“I think maybe Big Bang Theory would be our best work with Clinton, because that’s when they just started to get confidence in us and let us go for ourselves”. So speaks master trumpeter Bennie Cowan reflecting on his 30+ years tenure within the Parliament Funkadelic organization for an interview with the late David Mills some years ago.
Reviewed For TheFunkStore.com..By
Compiled For TheFunkStore.com..By:Tylard Tatt II
OUT OF STOCK ..
BENNIE COWAN
& THE REAL BRASS TAXX
IT'S A HORN THING
TCC/TFS Release Date:03/29/2011
LABEL: BCRB WORLDWIDE
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN : USA
ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE:N/A
DISC : 1
CONDITION:NEW
STOCK STATUS:*INSTOCK*
USUALLY SHIPS IN 24/48Hrs
Along with trombonist Greg Boyer and saxman Greg Thomas the trio comprised one of the baddest, blowingest horn sections in black music, the legendary P-Funk Horns. Both Boyer and Cowan studied jazz and classical music early on and excelled while in college in Baltimore. He knew Thomas from Jr. High and they had all performed some of the heaviest horn riffs eastern Maryland had ever heard in a plethora of local bands down thru the years. Wasn’t ‘til about ‘77 they came together as a unit and the rest is funk history.
Brought to the P-Funk fold thru fellow Baltimorean and bassman thumpasaurus Rodney “Skeet” Curtis, the trio first appeared on stage with the Funk Mob in March of 1978 having literally been flown right into the middle of the Flashlight Tour. The ’P’ odyssey hasn’t always been a smooth road for the talented horn men but for the most part they’ve endured the various bizzness shenanigans notorious within Clinton’s troupes.
It was a finance issue that originally caused the then horn section (Valerie Drayton, Daryl Dixon) to quit the tour, thus clearing the way for these kids just into their 20s to enter the fold that fateful day 3 decades ago. They first appeared in the studio on Parliament’s Motor Booty Affair and Parlet’s Invasion of the Booty Snatchers albums of ’78-79. Horn sections have come and gone, Boyer finally left the band a few years ago for a spot with Maceo Parker & Prince but both Thomas and Cowan still light up the live show with their profoundly executed signature riffs and solos that have truly become the stuff of legend in funk circles.
On “it’s a Horn Thing ‘G’”, the duo is joined once again by Boyer , fellow bone man Rufus Roundtree, trumpet players Ron Rolling, Ben Frock and ‘honorary’ PF baritone saxophonist Scott Taylor. Together with some of the best bass players in the world (PF alums Skeet & Jeff ‘Cherokee’ Bunn, Greg Deanda, Glen Ellis), Bennie’s son Junior on the kit, and keys men Gary Hudge (also of PF fame), Greg Rice, Ernie Mc Nair, The Real Brasstaxx Horns Inc.
throw down a musical gauntlet full of saucy solos, pounding Go-Go beats (they also did a regular stint with Godfather Chuck Brown) & stunning musicianship. Kendra Foster of P-Funk shows off some jazz vocal chops on the set.
These free form elastic grooves are the perfect palate to ‘give the horns some’ and they showcase incredible chops honed over years of blowing the greatest funk riffs of all time. Every track here is the cream off the top, a unique, fascinating intersection where Go-Go meets Big Band meets Classical meets Funk meets Rock. Bennie is what we horn men call a ‘screetch artist’- a mugg that be regularly blowin’ and tootin’ all up above high C. And doing it with both power and precision unparalleled in R&B, its no wonder Raphael Saadig had to have him in his touring band a couple years ago.
Check the centerpiece slab of groove track “Hornacopia/Loopit”, a 10 minute free for all featuring the ad lib raps of Uncle Jam himself. Or the dreamy “Wichita Lineman” with its rich vocal backing of ‘still on the line’. “Ironman” indeed, they are masters of the steel lungs as another stand out track sums up this whole project…..simply put, these horns are just “Straight” blowing their asses off.
Noted Cincinnati-OH Funk Journalist~"Bustin'"Bob Mitchell
TRACK LISTING
1.ARM & HAMMER~Listen
2.OLYMPIC THEME~Listen
3.BENNIE & THE JETS~Listen
4.MY LAST SPLIFF~Listen
5.SCOTT A GO-GO~Listen
6.OCEAN~Listen
7.HORNICOPIA/LOOPIT~Listen
8.WICHITA LINEMAN~Listen
9.STRAIGHT~Listen
10.IRONMAN~Listen
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