Various - Feeling Good: Funk, Soul and Deep Jazz Gems; The Supreme Sound of Bob Shad

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 25 / 2 / 2017

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Review

For those of you who haven't heard of the name Bob Shad, where have you been? For those of you in the know, you will know that Shad, who died aged 65 in 1985, was always a passionate man well ahead of his time. Shad started out in the 1940's producing such jazz and blues giants as Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Sarah Vaughan before setting himself up as an independent producer and label owner in the 1950's. He began releasing jazz, blues, Doo Wop and Rock ‘n’ Roll records, and in 1958 he recorded a Doo Wop group from Long Island called The Jades who sported a 14-year-old kid called Lou Reed. This wasn't the end of him discovering major artists as a few years later, having just launched a new jazz and rock outlet, he signed an unknown psychedelic band from San Francisco called Big Brother & the Holding Company who were fronted by a raunchy 23 year old girl named Janis Joplin. Around 1971, Shad decided to go back to his first love, jazz, and launched the Mainstream Red Lion (MRL) Series. This wonderful compilation is a tribute to Shad's years at Mainstream Records, which he founded in 1964, and was created in partnership with Mia and Judd Apatow, Shad’s grandchildren. Shad produced for it nearly a hundred albums, spending a lot of time in the studio supervising the sessions himself. Drenched in modal Fender Rhodes keys, spiritual sax and flute solos, deep percussions and funky beats, these albums have slowly been rediscovered by a new generation of DJs, hip hop producers and vinyl junkies all around the world. Some of the highlights on here include Afrique’s well known funkster 'House of the Rising Funk' and Jack Wilkins’ 'Red Clay'. Northern Soulsters will undoubtedly recognise the mighty Alice Clark who had major success on the sprung dancefloors with 'You Hit Me', here with a brilliant crossover track, 'Never Did I Stop Loving You'. Speaking of Northern Soul, Sarah Vaughan who struck gold with 'I Need You More Than Ever' is here with another Mainstream winner 'Magical Connection' and Maxine Weldon, who became famous with the Latin-tinged 'Lend Me Your Life', is also an inclusion with the brilliantly jazzy 'Right On'. Carmen McRae, one of Shad’s long time collaborators, concludes the proceedings with a soulful conga style version of Nina Simone's classic 'Feelin’ Good'. The album comes accompanied with sleevenotes by Judd Apatow and was supervised by Matt Robin, an avid collector of the label. Incidentally, to return to that Jack Wilkins track, in 1993, A Tribe Called Quest recorded their landmark album Midnight Marauders, using a sample of that version of 'Red Clay', for their song 'Sucka Nigga' instead of going for the Freddie Hubbard original. A fantastic compilation.

Track Listing:-

1 House Of The Rising Funk
2 Blue Mitchell
3 Magical Connection
4 Soulsides
5 Mask
6 Never Did I Stop Loving You
7 Abscretions
8 Right On
9 Scatbird
10 Red Clay
11 Rum And Mumbles
12 I Ain't Got Much (But Whatever I Got It's Yours Baby)
13 Granite & Concrete
14 Quadrivium
15 Feelin' Good