Soul in ’98. But she didn’t gain her mother’s approval until she appeared on stage with her at the Guinness Blues Festival in Dublin ten years ago.

Continue reading “Nina Simone’s daughter celebrates her mother’s legacy”

(Photo courtesy Vermillion Media Group)

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When Rahsaan Patterson unleashes his soul, it sounds like Prince and Al Green sharing a set of vocal chords. Patterson says he’s just a conduit for his gospel-drenched mix of funk and soul, “an open vessel musically and spiritually.” Raised in the Pentecostal church, Patterson’s spirituality manifests itself in an out-of-body experience when performing. “My goal is to disconnect from my person and tap into that spiritual realm where the voices are able to come through,” he says. “It’s not until I’m done with the song I realize I even traveled that far.”

Patterson’s journey began in 1984 at the age of 10 when he began starring as “the Kid” in the Disney Channel program “Kids Incorporated,” about a fantasy band that also featured such future stars as Fergie (Stacy Ferguson) of Black Eyed Peas and actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. Of course, the price for childhood stardom is typically paid for in loss of innocence, often ending in disaster. “I wouldn’t say I escaped it, but I was able to make it through,” Patterson says. “I never robbed any [dry] cleaners or beat people up in public.”

Continue reading “Rahsaan Patterson’s higher soul power”

(Photo by Miles Ahead Entertainment)

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N'AWLINS DEMEANOR: Beth Vreeland (left), Bob Rice and Clark Vreeland

Spanky and the Love Handles. Free. 9 p.m. Sun., July 19. The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com.

The sound is vintage Chicago blues with a New Orleans accent. But naming the band Spanky and the Love Handles made some doubt the local trio’s blues pedigree. When the members tried to join the Atlanta Blues Society earlier this year, they caused a flurry of e-mails from members questioning whether they belonged. “We hosted one of their meetings and everybody was floored,” says Spanky bassist Beth Vreeland. “They were like, ‘This is blues!’”

Spanky singer/guitarist Clark Vreeland spent nearly 15 years playing with Code Blue after moving to Atlanta from his native New Orleans in 1984. “Code Blue was more like a rolling poker game,” says Clark, whose musical resumé includes being mentored by and playing with legendary New Orleans bluesman Earl King, as well as Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint and Meters man, funk bassist George Porter Jr. “Clark learned all the fundamentals of rhythm guitar from George,” his wife Beth chimes in. Clark says one of his fondest memories with Porter is when they performed the 1980 masturbation classic “Turning Japanese” by English punkers the Vapors live at Jazz Fest with Meters drummer Zigaboo Modeliste.

Continue reading “Spanky and the Love Handles stay true to blues pedigree”

(Photo courtesy Clark Vreeland)

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ONE MIC: King Sunny Ade

King Sunny Ade’s lilting, upbeat sounds introduced Afropop to America audiences in 1982 with Juju Music, a polyrhythmic stew surrounded by synthesizers, warbling steel guitars and sweet vocals. Intertwined like an African basket weave, it was intricate but immediately accessible to an audience a world away.

More than 25 years later, attempts to reach Ade via cellphone, however, present a grander challenge.

After a week of calling, he picks up at 7 a.m. in his native Nigeria upon winding up a 14-hour show that began at 5 p.m. the day before. “We’ve got another one now,” he says. “I’m going to start by 2 o’clock, God knows when I’m going to finish.”

It’s one of his homeland traditions lost in the cultural exchange, but even Nigerians have their threshold. “After 12 hours they tell you to get out,” he laughs. North American fans will have to get by with an abbreviated 40-minute jam during his 25-city summer tour, which kicks off in Atlanta. “Unfortunately, no African musician is big enough yet to dictate to all the American venues exactly how the shows are gonna go down,” says Ade’s manager, Andy Frankel.

Continue reading “Time flies when King Sunny Ade’s conjuring juju”

(Photo courtesy King Sunny Ade)

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CRUISE CONTROL: Mary Ramirez (left) and Rachel Nagy

Take some classic R&B, retool it with a Motor City makeover, and the resulting retro-fitted vehicle that comes roaring out of the garage will bear the emblem of the Detroit Cobras.

Though the band has only put out one original tune (”Hot Dog” from 2005’s Baby) in its 15-year career, the Cobras don’t like being called a cover band. “We’ve never said this is like a Rolling Stones project where we start with covers with hopes of being an originals band one day,” says vocalist Rachael Nagy. “We do what we do because we love doing it.”

Call them rearrangers, presenting garage and soul with a gritty punk edge. The duo blends the raw energy of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels with Irma Thomas and ’50s R&B crossover legends the Five Royales.

Over a five-album career, the Cobras have covered several of the Royales’ gospel-tinged tunes while embracing Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s gospel classic “99 1?2.” But the only place the band falls down on its knees to worship in is the church of rock and roll. Even that worship service accepts offerings from country-tinged soul men such as Percy Sledge, whose “Baby Help Me” highlights Baby). “We don’t care where they come from,” says guitarist Mary Ramirez. “All we really care about is great songs.”

Continue reading “Detroit Cobras rev up on classic R&B”

(Photo courtesy Bloodshot Records)

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When Charles Walker opens his mouth, the sounds of ’60s soul come tumbling out. With the aid of his backing band the Dynamites, the 65-year-old soul man delivers what Dynamites bandleader/guitarist Bill Elder calls “authentic, full-on, super-hard-drivin’ funk — and the soul bag, too.”

But it’s not all about gruntin’ and groanin’. Walker’s soaring soul sounds like a mix of Johnny Adams and the high tenor of Sam Moore of the legendary ’60s duo Sam and Dave.

Like many soul greats, Walker honed his craft in church. “I wasn’t really what you’d call a true gospel singer, but I still have those flavors,” he says. “I did start in the church, but worked my way out of it.”

In 1960, when he was 16, he left his hometown of Nashville to try his luck in New York. Walker was hired right away as an opening act for James Brown’s backing outfit, the J.C. Davis Band, which had heard him in Nashville.

Continue reading “Charles Walker and the Dynamites blow up the spot

(Photo courtesy Charles Walker and the Dynamites)

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Atlanta native Michelle Malone’s blend of gut-bucket slide guitar and sultry, soulful vocals caused Albert King to dub her “Moaning Malone” when she opened for him at Atlanta’s Royal Peacock in 1988. “He said that [after] either hearing me sing or hearing me holler,” Malone says. “I never was sure.”

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(Photo courtesy Michelle Malone)

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Atlanta native Kris Gloer is still giving thanks for Turkey Day 1976. The Band played its Last Waltz on Thanksgiving more than three decades ago, but Gloer and a six-man band of Atlanta-based musicians keep the music and the spirit of that era alive.

As the Last Waltz Ensemble, the group emulates the show the Band performed that night, with significant differences. Gloer doesn’t call the outfit a tribute band, billing it as a concert celebration. “It’s not a re-enactment,” Gloer says by phone in Atlanta. “We do over 50 songs from different eras of the Band and Bob Dylan.”

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In the late ’90s, as Delta Moon arose over Inman Park, a bluesy afterglow quickly spread throughout the city. Gina Leigh, Mark Johnson and Tom Gray put together a sound with two slide guitars and a slinky, soulful female vocalist who sounded like Bonnie Bramlett. It wasn’t exactly blues — more like a blend of soulful garage and Southern rock without the beer gut or bare feet.

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