Instant Funk ”Get Down With The Philly Jump”

Instant Funk

”Get Down With The Philly Jump”
( LP T.S.O.P. Records, 1976 )
Catalog # PZ 34358

Tracklisting:
A1 It Ain’t Reaggae (But It’s Funky) (3:51)
Arranged By – Bunny Sigler , Kim Miller
Written-By – B. Sigler, K. Miller
A2 The Mack Is Back (3:15)
Arranged By – Bunny Sigler
Written-By – B. Sigler
A3 Philly Jump (5:10)
Arranged By – Ron Kersey
Written-By – B. Sigler, T. Life
A4 Give Me Your Love (3:27)
Arranged By – Bunny Sigler
Written-By – B. Sigler, J. Sigler, T. Life
A5 I Know Where You’re Coming From (4:06)
Arranged By – Bunny Sigler , Kim Miller
Written-By – B. Sigler, K. Miller
B1 Hup Two, Hup Two
(Get In Line, Say Get In Line) (4:10)
Arranged By – Bunny Sigler , Raymond Earl
Written-By – B. Sigler, R. Earl
B2 So Glad I’m The One (3:23)
Arranged By – Dexter Wansel
Written-By – B. Sigler, T. Life
B3 Funky Africa (4:37)
Arranged By – Bruce Hawes
Written-By – B. Sigler, D. Jones,
K. Miller, R. Earl, S. Miller
B4 We Can Work It Out (3:06)
Arranged By – Bunny Sigler
Written-By – B. Sigler
B5 Go For Yourself (4:13)
Arranged By – Bunny Sigler, David Jones
Written-By – B. Sigler, D. Jones


Credits:
Engineer – Arthur Stoppe, Jeffrey Stewart ,
Jim Gallagher, Kenny Present, Mike Hutchinson, Peter Humphreys
Producer – Bunny Sigler
Notes: Recorded at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mastered at Frankford/Wayne Recording Labs, Philadelphia, Pa.
All songs published by Mighty Three Music (BMI).
Sole Administrator: Blackwood Music Inc.
TSOP “The Sound Of Philadelphia” T.M.
Theodore Life “Spiritual Advisor”

Side Notes: there are a differences between label and cover data. In the back cover the author of the B4 track is Bunny Sigler. In the vinyl’s label is also reported the name of David Jones.


Review:

When Instant Funk's debut album, Get Down With the Philly Jump, came out in 1976, those who heard the LP agreed that the Philadelphians had a very recognizable and distinctive sound. Instant Funk had one foot in the sophisticated Philly soul/disco sound and the other in the gritty, down-and-dirty funk of pre-J.T. Taylor Kool & the Gang -- put those things together, and you have a group that was certainly unique and risk-taking. Although Bunny Sigler produced Get Down with the Philly Jump at Philly's famous Sigma Sound Studios, this LP isn't as strong as Instant Funk's subsequent releases would be. The album is uneven, and it doesn't contain a blockbuster hit like "I Got My Mind Made Up." Nonetheless, the material is generally decent; one can hear Instant Funk's potential on infectious tracks like "I Know Where You're Coming From," "Hup Two, Hup Two (Get in Line, Say Get in Line)" and "Philly Jump." In 1976, the best was yet to come for Instant Funk, but Get Down With the Philly Jump indicated that the Philadelphians had a lot of possibilities.

