{"title":"Speakers Corner","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"this-is-clarence-carter","title":"This Is Clarence Carter","description":"\u003cp\u003eClarence Carter, blind from birth, was a blues singer with lascivious wit, a talented guitarist, a songwriter with a twinkle in his eye, and a champion of down-to-earth soul grooves who taught himself to play the guitar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe sang in a gospel choir, completed a degree in music, and grounded the duo Clarence and Calvin but was not however very successful.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter a car crash involving Calvin Scott, Carter started on a solo career and signed a contract with Rick Hall and the Fame label as a soloist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the earliest singles recorded at the Muscle Shoals studio were a few hits. After leaving Fame for Atlantic, he managed to enter the Top 20 of the R\u0026amp;B charts with \"Looking For A Fox\". His breakthrough came with \"Slip Away\", which sold a million copies and was awarded a Gold Record.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals remained the home basis, as it were, for Carter during his career with Atlantic. \"This Is…\" begins with a contemplative, soft sound. \"Do What You Gotta Do\", written by Jim Webb, is a lovely, melancholic mid-tempo ballad, saturated with Barry Beckett’s keyboard and smothered by lush, plaintive winds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut the man is primarily funky here … as three danceable, finger-snapping tracks prove; \"Wind It Up\", with further witty improvisations and a fervid organ solo, the highly syncopated, playful \"Thread The Needle\", and the smoky, irresistible \"Funky Fever\" – all written by Carter himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDan Penn’s and Spooner Oldham’s \"Slippin’ Around\" has an unorthodox bossa nova-like beat that is reminiscent of Ray Charles’s \"What’d I Say\", while Carter’s unmistakable chuckle is to be heard for the first time on the riotous funk-rock number \"I’m Qualified\", which has the very same unique, infectious groove as was to be heard on Wilson Pickett’s \"In The Midnight Hour\". \"She Ain’t Gonna Do Right\", composed by the same man, brings more Alabama Country to the mix, whereby Beckett contributes a catchy, persistent organ riff in the refrain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoul, blues, funk, R and B – a gigantic album from a giant of the genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecording: 1968 at Fame Studios, Muscle Shoals, AL, by Rick Hall Production: Rick Hall\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speakers Corner","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":53518743961931,"sku":"R6526-0365","price":43.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/CS699943-01A-BIG.jpg?v=1759402717"},{"product_id":"much-les","title":"Much Les","description":"\u003cp\u003eRemastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTogether with the saxophone player Eddie Harris, Les McCann was responsible for one of the best-sold albums in the whole history of jazz –\u003cem\u003e Swiss Movement\u003c\/em\u003e (Atlantic SD-1537).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was his debut album on the Atlantic label. 1968 saw the release of \u003cem\u003eMuch Les \u003c\/em\u003eand elaborated it with new aspects of what McCann did best in his early years: his core sound was enhanced with a string section and Latin percussion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is convincing, appealing, and captivating throughout and is considered an underestimated classic. In all the numbers, McCann is supported strongly and in a relaxed manner by his former trio, the bassist Leroy Vinnegar and the drummer Donald Dean.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, it is the string section which dominates as McCann’s accompaniment; of the six tracks they are to be heard in all three slow numbers, as well as – surprisingly – in the relaxed soul jazz of \"Doin’ That Thing\", thus lending this track almost a film soundtrack feeling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLuckily the album does not wallow in sentimental kitsch; the strings are always employed with good taste in order to lend a solid base to the whole and provide counterpoint to McCann’s economical solo playing in the ballads. Further into the album he transforms Cole Porter’s \"Love For Sale\" in one of his characteristic funky soul-jazz grooves, and returns to his gospel roots in a lyrical, exuberant rendering of \"Burnin’ Coal\", where he employs a simple but catchy beat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe whole album is well varied, and the abundant, expanded arrangement serve to accentuate – not to veil – the masterly groove of the McCann Trio.