Spanky Wilson: The Mother Records & The Snarf Company Years (1969-1975)

Over the last 30 years Spanky Wilson has become established as a successful jazz vocalist. But there is a world of difference between concert hall jazz and the hip beats producers and sweaty night clubs where she has found herself recently. Her collaboration with DJ/producer Quantic have brought her prominence with the same crowd of DJs, collectors and beat-heads that have spent the last decade and a half desperately seeking her 60s and 70s recordings. Following her move in 1967 to Los Angeles Spanky Wilson worked with, amongst others, Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis and Willie Bobo, but her most important contact was with producer and arranger H. B. Barnum. In the late '60s he founded his own independent record label, Mother Records & The Snarf Company. One of his first signings was Spanky Wilson, and her debut album for the label was the wonderful Spankin’ Brand New (1969). Swingin’ soul, songs written by Howlett Smith, Spanky’s delivery is rooted here in standards ala Dinah Washington but this is soul all the way, with great playing, subtle string parts & killer horn arrangements typical of Barnum. Highlights are 'Mighty Great Feeling,' 'Apartment 101' and 'The Last Day of Summer.' Even if this album was promising, it was the follow-up, Doin’ It (1970) that first alerted clubbers to her work when they discovered its deep funk single 'You' in second-hand bins in the late '80s. The album also included a bad ass cover of 'Sunshine of My Love' and the scorchin’ 'Hurtin’'. On her third and final Mother album, from 1975 (¿), she sings fabulous covers of some current hits, including Bobbie Gentry's 'Fancy' and the Beatles' 'Let It Be'. This three albums Wilson recorded for Mother should appeal to fans of Marlena Shaw, Salena Jones, Dakota Staton, and pretty much any soul jazz crossover vocalists. I included here her first two complete Lps, plus a couple of tracks from the third, Let It Be. http://www.popsike.com/, http://www.systemrecords.co.uk/

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Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra in a live performance of Wilson's classic 'You' in Paris, 2006:

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