By Alex Henderson (AMG)

Biography:

Instant Funk burst on the '70s disco scene with the million-selling single "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)" and the gold album Instant Funk. The Trenton, NJ, band started out with the core lineup of bassist Raymond Earl, drummer Scotty Miller, and guitarist Kim Miller. It later expanded to include keyboardist Dennis Richardson; lead singer James Carmichael; horn players Larry Davis, Eric Huff, and Johnny Onderlinde; and percussionist Charles Williams. The band can be heard on sides by Evelyn "Champagne" King (her gold single "Shame"), Archie Bell & the Drells ("Let's Groove," "The Soul City Walk," and "Strategy"), South Shore Commission ("Free Man," "A Train Called Freedom"), the O'Jays (" Let Me Make Love to You," "I Swear I Love No One but You"), Lou Rawls ("From Now On," "When You Get Home"), Gabor Szabo ("Keep Smilin'"), and Jean Carn, as well as for their mentor, Bunny Sigler, and his cover of "Love Train," "Keep Smilin'," "Let Me Party With You," "Sweeter Than the Berry," and "Only You," a duet with Loleatta Holloway. In the mid-'60s, bassist Raymond Earl met drummer Scotty Miller in grade school and formed the duo the Music Machine. In 1973, Scotty's younger brother, guitarist Kim Miller, joined the duo. After hours and hours of playing together, the trio found that they clicked; they became so intuitively "tuned" into each other that they could anticipate and accent each other's playing. In 1968, they began backing local vocal group the TNJs, appearing at local dances and venues building up a good reputation. Around 1971, the group's manager Jackie Ellis christened the backup band Instant Funk because they could come up with funky grooves instantaneously. Philly soul artist/producer/songwriter Bunny Sigler was invited by Ellis to see Instant Funk and the TNJs perform. Sometime during the show, Sigler was called on stage to perform. He was impressed that the band knew "Sunshine," a song he co-wrote with Phil Hurtt that was made popular by the O'Jays. They began backing Sigler, the Manhattans, and various other R&B acts. As a staff songwriter/producer at Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International Records, Sigler began using Instant Funk on his sessions along with the TNJs. At those sessions and later, Sigler would record the basic track with Earl and the Miller brothers. Sigler, a brimming fount of ideas, would often stop the band midsong to implement one of his flashes of brillance. They backed Sigler on three of his PIR albums: That's How Long I'll Be Loving You, Keep Smilin', and My Music. Some tracks from those LPs are on Sony/Legacy's The Best of Bunny Sigler: Sweeter Than the Berry and the 1998 Sony CD Bunny Sigler. Instant Funk released a single on PIR's TSOP imprint, "Float Like a Butterfly," and an album, Get Down With the Philly Jump, issued in November 1976, whose title track and "It Aint Reggae (But It Sho Is Funky)" were popular in disco clubs. Instant Funk can also be heard on sides by the O'Jays ("Let Me Make Love to You," "You've Got Your Hooks in Me," "Once Is Not Enough," and "I Swear I Love No One but You" from Message in Our Music; "Strokety Stroke" from So Full of Love), Archie Bell & the Drells ("Let's Groove," "Strategy," "The Soul City Walk," and "I Could Dance All Night" on Tightening It Up:The Best of Archie Bell & the Drells), the Three Degrees ("Take Good Care of Yourself"), Jean Carn ("I'm in Love Once Again" and "You Are All I Need" from Jean Carn), Dexter Wansel ("Life on Mars," the best recording that gives an idea of how the band sounded live, and "You Can Be What You Wanna Be" from The Very Best of Dexter Wansel), and M.F.S.B. ("Let's Go Disco" from Universal Love). The band can be heard on studio bandmate T. Life's That's Life album and LPs by his protégée, Evelyn "Champagne" King (Smooth Talk and Music Box). In 1977, M.F.S.B. guitarist Norman Harris started his own label, Gold Mind Records, distributed by New York-based Salsoul Records. Sigler signed on as a recording artist. He and the band were constantly in the studio recording ideas and songs. One track, "Let Me Party With You," Sigler would listen to while driving around and excited passengers suggested that he release it. The single, co-written by the Miller brothers, Earl, and Sigler, went to number eight R&B in January 1978. The track was reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up." The album, Let Me Party With You, was a huge disco hit, and included the follow-up single, the funky Sam Peake's sax-drenched ballad "I Got What You Need," "Don't Even Try," and the club hit "Your Love Is So Good." While brainstorming in the studio, Sigler and Instant Funk came up with "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)." Sigler did overdubs on the track at Philadelphia-area studios, Alpha International and Sigma Sound Studios, before taking it to Bob Blank's Blank Tapes in New York. When the track was done, Sigler shopped it around to the record labels, who rebuffed him with comments like "the hook's not strong enough" and it sounds incomplete." Instant Funk signed with Gold Mind, but by the time their single "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)" was released, Gold Mind had folded and all of its acts were transferred to Salsoul. The million-selling "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)" (remixed by Larry Levan) parked at number one R&B for three weeks, peaking at number 20 pop on Billboard's charts in March 1979. Their second album, Instant Funk, issued January 1979, went gold hitting number one R&B in spring 1979. Other Instant Funk albums on Salsoul were: Witch Doctor (November 1979), The Funk Is On (October 1980), Looks So Fine (March 1982), Instant Funk, Vol. 5 (January 1983), and Kinky (September 1983). The band backed Sigler on his Salsoul LPs: I've Always Wanted to Sing...Not Just Write Songs (March 1979) and Let It Snow (June 1980). Other Salsoul LPs that feature Instant Funk are Loleatta Holloway's Queen of the Night, Loleatta, and Greatest Hits; Double Exposure's Locker Room; and the Salsoul Orchestra's How High. For eil Bogart's Casablanca Records, the band can be heard on two albums Sigler produced for the label: Party Girl by Patti Brooks and Callin' by the Pips. On Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records, Sigler and the band are on Barbara Mason & Bunny Sigler's Locked in This Position, the self-titled debut of Mystique featuring Ralph Johnson, and Mayfield's own Heartbeat. With the John Brothers, who were featured on Witch Doctor, they recorded a Sigler-produced RCA single, "Try to Walk a Mile" b/w "I Just Want to Be Free," both songs written by Bunny's brother Jimmy Sigler. They are also on Gabor Szabo's Mercury LP Nightflight and Carl Carlton's I Wanna Be With You. When the Cayre brothers, owners of Salsoul Records, decided to fold the label in 1984, in an effort to concentrate on the then-emerging home video market, Instant Funk was without a record deal. The band toured for a few years then disbanded. Some of the members were still in the music business in one form or another as the 21st century began. Raymond Earl was operating his own studio and production company, Ray Ray Productions. Kim Miller, Dennis Richardson, and James Carmichael went into gospel music. Bunny Sigler was touring the world as a member of the Trammps. "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)" can be found on the CD reissue of their 1979 gold album Instant Funk, Greatest Hits from EMI/Capitol/The Right Stuff, in the movie and on the soundtrack for the Disney/Miramax movie 54, Larry Levan's Paradise Garage, and various Salsoul and Salsoul-licensed compilations. By Ed Hogan (AMG)

Commento:
Comprato da Andrea di Castelmaggiore (BO) nel 1980, dopo anni e anni di ricerche, lo vendetti al solito Luca Trevisi nel 1994.
Disco memorabile, puro disco philly funk sound della migliore qualità, sicuramente uno dei dischi più belli che abbia mai avuto. Discordo dunque dalla review di Alex Henderson di AMG, totalmente. Molto philly e soprattutto molto funky per i Sigma Sound Studios di Philadelphia, diede ''una mossa'' al Philly Sound verso un suono più funk all'epoca. Certamente i dischi che seguirono su Salsoul furono degli hits, ma molto più commerciali, più attenti al mercato disco che non al suono di un funky ''elegante'' (con il farfallino, come disse Fred Wesley in un'intervista) della Città del ''brotherly love''. Insomma un disco per me eccezionale, ben fatto e ben suonato, i titoli sono tutti belli, non si sbaglia con gli Instant Funk del 1976.
Considerando la quotazione su Popsike, sui 50-60 $, credo che per l'amante del genere sia abbastanza accessibile l'acquisto. Insomma noi ve lo raccomandiamo.
Get down with the philly jump!

By Pier