LUCKY BROWN’S SPACE DREAM
I dreamed of making my own Funk 45. As an artist, I of course wanted the music to be experienced and heard in the same active, soulful way in which it was made. Or maybe I wanted to leave a mark, some kind of legacy, something lasting, permanent, a monument of my dream of this Earth. Perhaps some future digger would unearth my record and the message of the music could be carried across time. Would people of the future dance to my record? Perhaps I wanted to make a 45 as my humble tribute to the great artists I discovered and was inspired by when I dropped the needle on a long-forgotten but interesting dusty old platter. I know it seems strange that as an American, I had to turn first to German artists to find my way back to my own roots. Through my interest in the various incarnations of the great Poets Of Rhythm, I discovered Tramp Records, who had been granted the right to release later Poets tracks as its first handful of releases. I immediately made it my mission to meet the man behind the label and share with him my love for deep original raw funk.
After a whirlwind tour that the police couldn’t even stop, I assembled the Funk Revolution in my one-room cabin, called Chez Jojo. I gathered together all my salvaged, scavenged, and repurposed gear and completely improvised recording techniques and introduced them to a band that was hot and true, playing up to the presumptuous name I had just given them. After our debut single, ‘Don’t Go Away,’ the rest of the material from this session would be taken down to Sleng Teng Studio and messed around with for years until being realized as more singles for Tramp. Isaac Weiser played Bass on this session and Delvon LaMarr was playing a Hammond that took up most of the room. No one even complained.
The Lake-Side phase of this Space Dream happened when we recorded in drummer Olli Klomp’s living room in his log-cabin on an island in a lake. I remember that it was the hottest day of the summer. We would swim in the Lake in between takes to cool off (being careful not to disturb our Crawdads that were contentedly grazing on barbecued chicken bones just beneath the dock). I blurted out “Lake-side...Crawdad Farmers!” as the tape began to roll on ‘Jesse’s Party’ and it ended up being the winning take so we just went with it. We had the transcendent Jonathan Sherman on Bass for this session.
The personnel for all the sessions were: Olli Klomp, drums, Ben Bloom, guitar, Thomas Deakin, saxophone, and Mars, trombone. Special guest percussionist on ‘Deal With It,’ ‘Izzy Come, Izzy Go,’ and ‘Potatocakes’ was Karl Olson. Patrick Gay played Moog on the tile track. Transferring, mixing, editing and overdubs performed at Sleng Teng, USA.
The only track that floats in its own space is “Still Listening,” Delvon LaMarr plays keyboard Bass on this one.
I ‘m called Lucky because I have the great fortune to be involved with such deeply grooving hearts, super talented players, and infinitely loving souls. This album is the realization of many Dreams.
It has been an honor to share the Space.
Joel Ricci aka Lucky Brown
April, 2011
