Prestige Records: Mod Jazz? Indeed!

Prestige Records, today, is commonly known as one of the best sources of Soul Jazz, thanks in no small portions to the Acid Jazz movement of the late 80s, BGP Records, and more recently, Kent's "Mod Jazz" series, of which the first three focus largely on the Prestige catalogue. But up until then, Prestige was usually overlooked under the shadow of larger, more popular labels like Verve and Blue Note, despite ongoing reissue campaigns under the wing of Fantasy Records, who bought Prestige in the early 1970's. The meat and potatoes of the Prestige label has been readily available all along, but like so many other great musical forms, it took club DJ's to bring it back to life.

The origins of soul jazz aren't difficult to trace. The generally accepted fathers of the idiom are Horace Silver and Jimmy Smith, both with their Blue Note recordings. But how Prestige got involved in the game is a little more complex than trying to capitalize on the success of those two artists. The evolution of the genre really stems from two timeless subjects, money and society.

On one hand, jazz, by the early 1960's was experiencing severe growing pains. Interest in the music throughout mainstream America was waning as be-bop became more complex, so record labels weren't making the kind of money they needed to continue supporting their artists. Consequently, many major jazz artists of the 1950s split for Europe, particularly France, Germany and England, where there were record labels (and in some cases governments) who were willing and able to help support these musicians and their artistic freedom. The irony of the German government footing bills for Jewish-American vibraphonist Dave Pike hasn't escaped this writer, to drop but one example.

Socially, the 60's were also vastly important to American music. The Civil Rights movement was gathering steam and pushing its way into the world consciousness, and this spilled over into various art forms, becoming a way for black American musicians to express themselves through their cultural heritage. This also provided a means for a great deal of musicians to stake their claim on jazz as the music of their black heritage.

So what we had, essentially, is a bunch of recording labels struggling to find ways to sell records, and a bunch of musicians looking for a more personal way to express themselves. Soul music and it's inherent danceable rhythms provided the perfect fusion for these financial and social interests. Luckily, Prestige Records was ready to jump in and take charge with an incredible stable of artists. Willis Jackson, Jack McDuff, Bobby Timmons, Shirley Scott and her then husband Stanley Turrentine, Gene Ammons, Richard "Groove" Holmes and Johnny Hammond were but a few of the great jazz musicians leading combos of young and vastly talented cats who paved the way for countless nightclub floor fillers we all enjoy today. Prestige had this stable built into their label when all of the social aspects of bop went down. It was simply a matter of opening the gates and letting their men run with it. Traditional jazz fans and far to many "scholars" dismiss soul jazz and funk jazz as pop drivel. But the fact that the music has stood the test of time and that these very records continue to escalate in value pretty well squashes that debate.

Like Prestige, the Blue Note label was at the forefront of this new movement. What really differentiated the two labels, however, is that Blue Note was typically more commercially oriented, recording a great deal of pop hits and moving into the safe areas of bossa nova and light Latin rhythms. Blue Note, too, wound up producing some monster soul jazz discs, but it can be argued that they didn't really hit hard in this area until the later Sixties. Blue Note may have paved the way in the 50's with some of their artists like Jimmy Smith, Art Blakey and Horace Silver looking to Afro-centric themes, but through the early and mid 1960's, it was Prestige who let their musicians let loose and let the music progress naturally.

Prestige gave us pure soul. We got a taste of soul food, liberation, funk from Spanish Harlem, all set to the pace of a funky drummer, often a wailing Hammond organ, growling saxophone and sweetly soulful guitar licks courtesy of greats like George Benson, Grant Green and Ivan "Boogaloo" Joe Jones. We even got some Southern Blues from Mose Allison and other vocal acrobatics from Eddie Jefferson. Throughout the Sixties, Blue Note might have ruled the cash registers, but Prestige ruled the black American juke boxes when it came to jazz. Prestige was also paying a great deal of attention to the blues scene, with wonderful releases by John Lee Hooker, Roosevelt Sykes and Jimmy Witherspoon, to name but a few.

Rather than write the definitive book on the label, and knowing what kind of attention span to expect from casual internet browsing, we've decided to just lay the foundation for how this music we love came about. But, to drive the point home a little we asked some of our most respected DJs, faces, and record label moguls what their favorite Prestige jams are. Asking for their top three was sometimes like pulling teeth, and we got both albums and songs. But what we also got was passionate replies and some outstanding choices for us all to further explore!

Mark Ellis - UK DJ, and jazz buff extraordinaire (cheated with 4 choices!)
1. Illinois Jacquet - The Soul Explosion Pt 1
2. Freddie McCoy - Collard Greens
3. Billy Hawks - O Baby (I Believe I'm Losing You)
3.5 Brother Jack McDuff - Hot Barbecue

Gavin Evans - UK DJ
1. Billy Hawks - O Baby (I Believe I'm Losing You)
2. Eddie Jefferson - Psychedelic Sally
3. Jimmy Witherspoon - Love Me Right

Paul Flynn - Our man in London
1. Richard Groove Holmes - Aint that Peculiar
2. Brother Jack McDuff - Talking Bout my Woman
3. Dave Pike - Samba Lero

Rev. Nick Hudson - UK DJ and preacher of R&B
1. Eddie Jefferson - Psychedelic Sally
2. Brother Jack McDuff - Hot Barbecue
3. Willis Jackson - Nuther'n Like Thuther'n

