Willie Henderson & The Soul Explosions - Funky Chicken (1970) LP Brunswick (2003) CD Vampi Soul Expanded - Rare Soul (FLAC)

Killer work from one of the funkiest leaders on the Chicago scene.I remember how i first heard "Dance Master" when i was younger and being blown away especially when i bought his albums!....the mighty mighty Willie Henderson, the force behind some of the city's greatest soul tracks and funky 45s! This album's like a stack of lost funky nuggets laid back to back with lots and lots of bass heavy grooving from the band, and plenty of instrumental riffing on guitar and horns! Most tracks are instrumental, but often feature some nice shouted or spoken bits  and the whole thing's stuffed to the rafters with great breaks, beats, and grooves! Titles include "Funky Chicken (parts 1 & 2)", "Off Into A Black Thing", "Soulful Football", "Sugar Sugar", "Can I Change My Mind", and "Is It Something You Got".I Will post up his 1974 album also on Brunswick-"Dance With Willie Henderson The Master"..that contains some tracks not featured on here.The crazy thing is some record company,s dont do their research very well.You,ll notice on the back cover of the CD that 2 Instrumentals are listed as unknown(also on discogs)..what rubbish..they were both featured on his other album..This annoys me as its very misleading to the Purchaser of the CD.I,ve corrected this in the tagging for you...Brilliant early Soul/Funk that still sounds great today! 

THE MAN...HIS MUSIC...HIS CAREER

Willie Henderson was born 1941 in Pensacola, Florida. He is an American R&B and soul musician & prolific song writer. Henderson moved to Chicago with his family while still a child, and began playing the baritone saxophone. He gigged with local artists like Otis Rush, Syl Johnson, Alvin Cash, and Harold Burrage while in his twenties, and began working for Brunswick Records in 1968 as the label's Chicago studio bandleader. Henderson and producer Carl Davis did arrangements for musicians such as The Chi-Lites, Jackie Wilson, Tyrone Davis, and Barbara Acklin. Henderson played on many of these records and also did some production work himself, especially for Tyrone Davis, with whom he had a string of R&B and Hot 100 hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s on Brunswick subsidiary, Dakar. Henderson also released several singles, which included "Funky Chicken (Part I)", as Willie Henderson and the Soul Explosions (#22 R&B, #91 pop); the Lowrell Simon-written 1974 instrumental "Dance Master", "Break Your Back" and "Gangster Boogie Bump", on Playboy Records. He also released two albums on Brunswick in 1970(FEATURED HERE) and 1974. Henderson left Brunswick in 1974 and began working independently as a producer. He produced the group Essence for Epic Records and former Brunswick singer, Barbara Acklin for Capital Records, continuing to produce into the 1980s and occasionally self-releasing singles on his label, Now Sound. He formed the Chicago Music Organization in 1999, and still occasionally performs in the Chicago area.

AMM

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                                                                   Tracks Below (FLAC)