Eddie Bo: In the Pocket With Eddie Bo (Vampi through Southbound)

The reissue label Vampi appeared on Elsewhere previously with the Mary "Queenie" Lyons and Quinteplus albums from the cusp of the 70s -- and this r'n'b soul-funk singer from New Orleans comes from the same kind of obscurity to those outside an inner circle.

According to the extensive liner notes on this 28 track collection of Bo tracks and those often equally obscure artists he produced, Bo's chosen format was the 45rpm single and he was still cutting them into the 80s, almost three dacades after his career kicked off under the name Little Bo. (He was Edwin Joseph Bocage to his parents.)

Influenced originally by Little Richard and increasingly James Brown, he was also schooled in jazz, and he formed his own labels as well as appearing on Ace, Apollo, Chess, Capitol and others. He seems to have been a label itinerant who also undertook production/arrangement jobs as and when he could (which was pretty often and he worked with the likes of Irma Thomas and Art Neville, and more recently the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Willy DeVille).

You can read the early life-story in the liner notes and really all you need to know is that this soul-funk collection of Bo and others has the kind of earthy energy of early James Brown and Lee Dorsey -- and then the wah-wah funk kicks in.

Git on up!