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Archive for the ‘Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles’ Category

E.G. Swain–“Bone to His Bone” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #23] (1912)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Coronavirus, Cory Henry, Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles, E. G. Swain, Ghosts, Hingston & Olsen, Quarantine, Short Story, Snarky Puppy, The Short Story Advent Calendar, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on December 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CORY HENRY: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #129 (December 21, 2020).

I wondered if there would be a Christmas themed Tiny Desk (Home) Concert.  And here’s one.

Cory Henry was the keyboardist for Snarky Puppy.  He has since gone solo and here he is playing some jazzy songs with just a drummer.

Henry is a renowned composer, producer and musician who rose to fame as a member of Snarky Puppy. In 2018, he visited the actual Tiny Desk for a jubilant performance with his own band, Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles. Just a few weeks ago, he released a holiday album, Christmas With You, a collection of classics and new compositions full of comfort, joy and reflection. For this Tiny Desk (home) concert, Henry and his longtime collaborator, drummer TaRon Lockett, recorded a couple of those songs at the Gold-Diggers studio in Los Angeles.

Henry plays two songs with Lockett.

For the first one, he’s on piano.  “Misty Christmas” is a bouncy fluid piece that sounds like something you might here on a Peanuts special.  There’s some nicely complex and varied drumming to accompany Henry’s jazzy piano.  It runs about 6 minutes and then Henry sends us some nice words.

“May these songs fill you and your family with joy and happiness as we bring in what will be a far better year than the last. Live in love, live in peace, grow in freedom. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays.”

Watch for his adorable pocket pitbull, Lady Lingus, right before he shifts to the organ with another soulful original, “Christmas With You.”

The second piece starts with the lyrics from “The Most Wonderful Time” of the year, but with a different melody.  Turns out it’s just the introduction to a new pop jazz song.  He’s got a retro sound on his organ and sings softly as he plays, full of smiles for all.  His voice is soft and pleasant.

This is a nice Christmas song although I don’t see it becoming a classic.

[READ: December 23, 2020] “Bone to His Bone”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 23.  E. G. Swain died in 1938 and did not respond to multiple requests for comment. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

I tend to enjoy the older stories in these collections quite a lot.  Not to detract from contemporary writers at all, but I thought it might be fun if H&O made a collection of just later 19th and early 20th century stories that did not have a lot of exposure. (more…)

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Tessa Hadley–“Funny Little Snake” (New Yorker, October 16, 2017)

Posted in Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles, Drinking, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Parenting, Short Story, Snow, Tessa Hadley, Tiny Desk Concert on October 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CORY HENRY AND THE FUNK APOSTLES-Tiny Desk Concert #792 (October 5, 2018).

Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles blew me away with the first song of this Concert.  “Love Will Find A Way” opens with a deep bass sound as the funk starts.  And then Henry adds the great sound of the Hammond.

There’s so much joy in the sound of the Hammond organ, especially for those of us of a certain age. Hearing it can transport you to the early ’70s, when every rock band seemed to have one in its arsenal: The Allman Brothers, Santana, Deep Purple. In the hands of true masters — like the late Billy Preston and the very-much-alive Booker T. Jones — the organ can be a melodic, funky rhythm machine.

Cory Henry’s name belongs in the same breath as the Hammond organ masters of the past. The instrument creates the central sound of his dynamic, neo-soul- and funk-infused musical identity, and he opens his turn behind the Tiny Desk with what feels like an encore: the full-on soul assault of “Love Will Find a Way.” The song twists and turns, then winds up as a full-on celebration — and it’s only the first song in his set.

The song does have several part including a lengthy middle solo section.  Over the heavy organ chords there’s a wailing guitar solo and a keyboard solo from the synth player.

By the end of its six minutes it absolutely feels like an encore–a show ender.  It’s awesome.

“Trade It All” is a bit more soul, less funk, which means I don’t like it as much.  B

Henry’s keyboard skills are on full display during a synth solo in “Trade It All,” which also spotlights his entire band. To my mind, they’d have sounded right at home on Stax Records in the ’70s — no small accomplishment.

The middle shows a softer, quieter side of the Hammond–one that sounds a bit cheesier to my ear.  And yet there’s no denying Henry’s deft finger work (there’ a hint of Stevie Wonder in there for sure).

The final song, the ten-minute “Send Me a Sign” has a lengthy, almost preacher-like quality and is clearly gopsel-inspired.

It showcases some of the roots of Henry’s songwriting; it’s inspired by church sermons that bloom into group sing-alongs. Just another way Cory Henry digs way back to give us something new and exciting.

[READ: October 11, 2017] “One Saturday Morning”

I have never been disappointed with a story from Tessa Hadley.  She might be one of my favorite writers whom I’ve never read outside of magazines.

This story is wonderful because the we learn so much about so many people through the eyes of one woman.

Valerie is Gil’s second wife.  Gil is in his fifties and Valerie is twenty-four.  Gil is a successful professor and she was (as someone described her with disdain) a typist.

But as the story opens, Valerie is trying to cope with Gil’s daughter.  Robyn is nine years old, can’t button her own dress and is utterly unprepared for several days at another house.  This was the first time Valerie had met her…stepdaughter?  And Robyn was plain and kind of dull.  She was polite but had no toys (she played cleverly with scraps of fabric, but would not engage when asked about them).

She was certainly a dullard when it came to food–toast was all she could think of. (more…)

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