A TOUT CASSER !

JACQUES DENJEAN & SON ORCHESTRE

UN DISQUE A TOUT CASSER (aka THE TOUGH TOUCH)

Surf, Hully Gully, Mashed Potatoes avec Jacques Denjean & son Orchestre

LP Polydor, France, 1963 (or 1964 as The Tough Touch ).

I continue with the (re)-posting of various LP I own but I haven't got the time to rip. I take the easy way by re-cycling rips downloaded from the net, mostly from now defunct blogs.

I found the LP here in Rabat a couple of years ago.  Pretty lucky I was as it is an album well sought after by collectors of sixties instrumentals.

Jacques Denjean is a French composer, arranger and band leader, active in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Two years ago I had posted a rare 25 cm (10”) of his Grand Orchestre de Jazz (see Rarity #10) dating from 1962.  The album I post today was recorded about one year later but could not be more different.  While the 25cm is straight big band jazz, this LP is typical sixties pop soul instrumentals.  Denjean – who was a pianist/organist – had listened to the American instrumental soul combos such as Booker T & the MGS and the Mar Keys.

Soul rock rhythms, groovy organs, a bit of percussion à la Mongo Santamaria (Watermelon Man), funky horns arrangements, all that played by seasoned jazz players and – so sixties! – the occasional wordless vocals.  Very enjoyable, a must for any retro party!

Two of the tracks were used as theme songs for French Radio programmes in 1963 («La Route» on France Inter and « Dans le vent» on Europe 1).

At the same period, the Belgian Radio was using tracks by Andre Brasseur who had his own organ combo.

As "The Tough touch" outside of France

With thanks to the original ripper.

The fisrt four tracks were release as a 45 rpm EP, highly collectable also.

Little blues and nothing revolutionnary

The Revolutionary Blues Band 

LP Coral (US, 1970)

It’s summer time, very hot here in Morocco, so I’ll go for the least effort solution.  Posting albums that I own in my collection but re-using rips collected from the net over the years.   Too hot for new rips, and anyway I’m 3000 km from my vinyl collection.  So I’ll cheat.

This one was another discount bin perennial.  I must confess that my friends and I were somewhat disappointed when we first heard it (in the early seventies).  My friend Dédé had bought it (Place du Jeu de Balle, probably) because of Tom Scott playing on it.  We all had bought a copy of Rural StillLife (on Impulse) and we were hoping for something similar. It wasn't. By the way, Rural Still Life remains my all time favourite Tom Scott album.

Then the band had “blues band” in its moniker and in terms of blues we were into Butterfield Blues Band, Dirty Blues Band ... and here was the name of Rod Piazza, of Dirty Blues Band / Bacon Fat fame. Second disappointment, the band did not sound at all like any of those blues bands. 

I never understood at what type of audience such an album was aimed.  Not the blues fan, not the rock fan, not the straight jazz fan ...  The album was produced by Bob Thiele and is very much in the line of some instrumental MOR albums on Flying Dutchman.  It’s gently soul jazzy / funky. It's not smooth jazz yet but, with hindsight, one could see the direction Scott was heading to.

David Bennett Cohen (of Country Joe & the Fish fame, remember "Section 43"?) was on piano (and perhaps guitar also).

David Cohen (source: his website)

Soul Blues stalwart Arthur Adams (Crusaders, Jimmy Smith ...) plays the funky guitar.  No idea about the bass and drums.

Arthur Adams (Source:BlindPig Records)

Arrangements are by Gene Page (Love Unlimited, Philly Sound).  All tracks are instrumentals but one "That's The Truth Baby" featuring vocalist Lightnin Red Jones (no idea who that bloke could be).

I had not listened to this album for ages until Red Telephone66 posted it a few years back (that's where this rip comes from).  It’s not half as bad as I thought.    If you like late 60s  jazzy bluesy instrumentals in the vein of Monk Higgins, Freddie Robinson, Phil Upchurch  ... you’ll probably enjoy this album.  Last year my friend Dédé gave me his copy (and a few other LPs) and I'm quite happy to have it in my collection.  Thanks mate!

Track Order:

01.       Juicy

02.       Milkman, Milkman Leave Me Some Cream Today

03.       Lanoola Goes Limp

04.       That's The Truth Baby

05.       Have A Little Bit More

06.       Take Me Back To Tennessee

07.       Cutting The Mustard

08.       Ring My Chimes

09        Funky Lady

10.       Dirty Town Blues

Never re-issued on CD.  Thanks to whoever put the cover photos on Discogs.

ONE FOR THE GROWING BIN!

JEAN BLAUTE – HELLO YOUNG LOVERS
Vinyl LP album, Philips - 6468 067, Belgium – 1981

First of all, this is NOT a jazz album.  Actually it is the kind of album one would expect to find on the Growing Bin blog.  So it’s quite simple:

(i) If you usually like what Basso, Cesare & all post on the Growing Bin, give this album a try, you’ll like it too,

(ii) If you don’t know the Growing Bin or do not like what’s posted there, don’t bother to download this album.