\u003cbr\u003eAnd that is what makes \"Much Les\" such an entertaining, essential listening experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speakers Corner","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":55824745103691,"sku":"R5212-0883","price":43.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2000x2000bb_0b5d4fdd-a414-42ba-9126-029a8d3eeb50.jpg?v=1762178732"},{"product_id":"tonight-at-noon","title":"Tonight At Noon","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTonight At Noon\u003c\/em\u003e compiles tracks from two earlier recordings sessions: one session from 1957 with Jimmy Knepper on the trombone, the drummer Dannie Richmond, Saxophone player Shafi Hadi and the pianist Wade Legge, which were released on the album \"The Clown\" (Atlantic 1260). The second session took place in 1961 with Booker Ervin and Roland Kirk on the saxophone, Knepper, the bassist Doug Watkins, Mingus at the piano and Richmond on the drums, and was released on \"Oh Yeah\" (Atlantic SD 1377).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two sets differ in mood, but this does not mean that it is an album that uses leftovers. While Mingus in the first session strives for European harmonics and melodic approaches with a hard bop tempo (particularly on the title track) in the direction of the blues, the second session with its vespertine elegance and spatial explorations comes over rather as a sort of exercise à la avantgard Ellington with sophisticated harmonies that pave the way for sluggish marches and gospel-like blues. Kirk and Ervin complement one another particularly well, their swing is appararently boundless. Mingus’s piano playing is deeply rooted in the blues, and his sense of tempo and lightness anhances these numbers, particularly in \"‘Old’ Blues for Walt’s Torin\". \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn these compositions one already finds hints of Mingus’s later recordings. The most beautiful number is taken from the 1957 session and concludes the album: \"Passions Of A Woman Loved\", almost ten minutes in length, feels like an Ellington suite. Although, or maybe simply because several years passed between the two sessions, one cannot deny this album’s magic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speakers Corner","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":56237540180299,"sku":"R0373-0554","price":44.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed-2026-01-06T101707.721.jpg?v=1767694638"},{"product_id":"zawinul","title":"Zawinul","description":"\u003cp\u003e It would not be incorrect to claim that \u003cem\u003eZawinul\u003c\/em\u003e was the first Weather Report album with regard to both its concept and sound since all protagonists are already present: Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Miroslav Vitouš. This album confirms that Zawinul was the primary creative generator of Weather Report, the connecting link between the band and Miles Davis’s keyboard-laden experiments on \"In A Silent Way\"; indeed, the composition in its complex orchestral form as composed by Zawinul is newly arranged on this LP and creates its very own vision of this brilliant work. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two keyboarders, with the formidable Herbie Hancock alongside Zawinul, constitute the fundament for this poised and exploratory album and embellish their work with the galactic sound effects created by Echoplex and ring modulator. The third founder of Weather Report, Miroslav Vitouš, is to be heard on the bass, and the hard bop of the trumpeter Woods Shaw proves that he is an absolute maestro when it comes to jazz rock. Earl Turbinton provides for the Wayne Shorter-like rays of light on the soprano saxophone, which Shorter himself then expresses on \"Double Image\". This work is the direct connection between Davis’s earlier electric recordings and Weather Report and constitutes the basis for almost all subsequent eclectic contemporary jazz projects: Miles Davis’s \"In A Silent Way\", the Weather Report album of the same name and this LP are an inseparable series of recordings, which document the origin of one of the most important and influential music trends of the 20th century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMusicians:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Joe Zawinul (p, el-p); Herbie Hancock (el-p); Wayne Shorter, Earl Turbinton (ss); Woody Shaw, Jimmy Owens (tp); Hubert Laws, George Davis (fl); Miroslav Vitouš, Walter Booker (b); Billy Hart, David Lee\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJoe Chambers (perc); Jack DeJohnette (melodica, perc)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Speakers Corner","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":57099272323403,"sku":"R0212-2655","price":44.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed-2026-04-23T124534.748.jpg?v=1776944741"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/speakers-corner.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}