Clive Johnson - Blow It Hard Records
1. Brother Jack McDuff - Hot Barbeque
2. Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers - Got Myself A Good Man
3. Sonny Phillips - Sure 'nuff Sure 'nuff

Richard Karstrom - the Uppers organization, SWE
1. Freddie McCoy - Collard Greens
2. Melvin Sparks - Who's gonna take the weight
3. Richard "Groove" Holmes - Why don't you do right

Phil Lehman - Soul Fire Records
1. Funk Inc. - Sister Sadie
2. Don Paterson - Donny Brook
3. Sonny Stitt - Turn It On

Lee Miller - Leeds, UK
1. Brother Jack McDuff - Hot Barbeque
2. Eddie Jefferson - Psychedelic Sally
3. Billy Hawks - O Baby (I Believe I'm Losing You)

Brian Poust - The Uppers organization, USA
1. Freddie Roach - One Track Mind
2. Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers - The Groover
3. Charlie Earland - Black Talk

Nick Rossi - The Nick Rossi Set
1. Mose Allison - Parchman Farm
2. Brother Jack McDuff - Rock Candy
3. King Pleasure & Jon Hendricks - Don't Get Scared

Dean Rudland - Archivist, DJ, and contributor to Kent's Mod Jazz comps
1. Terry Callier - The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier
2. Bobby Timmons - The Soul Man
3. Idris Muhammed - Black Rhythm Revolution

Gerald Short - Jazzman Records
1. Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds (Originally on Moodsville, later on Prestige)
2. Joe Dukes - Soulful Drums
3. Larry Young - Groove Street

The Sugarman Three
Neal Sugarman: Funk Inc. - Chickin Lickin'
Adam Scone: George Braith - Laughing Soul
Rudy Albin: Charles Earland - Black Talk

Rick Wojcik - Dusty Groove America
1. Stan Hunter & Sonny Fortune - Trip on the Strip
2. George Braith - Musart
3. Dave Pike - Bossa Nova Carnival

Nancy Yahiro - She's Soultastic!
1. Rusty Bryant - Fire Eater
2. Bobby Timmons - A Little Barefoot Soul
3. Gene Ammons - Jungle Strut -or- Jug Eyes

Now that you've digested all of this information, please keep in mind that lists of songs can never substitute for the experiences and pleasure of listening to them. Particularly if jazz is new and foreign to you, let these recommendations from some highly respected individuals encourage you to do a little more hunting and hear some of these songs which have turned us on.

Comments:

Dave	jun 8 2005 8:28AM
http://three-sixty-five45s.blogspot.com

I'm a huge fan of Prestige 45s, and buy them whenever I come across them. One I stumbled across recently & highly recommend is "Groove" Holmes' "Boo-D-Doo". It's a great organ/conga laden number.

ANDY LEE	feb 1 2005 10:17AM

Fantastic article, the D.J's/celebs/mod gods (delete as applicable) made some excellent choices. Billy Hawks 'o' baby' was mentioned several times and i agree with it's inclusion, but what about 'whip it on me'. Stay Cool, won't you. Andy Lee

Sal Paradise	jul 20 2003 11:54AM

Prestige is a truly wonderful concept - does anyone remember a guy who used to write for the Guardian newspaper (UK) who wrote a fantastic article about soul jazz about 5 years ago? He mentioned the best Prestige soul jazz cuts running from cat. no. 7000 onwards I seem to remember - or can someone correct me on that...Lots of it bargain bin status in the USA until it was rediscoved by Giles and Dean circa Acid Jazz 1988/89....

Johnny S	okt 18 2001 10:10AM
http://www.lunajunkie.com

Good to see stuff on these discs at last. Last time is saw something like this was in Straight No Chaser a while back. Best Wishes Johnny

D.m	jun 14 2001 11:42AM

Excellent piece on Prestige, and my shopping list just grows longer by the hour,Which can only be good news - Nice work!!!

Richard Karström	jun 11 2001 8:33AM

Re. Trudy Pitts "Bucket Full of Soul", yes good one. However, the flipside contains her version of "Whiter shade of pale"... Am I the only one who finds that recording being a crime against humanity? It gives me the creeps.

Ian Rowland	jun 11 2001 12:37AM

Some top choices.....I LOVE that Billy Hawkes ...."I Believe....." Can anyone help me witrh a current vlaue & ease of availability? ....Is it on a any compilations (or fothcoming comps)?

dean rudland	jun 10 2001 11:15PM

'Trip On The Strip' is available on the BGP compilation 'Signifying'

Doug Roberson	jun 7 2001 7:00PM

Brian - Nice piece on the Prestige label. I now have loads of records and artists to look into...my fave track though is Trudy Pitts "Bucket Full of Soul"!

Joel	jun 6 2001 3:58PM

Nice work Brian! I like the sound of "Trip on the Strip"........thats another one for the list!!

Brian Poust	jun 6 2001 3:50PM

That's the spirit Jake!

Jake	jun 6 2001 10:38AM

Nice one. really nice. I'll go loot the jazz section of my local record shack right away!

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We at Uppers would like to treat you to a (brief and highly opinionated) history lesson on Prestige Records and hopefully clue you in to some of the best of the best, as outlined by some very notable faces on the scene.

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