You’ve been warned.

That being said, it is a sad testimony to Belgium’s cultural apartheid when a man of many talents such as Jean Blaute, a Flemish musician, composer, producer and TV personality, remains largely unknown on the other side of the “taal grens” (the linguistic border that separate the Dutch-speaking North from the French-speaking South).

I have been fortunate to grow up on the border with one foot on each side.  In the early seventies, I was introduced by my Flemish friends to a thriving musical scene that remained largely ignored by the French-speaking side.  There was a traditional folk revival going on (with bands such as Rum, De Snaar, De Kadullen …), blues was still going strong with Roland & his Bluesworkhop, Karel Bogaerd Blues Band, Big Bill, there was prog-folk with Kandahar, pop/rock with Raymond Van het Groenewoud and a whole set of talented singers-songwriters (“kleinkunst” was popular in the early seventies).

Musical centipede Jean Blaute was in the late 1970s/early 1980s not only the smallest centimeter in Raymond Van het Groenewoud's backing band, he is also a great musician, record producer and songwriter. His collaboration with Roland, Urbanus, Nieuwe Snaar, K's Choice and the already cited Raymond resulted in many jewels in the Flemish pop history.  Jean is also something of a TV personality, just think of his hilarious contribution to the "Urbanus movies", his interventions in the popular "De 3 Wijzen"/"The 3 Wise Men" and recently his quest a side Ray Cokes for the taste of beer in "Tournée Générale".

In 1981 Jean delivered with the instrumental solo album "Hello Young Lovers" a sample of his musical ability. Some of the songs were used as tune in Flemish TV programs. Anyone have a clue for which this beautiful "Mama Linda" was used? (Adapted from: HERE)

If you can read Dutch, there is an extensive interview with Jean Blaute HERE.

I found this album years ago on a brocante and was attracted at first by its artwork, a drawing by famous cartoonist Ever Meulen.  Then I had a look at the credits and saw a whole roster of famous names - well, famous mostly in (the North of) Belgium -  jazzmen such as John Ruocco and Bruno Castellucci, former Placebo bassplayer, Yvan de Souter, Flemish blues legend Roland, members of rock bands TC Matic (Jean Marie Aerts) and Raymond Van het Groenewoud’s backing band (Stoy Stoffelen).   I became curious to hear the music.

So what about the music? It is an instrumental album and a pure product of the Eighties - not my favourite decade musically speaking. The music covers a whole spectrum of genres, from Westcoast Disco (Diploma) to Organ-led Soul Jazz/ Funk (Billy’s Bag) by way of jazz fusion (Colonel Spannee), some almost Larry Corryelesque acoustic guitar (Mama Linda), electro-funk-pop à la TC Matic (Johnny Muzak, Madagascar) and everything in between.

Tracklist
A1 Diploma Written-By – J. Blaute 3:05
A2 That Haunting Melody (Elfstedentocht) Written-By – Drs. P 5:27
A3 Colonel Spannee Written-By – J. Blaute 3:18
A4 Mama Linda Written-By – J. Blaute 2:35
A5 Madagascar Written-By – J. Blaute, J.M. Aerts, S. Stoffelen 2:59
B1 Harnanas Written-By – J. Blaute 3:00
B2 Warffum Written-By – J. Blaute 4:15
B3 Billy's Bag Written-By – B. Preston 3:28
B4 Simpel Written-By – I. De Souter 5:45
B5 Johnny Muzak Written-By – J. Blaute 3:30

Credits
Backing Vocals [Ray Connif Singers] – Raymond van het Groenewoud (tracks: A2)
Bass – Evert Verhees (tracks: A1, A2, A3,B1,B2,B3,B5), Mich Verbelen (tracks: A4), Ivan De Souter (Ketje) (tracks: B4)
Bass, Synthesizer [Roland Guitar] – Jean-Marie Aerts (tracks: A5)
Clarinet – John Ruocco (tracks: A2)
Drums – Bruno Castellucci (tracks: A1,A2,A3,B1,B2,B3,B5)
Guitar [Acoustic] – Roland Van Campenhout (tracks: A4)
Harmonica – Roland Van Campenhout (tracks: A3)
Percussion – Chris Joris (tracks: A1 to A4, B4), Firmin Timmermans (tracks: B1,B3,B5)
Percussion, Drums – Stoy Stoffelen (tracks: A5)
Saxophone [Tenor] – John Ruocco (tracks: A1,A3, B5)
Synthesizer [Jupiter 8, Programmed By] – Tars Lootens (tracks: A1,A2,B1,B5)
Synthesizer, Piano, Guitar [Acoustic & Electric], Organ, Accordion – Jean Blaute

Notes
Recorded at I.C.P. Studio, Brussels, Belgium 
Mastering done at Translab, Paris, France 
LP cover : Ever Meulen