Pucho & Latin Soul Bros. – Freddie’s Dead from the Zanzee 45

Well, we made it through another weekend, and damn if the summer isn’t flying past us. There were lots of great records to be dug up this weekend, first from my local spot, and also at the Asbury Lanes Vinyl Swap. My digs from that will be at the bottom of this post. Even though I have a que of older records, I’m gonna push this one right to the top, as I have been looking around for it, and it popped up this weekend. It was a toss up between Mongo Santamaria doing “I Can’t Get Next To You” on Atlantic, and Pucho and His Latin Soul Bros. with “Freddie’s Dead” on Zanzee Records. Pucho wins out this week, we’ll save Mongo for another post, although he is connected to Pucho Brown musically. Now I know what you’re thinking, another cover of Curtis Mayfield. No one is ever going to top the original. That may be true. Fishbone’s, (yes, I’m referring to the hardest working, most under rated funk ska band that should have made it in the 80’s and 90’s) version is outstanding. Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers is different, and a great cover in it’s own way.

Henry “Pucho” Brown grew up in Harlem, NY. Brown grew up listening to the Latin sounds of Mambo, R & B, and of course jazz. He is a timbale player, and started out with Los Lobos Diablos early on, before being a member of Joe Panama’s band. That band broke up in 1959, and Pucho went on to form his own group. There is a common misconception about Pucho, that he is Latino; however he is not. He is of African American descent, which goes to show you that music transcends cultures, boundaries, and these things that so many people in today’s world get hung up on. His reputation as a band leader and musician was building, and it wasn’t long before guys like Mongo Santamaria and Wille Bobo were recruiting his band members from him left and right. One player that would be lured away would be none other than a young Chick Corea. That’s another whole story entirely. Pucho had some requiremnts for musicians to be in his band, which has carried over to modern times as well. “A piano player and a bass player in my band has to play three types of music, ” he says. “He has to play jazz, he has to play funk, and he has to play Latin, just as a good jazz musician, just as a good funk musician, just as a good Latin musician . . . those cats are hard to find!” When he did, this unit was as tight and in the pocket as any band in all three of the genres. In 1966 he signed to the Prestige label. He had a nice stretch on the on the label, and became known for doing unique covers of Funk, Soul Jazz, and the like as well as originals. Pucho and all the Latin Soul Bros. we’re doing it they’re own way. He was a pioneer of the term Latin Boogaloo, and was known for his sound and touring prowess on the Chitlin’ Circuit. The stand out factor was the percussion section of the band, which of course featured Pucho on the timbales. This was what kept him a step above the rest. Then, in the early 1970’s, things started to dry up. Brown split up the band, and was on an almost 20 year hiatus of sorts playing at resort hotels in the Upstate Catskill region of New York state. Then in the 1990’s, something happened. The acid jazz crowd in England started to generate an interest in his older songs. This lead to him doing recordings on the Ace label, and finally going with Ubiquity off shoot Cu Bop. I first discovered Pucho in the 90’s as well, and can remember playing “Hot Barbecue” over and over and over. It was CuBop where I discovered him (and coincidentally he was rediscovered by a whole new fan base), so any of his back catalog to me was like a bonus at the time.

This song was from the 1972 Zanzee record “Superfreak”. Originally this track was a part of a 15 minute plus medley and included “Pusherman” and “Super Fly”. The 45 however, is just “Freddie’s Dead”. This full length was kind of snubbed by the critics because it was a distant cry from Pucho’s original Latin sound (the straight ahead Latin Jazz was now replaced by Psychedelic heavy organ Soul). I believe that if it wasn’t for his exploration into another genre, the future discovery (and sampling) of Pucho Brown wouldn’t have occurred, possible leaving him in a lifetime of gigs where the audience was all over 70 and went to bed at 7 PM. Thankfully, this was not the case. The tune starts off with a funky bass groove and a load of percussion. The vocals are replaced with the psychedelic organ, and a horn section. I did say a load of percussion, because this track is heavy through and through, combining a funky Latin style and psychedelic organ style which work well together. The flute and horn solos alone keep this Mayfield classic fresh. I mean there have been a lot of covers of Curtis, and IMHO, this version is a great take on a song you really can’t improve. Keep an eye out for a review of the Mongo Santamaria record coming in the future.

The Asbury Park Vinyl Swap/ Sale was definitely a good time today, here’s a list of some records I dug up:

45s:
Edwin Starr – Agent Double 0-Soul/ Ric Tic
Jesse Gresham Plus 3 – Shootin’ the Grease/ Head
Ron Holden – I Need Ya/ NOW…thanks Larry for finding this one for me.
Elvin Bishop – Slick Titty Boom/ Capricorn

Lps:
King Hannibal – Truth/ Aware
Idris Muhammad – Power of Soul/ Kudu
Grover Washington Jr. – Inner City Blues/ Kudu
Jerry Butler – The Soul Goes On/ Mercury