Sunday, June 28, 2009
Ernie Isley Makes Me Feel Fine
Try to forget Seals and Crofts. Summer Breeze should belong to Ronald, but especially Ernie Isley. The Isleys were of course the original twist and shouters, did a brief stint at Mowtown, but their funk soul and R&B of the seventies will prove to be their greatest contribution to the African American music tradition.
I've had great opportunity to see the Isleys twice in the past decade. First on a fine summer evening as a part of triple bill in Concord CA with Morris Day and Time and Kool and the Gang. And then several years later at one of Terrell Brandon's hometown end of summer blow outs at the Crystal Ballroom spurred on hot with an umpteenth comeback CD by R Kelly where Ronald took on the persona of the ultimate player, Mr Biggs. But the highest point of both evenings was the opportunity to watch Ernie "Who's that Lady" show his skill on the guitar majestic.
It is easy and inevitable to compare Ernie's bag of pyrotechnic tricks and licks to St Jimi of Hendrix, but one must also consider that Jimi learned a lot of his trade when he serving as stunt guitarist on the chitlin circuit for Little Richard and, yes, the Isley Brothers. I don't really compare Ernie to Jimi except for the overlap in their lingua franca.
This clip is an official teaser from the Eagle Vision who released a full length Isley concert DVD a few years back. It cuts off too early, but seven minutes of high quality is far better than the cell phone capture crap that too frequently populates the sphere of YouTube.
A moment to watch for--circa five minutes or so, Ernie does a tasty and unexpected quote from the theme from Last Tango in Paris. It is fitting because after all, modern Isleys are rooted deep in the seventies.
posted by well-executed buffet at 10:47 PM
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