Seven Seas – Pat’s Jam from the Glades 45

Well we made it. It’s been a long week here at the FMF household, and I wanted to get a short post going for Friday. Thanks to all who commented on The Politicians, I believe they were indeed a great house band and a whole lot more. Which leads me to this band today: Seven Seas. This band is the band that backed up Clarence Reid for his TK record sessions. TK Records falls under the umbrella of the Henry Stone Empire: Glades, Alston, Cat, and the list goes on. I get into the Stone record labels more in my previous Little Beaver review. House bands were important, and even though this was their only release, it was an important one. I almost feel like Reid was throwing them a bone by putting out their side, or maybe Stone was, who knows. At any rate, it’s a great side. Let’s jump into “Pat’s Jam” by Seven Seas on the Glades label from 1975.

“Pat’s Jam” is a stone groove baby. Definitely a piece of the sound coming from Miami during the early 1970’s, rich will horns, a deep bass line and of course that funky beat. Kind of sleepy at times, the wah-wah guitar reminds you to keep that head nodding. The man’s persona changed like the wind, from Clarence Reid to Blowfly. The dude who who wrote hits for Betty Wright, Gwen McCrae, and a few for himself, sure knew how to pick a backing band. Teaming up with producer Willie Clarke, you could call them The Mighty Two of the Miami sound, they had their hands in a lot of music Henry Stone was putting out. Of course later, Reid reinvented himself into the XXX musician/ entertainer Blowfly, and the rest is history. I wasn’t trying to have a theme this week, it just worked out that way. You see, don’t sleep on the backing or house band. These guys are important. Without these guys, who were able to take it to the bridge, hit it and quit it, come back on the one, the stars would be standing there by themselves. I’m hoping you enjoyed this backing band as much as I did. Sorry for the short post, I’ll be back over the weekend with some digging stories and hopefully some new treats. Keep Diggin’!

**This cut was featured on the What It Is box set, along with a slew of other great funk sides. If you don’t have it, it comes highly recommended from FMF.