Slip-slidin' Away: Bill Coleman in Paris

Bill Coleman, trumpter

This is a tremendous record. The sound is as full and fat as the drops of sweat on your baby’s neck at a midsummer dance. Bill Coleman, a minor trumpet player from Paris, Kentucky, finds himself in his twilight years in Paris, France  hosting what sounds like a jam session in a small smoky club. Budd Johnson’s tenor sax and Quentin Jackson’s basso profundo trombone accompany the trumpeter through a skanky set of jazz improvisations planted in blue soil.  This is 1960 and words like ‘funk’ and ‘boogie’ were not yet part of the lingua franca of middle class society. And if you’re looking for boogie-woogie piano or funk of the sort that Parliament or any New Orleans outfit purveyed in the 1960s and 70s then look elsewhere. Yet, the notes these expatriate compatriots blew on the night this record was made are the very definition of funky.  Slow, slidy and slippery from beginning to end.

It is the end of  a weekend filled with lots of barbeques and hot curries and a bit of (at last)  warm sunny weather in this strangest of Australian summers. In a few hours, another working week begins.  Between this place and that, is this time. A great moment to let the horns of Bill, Butter and Budd work their magic on your tired soul.

Track Listing:

1.     From Boogie to Funk Pt. 1: The Blues

2.     From Boogie to Funk Pt 2: The Boogie

3.     Bill, Budd and Butter

4.     Afromotive in Blue

5.     Colemanology

6.     Have Blues Will Play Em

Listen here

The Washerman's Dog Scale of Essentiality rates From Boogie to Funk at  8.5 / 10.